FROM MOM TO WOW!

Take a deep breath, breath deep, and exhale slowly….You made it through another Mother’s Day! Pat yourself on the back! Now, grab your favorite coffee or tea, a pen and paper, invoices and let’s get started on next year’s planning. Are you crazy you ask? Not at all. The best time to make notes and plans for improvements are right now while it is still fresh on your mind.
Let’s start by asking the question,” What did we do right”? It is easier to remember the bad things, so let’s start with what went well. What you want to do is to slice, dice and mince all the components that made up a successful holiday. Pre holiday training, Web postings, delivery, pre ordering, freight costs, delivery help, overtime hours ( if any), staffing, phone sales, counter sales, wire ins and outs, in house features, design production and custom design. Also, break out any sales if there were weddings, parties or large sympathy orders as these may not reoccur next year in the same dollar contribution.
So once you isolate each component that went into making the holiday a success, start pulling all the invoices for fresh product, blooming plants, green plants, gift items and any other specialty /non-floral products that were sold. What you will want to do is to compare the purchased items against the post holiday inventory to see where sales were strong and where sales could have been improved. You will want to consult with each group of people that it directly affected such as isolate the sales staff to see what went well. Were there enough designs in the cooler for the staff and customers to grab and go? Were there enough different selections for customers to choose from? Was the backup stock well maintained so they could replenish the sold items from the cooler? Once they have identified all the positive parts of the holiday, then open the flood gates and ask what could have been done to help make the holiday run smoother? Have them think about the responses from both the customers’ point of view and from an employee’s point of view. Often (and hopefully) the customer never sees the challenges that go on behind the scenes. Keep in mind that value of this exercise is to gain insight into a better operation for everyday sales and for future holidays. No matter how trivial, it bears consideration and respect. Now repeat the same exercise with the delivery staff, the processing department, and the design staff. What you find out is that everyone views success from a different view point. What one group might consider a huge success, another may not even realize that something went on as it did not affect them on a personal level.
Good staff notes and employee feedback are two of the strongest tools you can keep for the following year. Also, keep notes about when you were the busiest times for sales, design and delivery. Was lunch time the busiest time for walk in sales or was it stronger in the evening? What about phone sales? Were you busier in the morning, afternoon, or evening? The reason for this concern is to know when to use more staff or less staff to accomplish the sales. Same for design and delivery help. It is quite costly to pay people to do a job and not to have efficient use of time.
Evaluating the fresh product is somewhat easier as it is a comparison between what was purchased, what was designed, and what was sold. It is always interesting to see what the quick movers were and which ones needed a little more sale to make them successful. Was it the color, container, or price point that made the success or slowed down the success? Evaluating all the variables help give you a cleaner, more organized approach to the next holiday to make it run smoother and more efficient. Make sure there are pictures and recipes to document which in house features you stocked and when you had sell- through with each bouquet. This will tell you if you need to modify production numbers, price points or colors in some manner.
Having a successful holiday is the result of much planning. Having a plan and working the plan help ensure the success of holiday sales. Lesson learned – if it works for your busiest times of the year, think of the added success and profitability it can achieve during the non-holiday times of the year!