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Valentines Day Planning – Not For the Faint of Heart!
Valentines day planning – hmmm, now that is probably a dirty word phrase at this time of the year for florists. This is one day of the year that florists learn to love even though they probably hate it, and it is just around the corner. February 14th will be here in just a few weeks.
Most florists are impacted in a major way each year by this one day. The reason there is a love-hate relationship with this day is because it is literally THE most profitable day of the year for florists, even though it is perhaps the most challenging day to deal with from a planning, operations, and customer service perspective. Valentines Day business typically represents about 1/3 of a florists annual revenues. This is the reason that Valentines day planning must begin much sooner than mid-January, and hopefully begins immediately after last years Valentines Day. The biggest task is to minimize expenses while maximizing revenues.
Due to the extreme increase in business volume that must be handled in a very short period of time (i.e., one day), proper Valentines day planning is crucial to insure success as a florist. A successful Valentines Day translates into positive cash flow for a florist which can then be used to cover the slower months of the year – typically the summertime.
Valentines day planning is extremely important on many different levels. Of course, the pre-ordering of flowers is perhaps one of the most fundamental steps to prepare for an incredibly busy day. However, there are other critical components that are also super important including staffing, customer service, delivery support, floral supplies, and order processing (offline & online). A breakdown in any one of these areas could negatively impact the results of the one day that a florist must count on being successful.
It is common for florists to work major overtime for 5 days prior to Valentines day, and not uncommon to work 36+ straight hours beginning the day before Valentines in order to bring it all together to insure a smooth running day on Valentines. I clearly remember my first Valentines day at the flower shop that I had purchased 10 months earlier. I was very excited about the day and what I would experience. I dreamed of that day and planned as best I could given very little information about the day from the previous shop owner.
Together with my experienced staff, I ordered my flowers and hired extra experienced staff to help with floral design and flower deliveries. Orders started coming in at the beginning of February and I was so looking forward to this phenomenal day that I had been "warned" about. Before I knew it, THE day had arrived. I was up the night before until 3am, and back at the shop by 6am. I had prep’ed as much as I could given my experience and anticipation of how the day would be. I didn’t realize that office workers would be knocking at my door at 7am – I still had last minute things to take care of. Oh my gosh, was I in for an incredible journey that day!
I’ll save the "lessons learned" from that day for another post. Just please, PLEASE know that everything an experienced florist tells you about Valentines Day planning is true. You must listen and ask questions so as to better prepare yourself for this one amazing day of business.
