everything else required for the funeral so don’t undersell or undervalue what you do. Instead of giving them a lot for less than it’s worth either offer them something the right size in their price point or don’t sell it. Remember you are worth it. The relationship between
Funeral Director (FD) and Florist was also on our question sheet. Obviously not everyone can marry one but is a commission really necessary or can you do it without? Most florists are actually happy to pay a commission… usually between 10 and 20% although we have heard of higher which starts getting a little greedy in our mind. The rational being that you pay in the region of 27% for a relay order so the concept isn’t alien. Paul from Flowers by
Remember that people have paid proportionally far more for everything else required for the funeral so don’t undersell or undervalue what you do.
sure you cost them out properly but it’s not always an exact science as Paul from Flowers by Arrangement in Swansea explained. “Educated guessing comes into this depending on the item. The picture boards are reasonably easy to work out with regards to flower content, the time factor comes down to experience, the more complicated designs, modelling work etc come down to the complexity of the item. Flower content + time + my experience on the basis I feel the better I get, the more they should pay for it given you pay extra for specialised work in ANY field.” Others, like Steph Eynon of
Betty’s in Cardiff and Nic and Gregor of Nicci G’s, who have shops in Frimley and Basingstoke go the more classic route of adding up the retail cost of flowers, sundries and frames with
64 F&wb Autumn/Winter 2013
a labour charge on top. However a lot of replies were quite honest in saying that it was a bit of guesswork and they know it isn’t always right.
Our view: We know how hard
it is but funeral work can be very time consuming so you need to make sure your time is covered as much as the flower and sundries content. In an ideal world every shop
should charge £40 minimum for a letter and at least £60 for a small wreath simply because the price of flowers is not going down and neither are rents and rates. If you don’t need a salary then by all means do it cheap but actually if everyone charged the right price everyone could earn more! And as for florists who say
their customers won’t pay for it remember they have paid proportionally far more for
Arrangement has built up a few contracts but says it took a lot of hard work and patience to get them. “I only give 15% but they all know that I also do not penalise the customer for the loss; if they order a £150 tribute that’s what they get regardless. It is financially viable especially if you do such a good job that you gain a new customer because I often find that when they next need a tribute they come direct.” Caireen Convery of Tallulah
Blooms in Stockport on the other hand has a mix of deals. “I have arrangements with two, one takes 10% but I do full flower value, although I don’t really get a lot of orders from them it as it depends who takes the funeral instructions, the other one recommends me and has a link on their website to my shop. I don’t pay any commission, just provide flowers for their wives if they want them.” For Nic the relationships with a number of FDs works well in other ways too. “Both our shops are next door to the FD’s. We produce specific funeral guides for them with prices and our logo and they get 15% of what the customer pays them. It makes financial
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