The Business & Pleasure of Flowers
Join Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson as they share expert advice, insider tips, and a whole lot of fun on all things floral. While everyone loves flowers, running a floral business can come with its fair share of challenges that might make you lose sight of the joy it brings. In this engaging and informative podcast, Vonda’s wealth of floral expertise pairs perfectly with Lori’s background in teaching, sales training, and life coaching to deliver valuable insights you can use right away.
From industry trends and the flower shop of the future to overcoming obstacles like boosting sales and building a stellar customer service team, they’ve got you covered. Discover how small shifts in your mindset and approach can create big transformations in your business and life.
Hit subscribe to put the pleasure back into your life, go back to loving flowers, find fresh inspiration, and bring the joy back to your business!
The Business & Pleasure of Flowers
Elevate Your Customer Service and Sales this Valentine's Day: Know Your Customer!
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Episode 215: This week Vonda and Lori rewind back to the Episode six where they share the four personality types of customers and how knowing that difference can elevate customer service, increase the sale, make taking orders more efficient and effective and have customers coming back for more, from YOU.
Customers share a common desire for kindness, understanding, and honesty. They crave an experience that goes beyond the transaction, when you recognize their individuality, or personality type, it is a game changer when it comes to providing exceptional customer service.
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Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist
These people are the loyal ones. Like if they hang up and they had a great experience, they're going to look for reasons to call you back to order more flowers.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever.
SPEAKER_00And Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.
SPEAKER_01Okay, here we are. Just over a week till the big day. I know that you're really busy, no doubt. You're processing flowers, pre-greening, getting things organized in the front room, just everything that takes to be ready for Valentine's Day. So today, what we have done is a rewind back to episode six. Yes, way back to 2020, and giving you some really important information on how to really know your customer in a short amount of time and the difference it makes when you know the personality type of that customer. And it doesn't take long to identify. So listen in as Lori and I go through those personality types, share tips on how to easily identify as well as efficient and effective ways to give them the best customer service. Let's listen in.
SPEAKER_00We decided to take what a little bit of a deeper dive into the types of customers that flower shops have, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. And first off, you want to know what is the customer need or want or expect, right? So I think that's what we started first was to set the stage. What does the customer want? We know they want to be treated as an individual.
SPEAKER_00Right. So many times, especially during the holidays, you know, you're so quick and you got to hurry up and you're answering the phone. You maybe have exactly what you're supposed to say, but you don't really stop and take the first couple minutes to hear from them first to know, okay, what type of person this is. Like every one of us have at least an ounce of intuitiveness. Right? That's kind of what we're gonna talk about today. How can we tap into that intuitiveness to listen to the type of customer calling?
SPEAKER_01You just said something, though, that as a business owner, I would go, mm-mm, Lori, you just said you have to take the first couple minutes to understand. And I don't have two minutes on Valentine's Day to listen, but it doesn't take that long to be intuitive. In that first 30 seconds, yeah, the way you're listening to their tone of voice, right? The speed in which they're talking, right, or the speed in which they're talking can tell you a lot and the tone of voice. All those things really help you identify. So it doesn't take two minutes. That's why I didn't want somebody to back away and go, oh, two minutes, no way. Yeah. Well, we're gonna get to this later. We'll talk about the two minutes, unless it's a storyteller. That's right. And it will take two minutes. We'll go into those four kinds of customers, but then we know that they want to be understood.
SPEAKER_00Right. No matter what personality type, they want to be understood, they want to be treated as an individual, right?
SPEAKER_01Want to be treated with kindness, and they want you to be truthful in what they're hearing. So all of those things. So we'll come back to those, just knowing what the customer wants, and then let's go into the types of personality because that's gonna really be where we're gonna dive deep into this, right?
SPEAKER_00And it's gonna be fun because you and I are very different personalities. We buy differently, we just do all of those things differently. So I would imagine people that have listened to our podcasts already know when we talk about which one of these they're gonna be able to pick. At least who I am. At least who I am. So you start with the first one.
SPEAKER_01Well, the first one is the data scientist. Now, that's the customer who wants the facts. They want to know what exactly is going into that arrangement. How many roses are gonna be in there? Is it a light shade of pink or a dark shade of pink? They don't want to really know anything about you, they just want to know exactly what they're getting and what it's gonna cost. Those are the ones who are usually gonna say, how much is this gonna cost? Or I only have $50 or I have $30, and you have to talk them into spending more, right? Right, right. You have to tell them what they're getting for that amount of money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and what you just said is so true. So they're gonna call and they're gonna let you know right up front what their budget is or what they want their budget to be. However, once you start explaining what it is they want for their money, they'll probably go up if they want something bigger, or they're gonna stick to the budget no matter what. They don't care size-wise, they need it to be this. You're gonna have to take a little bit of time with these people. You don't have to put a little emotion into it, you don't have to try to build relationships so much with this person. You need to be respectful, right? And if they start the very beginning saying, I don't want to spend more than $75, and that includes tax and delivery, then you honor that.
SPEAKER_01You know, or you let them know what they get for that value. Right. So if they say to you they want to spend, you know, $50, right? They there's it, $50 is my limit. Okay, that's great. We do have a couple things in that at $50, at Valentine's Day, it's gonna be a mixed arrangement that's going to have two roses and a couple stems of all stramaria and this in a clear vase. You will be able to pause and hear if they say, Oh, wow, that's probably not enough. Even though they've told you $50, you might say, you know, you might consider the data scientists will listen. Right. You might consider going to the next level, which would be $75, which I can give you four roses and those flowers, which is going to be a better value for them. They're the kind who use coupons, right? I was gonna say, fun fact, they like a coupon or a groupon. Right. So as long as their value equals their cost, they have that perceived value that what they're getting is a good value for their cost, then be happy.
SPEAKER_00Right. And so another thing you can do for these, especially during a holiday, is create a bundle. We've talked to so many shops that maybe you're partnering with a restaurant across the street, or I know last year a shop I talked to partnered with a spa, like across the street from them, and they created this really cool bundle that included roses and then a certificate to the spa and like a spa candle, you know, whatever it is. It's that value of three for one, right? If you buy all of this together, it's cheaper than if you were to buy it individually. These are the people that would listen for a bundle.
SPEAKER_01So, two things you just mentioned. One was bundling with somebody externally, yeah, which helps you with marketing. A lot of shops won't do it because they're like, Well, I want to sell what's in my shop, which totally get. But now that spa is advertising your flower shop and vice versa. Exactly. Or you can bring in the bundle just in your shop. You maybe have candles and you have plush and you have candy along with your flowers. So there's different ways to create those bundles. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00A lot of flower shops, at least around my area, they carry something that's been made locally. Um, maybe somebody that's also on Etsy, but they're bringing their stuff in. So they're selling their, I don't know, crosses or jewelry. I would also reach out to them and say, hey, for the holiday, do you want to go in together? These are the types, the data scientists, they love to get the most value for their money. They're not cheap. I'm not saying these are cheap people, but they they want to know exactly what they're getting for their money.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna go on to the next one because you might guess that this might be me. Yes, this is you. This is are the closers. They want the bottom line. They don't want your step-by-step, they don't want to know what it is, but they just want to know I need flowers. I need to know that you're gonna get them to the right person at the right time. And just tell me what I need. Right. These are the ones that we wished all of our customers were at Valentine's. They're in a hurry. It's usually that businessman he calls, I want a dozen roses, and you could probably talk him into a wow dozen roses. He's like, Okay, tell me that. And here's my credit card, and okay, get it there when I need it there.
SPEAKER_00So their biggest thing is number one, their time. Number two, will it be delivered when it needs to be delivered? Mm-hmm. And can I check it off my list? These people are list people. I wish I was like this, but I am not. They want to be able to check this off of their list. They're not linear. You don't have to put emotion into it. I know we said that, but you also don't want to think you're gonna win them over as a friend. Does that make sense? Like people like me that answer the phone to this person, gonna think, oh, if I'm nicer or if I try to find out more about it, it really does more harm than good, right? So your intuitive kicks in, you're like, okay, this person wants to hurry up. Also, I will say, most closers nowadays, they don't pick up the phone, right?
SPEAKER_01You're right. They don't. Those are the ones that are gonna order off your website. Yeah, they're gonna be quick and easy and go, all right, click, click, click, I'm done. You're right. That's a really good point because the closer doesn't necessarily want to have the conversation. If you have the closer who's on the phone, be sure and check to see if they've ordered with you before. Because if they have and you have that in your point of sale system, you're gonna really win them over because it's like, oh, you want to order from your wife? Oh, we did that before. She's at this address. Shall we just do happy Valentine's Day, love, Steve? And I have your billing address. Are the last four of your credit cards still 6995? And he'll say, Yes, thank you. Oh my gosh. He's gonna call you time and time again because you were quick, easy, you had his information.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, exactly. Okay, the next one, if they were to call and I was to answer, I would say, Can you hold a minute? I'm gonna get Vonda to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the director, right? These are the people who know their flowers, they know the difference between red rose and freedom rose and a free spirit rose. Right. And you're like, sure, they know hydrangea, they know Veronica, or they know some specialty flowers.
SPEAKER_00With all the greenery you always talk about, and you use all of the words and all of the things, they know that, right?
SPEAKER_01They do. And we as designers love these people, they speak our language. Yeah, Valentine's Day is a little more challenging, but as long as we have an arrangement visually in front of us that we can describe to them, they like to hear what is in each one of those arrangements.
SPEAKER_00I think with directors going back to checking your POS system, if you're doing any kind of pre-marketing for Valentine's Day, it would be great to have your designer reach out to beforehand hire to say, listen, you know, you ordered this. Do you want to take it a step further? What do you want to do? To get that conversation already taken care of. And it would also make them feel, oh, they're calling me because I'm kind of more of an elite person because I know my stuff. Yes, right. Or even an email, something like that. I I would want these people to order early.
SPEAKER_01It would be beneficial, especially to the flower shop if they could order early.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Maybe that's what the email or the text or however you're corresponding with your customers, let them know, hey, I'm reaching out to you because I know everything is in the details for you. When can you talk? You know, they're probably not going to order online.
SPEAKER_01And you let them know that you understand the value of customer satisfaction and you want them to be happy. And so that's why you're reaching out and want them to order early.
SPEAKER_00So right, right. We we talked about this a little bit, and I brought up the question would these be people you would want to send picture of what you made? And you said yes and no.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Because a lot of times when you send that picture, since they want to be the ones controlling the design, they might even say, I like it, but maybe if you could move that rose here or that rose there, or I don't really like that just like it is. Those are the type of people, if you have a policy that you're sending pictures, you might want to send the pictures of the recipient receiving the flowers because then the focus is more on the person and the flowers look pretty, but they're not like every little detail they're not looking for in the flowers.
SPEAKER_00I was also thinking this type of personality, again, I know there's a lot of people listening going, who has time for this? But I'm talking about after Valentine's Day, if I knew I had had conversations with a lot of lead these people, I might even reach out to them and be a little preemptive to make sure how did it go? Were they happy with it? Because if they weren't, you could get a bad review in the world of the internet that stinks and we hate that. But if you reached out to them just to make sure they were happy with it, even if they come back and go, you know, I really wasn't, and here's why. Okay, well, we can make that right.
SPEAKER_01Years ago, we used to say no news is good news, but that's not necessarily true anymore. Because no news means it could be somewhere on social media that they're not happy. So if you have any customers like this that you think, you know what, it might be beneficial for me to reach out to get some input.
SPEAKER_00Go with your gut. Yeah, yeah. I know we got after we went to dinner at a pretty nice restaurant New Year's Eve, we got an email the following week checking in to see, not that we are directors, but I'm like, that was pretty smart because there were some things that I wasn't super happy about there, um customer service-wise, not the food wise. And so I did. I emailed this guy back privately and then he responded. And I'm like, I would not do a negative review out unless I had addressed it first and got nothing back, but a lot of people would. So I think he was being preemptive, saying, Hey, if you had problems, let me know. What and I'm sure it was a mass email to everybody that was there, and he got it because we reserved on like open table or something. So he had our email.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the next one is all about you, Lori.
SPEAKER_00So this is called the storyteller. For all of you storytellers out there, I feel you. You're not alone. It is me. This type of customer can become your best friend. I have Lower Shop owners that I've known for eight years and they're doing their own thing now, but they still call me because we're best friends and we've never even met face to face. These people are going to become your best friend if you take those few extra seconds or minutes. Minutes. That would be minutes. This is minutes. I know you said two minutes is too much, but they will be a forever loyal customer. These people are the loyal ones. Like if they hang up and they had a great experience, they're going to look for reasons to call you back to order more flowers. Right. You see all of the shop local, support your local business. This personality type, they're pretty big into that. And it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01You know, it is a good thing. It is a good thing because these are your loyal customers. You have made a connection with them, and so they'll come back. Tell me, Lori, as a storyteller, if I'm taking an order from you, how can I get you off the phone quicker without making it?
SPEAKER_00No, I hear you. Say no more, Vonda. Say no more. I guess. Here's how I do it. This is coming from a storyteller that I've had to think through this because I talk to a lot of them. I say something like, Oh my goodness, I could talk to you all day long, but I know I need to let you go, get back to work. So let's wrap up. Let me just reaffirm what you ordered. Something like that. You you let them know you know they're busy or that you need to let them go. Don't ever say, Hey, I'd love to hear you, but I'm swamped. I gotta go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that hurts my feelings. You don't want to make them feel like they're not important in that.
SPEAKER_00Right, or valued, or that you just got on their nerves. I mean, just put it on you. I mean, you know, like I need to let you go. I could talk to you all day long. You need to come visit me after Valentine's Day. Come in, and you know, something like that. Anything to where you're putting it back on them, you gotta let them go. You're the one that's taking too much of their time. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01It does. That makes a lot of sense because, like you said, we tend to say, Oh, I'm really swamped.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Lori, I really love to talk to you even more, but I I really gotta go.
SPEAKER_00Or what happens is you're taking that order and they're talking and telling you about their new grandbaby, and you're so excited. And when they there is a pause, the employee on the phone says, Okay, just to wrap up, the and completely ignores their heartfelt story of their brand new baby grandchild. You know what I mean? At least fake it if if you're not into that, fake just a little bit of it. These people, fun fact, are the ones that will post those positive reviews. They're going to click the Google and make a review. They're going to click yelp. They're going to, because they love to take the time to say something positive about their experience.
SPEAKER_01The other thing we talked about was the importance of having your about us page on your website filled out with correct information because the storyteller wants to know who they're buying from. So before they even pick up the phone, if they've never ordered from you before, they will research to see, okay, what does this person stand for? Oh, they work at an animal shelter on their things off. They are active in this organization or that organization because they want to know a little bit about you before they enter into that conversation.
SPEAKER_00We like to humanize. And I can tell you, because I do order flowers quite a bit because it's the industry I'm in. So I'm always wanting to support people. I I always go to the about page about us. And I love it even more if there's a picture of everybody. I can tell if it's just a script, but I love when it started in 1820 with great Aunt Gladys or wow, that's so cool. You know, I love that. A lot of people don't because I feel like I'm helping.
SPEAKER_01Lori, I know that our listeners are very busy. Did I do that correctly? Yeah, it's true. It's true. We need to let them go, right? And so let's let's recap on what the customer wants. And then in your minds, I'll everyone who's listening, think about the four different kinds of customers, but they all want to be treated like individuals, they want to be understood, they want to be treated with kindness, and they want you to be truthful. So all of those things really go into all four types of customers.
SPEAKER_00Right. And so let's talk real quick about truthful. Because in this industry, we have always said, never say no, we can't, right? However, you have to be truthful. So, Vonda, since you owned a flower shop for so long and have been through I don't know how many Valentine's Days, how do you handle that if someone calls and they want, I don't know, seen roses with stargazers or fill in the blink, and you're out of Paloma roses. Like, how can you say, yes, we can do that?
SPEAKER_01But if they want it delivered on Valentine's Day, that's a tough one. You could say, you know, those Paloma roses are out of stock right now, but I will have some more in tomorrow if you want to wait and send them the day after Valentine's Day. However, if your message is to get your love across today, I'm gonna suggest that we do white roses and red combination so that it's gonna give you a red-white combination, but it's gonna be a little bit different look. Or I also have a different two-tone rose that is a yellow and orange. Would that work? So you're giving them a yes, if you want that exact thing, I can get it to you later. But if the urgency is today, which would know is Valentine's Day, right? This is what I can do for you today.
SPEAKER_00And so my new favorite line is if you need to get your love out today instead of tomorrow. I've never that just kind of rolled off, didn't it? That's awesome. I'm gonna use that on my husband. If you need to get your love out today, but if you can wait until tomorrow, I can have more roses or I can go to a fancier restaurant. Okay. All right, you got me on that one. Everyone listening to use that sentence on the phone at some point over the holidays. That's great. So that's truth. That's the bottom line with all of them. Yes. Use your common sense, your intuitiveness, whatever you want to call it, when you pick up that phone. Start figuring out within that first 15, 30 seconds of their who they're. It's their tone of voice. You know, if if I answer and say Vonda's flower shop and the person on the other line is, yes, I need to order a dozen roses, you quickly know, okay, this isn't a storyteller. But if you answer and they say, Well, hello, Vonda, how's how's the weather there? You know, oh, here we go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, tone and speed. I think both of those. You can definitely read them. And and I know those who are listening to us have been through this many times and are pretty intuitive. So I think trying to determine the four different kinds will be kind of fun for them to be able to figure out.
SPEAKER_00Right. So one one more thing, regardless of the the personality type or the customer that's calling, you're gonna start the conversation and end the conversation virtually the same way. And what I mean is start it, say, well, let's talk a few minutes, or you can say second, let's talk a little bit. Who is it for? Because even if it's a closer, you want to revert back to them exactly what they're ordering. Don't even paraphrase it. You're gonna say the exact so they know, okay, they heard me. I can trust this person, they're gonna do it. Yeah. Kind of give a recap of the order. Right. Give a recap of the order before you hang up that phone. So you're gonna start it. Tell me a little bit more because you I want to know what exactly you need. In the end, here's what I heard you say. Right. I'll tell you, I have ordered flowers from a shop that I told them, you know, pink. My mom's favorite color was pink. I let she loves pink and greens, and I don't know a lot about flowers. And they were almost too vague with me, and it made me feel stupid. You have to be really careful in how you do that. But when they came back, they didn't even explain to me what I like. I hung up not quite knowing what it was gonna be. And maybe that could be just because it was me and I I knew this person, the shop owner, and I called them to have it delivered, and they're like, I got you, I'll take care of it. And so part of that's okay, but if you say back to them, this is what I heard you say, and this is what we're gonna make happen. Everybody that hangs up the phone is gonna feel, okay, they got this.
SPEAKER_01Right. And that's what you want. They they all want to know you got their message and you're gonna say it with flowers. Right, right. You're going to send them your love, send them love.
SPEAKER_00Or how did you say it? Now I forgot it. If you want your love sent out today. Yes, they're gonna send your love out today. I feel like that's a song. It could be. I don't know. My love out today.
SPEAKER_01Although we recorded that several years ago, the facts are still there. The importance of really knowing your customer and delivering the best customer experience to get them to come back year after year, time after time. Next week, we know you will be right in the craziness of Valentine's Day, being on the 13th. So, what Lori and I are going to do is just bring you a little bit of Valentine's trivia. Yep, those little known facts about Valentine's Day that'll give you a little bit of a chuckle, or have you walk away with, hmm, I know that, or wow, I never knew that. So we look forward to seeing you then. Until then, know that you are so in our thoughts and prayers, and we really hope it's a fabulous prep time and gonna be a wonderful Valentine's Day. See you next week.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the Business and Pleasure of Flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.
SPEAKER_01So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business!