Quick - Train Your Team on This Before Mother’s Day Hits

Episode 332:  Mother’s Day is here—and the difference between a decent week and a record-breaking one comes down to how your team communicates with customers.

In this episode, Vonda sits down with the floral industry's two most trusted experts in sales and customer service education, Lori Wilson, from Flower Clique and Sam Bowles, the General Manager and Creative Director at Allen's in in San Diego, CA, to break down exactly what flower shop teams should be saying (and NOT saying) during the busiest sales week of the year (and beyond!).

You’ll hear real, practical strategies you can implement immediately—including:

• The “GROW” framework for turning conversations into higher-value sales
• What to say instead of “What’s your budget?” (and why it’s costing you money)
• How to confidently sell $250+ arrangements without feeling pushy
• The fastest way to build connection with customers—in under 10 seconds
• Why having a “jaw-dropper” arrangement in your cooler can transform your revenue
• What phrases instantly kill a sale (and how to fix them)
• How to train and course-correct your team during a busy holiday week
• The importance of protecting your team’s energy—and your shop’s standards

This episode is equal parts strategy, real talk, and behind-the-scenes insight from leaders actively running high-performing flower shops.

If you want your team to sound more confident, sell more effectively, and create better customer experiences this Mother’s Day—this is the playbook.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

It communicates expectations. I think that's as important on the phone in particular as landing on the price point is communicating expectations.

SPEAKER_05 0:16

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

SPEAKER_07 0:22

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_05 0:32

Hey clickers, this is a rare opportunity that I am here interviewing someone, including Lori Wilson, who is our director of community and education at FlowerClick. And Sam Bowles, I am so happy, is here because I don't usually get the opportunity to set in. Usually Lori interviews Sam, and I just am not in on this whole fun side. But Sam Bowles, who is the general manager and creative director at Allen's Flowers in beautiful San Diego, California. Welcome, Sam.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

SPEAKER_08 1:06

Yes. The only thing I'm gonna say, Vonda, before we start is you entered at your own risk here.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

I know.

SPEAKER_08 1:13

This is very this could go off kilter real fast.

SPEAKER_05 1:17

But it's kind of sacred ground because the relationship the two of you have is such a special relationship. And I'm coming into this going, okay, let's see. One, can I tail them to give me the good information that our clickers need? And two, just even keeping your same great personality. So it's gonna be a balance. It's gonna be okay. You can do it. If anyone can do it, it's you.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Totally.

SPEAKER_05 1:42

All right. Well, both of you are specialists in training or educating. See, I use the word training, Lori. I know. Educating the floral industry on customer service, like the best customer service and sales. How do you teach employees how to sell flowers or sell emotions to their customers? And here we are coming up at Mother's Day, and we need to go. All right, what can we do? This is the week. I mean, what is it that shop owners and employees who are listening can do to make a difference in this short sales period and beyond, of course? We want to start something that they continue on. And you both do sales training, and we know you don't just like teach and forget. You don't just teach them and then like up, that's it. You have to keep checking in on them. Wasn't the Zig Ziglar who said repetition is the mother of learning, father of action, which makes the architect of accomplishment. So we have to make sure that we're getting all that done and getting people ready for Mother's Day. So here we are. I'm gonna do just questions and I would like you to answer with maybe a quick answer and then give me an example if you can. And Lori, yes, it could be a smart answer if you would like.

SPEAKER_08 3:03

Yeah, probably. All right, all right, you go.

SPEAKER_05 3:05

Okay, first one. When a customer calls or walks in this week, what is one phrase or approach that immediately increases the sales?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Are you going first, Lori?

SPEAKER_08 3:16

Or am I you go first. I'm gonna let you go first because you're the guest.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, you know, I recently shared with Ori an in-store sales training program that I'm kind of working on in-house. And, you know, I love acronyms, so I'll share this one with you using the acronym GROW. G is for greet every customer within 10 seconds. That should be a no-brainer, but you can't imagine how often people walk into a retail establishment and maybe we don't mean anything by it, but we don't look up. And those little things, it surprises me how often a customer will reach out to share that with me. I wasn't even a web customer, I wasn't a delivery customer, but I was in your store and I didn't feel like the staff was friendly. I'm not saying it happens all the time, obviously I know I'd have a problem, but it did happen a couple of times in a calendar year at a store. And it made me think like, you know, I have poured all my efforts, even my career in this industry, into phone and web customer service because that is the bulk of our business. But the retail customers are very important. You know, a big part of Alan's business are our retail stores. That's actually our legacy before we ever had a website. And so I've kind of turned some attention back to that. So G is for greet every customer. And then this I think really speaks to the heart of the question. R is for relate with empathy, O is for offer with expertise, and W is for warmth in the entire interaction. So I want to zoom in on the two middle things because I think they really speak to this. The approach that increases the sale is those two things, relating with empathy and offering with your expertise. So instead of saying, what's your budget? How much do you want to spend, we lead with questions like, well, tell me about um, what does she love? Are there any colors that she loves? Because when you start to relate in that way, it becomes a conversation about the special thing you can create for them, not about a price point. The price point comes at the end.

SPEAKER_08 5:07

Yeah. All right. So Sam and I are basically of two minds. Everything he says, yes. The only thing I would add, which I think he's gonna go, yeah, obviously, is when I read this, the other part of everything he said is as the customer service person helping them after you've listened, of course, with empathy and asked them all this question, then you're sharing your personal opinion, your personal testimony of you know what? Oh my gosh, my favorite color is pink too. You know what I think they'd love? And then they immediately lean in because they're like, no, what? What? Oh dear friend, tell me, like, because you've already got them authentically, because you did do all of the things, the grow that Sam just said. So intuitively, if you're a good human grow that he just went through, going through those, you're intuitively gonna lean in and go, oh my gosh, based on everything you said, I think I really know the exact thing they would love. Here's what's been flying off the shelves for us, and we have it in pink. And you said their favorite color is pink. I think they'd love it. What do you think? And you have that connection immediately. And that's what sells your products. Right, is making that connection.

unknown 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Absolutely. And I would even add to it like when you have done it that way and you do present a premium arrangement at $250, and that person's like, whoa, wow, that's maybe they are, maybe they're like, that's way more than I wanted to spend. Because you have done it that way, even that part of the conversation is not awkward. It's not awkward. They don't feel like you've just thrown a premium price at them because you have built this rapport. And so you pivot and you step down to something more appropriate.

SPEAKER_08 7:07

Absolutely. Absolutely. Because they're gonna be comfortable, they're gonna go, ah, golly, I don't know. I don't know if I can swing that one. You know what? We'll figure out what you can swing. Where's this gonna go? You know, and you talk about that and you figure that out together. But it's going back to Sam's grow. If you've done that correctly, the relationship's established and in any healthy relationship, you're gonna be able to talk about all of the other things that would seem awkward if the relationship wasn't there.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

So absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 7:44

You kind of answered the second question at the same time, you guys. How do you guide the customer from a basic order to a high volume or high value order without being pushy? You're not, you're having that conversation, you're making them feel comfortable with the decision they're making. Yeah, relationship.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Another thing I love that I think speaks to this question, especially in store, is the concept of introducing a customer to an arrangement. So I've received you at some point in the shop. Also, I'll make the point. This sounds much more intense than it is. You might be hearing me say this and thinking that at Mother's Day during that volume, I'm supposed to stop and become their best friend. No, this is you, you could you can do grow in 30 seconds. It looks like this. Hey, welcome to Allen's. What brings you in today? Oh, shopping for mom. There's nothing better than shopping for mom. Let me show you my favorite arrangement in the shop. Right. That was it. And that was probably like eight seconds, and I did the whole thing, right? So now I'm walking you over to the cooler. I'm saying, man, Vonda, our AIFD recognized award-winning designer. Exactly. Just whip this beauty up. It just went into the cooler and we've all just been goo goo gaga over it. What I love about in-store shopping, unlike the phone, is I don't even have to tell them the price because I have a price tag on it. I'm just taking them over and being like, hey, look at this arrangement. Is it not a jaw dropper? They can see that it costs $350 and they can say, wow, that's gorgeous. Probably a little bigger than I want. Or they say, you know what? I'll take it. So I love the idea of introducing customers to your favorite things in the shop.

SPEAKER_08 9:16

100%. We talk about that in our Mother's Day virtual staff meeting, Bond. It makes sure every single employee has a favorite. What's your favorite? And when a customer comes in or calls on the phone, make sure you have two or three favorites that you're always talking about and pushing because they want to know what's your most popular. Everybody wants to know the most popular. Another thing that I love to do that we do with a flower clip because we do collections on the websites. And I love to go, oh, look, our AIFD designer, Von de La Fever. Whatever. Let's we're just gonna annoy the hell out of it. Yes, you are. Yes, you will. You love to do that. I don't know. I love it. But like our designer for Mother's Day came up with this collection. This is our boutique collection for Mother's Day, and it features these three items, blah, blah, blah. Like the whole concept of a featured collection for this holiday, that's kind of bougie, you know, that's kind of elite. Like something like that, that the mindset for a customer's like, oh, that's cool, or the limited time mentality of something. All of those little nuances sell. And they're it's true. You're not BSing them. It's all true. You do have an AIFD Von de la fever designer that did come up with these things, right? And then they are a cool collection. You just have to show them. And I'm with you, Sam. I would think it is easier, honestly, to be able to have them in the store because the prices are there and it's kind of verbal communication, right?

SPEAKER_05 10:54

Well, the key to that is to make sure at this time with the holiday that you have those items in the store. In 100%, you know, in and outside the cooler. So you can feel, touch, smell them, and plants, everything right there. Because I think that's where a lot of shops fall short, is that they don't have those varieties out there or different price points that the sales staff can go out and go, here it is, here, try this one. This is my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

If ever there's a time, even for the smallest shop in the country, to have a $350 jaw dropper in the cooler, it's Mother's Day weekend. Like those flowers are not going to go to waste. And even if it doesn't sell, it was worth the marketing. It was worth having it there for your customers who came through the door to see. And I have a news flash, it will sell. Yeah. It's totally worth it. You know, I share this often at essay at the events, but a good example is our arrangement, the Wow 100 Roses. So it's a $500 arrangement in a base the size of a bucket. It's a draw dropper. And we sell, I don't know, maybe three or four a week on a regular week. At Valentine's Day, we sell 20 plus during that week. But I looked at myself one year, a few years ago, and I was like, why do we not have these available in the store? This is a self-fulfilling prophecy that we think that this is a too big of a price point to have in the store. And I even told myself, you know what? It's worth the cost to have this jaw dropper in the center of every store, even if it doesn't sell. It's going to look amazing. Well, guess what? I have five retail stores, and by 11 a.m., all five of those $500 arrangements were gone. So now we do more in the year. So don't be afraid to swing for the fences at the holiday time. It showcases your work and it gives your customers, even if they're not ready to spend the money that day, it tells them you're capable of that kind of work.

SPEAKER_08 12:38

Yep, a hundred percent. I've shared this story multiple times. It was over 10 years ago. I was at a Texas State thing, Jenny Thomason was designing, and she featured a very, I'm gonna use the word unique. Very artsy. Artsy artsy of art. Stunning, but it was not something that an average person would purchase. And she was prodding the audience. She wanted somebody to raise their hand and say, I can't sell that. Like it was purposeful. And so somebody did, it wasn't me. Somebody raised their hand and was like, Yes, but like the mechanics, like how I would sell it. And she's like, glad you asked. You know, always have something like this in your shop. It doesn't have to be this, but have something because it is your moment. People walk in and they're like, oh my gosh, what kind of designers do you like? It it shows the type of designers, like it can do anything, but like you may not sell it, but it shows what your your shop can do, the range. Creativity. Creativity. And she was absolutely right. And I've never ever forgotten that. Because I thought that was so smart. It didn't have to be her thing, but like we exactly what you're saying. Don't be afraid to do that.

SPEAKER_05 13:59

Okay, so here's the next question. Okay. What do you do when you hear an employee say something on the phone that you're like, oh no, no, no, no. What is it they're saying that employees are saying that's costing the shop money during the holiday or every day? What are those words that you hear?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Well, I have to give credit where credit is due for me. You know, I I owe a lot of my background in this to my good friend Tim Huckabee, who got me started in the industry. And so he definitely comes to mind with a lot of these questions and this one in particular that we all know. But resorting to those things that can make awkward sales less awkward, or we think they can, like, well, what is your budget then? You know, I made my one suggestion and you laughed, and now I've lost all my confidence. So what is your budget?

SPEAKER_05 14:51

How much did you want to spend, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yeah, or even just responding to customers who say, because you do get this, you know, at the holiday, you get a lot of fast calls of customers who may not exactly be the warmest. They're they're just shopping. Like, what's the cheapest arrangement I can get?

SPEAKER_08 15:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Don't meet them with that attitude and say it starts at 50 bucks. Are we doing this thing? Because let me tell you about arrangements. They start with our small size, which are the perfect thing for blah, blah, blah. We generally design them between blank and blank. Give them a long and professional answer that speaks to their question, but also lets them know it communicates expectations. I think that's as important on the phone in particular as landing on the price point is communicating expectations. If you've already said that your average arrangement is $100 to $150, and that's the kind of thing you would put on a coffee table, and the customer is like, well, I want to spend $75, but I want it to be gorgeous. And you just say, oh, it'll be stunning. That's a problem waiting to happen. He's gonna call back and say, You told me this is gonna be stunning. And I'm like, Well, it is stunning. It's just the size of a coffee mug because that's what you get for $75.

SPEAKER_08 15:55

That's amount of money you had.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

So it's also about managing expectations because I think the question is more about what costs us money on the front end and sales, but let's not forget about what cost us money on the back end and problems because we lose that customer. We maybe refund, we have to replace. So it is worth the time to manage expectations and communicate correctly about what you're offering.

SPEAKER_08 16:17

Yeah, 100%. And I think the other thing that I hear from flowershop owners that are in our sales prep school, when I hear their nightmare stories of their employees, is them just saying, No, we don't have that. Just flat out no instead of telling them, but we do have. Or for example, them looking for a particular flower, a color of a flower and saying, is it the exact flower you're needing, or are you just needing something in that color? Because I love those two, but right now they're not in season. But we have something very similar if you're just looking for that style and really trying to sell them on an alternative, at least try, at least and offer some potential options.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I think a great example of that are if customers are asking for lilacs, if customers are asking for peonese, and you may have strategically chosen not to carry peonies during the Mother's Day season. We're still asking ourselves, even here with seven locations, if customers will really pay what the peonies are costing us right now. And will they be of quality that we feel comfortable charging what they're costing right now? With lilac, we only carry local lilac when it's local. It's a very special week or two weeks when it happens. It shifts through the year. Sometimes it lines up with Mother's Day. So I agree with you, Lori, because that's one where a staff member who hasn't been trained, when the customer says, Do you have lilacs? They'll just say, No, unfortunately, we don't. Yeah. Now they're hanging up and they're calling everyone around town because they're trying to find it. If you, the professional, communicate, like, oh man, you just missed it. The season ended last week, the local season ended last week. But let me tell you about some things in the collection that are very similar. Maybe some things that have some fragrance, if that's what you're after, similar colors. At least you are being proactive and maybe you'll land the sale because maybe they'll kind of trust you as the expert and be like, well, if they don't have it, if the local season's over, then why do I want to waste my time falling around?

SPEAKER_08 18:12

Exactly. So that's why education to your customer and as the manager, educating your team on these things are important.

SPEAKER_05 18:22

What is one thing every employee answering the phone should be doing on every single call this week?

SPEAKER_08 18:31

Smiling. Good. That's great. Smiling when they answer the phone. I tell it all the time. Smiling when you answer the phone because they can hear it. You answer the phone when you're browning, people hear the tone. It changes your tone of voice.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

You know, I I promise that Lori and I did not communicate before the session. And literally, I have smile before you pick up. It's audible. Literally, your voice changes. Train your employees to take a deep breath, smile, and then answer. It sets the tone before a word is spoken.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

If we are the same person, that's what Lori wanted to answer first.

SPEAKER_08 19:08

Yeah, we are the same person. We think exactly alike.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

There's so many similarities, right? There's things that you need to do to have that good customer service. And they're not different, which is what I love. That's the really important thing about having both of you on is the similarities in everything you're saying. It's not like we're telling everyone there's two different ways to do it. This is cool. I love it.

SPEAKER_08 19:32

Funny. Nothing is worse from somebody who does call flower shops to order flowers. Nothing is worse than the other person on the other line pick up and sound annoyed or hurried, like Ellen Flowers. Can you hold, please? Like I gotta hurry. And then they come back and they're even more annoyed. It gives me such anxiety and it it gets me like jumbled in the head, and then I don't know what I want to order, and it makes me have a horrible experience. And so it's so important for that business to make sure that person is pleasant because flowers are a luxury. They're not calling to pay their electric bill.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 20:28

They gotta remember that. And I know it sucks, and I know they're probably frazzled, and I know they're swamped, and it it it sucks, but it's the reality of it.

SPEAKER_05 20:39

That's my love, you know. Sam says, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath and smile. Yeah. So how do you handle an employee who is not performing well? They're not doing any of this, right? And they're the really rushed ones, and they're doing this, and they're asking how much you want to spend or what's your budget. And as the shop owner, I am just cringing. I'm like, oh my God, what am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I I think the biggest thing to understand as an owner and manager is to reframe it and separate their behavior from them as a person. So when I do address it with them, it's not Lori, this is what is wrong with you in this role. It's more like, hey, I've been listening to your calls and I want to address some ways that it's not exactly the experience that we're aiming to offer our clients. You know, we talked about training XYZ, but I've heard a few times XYZ. And I want to remind you that this is why we don't do it that way. You know, it's gentle, it's gentler, it's easier for them to receive. And you're going back to your training. And you know what? Lots of times this is on us as owners and managers. Because I have a confession for you. When Brad brought me on nearly 10 years ago, obviously a big part of that decision was not just that he might be a good general manager, but also like want to be awesome to have an industry expert in sales and customer service training on the staff. Well, I have a Confession for you. And this won't come as a surprise to anyone because it happens in business. But guess what? My visions of having four times a year sales training with the entire staff across seven locations has never happened in 10 years. Right. You know?

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

In fact, what's more likely is I'm drowning, and one of my assistant managers is like, can we please squeeze in a training before Mother's Day or Valentine's Day? And you know, like that's something I can do better. But what the point I'm making is do you remember algebra two? No. Do you remember how to do calculus? No. I barely knew how to do it when I was in the class and doing it every day. Right.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

You're making it.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

And the same is true for anything. So in the first conversation, it's very gentle and it's all about let's revisit our training and make sure you understand the why behind why this is so important to me and how this works. Now, if it keeps happening, then obviously there are other conversations that have to be had because some people are just not the right fit for that. Not everyone is made to be a phone sales person. No, and I was totally to do customer service.

SPEAKER_05 23:02

Yeah, I would totally agree with that. I'm just wondering. So now here it is Wednesday at Mother's Day, and we hear this happening. So we just quietly take them and have this conversation just to remind them that the solution is.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, exactly. I think in Mother's Day you have to triage. So that's a fast conversation. Well, let me do two different things. Like I have my phone salespeople right outside my office, and that's on purpose. I have my door open. When I hear something that sounds like they might need some help, I'm fast out of my chair to go stand by them, especially people who are newer to the role. And I think that that makes them feel very comfortable. Because oftentimes I can even just tell from what I hear them saying, I can run out and tell them the answer. Now, when I hear something yelling wrong, I do not run out there. I let them finish the call. And then I have the conversation because I've gone out before to try to help constructively while still on the call. Not to get them in trouble, but to try to like course correct. And then it's like the new person is nervous. Now they're making typos, they accidentally hung up on a customer. It's like that has never been a good strategy. So I always let them finish the moment. And then even just a fast triage of like, hey, let's revisit, let's really try to focus the rest of the day on XYZ. Because obviously you can't do a full retraining in the moment. But you can have course correction conversations that are very short.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Years ago when I was in the shop and that would happen because our designers were answering the phone too. So we didn't have the liberty of having both. So I would say, you know what? Maybe you need to have so-and-so answer the phone for a while while you finish your designs and what you're doing, and then you can swap. Because I think oftentimes in a smaller situation, they're thinking, oh my God, I got to get this order done so I can get out the door, but I have to get the phone because the phone's ringing. And so those conversations many times are helpful.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Well, I'm glad you made that point because I was gonna say, even in the busy holiday time, if I have that conversation, I can say, why don't you sit in the chair and listen to me do two calls?

SPEAKER_04 25:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

You can hear me do two complete calls in less than 10 minutes, especially at a holiday where the phones are ringing. And it's like, so let me remind you of how I want it done. Let me show you how easy it is and how I pivot when it doesn't go the way that I want it to go.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

And lead by example and I send you back to your chair with confidence.

SPEAKER_05 25:20

Yeah. So speaking of confidence, that was a perfect segue. How do you help your team feel more confident selling those higher prices during that Hother's Day or whatever, just even selling and making the right decisions for the customer and for the shop?

SPEAKER_01 25:36

I like to help my salespeople understand what is in a $250 arrangement because they can't sell what they don't believe. So let me take us out of flowers and give you an example. As an Apple fanboy, I was actually a Windows nerd back in the day, but the original iPhone, I walked into the ATT store just to look at it. And I walked out with one and I've I've never looked back. I don't have the Apple logo tattooed on my body, but the thought has crossed my mind. So I'm an Apple fanboy. And what I'm getting at is at no point when I've gone into an Apple store where the computers are a premium product, very expensive, triple, quadruple the price of the acers across the street at Walmart. At no point has any Apple employee ever in my two decades of being a customer said, this is really expensive, or even balked at here's a MacBook Pro and it costs $2,500. You know, I think it's because Apple makes sure their employees understand why their products cost what they cost. They have more of a commitment to the environment. They have more of a commitment to sustainable production and processes. They have a commitment to quality. Consumers understand that and they respond well to it and they even choose to buy it. And so to go back to Flowers, I think it's important to walk your sales team through why a $250 arrangement cost $250 right now. Because sometimes it is good for them to understand that. Now, what I would say that's important is when I have this conversation with you, I'm not teaching you how to have this long conversation with every single customer who box at price. It's just that I really want you to understand what's involved in this. It is a luxury product, to Lori's point. We're not a gas station selling sodas and chips at the cheapest price possible. We are selling a luxury product. It serves no other purpose than to come into your space and make it special for a short time. Like that is the luxury of flowers. So helping them understand what's involved, I think, gives them more confidence and even presenting the prices.

SPEAKER_08 27:31

I would agree with Sam. And as he was talking, I was thinking about the other opportunities here. Again, we talked to our Flower Click members as taking this opportunity to educate your customers about you have Vonda as your AID designer. I mean, your designers are certified or where your flowers come from, as opposed to maybe where Trader Joe's gets your grocery store's flowers come from, the guarantee or the whatever that comes along with your products, the delivery, all of those things that you guys provide that ordering from some online flour company to be shipped in a box to your house, you're not going to get that. Here's the example that came to my mind that I was like, this is such a great moment. I got a new prescription for eyeglasses. Last year I got my glasses at Costco. Love Costco. Super cheap. You can get two glass pairs for the price of one. Everything's great, right? Well, everything's not great because anytime something goes wrong with them, there was whatever. So I went to Warby Parker at this time. Walked in. The guy immediately came over. I was like, I need help. I don't know what to get. He literally said, You stand over here. Let me help. And I was like, Well, I picked out a couple and he and I put them on. He goes, No, no. And I was like, okay, I'm done. And he got some and he was trying them on me before I could even look in a mirror. And he's like, no, no, I'm gonna need to go to the back. I'm like, oh, this is terrifying. Nothing will show me. He set me up. He did all of the work. It was the best experience. Shout out to Travis at Warby Parker in the woodlands. Love, love, loved Travis. He's my best. It was the experience, right? And he's like, if you need anything for the next year, here's my card. Like that's why I went there. I don't even know how much it costs. I don't even know if they take my insurance. I'll figure all that out when the bill comes in. My point being it's a luxury type of thing. That's the difference to me. That's a quality flower shop than just going to like a grocery store for flowers. That's a huge difference. And that is the type of customers that flower shops should be gravitating to. The ones that are constantly complaining about price, those are really not gonna be your loyal long-term customers in the first place.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

No, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_08 30:14

So you educate them, you do your best, and kind of send them on their way.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

And it's about vocabulary. So we don't say the word expensive in our shop. That arrangement, the customer is like, that seems really expensive. Well, that's one of our signature arrangements. Let me tell you what makes it so special. I just spun your negative word into the selling point, you know.

SPEAKER_05 30:34

Right. Right. Love it. Love that. Love that. Okay, so what's one boundary that every shop should stand firm on this week to protect your profitability?

SPEAKER_01 30:48

I had stand firm in your policies and your procedures and your plans. So, like some good examples of that for us are we don't send pictures of arrangements before we send them out for delivery, particularly at the busy holiday time. And I don't know that we actually, even at our volume, that I can find an example of us losing a sale because of it, because my staff is trained to answer the question. They don't just say no. They say, in order to help as many customers as possible, it's not a service we're able to provide. But I will remind you that all the arrangements you see on our website were designed by our designers, photographed in-house, and that's what they look like when they're going out the door. Even that, which is true for so many of us these days, particularly flower click members who get beautiful images, even that goes a long way with customers because my people get mad when customers call just to say, are you actually open today? And they're like, Well, why would our website say we're open if we're not open? Like, that's not coming from nowhere. I can pull up flower shops right now, maybe some listening to this podcast who still have Christmas or Valentine's Day on their homepage. There are plenty in our industry that don't inspire confidence. So I think even those subtle education moments for your customers, like, oh no, all the images you see, those are in-house. But we took those. I hear my staff, I didn't tell them to do this, but I hear my staff, my phone people all the time say our lead designer created it, our general manager photographed it. And I love those things because it speaks to their question and inspires confidence while still standing firm in the policy you've established to get through the holiday. And you just can't let those bullies push you to a point where you say, I'll see what I can do. Or I'll put a note, I need it there before 10 a.m. Well, unfortunately, the earliest express shop option we offer is 1 p.m. in order to help as many customers as possible. Well, I need it there by 10 a.m. Like, well, we only offer by one, but I'll put a note on the order and have them do their best. Now you've just promised the customer it'll be there by 10 a.m. Yeah. That's what they heard. It is a better experience to manage expectations and say, I don't want to make a promise to you that we're not prepared to keep. In order to help as many people as possible, the earliest guaranteed time we offer is X. So I would say teaching your staff to stand firm in your policies and procedures, but giving them the tools to do so professionally with their answers.

SPEAKER_08 33:07

Yeah. I was gonna say to manage delivery expectations, just like you said, as far as don't say we'll try our best because they heard they're gonna do it and you're gonna get in trouble. And the other thing I was gonna bring up, and the only reason I do is because this was a big conversation this month on shop talk, our flower cook members. A lot of shops were debating whether they should be open on Sunday or not. Some of them were feeling guilty that had never been open, and because they had felt like maybe they were a little slow. Anyway, if you don't want to be open, don't be open. You know, protect your team. If your team doesn't want to do it, don't do it. If you've never been open on Mother's Day and you're feeling, oh, maybe I should, but you don't want to, don't do it. Protect your health, mental health, protect if you want to be with your family, it's okay. But just be clear about it. Make sure that everybody knows. So that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_05 34:05

And a lot of shops will say, We have all mothers working here and we need to protect that and let them enjoy their mother's day.

SPEAKER_08 34:12

Right. And that was the conversation. The majority of them were not the only ones that were were also like in garden. You know, a lot of the garden were, you know, were open till two or to whatever. And they're always open on Sundays anyway, so it didn't matter. But some of the other ones, and I I felt bad because I could see some of them were struggling whether to do it or not. And so my advice is to protect your team. If no one wants to let them, it's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

So I have to admit that's a difficult one for me to agree with you on because it's very frustrating to me when I'm trying to help take care of customers for outgoing orders. And it's like, no, we're not open on the biggest holiday of our industry in the entire year.

SPEAKER_08 35:00

Are you typically open on Sunday? I mean, for Mother's Day, are you always open Mother's Day?

SPEAKER_01 35:05

We're we're open 365 and 366 on leap year. So it's easy for me to be judgmental about that. Now, when I'm taking a step back, I have two thoughts. One, Chick-fil-A has built a very successful business not being open on Sundays because it's a part of their brand. And I think that their customers appreciate and respect that. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

What I would say is if you're gonna be a shop who honors being closed on Sunday, then you need to communicate that to your customers. Like I'll be frustrated as your customer if I'm not getting email blasts that are making it clear to me, like, hey, Friday is the last day to order. And if you're gonna make that strategic decision, celebrate it with your customers. Right. Put in the blast. We're a team of mothers and we want our mothers. Yes, I'm not saying that's the business decision I'm going to make, but I respect it for those who do. And if you're gonna do it, make sure you're communicating about it.

SPEAKER_08 35:54

Yeah, and these were the shops that are never open on Sundays to begin with. So I want to be clear on that. They were just like, should we open on a Sunday?

SPEAKER_01 36:03

So they're not I I want to see their PLs next year when Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are both open.

SPEAKER_08 36:12

Yeah. Oh, they'll be open on Valentine's Day, I bet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

We'll talk about Super Bowl Valentine's Day next year. That's a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_05 36:18

Yeah, right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Okay, one last question. Okay. You know, because Lori, we're way over on our time.

SPEAKER_08 36:30

Okay, go.

SPEAKER_05 36:32

If you could give every florist one piece of advice for the next four or five days, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

I can go first. I feel like we've spoken so much about customer-facing information that I'm gonna make this one speaking directly to the florist. Don't forget that you need to sleep, you need to eat, you need to hydrate. And if you're a leader in your shop, confidence and energy is contagious, but also exhaustion and frustration is contagious. And so for Mother's Day in particular, I even have this conversation with my team. We tend to come in on Monday morning and we feel like this is the week we go to war. Well, actually, Monday is still like six days away. Monday is pretty much just a normal Monday as far as customers are concerned. And, you know, we start to pick up Wednesday, things start to really get crazy with phones and all of that. So don't forget to take care of yourself. Don't forget to pace yourself. Don't forget to model that for your team. Look for opportunities when you see someone getting burnout for you as the leader to say, you know what, why don't you take 10 minutes and go walk outside? It sounded like that call was pretty rough. Why don't you take 10 minutes and go walk outside? Or I tell my customer service team, even my customer service manager, even on a normal basis, I tell her, you can give the worst customer service issue of the day to me. I will take the worst one of the day every single day. Now, because I have made that promise to her, guess how many times in the last month she's given me any customer service issue?

SPEAKER_04 38:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Zero times because she prides herself on being able to do it. But you know what? Occasionally she does find herself like just up against a wall, someone's being just ridiculous. And it is such a relief valve for her to know that Sam has said he will take the worst of the worst. So doing things like that, prioritize taking care of yourself, modeling that for your team by taking care of them as well.

SPEAKER_08 38:25

Yeah. And just to piggyback on that is to watch out for each other.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 38:30

Make sure that everyone is doing okay. No one's getting ready to have a meltdown on the phone or in the design room. Sam is intuitive and he can pick that out. But if you're listening and you are not a naturally intuitive manager, make sure you have someone on your team that can come and tell you, hey, I think Vonda's about to blow a gasket. Somebody needs to check on her, you know, and tap out.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

You say that a lot, Lori, is just to make sure that somebody else is watching, that you're all watching each other. Everybody needs to for each other because you're one team and you don't need a man down during this time.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 39:09

So well, you guys, this is fabulous information for everyone. Thank you for taking the time to get on here and talk to me. It's it's been fun, Lori. I'm not using the one during the interview. So thanks so much, Sam. We appreciate Sam.

SPEAKER_08 39:23

We'll do it and we'll kick Vonda out, and it'll be a three-hour long.

SPEAKER_05 39:27

It will be. And I'll have to edit the damn thing.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

That'll be great. You know what's funny about you saying three hours long is I sometimes think of everything in Titanics. So sometimes, like when I had my first flight to Africa, and it was like, this flight from here to here is going to be 12 hours. I'm like, you could watch Titanic four times. Four times. That's four Titanics.

SPEAKER_08 39:46

That is four Titanics. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Because I remember that double VHS set. It was like, what, this is a movie that won't fit on one tape? This is serious.

SPEAKER_08 39:56

That's a two taper.

unknown 39:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 39:59

So, all right, thank you. We love and adore you.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Oh, so happy to be here.

SPEAKER_08 40:04

All right. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you.

SPEAKER_07 40:13

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SPEAKER_06 40:24

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.