Valentine's Day - Your Guide to Chaos

Are you ready? Let's face it - Valentine's Day is a challenge for all of us. It is especially difficult because you have just one day to make it right and most of your customers want their deliveries early. This year it falls on a Saturday, which is typically slower for florists and busier for markets. Remember it's a last minute holiday, so don't panic if you don't have a lot of orders yet.

Here are are a few tips to help you survive the madness:

1. Give adequate lead time to vendors.  The flower industry operates on supply and demand. The more you know, the better you can buy. Pre-order what you would normally expect, and bump it down by 5-10% to account for the Saturday holiday. Ideally you should order with vendors by mid-January so you can be assured your product is secured, but most vendors will have some product on hand for last minute orders.

2. Keep marketing going on social media and elsewhere.   Rev up your social media and keep your name front and center with Valentine's Day reminders. People are busy and distracted - so short posts and visuals will help remind them you're their go-to florist. Remember, you're not just selling flowers, you're selling love.

Get creative and bundle a few items, like chocolates, cards or small gifts to increase your sales. Offer delivery to a restaurant to promote flowers at the table over a romantic dinner. You'd be surprised what a few extra steps will do for your customers.

Call your local newspaper and invite them to witness your preparations. Free press is a great way to promote your shop.

3. Don't sell yourself short on service.  It's ok to up your delivery charge on the busiest day of the year. After all, you'll be adding an extraordinary amount of labor to make your deliveries run smoothly.

4. Do all the prep-work you can ahead of time.  Have staff green vases a week in advance so they are ready to be finished with flowers and go the day of. A few days before Valentine's Day start rose arrangements so they can be tagged and ready to go out for delivery. Make pre-made bouquets that can be dropped into vases for last minute orders. Assemble and label your delivery boxes, fill water tubes, cut ribbons, etc. - streamlining any task that will save you time the morning of Valentine's Day.

5. Make room in your shop. Rose arrangements take up space, so make sure you organize your workspace and cooler to accommodate additional room.

6. Keep an eye on the weather.  This year's snowfall has been a doozy so far. February is always hard to predict when it comes to snow storms. Some customers may be willing to take deliveries early if they know the weather will be bad and their order might be delayed - so plan ahead if you can.

7. Hire plenty of extra drivers for that day and have one person be responsible for dispatching deliveries. Consider paying extra drivers by the delivery rather than the hour, which incents them to perform. Colleges, restaurants, and delivery services are good sources to recruit drivers. Set up delivery routes ahead of time and organize orders into zones in your shop. Make one person responsible for dispatching and managing your drivers. This way you will be able to expedite the delivery times and manage many more deliveries than on a normal day of business. You don't want to be delivering flowers at 10 p.m. on the holiday, so be prepared to hire more drivers than you need, so you can finish the day before 5 p.m. at the latest.

With some well thought out preparation, planning and an organized staff, you can get through the day smoothly. You got this!

"All my wife wanted for Valentine’s Day was a little card — American Express."

Milton Berle