Corsages and Bouts $
- Thread starter CurlyWillow
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LOTAKIDS
Well-Known Member
They show the ones I have bought from you and the ones with the metal to build. Their brand runs quite large for my girls wrist. I liked yours as they were smaller.. fit nicer.
dfisher
Active Member
lotakids,
Ask them for the DISCO - they are EXACTLY our items - we shipped them from our warehouse to theirs in an inventory swap - that way you are sure to get exactly the same item you had last year that you know you like.
If you want to contact us, we can also take care of it for you.
Ask them for the DISCO - they are EXACTLY our items - we shipped them from our warehouse to theirs in an inventory swap - that way you are sure to get exactly the same item you had last year that you know you like.
If you want to contact us, we can also take care of it for you.
Geez Ricky, I've been widowed (young) for 6 years and everything looks phallic to me. I just realized I've been off line all day. I thought you guys didn't love me anymore.
theflowersmith
Well-Known Member
- Dec 13, 2003
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Here's a tip for those of you using Oasis tube glue. When you're through, wipe the tip and spray it generously with Green Glo. I will be easy to open next time.
dfisher
Active Member
Shannon,
You can do both, order from Fitz and go through the wholesaler - If the wholesaler has the items you are looking for, many times it will be a little less expensive from the wholesaler.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
You can do both, order from Fitz and go through the wholesaler - If the wholesaler has the items you are looking for, many times it will be a little less expensive from the wholesaler.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
StephKey
Flowers and Gifts
Here is what I think to be important information for any florist. Last year the Prom industry total spent was $6.6 BILLION. Breaking that down to the average cost for a couple to go to Prom nationally, it came to a total of $1740. To me that is amazing, and also helps explain why some of the mother's of the girls are treating it like a wedding. The national average cost per couple for flowers was $75.
If I ever got $75 for prom flowers I think I'd faint. I have mom's balk at $25 for a wrist corsage. I wish I could take pictures of their faces. Kow of a mom last year who spent over $500 for a dress and then almost fainted when I said $25 for a wrist corsage. But don't forget the limo and the other things that go with prom and the florist is the bad guy when we want the prices we need to stay in business.
dfisher
Active Member
Spooky,
your right, often the flowers get left to last and don't seem to carry the same value in their minds as the other items for prom do.
One thing we try to emphasize is to try to sell directly to the girl. If you can take the boy and the mom out of the equation, then the price normally goes up.
The best way to do this is to really connect with the girl, go where she is. Our best success stories come from those who go to the schools and sell the corsages directly to the girl. For those schools that don't let businesses in, we suggest finding a group in the school to have a fund raiser with. That seems to be very successful
your right, often the flowers get left to last and don't seem to carry the same value in their minds as the other items for prom do.
One thing we try to emphasize is to try to sell directly to the girl. If you can take the boy and the mom out of the equation, then the price normally goes up.
The best way to do this is to really connect with the girl, go where she is. Our best success stories come from those who go to the schools and sell the corsages directly to the girl. For those schools that don't let businesses in, we suggest finding a group in the school to have a fund raiser with. That seems to be very successful
Again, that is the national average. And here are some major keys for the most successful florists.
#1 Sell to the Girl, we know she is the one that has the emotional connections for the event
#2 Talk to the girl at her level. I can talk at my father's shop to any girl who walks in about how pretty the bracelets are, but when I start naming specific flowers their faces glaze over. If I sell the bracelet first, then tell them I will add pretty flowers to it, they get it.
#3 Teach the Girls about how the boy will not order the flowers. I love telling the high school girl about the order process that her boyfriend does for her flowers for prom. We all know the story, but sharing it with the girl has dramatic effects. I tell the girl the process begins with the boy not remembering the right color of dress. Then his mom will ask him for the color for weeks before he finally remembers and tells her GREEN, too bad the dress is Seafoam Green. Then the mom calls the florist to order the corsage for the green dress, and since we are all great at customer service, we ask what color green? Well, come to find out, the boy's mom's favorite color is FOREST GREEN, and since her favorite color is forest green, the dress must be that. And by the way, we all know the mother of the boy only wants to spend $15 because either she does not like the girl because no one is good enough for her boy, or the mom knows that the boy is planning on dumping the girl the week after Prom just like he did the last 3 dances. So the girl is now going to get a corsage that is Forest Green, $15, and by the way, just in cause the dress is not forest green, she wants WHITE ROSES AND BABY'S BREATH.
So two things happen when I share this story with my dad's customers. The girls get FREAKED OUT because they spent so mush time planning their Senior Prom for 4 years, and the boy laughs outloud because it is exactly what he will do.
Here's the difference we saw in his shop in just one Prom. His orders for that school increased from 100 to 200. His average order increased from $22 to $29. And here is the biggest kicker!!! By telling the girls this story, 85% of his orders actually came from THE GIRL! How amazing is that. These are the little successes that I love having with my father, just doing things a little different. The girls don't know about the truth, so I told them. They have the emotional attachement to the day, so I do them the service of making sure it goes the way they want.
#1 Sell to the Girl, we know she is the one that has the emotional connections for the event
#2 Talk to the girl at her level. I can talk at my father's shop to any girl who walks in about how pretty the bracelets are, but when I start naming specific flowers their faces glaze over. If I sell the bracelet first, then tell them I will add pretty flowers to it, they get it.
#3 Teach the Girls about how the boy will not order the flowers. I love telling the high school girl about the order process that her boyfriend does for her flowers for prom. We all know the story, but sharing it with the girl has dramatic effects. I tell the girl the process begins with the boy not remembering the right color of dress. Then his mom will ask him for the color for weeks before he finally remembers and tells her GREEN, too bad the dress is Seafoam Green. Then the mom calls the florist to order the corsage for the green dress, and since we are all great at customer service, we ask what color green? Well, come to find out, the boy's mom's favorite color is FOREST GREEN, and since her favorite color is forest green, the dress must be that. And by the way, we all know the mother of the boy only wants to spend $15 because either she does not like the girl because no one is good enough for her boy, or the mom knows that the boy is planning on dumping the girl the week after Prom just like he did the last 3 dances. So the girl is now going to get a corsage that is Forest Green, $15, and by the way, just in cause the dress is not forest green, she wants WHITE ROSES AND BABY'S BREATH.
So two things happen when I share this story with my dad's customers. The girls get FREAKED OUT because they spent so mush time planning their Senior Prom for 4 years, and the boy laughs outloud because it is exactly what he will do.
Here's the difference we saw in his shop in just one Prom. His orders for that school increased from 100 to 200. His average order increased from $22 to $29. And here is the biggest kicker!!! By telling the girls this story, 85% of his orders actually came from THE GIRL! How amazing is that. These are the little successes that I love having with my father, just doing things a little different. The girls don't know about the truth, so I told them. They have the emotional attachement to the day, so I do them the service of making sure it goes the way they want.
Sorry for the soap box...... Here is another thing to consider though. In Chicago, all we sold for Prom were nosegays. This will skew the average one way. I know of one florist I spoke to last year who wanted to increase their average corsage from $10 to $12 as well. There are a lot of different price points and neighborhoods around. Just make smart decisions, and make sure you are making money with the corsages that you do sell. I would rather sell 10 corsages at $10 and make money than sell 100 corsages at $100 that I lost money on.
prom
In our area most of the corsage work is ordered by the boy or his mother. The girls order the bouts. Show an tell work for us. We keep one made as a sample in the cooler have all our prom set ups set to show and we keep a clear box on the counter with bling in it and we have PVC pipe with fritz wristlets on it. But most of our kids have been coming to us since the sophomore cruise so they trust our judgment. We do get a few that say “so and so is cheaper“. We always explain what goes into our corsages and maybe 1 a prom will leave to go with the cheaper shop. We get $29.99 and up. Last year we offered a special to a local private HS. if they mentioned the school when placing the order we would give back $1.50 for each corsage and .75 on each bout. We got all the kids and the prom decoration order as well. WE have even started to offer it this year to area schools. We also just posted on our web page the prom dates for a few of the schools and as we get more will keep adding it in. I plan to update images of our prom stuff to the web page this week as well.
In our area most of the corsage work is ordered by the boy or his mother. The girls order the bouts. Show an tell work for us. We keep one made as a sample in the cooler have all our prom set ups set to show and we keep a clear box on the counter with bling in it and we have PVC pipe with fritz wristlets on it. But most of our kids have been coming to us since the sophomore cruise so they trust our judgment. We do get a few that say “so and so is cheaper“. We always explain what goes into our corsages and maybe 1 a prom will leave to go with the cheaper shop. We get $29.99 and up. Last year we offered a special to a local private HS. if they mentioned the school when placing the order we would give back $1.50 for each corsage and .75 on each bout. We got all the kids and the prom decoration order as well. WE have even started to offer it this year to area schools. We also just posted on our web page the prom dates for a few of the schools and as we get more will keep adding it in. I plan to update images of our prom stuff to the web page this week as well.
dfisher
Active Member
Anne,
Great ideas - You have discovered the power of the Fund Raiser. We have many shops telling us how strong this is and how many orders come to them. Some shops do a % and some do a set amount like you do.
We also have shops who tell us this is their active marketing plan for influencing the girl to become their customer for life. And they are doing this very successfully.
We have done some studies on the "Sales Life Expectancy" if you can connect with that girl and she becomes a regular customer in the future. A lot of shops tell us they see the prom girls coming back for their weddings and they believe it is becuase of the strength of thier prom sales and relationsihps.
I would like to use your information in my presentation - is that OK with you?
Great ideas - You have discovered the power of the Fund Raiser. We have many shops telling us how strong this is and how many orders come to them. Some shops do a % and some do a set amount like you do.
We also have shops who tell us this is their active marketing plan for influencing the girl to become their customer for life. And they are doing this very successfully.
We have done some studies on the "Sales Life Expectancy" if you can connect with that girl and she becomes a regular customer in the future. A lot of shops tell us they see the prom girls coming back for their weddings and they believe it is becuase of the strength of thier prom sales and relationsihps.
I would like to use your information in my presentation - is that OK with you?
prom
sure you can use my info.
A lot of shops aim the prom business to the girls, which they should but again, for us it is the boys.
We have a great majority of them that still shop with us years later for Mothers Day and other occasions.
About 15 years ago we had 1 boy that went to the 8 proms we dubbed him prom boy to this day he is a regular customer ( and lives on the west coast). When he calls us he said "hi this is prom boy"!! Even his parents say "this is prom boys mother/father "when they call us to order.
So I think when doing marketing for the prom, one should consider both sexes. Just my 2 cents.
sure you can use my info.
A lot of shops aim the prom business to the girls, which they should but again, for us it is the boys.
We have a great majority of them that still shop with us years later for Mothers Day and other occasions.
About 15 years ago we had 1 boy that went to the 8 proms we dubbed him prom boy to this day he is a regular customer ( and lives on the west coast). When he calls us he said "hi this is prom boy"!! Even his parents say "this is prom boys mother/father "when they call us to order.
So I think when doing marketing for the prom, one should consider both sexes. Just my 2 cents.
dfisher
Active Member
Anne,
I agree with you - we do aim to market to both sexes - our unique bout holders are designed for the young men.
You bring up an interesting point - we have found strategies for the florists to use in raising there total prom sale - and most of those strategies are designed around the getting the girl to make the selections since, in most cases, this day is much more important to the girl than to the boy.
Now I will need to work on expanding our strategies to also enhance the sale to the young men. So, do you have any marketing ideas that you have found work very well when selling to the young man that you might share with the group.
By the way - check out our blog later today - you fundraiser note will be there.
Thanks for sharing.
I agree with you - we do aim to market to both sexes - our unique bout holders are designed for the young men.
You bring up an interesting point - we have found strategies for the florists to use in raising there total prom sale - and most of those strategies are designed around the getting the girl to make the selections since, in most cases, this day is much more important to the girl than to the boy.
Now I will need to work on expanding our strategies to also enhance the sale to the young men. So, do you have any marketing ideas that you have found work very well when selling to the young man that you might share with the group.
By the way - check out our blog later today - you fundraiser note will be there.
Thanks for sharing.
Glad to know others are still doing wristlets. I would like to know how these arm things work and what wires are used, but have no idea. if anyone has any tips. Also, how do you sell your wristlets to the kids? By color or by flower? What is your sales pitch. Seems like the girls get to picky and want white roses which just bruise right away. Any tips would be great. We need a new design this year!
The best selling technique I have used for selling the gemstone, wire, or other non-traditional wristlets is to showcase as though you were a jeweler and you were selling a piece of fine jewelry.
Also, Endeavor to sell to the boy and girl - AT THE SAME TIME - You might need to offer some type of incentive to encourage them to come into your shop together. It is far easier to up-sell and to creatively sell if you are talking with BOTH of THEM.
It is also easier to sell different blooms when you sell to the couple.......I sell mostly dendros......because they hold up better than spray roses.......and they have a more elegant look.......and with some good selling techniques......The kids will see the need for the flowers to be as elegant as the dresses and tuxedos.
Also, Endeavor to sell to the boy and girl - AT THE SAME TIME - You might need to offer some type of incentive to encourage them to come into your shop together. It is far easier to up-sell and to creatively sell if you are talking with BOTH of THEM.
It is also easier to sell different blooms when you sell to the couple.......I sell mostly dendros......because they hold up better than spray roses.......and they have a more elegant look.......and with some good selling techniques......The kids will see the need for the flowers to be as elegant as the dresses and tuxedos.
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