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increase summer sales
Maintaining Strong Sales During the
Summer
by Toomie Farris, AAF, AIFD
We all understand just how seasonal our business can be, from the wild and crazy floral holidays to the slow summer doldrums. We certainly need to find ways to try to level out those extremes in sales and provide a steadier cash flow. While our business is always going to have peaks, here are a few ideas to help fill in those slow summer weeks.
1. The most obvious revenue source in the summer is weddings and parties. In order for these revenues to be realized in the summer, we need to be marketing year-round, especially during the bridal show season. In many regions, entertaining also picks up during the summer, so look for opportunities to provide flowers for any type of event.
2. Depending on the space you have and your in-store traffic, consider expanding into other business segments. For example, offering unique, high-end outdoor patio pots planted (and possibly providing maintenance services) can be very lucrative.
Or expand your giftware lines to include decorative accessories, which tend to be year-round sales items (lamps, accent pieces, silk designs, etc.). Focus on enhancing peoples’ lives through your design skills. Include flowers and plants, but expand to items with which you are more comfortable carrying and selling.
3. Another idea is to create a promotion tied to a specific month or occasion. For example, June is “National Rose Month.” Work with your suppliers to get special buys and do a variety of product promotions throughout the month.
Or do something goofy like a “Christmas in July” sale. Create something out of the ordinary.
The summer also is a great time to participate in local fairs and festivals, selling your products from a booth.
4. If you do not have a regular schedule to call on your existing and potential new clients, schedule yourself or a key person out of the shop two afternoons per week to make these visits and sales calls.
5. My favorite summer activity is to have a “Garage Sale.” It is a great way to clean up, get cash out of old inventory, and keep folks busy. Hold the event in a tent if you have to. Today, cash is king, and if inventory hasn’t sold, get some money out of it, and move on.
6. Another activity for the summer is to start designing permanent arrangements for the fall and holiday seasons. Start by making creative new things from last year’s leftovers, adding new accents only to freshen the inventory. This is one of the few ways we can actually “inventory” labor costs for future sales.
7. Set your fall displays earlier than before. I suggest having a strong autumn seasonal presence on your floor by August 1 to encourage early sales.
8. While increasing sales volume during the summer months is important, it also is important to realize that if you cannot build sales, you must control costs. Offer noncritical staff time off to be with children or grandchildren or to travel. Reduce perishable inventory, keeping the display cooler full but the back-room inventory levels lower.
Implementing just one or two of these ideas during the coming months can help you increase your sales and reduce your expenses, possibly making this summer your most profitable summer ever.
Reprinted with permission from FTD Newsletter, April 2008; Vol. 51 No. 2; ©2008, FTD;
www.ftdi.com/newsletter/April2008.pdf
FTD Master Designer Toomie Farris AIFD, AAF has been involved in the floral industry for 30 years, both as a designer and as a manager. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, majoring in horticulture. He paid for his college education by working in a small greenhouse on his parent’s farm in Missouri. After graduating, Toomie taught floral design at his alma mater. He has been a design instructor on the FTD Education Team since 1990, and his work has been seen in numerous floral industry trade publications.
As the president and chief operating officer of McNamara Florist in Indianapolis. Toomie Farris directs business for seven retail stores, a 58,000-square-foot design center, and a special-events department with more than 120 employees.
Toomie resides in Indianapolis, Ind., where his outside interests include photography, gardening, and travel. He is involved with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and participates in numerous charitable organizations.
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