The well-used saying “perfect planning prevents poor performance” could have been created by a florist for Mother’s Day!
There can’t be many other business sectors whose most important trading period happens on a single day, and for that reason it's vital that you carefully plan every aspect of your Mother’s Day activity.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst!
While we all hope for a trouble-free Mother’s Day weekend, it can’t be guaranteed, so it’s a smart move to put some back-up plans in place just in case the unexpected happens. What would you do if one of your staff members falls ill, your van breaks down or you have a power cut? Here are some handy tips for planning ahead.
Create tomorrow’s order list for your florists before you leave each night.
Make sure you have spare paper and ink for your printer.
Keep your shop topped up with a selection of impulse buys, covering a range of prices.
Fasten add-on gifts to products or use hand-tied bags so that they don’t get forgotten by the florist or missed by the delivery driver.
Put a round sticker on the card envelope if the gift has an add-on. This will help your driver to quickly identify which products have an add-on as part of the order.
Make sure every driver has an emergency kit of popular gift items. Give them something spare of everything to avoid them having to return to the shop.
Make sure all items are signed for upon delivery or take a photo to prove the gift was delivered in perfect condition.
Appoint one of your team as chief trouble-shooter to sort out problems as soon as they crop up.
Get your delivery vehicles serviced in advance to avoid costly breakdowns.
Check your vehicle insurance policies – are all temporary drivers covered?
Set up an emergency call service with your local taxi company (or willing family member/friend) for back-up deliveries.
Keep an eye on the weather forecast. If the worst happens and you can’t make all your deliveries, have a plan to deliver them on another day, either earlier or later than intended. Draft some appropriate wording ready to post on your website and social channels if you need it. Also think about how you can deflect customer complaints these non-deliveries may generate.
Related articles:
Go for factory-style efficiency!
Lots of what you do requires you to be great at time management and organising your days according to your orders. But Mother’s Day is also about efficient production and well-planned logistics.
If your shop is large, think about where your key staff will be stationed and who is responsible for which tasks.
Decide if it’s possible to keep your florists away from the hustle and bustle of the shop so they can focus on the job at hand.
If you’re short of space consider contacting your local village hall or rent an industrial unit to give you extra space for order make-up.
Anything that you can do in advance do it now – pre-cut cello and ribbon, make bows and pre-fold wrappings for hand-tieds.
Gift wrap items such as teddies and chocolates ready to display.
Pre-wrap vases for arranging flowers into.
Process orders that come in as soon as possible, allocating a member of staff to each order.
Create a live log of all your orders to make sure you always know what’s being dealt with and how many more orders you can cope with.
If you take orders via social media as well as on your website and in your shop, allocate someone to check and process these. Using social media is a great excuse for customers to order last-minute, so don’t get caught out.
Good luck!
If you're after any other advice and helpful resources to make the day a success, check out our Mother's Day Information Hub.
