Mayhem with Marlin: Christmas Installs 101 — Pricing, Process & Profit

Episode 307: Lori and Vonda welcome friend and designer, Marlin Hargrove AIFD, for a masterclass in holiday home installs—equal parts sparkle and straight talk. From landing residential vs. commercial clients to deciding when to use a client’s décor vs. curating a full package, Marlin breaks down the real-world workflow: consult questions that matter, tree-lighting strategy, toppers (crowns or subtle?), staffing smartly (lighters, designers, fluffers), and building half-day/full-day rate structures that actually pay. You’ll hear clever marketing moves (neighborhood targeting, blogger partnerships, mailbox-friendly outreach), why take-down is gold for next year’s bookings, and how timing (Thanksgiving to New Year’s) drives your calendar and fees. It’s candid, practical, and a little bit hilarious—yes, including “save-the-marriage” tree installs.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

When you said story behind, do you realize how much money I have made of people that want to go through every ornament and tell me where it came from?

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. Hello, Vonda. We have a very special guest today. We do. I'm very excited. And I keep trying to think of a recurring segment when we have him on. I don't know. And I haven't put it into chat GPT because I want to say I made it myself. So I haven't had it. But anyway. Marvelous Marlon. Marvelous Marlon. What do you think? More magnificent Marlon? Well, I want it to be like Marlon's something. Like his moments. Moments with Marlon.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

I always said my autobiography would be Marlon the Madness and the Mayhem.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Oh Mayhem with Marlon, moments, Marlin.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

I don't know. Hello, my friends. How are y'all?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

We're doing great. We always get excited when you're gonna be on the pod. And you were the first person I thought of when this subject came up.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

So we need your expertise. Actually, I'm I'm lying. So, well, you were the first person. Because, you know, we just had this conversation. You said you don't like liars. The very first person was Julie Poller. But and I texted her a quick question about something, but then I was like, I want Marlon on the podcast to talk about this. Not that I don't want Julie on here, but she would say, Call Marlon.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

And you know, if I'm gonna be second in line, I want Julie Poller to be the first in line. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

That's a really good way to look at it. I love some Julie. You can certainly see over her, so it's not gonna make anything. For sure, for sure. He is a tiny little peanut. She's just a tiny little peanut. So we have you on because we need your expertise about Christmas installs. All right. Okay. Are there any other kind of installs besides Christmas?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Right now they're not.

unknown 2:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Good answer, Marlon.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

So this came about, and I know it's probably too late. People are like, you should have done this a month ago. Yeah, you're right. We should have, but you know, whatever. We'll repeat it next year and you can be ready for next year. So that's kind of my things could change by next year, though. Well, true. Well, so we'll have we'll have mayhem with Marlon on again next year to talk about this. Okay. So this stemmed from some of our clickers who were posting in our Facebook group, and then some people were talking about it on Shop Talk. And I'm sensing that more people are getting back into this, which I love. But there was a lot of questions like, how do you charge for this? Do you charge by the hour, or do you charge by the job, or do you do it just by yourself, or do you have a whole step? So, like all these questions were firing around, and there was like a whole different variation of answers. And then some of the questions nobody was answering them. And then the other one was, how do you go about even getting into this? Like, how do you find customers to do this? And do you only do it for corporate or do you do it for individual homes and you know, fill in the blanks?

SPEAKER_03 3:54

I'm not giving you one little minute to answer any of those questions, Marvin. So just hang tight. She's she's gonna let you have some time.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

I'm gonna give you all 77 questions and then I will give you 78 answers. I know you will. It's why I love you. And on your mark set, go.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

All right. Speed round. Okay, so my introduction would be uh I will only speak from my experience. I have residential and I have commercial clients. My residential fall under my particular company, my commercial clients. I actually contract out with another company, and they do all the lead work and I do the pretty. And that's really it's been brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

So let me ask, how did you get those residential customers?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

The residential is, as I've said, the my my first time here, you just got to raise your hand. So the other thing is to keep your eye out. Through the holidays, if you see a a front porch that just looks drastic, that just needs your help, you can always just drop a little note in their mailbox and hey, I see that you're participating in Christmas. We have services that could help enhance your Christmas, da da da, whatever it may be. You're not saying their porch is ugly. You're just saying kind of are though. Well, kind of are you know, you're just saying because their neighbor might not have anything out, so you don't know whether they participate in Christmas. Because it you know, that I didn't know that was a thing until I got grown that some people do Christmas, some people don't.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And you know, I just thought everybody did Christmas, but I was raised a Christian, so that's what you believe in. So also getting in one of my uh best accounts is a blogger. She's a fashion blogger, so she does a lot of shoots from her home, and she'll do her clothes, her fashions, and there's beautiful Christmas decorations behind her that oh, who did your Christmas decorations? She pops my name out. And I've gotten two calls this week from that. And that's that's the scheduling thing, but but the scheduling challenge. But you know, it's letting people know that you do Christmas. A lot of people that, if you're in a traditional flower shop, they know you do funeral work, wedding work, everyday birthday, whatnot. But if you ever stop long enough to say, hey, you know what? And even in in late summer, early fall, hey, look, here's our list of Christmas services. Did you even know we did that? And it could be anything from mailbox installations, and that's all you do, or tree trimming installations, that's all you do, or full house installations, that's what you do. So it's just letting your people that already know you and trust you reach out to them and let them know. People decorated their own homes when I was coming along. And then I remember some of the first times we ever did someone's home was when it was on the tour of homes. You know, so the flower shop got in the tour of homes, which is another if you can get involved in service work that way, someone sees your work even with someone else's decorations, which may fall into another question down the road as far as pricing goes. And what level are you doing? Are you doing their decorations? Are you providing all decorations? It's a massive spectrum of things that you can do for holiday installations.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

I love the idea of putting something in their mailbox. That is just so intriguing. I had never thought of it. But then what came to my mind is remember how when the Grinch stole Christmas and they are having this competition with the ladies making the best. You could almost do a postcard with the Grinch and these ladies and stuff like that. Oh, that's so cute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

So side note on that, and I should have caught myself when I said it. I think legally we're not supposed to put anything in someone's mailbox. We're supposed to put it on the outside. But you could tie even a little a little curling ribbon with a postcard on it. Do it something that looks Christmassy. And do it in the summer when nobody's thinking about Christmas and you've got some extra time on your hands, you know. So I'd I've gotten two or three lighting installation things on my mailbox. I get landscaper stuff in my mailbox, and I'm in an HOA. HOA decides everything for me, but people do attach stuff to outside of the mailbox, but that's what you have to legally do. So great idea. I didn't know that. If you could get one neighborhood, then you're not driving all over town, and you get five homes in one neighborhood. That's a good two or three days' work when depending on what the this the scale is. So wow, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

You were just kind of touched on a little bit about whether you do their product, you do your product. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

That used to, and I hate to keep going back to used to's, but Christmas is totally different than what I was raised when I was working in a regular retail shop. It's just totally different now. We would go in to someone's home, they'd had everything spread out on the dining table in the guest bedroom, wherever it was, and you just look at their things, you go do this here, this here, this here, and then, you know, distribute it throughout the house. But then there got to be the part of people doing custom work for homes. When you could go into a home, examine it, we want to do this here, this here, this here, and I need to get ornaments, greenery, picks, ribbon, I need to get all these things and sell them that whole package. And that's really beneficial when you can actually mark up the items, you're getting profit on that and profit on your labor. So that's that's where the benefit of that is. But that's preparation, that's good summer work. Like I said, when nobody wants to talk about Christmas in the summer. But if you can capture somebody, especially new builds where they've just got their house built, we know that they don't have anything for that particular house.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

And new builds are more, to me, they're more apt to be into custom and into things that work with their interiors, things that they have planned on. And so versus traditional everyday red and green or traditional homespun, that's a great market to focus in on because if it's a new home, they're going to want new things traditionally.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

To me, at least they bring their old Christmas tree with them or something. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

We threw that out, and you know, they won't think about it until the Thanksgiving Eve, and they're like, Oh my gosh, we threw the Christmas tree out. What are we supposed to do? You know, and if you've already been proactive in that and you're like, oh, wait a minute, Marlon's got this covered. I don't have to worry about it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

So that brings up a question. Oh, I'm supposed to raise my hand.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yes, ma'am. Miss Wilson, yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

I'm raising listeners, I'm raising my hand. Do you actually provide the the Christmas tree?

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Well, everything goes down to pricing. With planning, I can provide the Christmas tree. I had a client this year that I bought the Christmas tree from a national well-known company that ships in boxes. And I did not open it up until last week, only to discover I didn't get parts one, two, three, and four like I was supposed to. I got two, two, three, and four. And so I had to go to a a local big inexpensive chain, purchase a tree off the floor.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

But then I realized once I got it back to the house, I put so much stuff on it, it could have been a sack of corn stalks. I mean, and nobody would have ever known. So, you know, I so I learned there and I returned that incomplete tree, even if it was past their 30-day return period.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

They didn't have the right product in there.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I know, but but they have a very strict 30-day return policy.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

I hit it.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

So, other lesson is if you order from that, open up your boxes when you get them. Right. So I learned there. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Oh, another hand up. This Nirvana is raising her hand now.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

This is mostly a comment. Your other person who asked the question, Miss Lori Wilson, was asking that because she is looking for a tree vague and she's having a terrible time. She is having really Tristmas tree trauma every year. She has Christmas tree time trauma. And so she's here every okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Well, well, ma'am, I will t I will take your question and I can we can have a conference offline, is how the kids say it.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

I need a therapy session.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Okay, and I can do that too. It's extra, but I can do it.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Damn it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

All right. So where where are we at in our questions? 71? 77.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

No, we're not even in the 70s yet. Okay. So I want to go back to you about Christmas trees. So talk a little bit about your prep process before an install. So let's let's do a scenario and let's just for I think the majority's sake of people that are listening, let's do a home. Residential. And you're going to Lori Wilson's house. Let's pretend you're coming to my house. Let's just pretend.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

What time of year am I coming? Am I coming in the summer when you're when you're on action?

SPEAKER_03 13:03

She's ready to have it done right now.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

No, you're coming the let's see, Halloween was on Friday. You're coming on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Because I am that excited.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Well, and I I have a regular that does first weekend after Halloween every year.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

I love having my tree up that early.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

And so you're flying in. You're gonna probably fly in Halloween night because we're gonna do hang out and pass out candy together.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Oh, that could be fun. Yeah. Okay, so these are the questions I would be asking you. Okay. Do you have your tree? Do you have your decorations? Do you do you have pictures of your past Christmases?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

I have all of those things. I am very picky about my ornaments.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

What does that mean? Picky as in you're they're fragile or you're just picky?

SPEAKER_02 13:57

I want my ornaments. I have my ornaments from starting like 1990. I have all glass ornaments.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

So these are not cookie cutters from your children's kindergarten.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

No, those are on another tree. Good.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

That's a very smart move. Very smart move.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

That only Satan looks at. I don't like it. I don't like it. And my to this day, my kids say they did therapy because of it, but I don't care. I don't care. I don't love that tree. I put another tree up when the kids were little. They put all of their play-doh stuff on it. I love glass ornaments. A lot of them came from my mother's tree. Every ornament I put on my tree, I remember where it came from. And it has a story behind it. It's very important. Now I do have like, you know, filler and red and green balls that you have to put in. But it's all of the filler stuff that I want someone to come in and do all of my tree, but use my ornaments and do all of the filler in a tree topper.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

So how would you be that client?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Okay. How would I want now?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

What was how would you handle a client?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Okay, so my first question is will you be at the installation?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Only if you want me to.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

When you said story behind, do you realize how much money I have made of people that want to go through every ornament and tell me where it came from and where they bought it? No, I won't do that. I won't do that. Well, a lot of people, they want to open that box and they literally will go through, oh my gosh, we got that one when we were in Amsterdam. Oh my gosh, we got that one when we were in Paris. And it, I okay, great. Because it says Paris right on it. That would have been my first clue, and it's an Eiffel Tower. So chances are I figured that one out. But are you going to be there occupying my time? I mean, I mean keeping me company. Yes. And so you've got everyday glass ornaments that we can put inside the tree on the to fill out the tree and to put your beautiful ornaments on the outer edge so that they will show.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Okay. Well, that's that's the process I would do. Is your tree lit? Is it pre-lit?

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Well, it's supposed to be, but that's just where the trauma comes in.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

How old is your tree and what lights are working? What lights are?

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Only, it's only five years old. It's a nine and a half foot tall tree.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Incandescent lighting.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

The LED light.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Oh, LED and it's going out.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

The very yes, they're dim. So we got all new LED lights and restrung. Because the Christmas tree that I like, the only other one on the planet that I like, is sold out everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

So anyway, it's fine for right now. Okay. I don't have any ornaments on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

So you you relit your tree because tree lighting is another good moneymaker for the designer.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Okay, I want to paint somebody because there's potential we may be divorced over the tree lighting. Because it was not fun between husband and wife to have to do that last night.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

So that, yeah, no, tree lighting is takes a lot of time. And do you want to pay? These are just questions I'm asking. Do you want to pay? I can bring someone with me that is a great tree lighter. Yes, I would have paid for that. And my payroll gets paid less than I do. You don't want me lighting your tree. You can't afford that.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

No. I would have paid someone to do that because number one, they probably would have done it better than how I did it. And that would have not caused the argument. Yes. The stress. That was pausing because I was doing it during a football game that was going on too while I was making someone else help me. So it was just causing chaos.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Side note, you know, a lot of my side notes. I have a couple that I do their tree because of that word divorce.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Because they said we never argue about anything except the Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

When you come in and do our tree, they're never even there. Just to save our marriage. And I said, sure. That is okay. Yeah. So you know you know what you argue about. So, you know, we've got you established, we're gonna your tree is pre-lit. We're gonna use your ornaments. We're gonna do a topper. We bring in the topper. You do you want the topper something exciting out of out of my treasure chest? Or is this something you've got, you know?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

I don't I have a star.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

You've got an overweight star that won't stand up on your tree. It'll flop over, probably, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

I used to, oh god, you know me so well. I used to long, long time ago, have that overweight, floppy star. I now have a much lighter, much more subtle one. However, I don't love it. I never love any star. Here's what I'm not into anymore. The big sparkly stick.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Crown. Crowns. We call those crowns.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I don't love them anymore. Now, I used to. Ellie and Vonda have both made me one and it looks lovely. I'm kind of over all that. I'm into more the traditional. I love the Ralph Lauren style this year. That's what I would want you to create something that goes with that look.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Okay. Well, traditionally, I would just let that topper play into the rest of the tree.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

That's what I want it subtle. I think I'm wanting more of the subtle. I don't want anything.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

That's a very important word for someone like me to hear.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Scale it back. Bring it back. Because you know what? You'll end up, there will there will be no tree showing, and you will end up with this huge pom-pom thing on the top. Because I love that.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

So I love all different styles of trees, but I think I like the tree showing. And I'm seeing a lot of Christmas trees made up right now where I see no tree.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, that's true. And is that what the style I it could be because their lights are terrible and they need to cover up? It could be they've got a bunch of stuff and they want to throw everything on there. There's they don't believe in editing. They don't believe in changing what they've always done.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I remember the first time I saw a crown on a tree, and I thought my life had been changed forever. I mean, I just and that was back in the 80s, and it was the late 80s, and I just thought, oh my gosh, look at that parade float on top of that tree. And I thought, that is just fabulous. And so I have just fallen in love with that. And the bigger the better. And then I will say, this year, I think I'm on my fifth installation of a home already, and I have scaled down, and I've just, it's just been clean and neat and and tailored, very, very tailored and handsome installations this year, which has surprised me. So I don't know what that's about. I don't know where that comes from.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Is it by choice, the customer choice, or just use your vibe you're doing?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

My vibe. I don't know where it's coming from. And I'm not a conservative designer, but um that's just kind of where I am right now.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Are you finding because first of all, do you are you these mostly repeat customers that you have?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yes, yes, yes. That's the other challenge. And I told someone, a new person that called the other day, I said, I do, but you gotta dance with the one who wrong you. You gotta if if these people are buying for me all year round and I'm doing their Christmas, they move up to the top of the list because I gotta have them all year round. And I know their codes, I know whether they're gonna be in town or not in town. I know where I yeah, I put up all this stuff the year before, so I know where it is, I know what shape it's in, I know how to get to it. That's another kind of not a guaranteed sale because nothing's guaranteed in this life, but that's That's a good positive thing to make sure you follow through. Once you do an installation and Christmas is done with, while you're installing, go ahead and plan the takedown. Because if you can get your hands on the takedown, you're the one that's organized it. You've set it in, you've got it in the tubs, you've labeled the tubs, you know where everything is. So when it's next year and they go, Well, you put it away last year, I don't even, I haven't even, I don't even know, haven't even looked over there. Well, look, I know where it all is. Let me come in this date. And so you just you create the cycle. Also, if someone else does an installation, but you have the chance to put it away, that can give you a better percentage of hope for the next year of you putting it up. Because once people are done, most people, you know, whether they're satisfied or not, Christmas is up, they're not going to change it that year. And so they they could be shopping for the next year.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

How long do you usually leave it up? So when you put it up, you try to get it down by what?

SPEAKER_01 23:00

The most important word of of any holiday, up or down, is timing. And the installing is a timing thing, and it's the calendar, and then it goes back to that calendar again in January when it's time to put it away. I have one lady that, and this is her quote. She says, As soon as baby Jesus gets here, I want this stuff down. Okay. So the day after Christmas, it's down in her house.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Oh, wow. She wants to be on the New Year's year.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Wow. Every holiday is very important to her, so she wants to give it its due. But most people want to see it through the holiday, through the end of the year. Yeah. But as soon as it comes January, people get itchy and they want their house clean, and and everybody wants it down at least January 2nd. Everyone. And it's like, whoa, okay, well, gotta move you here, move you here, move you here.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

So I mean it's just New Year's Day alive.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yes. I work Thanksgiving and I work New Year's Day.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

People want it up.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

People want it up. People want it up. They're out of town at their children's and they want it up when they return.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Got it. Got it. So, Marlon, what I'm just observing here with you and Lori is you do a lot of listening first. Absolutely. Kind of code words, so to speak, right? And it's like this means this, this means this. So you know how to respond to her. So every time you have a new client, you go through this process, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yes, I do. It's the same thing as a wedding consultation or any other consultation. You want to get to know them on a personal level. And Christmas is a year-round touch with tradition and touch with internal feelings, and it takes you back to nostalgia no matter where you are. Some people had great Christmases growing up, some people didn't. And you got to deal with that. But you want to get you want to get personal, and because Christmas is personal to everyone.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

The biggest thing which I have to learn constantly with anything I do, check my ego at the door. It has nothing to do with me. Right. You know, listen, listen, listen. And when you said code words or keywords, I have to listen for those that word subtle. Or we use this stairwell every day. It's not just a decorative stairwell. We use I love a big new post with a lot of stuff coming out. But if you're using that stairwell every day, no. Or we've got three kids that go up and down this every day. We've got a toddler that needs to hold on to the handrail. Yeah. You know, you have to learn that it's just all these little quirky things. And I don't have children, so I don't think about all that. And which takes me to Lori. So your Christmas is about to change with a grandchild because you know you're going to have new homemade ornaments that are going to be so much more special to you. So you're going to you're going to have to figure out your glass ornaments, which one's going to be more because Mima's going to want that, that yes, you are. Yes, you are. I'm going to I'll oh God. You've got a few years to worry about it, but I just want to go ahead and put that on your plate.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

You do. And you and I've been into houses to decorate too, Marlon, that those glass ornaments were up to a certain level so that so that the little kids couldn't get them. So then she put her little ornaments down.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

And I also do sometimes that the adult ornaments are from, you know, waist high enough. Yes. And then they leave the bottom of the tree blank so the children can fill it in.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

And the tree may not match.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

I don't know. But I yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

I'll not loving it, Marlon. I think she will have that.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

I'm just trying to do that. We got a few years to get you ready for this.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

We got a few years, right? Right. We don't even know the sex of the baby yet, but we'll figure that. So here's my question, kind of leaning into that. Have you ever done an install and the homeowners showed up and they didn't like it? And you had to, you talk about checking your ego at the door. Did and you had to change it.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

I went today to change something before this phone call. I thought, oh, I hope I get back in time. I put up uh just an evergreen garland over the front door. I know it's early, but I thought, oh, let's just get it done.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

She called and she said, I said, I just think, I just think it's too early for my garland. I said, okay, that's fine. I'll come over, take it down.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

And and she told me when I was there the other day, she said, now listen, I don't want to say this, but my dining table is now my work table. So what we normally would do, this big old hoopla on the dining table. She goes, so we're not going to do that this year. Well, I took it upon myself to run a garland down the table and put some velvet pumpkins, which were in blues and grays and rust, and they were beautiful and went, still went with their holiday stuff. But she called today, she said, I'm not feeling the pumpkins. I'm just not feeling the pumpkins. And I heard her say, my dining table is my office now. And I didn't check it all at the door. And I said, But I want you to have something pretty on your dining table.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

So I went back today and took it all off, packed it away in the tub marked Velvet Pumpkins. And um, yeah, and she'll be happy with that. So, yes, as far as like the last three hours, I was taking something down. Well, and I have had another that did not like crowns, and I did not ask her about crowns on her tree. And she said, I just don't like all that stuff sticking out.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Oh, yeah. So now I know she literally wants a triangular tree.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'm sure the first year is discovering more about what their likes and dislikes.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Correct. But also, people changed. I mean, that you know, when she said that to me, it was not her first year. You know, she just had decided I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

I used to love that sticky outie stuff. Vonda did it, and I thought it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. I thought it was the most beautiful tree I've ever had, and it truly was. And now I just don't like it as much. Mine, I'm I'm kind of over the sparkly stuff. I think if it was more natural color, last week we were at the Bill Doran in Rockford. They had a lot of the sticks that weren't as glittery and more natural golds and browns and even creams, that was beautiful. I think I would enjoy a crown maybe with those colors, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

That's a really specific thought because if you say no, no sticks, no protrusions from the tree, whatever you want to call it, you know, in my mind that means not no, you're not gonna get any.

unknown 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

You would have to tell me, oh, but if they're natural, that might be different. And might might is when I go back to when are you gonna be there or not gonna be there? Because if I have to go back and change it, you know, change it because of what you ordered, then it that will cost you more money. If I change it, if I have to go back and change it because you don't like what I did and it was my interpretation, I don't normally charge for that.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

Yeah, we want to wrap up with is the the charging, you know. Yeah, okay, structure. Is that what you say about the call?

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Yeah, I don't know that you know that this is Bible. What I what I know is I start with what I want to make for the day, for the job. You have to look at the the scope of the job. Is it is it a tree, is it a whole house? Is it everything that goes into it? What I've learned this year, and I don't know why it took me so long to learn this, but I have learned that first off, I've learned that payroll is extremely expensive and it's not getting any cheaper. But I have learned the efficiency of being prepared with staff. And maybe I've learned that from my my Tuesday mornings with the Flower Click podcast. You know, y'all, everybody talks about their staffing all across the board, their staffing, and your people are your biggest asset and also your biggest expense. So I make sure that I have the right people for the right job. I have the tree lighter if I need the tree lighter, I have designers if I need designers, I have fluffers, I have all these different people that I can pull from. And I I figure out what I want to get paid, I figure out what they're gonna charge me to work for me. I pay people probably better because I want to have a pantry full of folks to pull from, and people are always willing to work for me. I figure out lunch, I figure out snacks, I figure out drinks. I mean, and we're not talking, everybody's not gonna get a Starbucks grande, but I will have water. But I'll tell them I got water and I got snacks, we're gonna have lunch. Right. Here's the scope. We start here, we end here. I need you to be focused, I need you to be off your phone, but I figure out all those things, and then if I know ahead of time I present it, if it's an existing client, they pretty much know what I'm gonna charge. Okay. I can't give you a recipe of this person costs this much because I'm dealing with an Atlanta market that that is very competitive. But I do know that people that have Christmas installations, it's a specialty item. It's not like they're ordering a hospital arrangement. It's a specialty item that happens once a year. And what I've learned, a lot of folks just want you to come in and do their tree because they're running behind and don't want to deal with the tree.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

That's another charge. That because you didn't want to deal with it and I need to deal with it now, that's extra money. Yes. And so right now, what I'm running into is those folks that are doing that, and my answer is I'm available after the second week of December because I'm already booked.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

And if they're willing to talk to me for about the second week of December, and I'm not being cocky about this, they'll pretty much pay whatever to get it done.

SPEAKER_04 33:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

So, and a lot of it is the people's insecurity about time and expectations and all of that that's going on in their home before I even get there. Do they have what they want? Is it gonna get up in time? They've got a party coming, they've got children they got to deal with, they're all going out of town. They need all of these things are factors as to what I charge. But I do pretty much consistently do, in my mind, I will start with a half day rate and a full day rate of what I want to get paid. And I build on that. Because when the check comes, I want to know that what the money that I wanted to make, I've made out of that day.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

I love that. It's like you figure that, okay, so I have a nine-foot Christmas tree that I'm gonna be decorating. It's gonna take me half a day. And it's gonna take me and it's gonna take maybe one or two other people. And so then I look at what they need to make, both of the people who are helping me, and what I want to make. And then this is what I'm trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

And going back to one of the initial questions, someone else's ornaments, is it a nine-foot tree and your largest ornament is an inch and a half? Yeah, right. Because I mean, majority of people are comfortable with those inch and a half ornaments. You know, it takes me a lot less time to hang, you know, some 12-inch balls than it does a you know, inch and a half Santa. Sure. So I wish there was a formula, but I don't think the formula would be accurate for everything.

SPEAKER_03 34:45

I think that's it. I think what you're saying makes so much sense, is what you need to make. And so many times, if you're a flower shop owner, you're thinking, well, I just need to make $25 an hour. No, that's not what you need to make. I mean, you have to really watch that because you're gonna be out of the shop. You're gonna have to pay somebody to take your place to do your orders or whatever you're doing in the shop. And you really have to think that through.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

And it's a different pay scale than you standing at a design table with your bucket of flowers making an arrangement to go on a blaver. It's a totally different experience, it's the belief that you could do a great job and and you're doing something that's got to be beautiful for everyone. Everybody's gonna see this house when they come by. And it's also advertisement for you. Because if they have a party, there's a whole new set of eyes looking at their Christmas decorations. Who did your decorations? Oh, well, it's too bit, too late for this year, but start making that list for next year. People that have contacted you and they may not even use you, keep their name and number that you can contact them in August. And say, hey, you reached out last year. You know, and that's another way of getting those clients.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

So And I think you have to be really careful not to do things too inexpensive because then everybody wants you, right? And you're making less money or normally on 10 people rather than a lot of money on one person.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Open your eyes and go to the go, I don't want to mention names, go to the stores that have decorative accessories. Go look at those prices of things. And it's shocking. It's shocking. And look at people's carts and you're like, hmm, you literally paid $60 for that 10-inch Santa. That's not even pretty.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

You know, so we can give you the avenue. If you've got a retail shop that has decorative items and gift wares and a whole full array of uh products, look in your front of your store and and sell what's there. Get rid of what's there. Sell folks into what you've already planned for your Christmas. Just a quick side note, I've discovered red and green is always gonna be red and green because if that's what Christmas is. But champagne, champagne, champagne, champagne all day long. It can go with red and green. It can go with white, it can go with gold, it can go with with bronze, it can go with copper, it can go with anything. Champagne's the ticket. Just it and it goes with every home. You know, that's the number one color that my people want right now is champagne.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

I just ordered champagne ribbon. I was telling Vonda that I had to order ribbon wide because I want to attempt to do ribbon on my, but I'm not gonna do it well. I already know I'm terrified.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

You've got no, you've got people. Just pick up the phone and zoom in, and I will show you how to use your feet to tie that love.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Well, I got five inch wide or four-inch wide champagne color because I was like, well, that's gonna go with my red or my green or goes with everything.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Well, some what he said, boy, you read his mind before he even got on here. Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

I just ordered it all last night. But to your point, I just ordered $80 in just ribbon, where I'm like, what the hell am I gonna do with all these ribbons? I don't know. You know, I would so much rather if I knew someone around here, I would just write them a check. Just come do my tree. Like one of you people, I don't know anyone around here, but they're there. They're there. I know, but my point is to what you're saying, you should never discount yourself price-wise. People pay, would pay, will pay for your expertise. You guys are designers, you're experienced designers, you know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

We've laughed at it, but you know, just the simple fact even if you don't do Christmas installations, you can tie if you can tie a a red velvet bow and people come in with their ribbon. Hey, can you tie this? Yes, I do, and here's what I'll charge for that. Don't give it away.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

Give it away. Don't give it away. It is a talent. Trust me, it's a talent.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

And it's a short window to collect that income.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

It's a very short window. But it can make it very profitable when, yeah, it can be very profitable in business.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

So yeah. Thank you for doing all of this. This has been really, really enlightening. I hope everybody that listens, if they haven't done it this year, maybe it will inspire them to do next year and even to start maybe with Thanksgiving. I know going back to Julie, I know she does a lot before Thanksgiving Thanksgiving installs. Like Maryland, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

And you can also layer some things so that if you're doing a Thanksgiving installation, so that you can just pull out the turkeys and plop in some Santa and you haven't had to rearrange the whole house.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have anyone that goes straight like and then wants to do some sort of a spring install? I mean, that like all seats.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Yes, I do. But they're just people that love the holidays. So when you hear that they love the holidays, you just start you start promoting it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

But I love the idea. Even promote takedown. I mean, tie something around the mailbox now and say, hey, you want somebody to help you undecorate your house.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

I see you're decorated for the season, but what about and people will want to pay less for takedown? Takedown is very important for the next year. Promote your organizational skills, and it's still an hour. It's still a time of the day that you're out of the shop. You're not there. Charge for that.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

For sure. Love it. Wow. Really, really good advice. You're always so educational. Thank you, Marvelous Marblin.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Thank you, my loves. It's great to be with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Thank 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.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

We look forward to seeing you next week. So 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.