editorial


ones where we properly seared the stems (in a candle fl ame or boiling water) lasted perfectly and better than some of the plants. What’s more the coverage and festive look they gave was phenomenally good value compared with ‘normal’ fl owers (red cars/gerbera etc) and meant that designs were not only lush but incredibly profi table as well. You’ll probably want to test


it out before you send out your own designs but why not give it a go and test poinsettia power for yourself; with the predicted fl ower prices for Christmas week it would be mad not to.


A lot of fl orists will say they prefer funeral fl oristry. Trouble is a lot of fl orists also seem to be undercharging for their work on the basis customers won’t pay the going rate. In fact there was quite a lot of hoo ha when eFlorist brought out their new Tributes Guide with some fl orists thinking their pricing policy was in cloud cuckoo land. But having seen a copy I’m


not sure what the problem is. In fact, if there is a problem, it’s the fact that too many fl orists don’t value their work enough and are undercharging which is just as bad as overcharging. There is no way you can produce


a letter tribute for much less than £45 per letter if you are going to make the right sort of profi t. There is little point doing a special 3D tribute for under £200 because of the hours you will spend making it. A luxury coffi n top at around £450 is probably about right if it’s going to cover all the costs involved, not just the fl ower and foliage. But maybe that’s the problem.


Too many fl orists are either scared of losing customers or don’t have the right expectations of what they should earn or charge to price accurately. As a result they end up running a ‘lifestyle business’; where pricing is ruled


by customers’ perceived spending ability rather than a commercial business; where everything is ruled by profi t/margin and overhead. In my view if, as an owner/


manager, you are earning anything less than £27k a year plus company car, then perhaps you need to rethink what sort of business you are running and what sort of customers you should be working with. Because at the end of the day it’s your bills, mortgage and lifestyle which need covering not your customers’ wish to get the lowest price – that’s what supermarkets are for, not bespoke fl orists.


Rethinking my own business life was part and parcel of my long overdue maternity leave in the summer. Because while I love producing magazines the truth is to do it the way I think it should be done is bally expensive. Yes we have received fantastic feedback, we know the fi rst two editions are still being read and we know that people respect what we do. However none of that pays the


bills. Excluding salaries, rent, rates, insurance, utilities (never mind the bin emptying charge, tea and coff ee et al) to cover the cost of research, travel, writing, design, photography, print and postage we need to generate at least £15k an issue to send a quality magazine to everyone in the industry. Sadly there just isn’t the advertising revenue out there nor enough fl orists prepared to pay for it to make that happen. And that causes me a problem.


I’m good but even I haven’t worked out how to run a company on fresh air. I’ve already spent a lot of my own money keeping it going and I can’t do it anymore. If I am going to do vanity publishing then I’d rather write the next 50 Shades of Grey and be in with a chance of millions!


F&wb Autumn/Winter 2013 9 So from 15th November the


magazine goes completely digital and I move onto new things… including the rest of my maternity leave which, as I discovered in the summer, is not only great fun but doing it back to front means there isn’t a nappy in sight!


One project I will still be involved in is the Good Florist Guide. Because having seen the way the industry has changed over the years I have come to the conclusion that rather than try and change the bad I’d be far more eff ective promoting what is good. So along with a far more


content-rich website I’ll be working on more consumer facing activity for the Good Florist Guide. But there can never be too many shops in the Good Florist Guide… in fact the more we have the easier my role will be. And that’s why we’ve published


the application form in this issue on page 38 so that every fl orist business can apply for the accreditation and make GFG an even better refl ection of all that is good about fl owers. If you think you should be in it apply now.


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