Valentine’s Day Floral Design Checklist – Two Weeks to go!
Consumers imagine red roses and love. You see all-nighters and a rush to get every arrangement delivered on time!
Valentine’s Day, the leading holiday for giving fresh flowers, is just two weeks away!
What steps can you take now to fine-tune your shop for this busy holiday? Are you prepared for bad weather? Is temporary staff trained? Will your supplies arrive in time?
To assist you in arranging and delivering fresh flowers to satisfied customers during the rush, we’ve prepared a two-weeks-to-go Valentine’s Day floral design checklist.
European Valentine design ideas
If you haven’t already …
Your best scenario is your supplies are in and you’ve created your menu of designs, ordered flowers and greenery, arranged for staffing and confirmed delivery and pricing with suppliers. If you haven’t already, double-check your inventory of key supplies, including floral foam, flower food, vases and decorative accessories.
Otherwise, now is time to fine tune your holiday prep with last minute details like cleaning, organizing and preparing the shop for special guests—your Valentine customers.
It’s a good idea to schedule a pre-holiday how-to training class to teach the basics to temporary staff who will be designing Valentine arrangements along with your usual team.
If you need help instructing holiday helpers on prepping containers, here’s two quick videos:
Building a Foundation for Your Floral Designs and How to Soak OASIS Floral Foam.
Farm to Table Valentine design ideas
Promote your designs on social media
Creating your menu of designs in advance gives you the opportunity to cost out the designs, create recipes for designers to follow and photograph the designs for promotional materials. It’s a good first step toward inspiring impulse buys from potential customers.
In addition to displaying designs in your shop, post photographs daily on the shop’s social media. Share images of your Valentine’s Day arrangements, designers on task and online ordering information for the convenience of your customers.
The right now list
- Wash flower buckets with Floralife DCD.
- Prep containers with floral foam, tape grids or decorative accessories.
- Place plants in containers or wraps along with care tags, bows or decorative accents.
- Meet with staff to review prices, in-store specials, dress code, sales techniques, address concerns and assign last-minute tasks.
- Spend time with sales teams reviewing upgrades, delivery times and charges and proper flower care.
- Update your store’s Valentine décor to freshen the look for walk-in customers.
- Review your delivery program and confirm drivers, vehicles and the routing director’s plans.
- Give courtesy calls to valued customers offering an incentive for pre-book Valentine orders.
- Offer a discount or bonus on social media for early orders.
Modern Valentine floral design ideas
Valentine’s week checklist
- Check the weather forecast and adjust accordingly. If wintry weather is forecasted, consider snow tires on your delivery vehicles or encourage customers to accept Monday or Tuesday delivery.
- Receive and inspect flowers, placing them in buckets of water with flower food.
- Place flowers in a fresh flower cooler with optimal temperatures between 34°F – 38°F, with the exception of tropical flowers. Check temps daily.
- Organize and assign customized designs or special requests.
- Bring in foods and snacks for staff so they remain energized, on task and available to customers.
Preparing in advance makes it easier to service the needs of your customers on Valentine’s Day. Create your own checklist and start the countdown!
What Valentine’s Day time-saving tips work for you?
Sharon-McGukin