Create Beautiful and Profesional Proposals with Floranext New Advanced Proposals

 

Floranext has the new solution to let your floral wedding and event business bloom! We have been hard at work enhancing our wedding and event proposals service and we are excited to announce the completion of our newest software: New Advanced Wedding and Event Proposals.

 

 

Try Floranext New Advanced Proposals

Features of Floranext’s New Advanced Wedding/Event Proposals

Make Your Job Easier

With Advanced Proposals, florists can create beautiful and professional proposals in a matter of seconds. No more lost and cluttered information, keep track of your clients requests in one location.

Easy to Use

With the new Floranext Proposal user interface, Floranext Advanced Proposals are easy to create, organize and manage. Florists are able to build a floral arrangement from the bottom up with flowers and supplies.

Customize Each Proposal Email

Add your business’ personal touch by adding a personalized message to each proposal with a customizable email template. Each client is different and adding that personal touch matters.

 

Take Payments

Track and take customer credit cards and payments for deposits and payments.

Increase Your Profits

Add markup, labor and then easily check to make sure you are pricing your flowers correctly. Making sure your weddings and events are fairly priced yet profitable.

Flower Catalog

With the Floranext Advanced Proposal’s flower catalog, it gives you the opportunity to record your pricing for your flowers and use these to help build your beautiful and professional proposals.

 

Building Components

Build components like bridal bouquets, boutonnieres and more by adding the specified number of flowers for every arrangement.

Shopping Lists

Flowers and supplies composed to build your proposals can help generate a shopping list to order flowers and supplies.

Cloud-Based Software

Use Floranext Advanced Proposals on your own computers, choose the best platform for you. 

Try Floranext New Advanced Proposals

Why try Floranext’s New Advanced Wedding/Event Proposals?

We understand that florist wedding and events are a core part of a floral business and creating beautiful proposals can be challenging.

We’ve all been there before: notes, images, spreadsheets, word documents and countless emails sent back and forth between your clients can be a nightmare. So why not use one program to make professional proposals and keep everything organized?

Get rid of the multiple programs and keep everything organized with Floranext Advanced Proposals. Our newest software allows you to create beautiful and professional proposals in a matter of seconds by adding images, components, personalized messages and more letting you focus on what’s really important, your floral business.

Start giving your wedding and event proposals more impact with Floranext’s newest Advanced florist wedding/event software today!

Try Floranext New Advanced Proposals

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

 

Booking weddings are still one of the best ways to increase your overall flower shop profit.

Surprisingly, some florists do not take booking wedding clients too seriously or rather opt not to deal with the hassle of booking a wedding. Unfortunately, regardless of how much money your flower business makes, this is a big mistake as booking weddings bring in substantial profits and have proven to ensure future flower shop profits.

In this blog, we will discuss 8 ways to obtain more wedding clients into your flower shop through marketing and simple in-house tactics.

 

8: Creating An Ambiance

Creating a beautiful atmosphere will help ensure a sense of security with your wedding clients.  Mostly all of us buy with our eyes and emotions, our goal here is to have your wedding clients feel comfortable and ensure that you are the best florist for the job.

• Create a designated space designed for wedding consultations.
• Have proper comfortable seating.
• Have a computer/tablet available for quick image reference.
• Be prepared, make sure you have your wedding software open and ready for note taking.
• Offer your wedding clients something to drink.

 

7: Be Courteous 

Florists by nature are very courteous, friendly and giving people. However, there are times that wedding clients do request super outlandish things and even get their florist a little annoyed.  Nowadays your wedding clients will mostly do their homework and look at what appeals to them for their special day.

• Respect their needs and wants.
• Be excited and share in their enthusiasm for their special day.
• Educate your wedding client on what is possible and what is not.

The main thing here is, to be honest, if there is something you simply cannot do for the price or there is just no way of obtaining specific flowers, let them know.  Most wedding clients will take their florists advice and seek alternatives in their choices.

 

6: Paid/Free Ads On Wedding Sites

Most floral professionals have heard of The Knot, Wedding Wire, and so many others out there. We do recommend signing up for at least one of these sites for more exposure to your flower shop.

• You can increase your wedding bookings by 10 -40 more per year.
• Free Ads may minimize your visibility by covering some key elements that wedding clients like to see such as reviews. However, if the budget does not allow, a free ad is better then no ad.
• Set a budget and pay for some ads on wedding sites. After a year, review what profits were gained and decide if you would continue to advertise or lower or raise your budget.

 

5: Wedding Website

Nothing speaks more volumes than your own wedding website, it is perfectly OK to have wedding pages in your floral eCommerce website. If you are looking to expand your wedding bookings we recommended having a non-eCommerce website designed to showcase only your wedding services.

• Show your work in category pages. example: bridal bouquets, reception flowers, arches and so on. 
• Wedding websites that are loaded with galleries offer visitors many options to stay and browse which will increase your search engine optimization or SEO.
• Have a specific page designed to recommend vendors with backlinks and have them do the same for you on their website if they return the favor.
• Backlinks are considered SEO gold, so recommending vendors and have vendors recommend you is a win-win situation.

 

4: Social Media

The benefits of social media sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube are essential in building your brand. Although you may not be booking many wedding at first, patience and diligence is the key.

• Post images on your social media platforms often, daily if possible.
• Offer wedding booking incentives.
• Be responsive to customers comments.
• Make A YouTube Video

 

3: Partner Up

There are many flower shop owners that would love more floral wedding viability but do not have the resources or time to fully devote to wedding marketing or consultations. If you are in this situation do not give up on doing weddings, remember this is all about making your brand well rounded.

There are many independent wedding floral contractors that will work solely with you for building up your wedding bookings. Generally, these independent wedding floral contractors receive a commission on all weddings they book for you and are held to only promoting your floral business.

Wedding floral contractors offer many benefits if time is of the essence for you.

• Book weddings and handle all consultations.
• Handle day to day marketing for weddings.
• Wedding floral arranging is done with your assistance and your designers in your flower shop.
• Handle all of the wedding flower ordering.
• Handle setup while the shop owner is responsible for providing delivery services, driver, and vehicle.
• Receive commission paid on the cost of wedding minus all flower shop owners costs.

 

2. Word Of Mouth

Sometimes, especially when you’re new to the floral profession, when doing weddings you need to give a lot to get a little and by little, this is financial gain or profit.  What you actually do get is a lot of future clients.

We do not by no means recommend doing wedding flowers for free. When starting out, show off what you can do and be reasonably priced, think of this a marketing tactic. Most wedding bookings and visits to your flower shop will come from guests at weddings you serviced and or recommendations from your wedding clients.

• Word of mouth is by far the best way to market your flower wedding business.
• Allows for long-term customer relationships.
• Keeps your business stable and consistently profitable.

 

1: Know Whats “Hot” In Wedding Flowers

Once you have all you’re wedding leads  schedule a consultation, have diligently set up a great designed area for your clients and are super courteous and respectful, are you current with the latest wedding trends?

It can certainly be a deal breaker for your clients if you are not aware of specific “Hot” trending wedding floral designs.

It is your job, as the floral professional, to stay ahead of trends and offer exciting options for your customers to show that you are “With It,” “Current,” and “Up to speed on floral wedding trends”.

• Take a wedding floral class on what is trending.
• Spend time searching social media sites for what wedding floral trends gets the most saves and likes.
• Practice specific wedding trends. If time and budget allow, set aside a day to practice various wedding trends. After completing the designs, you can post on your floral websites and social media platforms.

 

Florists, we would love your feedback! What tips can you share about booking more weddings that has brought profitable success to your floral business? Please add your feedback and questions in our comment section below.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

 

 

 

 

A Florist Guide to Planning Your Year

The floral industry, a fast-paced business, that’s ahead of seasons & holidays.

To most florist’s, planning the year is second nature, however, it always helps to have a set plan to organize everyone’s duties. In this blog, we present an easy guide for all your floral yearly planning.

 

January can be a slower month in the floral industry, however, there are loads to do. This is a great month to focus on your flower shops organization and marketing planning.

• Start a blog: This is a great way to increase your SEO, a simple how to blog will do wonders for your search engine visibility and keep the buzz going on your social media.

• Tip: “How to” blogs are the most searched, so anything with tips and tricks will be well received.

• Review your last years Valentine’s Sales: Start ordering your flowers for Valentine’s day. Ordering early equals savings, so make sure to order enough, and everything you need. Do not forget to order your add-ons, these are money makers, plush, chocolate, candy, and anything you wish to sell.

• Tip: If this is your first Valentine’s day, do not over order, this may be tricky, but set up a set amount you will order and see how your sales go. You can always get more in a pinch.

• Decorate Store & website for Valentines: Start the 2nd week of January, make a spectacular Valentines display in your store and also make sure your eCommerce store is ready for the early bird sales.

• Sign up for wedding sites:  If you are already signed up great, if not, now is a good time to sign up for wedding sites to promote your wedding floral business. Here are few you should consider, The Knot, Wedding Wire, My Wedding.

Buckle down for this short fast paced month! Although slow to start,  it is a good idea to have everything in order before the rush.

• Employee Management: Go over all employee scheduling and duties in the first week of February. Make sure you have hired all your new holiday help and that everyone understands their tasks for Valentine’s day.

• Tip: Good time to also rent extra delivery vans if needed.

• Promotions: Offer pre-Valentine’s day delivery promotions.  The idea here is to spread the wealth of this Valentine’s day and not be constricted to just delivering on February 14. Offer generous promotions on your flower shop website, post on social media and of course make sure they expire a few days before Valentines.

• Take care of yourself:  During this busy month, it is important to rest and take time for yourself. Encourage your employees to do the same and wear comfortable clothes, comfy shoes, and eat please, it’s amazing how many florists do not eat when they are busy. Being organized will alleviate most of the Valentines day pressure, so make sure to be well nourished and comfortable.

• Tip: Start a flower shop with a holiday diary. We know sounds corny, however it’s amazing what can be learned from holidays by just writing it down. Yes, you have your gross receipts, but how about mishaps, or comical happenings that are not noted, these are all so important and good read before the holidays.  

 

March can be the most rewarding month in the floral industry, it gives florist time to relax and get ready for new beginnings with the coming of spring.

• Finance Review: With the first quarter almost through, now is a good time to get a grasp on your profit and loss for January and February. Add notes about what you may do differently next year, a  good thing if you have started the flower shop diary.

• Spring Cleaning:  The #1 season that is most anticipated by customers is spring, especially if you live in the colder weathered areas, it is never too early to start bringing out this season. Start refreshing your flower shop and get ready for spring with beautiful decor and showcasing.

• March Sales Madness: As florists, we know march can be hit or miss with sales, so start a campaign and sell your products customers love, try a Free with purchase or half-off sales. make this a yearly ritual if this works for your business.

• Order your Easter flowers & plants! It’s always good to get ahead, start an order for your easter flowers and plants. Again ordering early equals savings from your suppliers and you also have the best selections.

 

Ready or not Mother’s Day will be here before you know it! Take April as a month to prepare for the #1 florist holiday.

• Order Mother’s Flowers & Supplies:  Make sure to order those beautiful containers and Mother’s day flowers with your supplier. Good time to order is early April.

• Showcase your plants: If you are selling plants, now is a good time to showcase your flowering plants, this creates such a welcoming inviting atmosphere for customers. If you can move some outdoors, this is great for some curb appeal.

• Promotions & Marketing: We recommend you start promoting after Easter to generate some early bird sales for Mother’s day. Post on your social media and website, this will help boost your SEO. A great marketing tip is to offer a giveaway, maybe a gift basket, or free flowers for a few months, and have customers fill out their information when they make a purchase.

• Employee Management: It’s that time again to make sure to hire the extra help you will need for Mother’s Day. Make sure all current employees understand their schedule and duties.

• Tip: If you are new to the floral industry, then a good to know tip is that Mother’s Day is the #1 floral business holiday, customers order throughout the week rather than one day. Be prepared with help, lots of flowers, and beautiful containers. 

 

May, what a great month for the floral industry! With one of the top selling holidays, this month starts off slow and quickly picks up in a super-charged way, so always good to be ready.

• Take a look around: Do a quick glance, does your flower shop look appealing to you? Make sure you use a critical eye and take it all in, the sound and if possible even the way it smells. Customers are drawn to a beautiful environment, it has proven to make them feel relaxed and comfortable, which will help increase those sales!

• Employee training:  The first week of May is a good time to discuss employee customer service, the cross-selling, and up-selling of products. Make sure your employees are polite and offer customers upgrades and add-ons with their purchase. This is an easy way to almost triple your profits.

• Offer prom promotions: Proms are a way sure to make sales. Build relationships with future long time patrons. Offer a referral discount.

• Examine your finances: After the Mother’s day rush now is a good time to sit down and see whether or not you made a profit, be sure to calculate all costs and include any spoilage or waste. Keep notes on what you would do different next year.

 

Oh June, what a lovely month! For some, the commencement of summer and a chance to organize all your floral business needs. June is the most popular month for weddings with September and October in a close 2nd. Florists are pleasantly surprised on how busy June can get with weddings and graduations.

• Refresh your floral website:  Update your flower shop for some summer specials, make sure you’re wedding galleries are up to date with great content and keywords.

• Offer promotions: Teacher gifts and graduation promotions are a great way to bring traffic into your flower shop. Be sure to post these on your floral website and social media.

• Order retail products: This is a great time to order some fresh new stock to get customers to flock to your flower shop. There is nothing you cannot sell, so think outside the box, What is popular? Candles (certain brand), skin care, plush, home decor, makeup, even unique greeting cards. Brand your flower shop!

 

We like to call July,  “a month of organization.” This month can be on the slower side,  so it’s very important to get your flower shop in order with beautiful displays and heavy on the marketing.

• Write a blog: We know this is listed in other months above, however,  July can be a slower month.  If you have time to write a How To Blog, or anything that inspires you, think about things you search for, read,  and watch as your SEO sky-rockets through the roof.

• Social media: Take some time to focus and revamping your social media communities. Add content and images and don’t forget the hashtags #, Again all this for top placement in Social Media.

• Tidy up your flower shop: By tidy up we mean clean, scrub, wash, organize, label, etc. Freshen up your floral space!

• Browse your floral supply stores:  July is a great month to look at products in your floral supply store, you can find great deals on holiday items, it is a great time to stock up.

 

August can be one of the slowest months in the floral industry. we ask that if you are slow, to try implementing new ways to market in your flower shop.

• Newsletter: Email, mail, or both! Send out a newsletter to your customers offering special savings.

• Start a workshop or floral party! Get busy with hosting a floral workshop, kids floral birthday parties, and much more. This can lead to great profits and new patrons at your flower shop.

• Start preparing for fall!  Get your flower shop ready for the most popular season, create beautiful displays, order new inventory and go for it! We recommend doing this the second to the last week of August. Don’t forget your fall marketing!

 

Flowers sales in September pick up rapidly towards the middle of the month. Customers are now back to their normal routines with the kids back school and weddings start to pick up.

• Order fall flowers and Plants: Stock up on your seasonal flowers & plants.

• Revamp your floral website:  Add the season touch to your floral website with fresh new content and images. Use proper keywords, specific to the floral industry for SEO advantage.

• Launch and Adwords Campaign: If your budget allows, try launching an Adwords campaign for more clicks to your eCommerce store. Be sure to set a budget and stick to it as this can get expensive. adwords.google.com

• Keep up with your blog: Now that you are pro, how about writing a seasonal blog or fall wedding blog? We cannot say this enough, blogs are so powerful with SEO.

• Note: Canadian florists, September is a good time start ordering flowers and supplies for Thanksgiving.

 

October offers some great sales in the flower shop business, now is a good time to start orders on any extra stock supplies and get them at a discount for future use.

• Prepare for the holidays: The holidays are just around the corner, shop around for the best deals on all your flowers, and supplies for the holidays. Also, shop around for holiday products to sell at your shop.

• Employee Management: Go over your employee scheduling and see if you will need extra help for the holiday season.

• Open House: Host a holiday open house showing off your latest products and floral designs.

• Floral Expo: Take some time to visit a flower expo in your area, take your employees, this is a good way to stay current with the new trends, and first dibs on new products.

• Note: October is a very popular wedding month with most wedding proposals in December. Think of launching a Wedding Package special on your website during this month.

 

Tis the season for flower sales, November all in all is a great month for flower sales. Customers are getting into the giving mood.

• Market the holidays! Add promotions to your floral website and do not forget about your social media!

• Start greening: Green those Thanksgiving centerpieces ahead of time, add any taper or candles and put in the cooler for a quick way to add flowers as sales role in for thanksgiving.

• Decorate for the holidays: Time for Christmas cheer, create eye-appealing displays and make sure your flower shop is festive. If you can make a beautiful Christmas window display or storefront display to bring in curious shoppers.

• Offer incentives: Offer black Friday or Small business Saturday deals,  “buy ones get ones” are great offers, even if it’s just a couple hours that day. Having a great deal with a cut off time is a good way of creating hype and traffic into your flower shop.

• Tip: Do not forget to revamp your eCommerce for Christmas and update your social media

 

Many florists around the world enjoy huge flower sales during the Christmas holiday. Although in some parts of the United States, florists have seen a decline in their floral sales during Christmas, this month is quickly picking up and still trailing as the third best month for floral retail sales.

• Employee management: Set exceptions for your employees on selling upgrades and add-ons for each customer’s order. Review scheduling and days you are closed.

• Christmas Greens: Mentioned above, it is also a good idea to green your arrangements ahead of time for Christmas. Take time to do this early before the holiday rush.

• Offer Discounts: Sometimes offering a discount too early for Christmas can become forgetful to customers who may not be ready. Post Christmas discounts during this month and make sure to have an expiration time or date.  Great discounts are gifts for parents, teachers, corporate and the person, who has everything. Flower still remain the perfect gift.

• Tip: Do not forget to market to businesses. holiday parties are huge, so offer incentives to have them book with you for their flower needs. 

 

These are just some examples and a helpful guide for florists to plan out their year. Florists do you have any tips or must do’s for a specific month? Please share in the comments below with our readers.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

 

Want to sell more wedding flowers? Does your flower shop do enough wedding business? Here are 6 ideas!

 

1. Stay Current with Wedding Trends

Make sure you are up-to-date on the latest trends for modern brides!

Keep Your Website Up-To-Date With Seasonal Trends: Your website should reflect the popular wedding themes, colors, and flowers that potential wedding clients are looking for.

Offer A Wide Variety Of Arrangements: Provide different styles for different types of weddings. A bride with a fairytale theme will need different floral arrangements than a bride who wants a rustic or vintage wedding, and your flower shop should have options for all of them.

2. Share Wedding Flowers Photos on Social Media

Modern brides are using websites like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram to get inspired and find wedding florists. Use social media to promote your wedding business and gain more clients!

Let Your Bridal Customers Share Your Photos: Post photos of your work for a recent wedding on Facebook or Instagram, and have your client like their pictures and share them on their timeline. If their friends are looking for a wedding florist, your arrangements will be the first thing on their minds!

3. Create Flawless Wedding Proposals

A well-rounded flower proposal is the final step in securing a client!

Be Specific: Describe the flowers, design, and price of your arrangements in detail. Give brides enough information in your proposal to decide what services they want to pay for.

Use Wedding Proposal Software: Florist technology, like Floranext’s wedding/event manager, can help you create and share beautiful proposals in minutes.

4. Get A Wedding-Ready Florist Website

Your online portfolio is the most important part of your website. These tips will help prospective clients see your work and sign up for a consultation!

Set Up Vendor Pages: Most wedding websites have vendor sections where brides can find local wedding services. Set up a vendor page with your portfolio, contact information, and a link to your florist website to get more organic traffic.

Consider Starting A Separate Wedding Website: Although a wedding website may divert traffic and SEO from your main florist website, it will also have greater impact and a portfolio that is tailored to brides and wedding planners.

If you do this, all your links off of Google for Business, Yelp, etc. should link to your main website while links off of bridal websites should link to your wedding-specific site.

5. Innovative Bridal Show Presentations

By becoming an exhibitor, you will instantly have access to hundreds of potential wedding clients!

Bring Your A Game: Create an amazing display, attractive marketing materials, and a digital portfolio on an iPad to share with prospective clients.

Pick The Best Spot: Choose a location near the main aisles to take advantage of high traffic.

Gather Leads: Create a contact list, and follow up with each prospect after the show to schedule a consultation.

6. Smarter Online Marketing

More and more couples are using the internet to find local wedding florists. Online marketing can help your flower shop stand out from the competition!

Advertise On Wedding Websites: Bridal websites like The Knot and Wedding Wire offer free and/or paid adverting space for wedding vendors. Add your flower shop to their website, and make sure to include your portfolio.

Use Local Florist SEO: The content on your florist website determines your ranking in popular search engines. Make sure your florist website features pages devoted to popular wedding venues in your local area and relevant keywords that are important to your local audience.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here!

 

Instagram, the photo sharing web app now owned by Facebook, is making a move that is great for florists. Get ready for a new way to start sharing your flower shop’s beautiful creations.

Instagram can help drive more orders to your florist website and get you more wedding and event business.

What is Instagram? It’s an app for your iPhone or Android phone that allows you to share beautiful photos with friends or other followers. Until now, Instagram was only available on phones. The company now lets you showcase the photos you take on your phone on the web as well.

Like Facebook, Instagram lets you get social with your photos – enabling you to gather followers who get updated every time you post a photo. Instagram has filters that let you make your photos look amazing. Best of all, Instagram is integrated with Facebook so you can instantly upload photos to your Facebook page.

Some big brands like Nike are getting into the action with a dedicated page for shoe-lovers. Smaller brands are also using it to keep followers engaged.

So how to get started with Instagram? It’s easy!

1. Get an Instagram account – Go to the Instagram website and download an app for your iPhone or Android phone.

2. Link to Facebook – On the Instagram app, sign up with your business Facebook account to post images directly to your Facebook page.

3. Start taking pictures – Instagram makes it super-easy to start sharing your photos. Use filters to add the right shading and lighting to your images.

4. Showcase your flower images on your website – Put a link to your Instagram page on your website. It’s a great way to showcase wedding, event, and everyday photos to prospective customers.

Make sure your florist website enables you to add a link to your Instagram page! If you’re looking for an alternative provider that gives you more control to showcase your great flower designs, check out Floranext’s florist websites.

Over the past year we listened to customer requests for even better wedding/event tools. What we came up with is a wedding/event manager proposal – an easy tool to create beautiful, polished proposals in minutes. And it’s yours free – forever!

Floranext offers the best florist websites, floral point of sale, and floral software. Our new (free!) wedding/events tool is an easy way to compose beautiful wedding and event proposals. Add photos and then send out by email or print. Designing compelling proposals has never been easier.

Watch a video to find out more:

For a wedding proposal you can add information about the bride and groom, the wedding and reception date, and info about the flowers requested (bouquets, centerpieces, etc.), your service charges, terms and conditions. Add in prices and easily total them up with taxes. Then email to the bride or print out. Easy!

If you’re an existing Floranext website or point of sale customer, you can just go to your admin dashboard and click on Wedding/Events to get started.

If you’re to Floranext , use the proposal 100% free. Click here to get started!

Step 1 – Click the Wedding/Events Tab

Step 2 – Create a Wedding/Events Proposal

Step 3 – Email or Print the Finished Proposal

Already a Floranext customer – just log into your admin and start using the wedding/events proposal manager!

New to Floranext? What are you waiting for? Try our (free!) wedding/event proposal manager today. Get started now!

Creating a free video for your wedding web page has never been easier. There are lots of great tools for making video slideshows of your wedding flowers – just upload photographs and get a video instantly! Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a great video for your florist website or to share on your flower shop’s Facebook page. And if you need any help, contact Floranext and we can help!

But first! Here are a few examples of wedding videos – we created these in less than 10 minutes. We turned these photographs into these videos: