Surviving this Down Economy - Strategies of a Small Flower Shop

This year, instead of focusing on being succesful and profitable, we are striving to survive and outlast our new and old competitors. With this in mind, I am sharing our strategy so that small business owners like me also survive this down economy we are now in.

Our strategies:
- Provide superior products and services at very reasonable price
- Develop a bond with customers, and vendors,
- Celebrate milestones, and share not only with clients but also with vendors,
- Acknowledge and show appreciation to loyal customers and also to vendors
- Share our expertise in flower arranging, plant care, care of fresh flowers and knowledge of gift giving.

- Network with other business owners and know that each one can depend on one another for encouragement and the knowledge that we all exist in a very challending economic time.
- Donate flowers for charitable causes. Flowers bring out smiles, encouragement, motivation, and joy.
Bright Cheery Bouquet by A Vanity Fair Florist

Flower Delivery in Sacramento, Buy Local

In this time of economic turmoil, it is hard to tolerate retail companies who take a customer’s money without fully disclosing who they are or where their money goes. In particular I’m referring to companies who pose as local florists, but in fact, are just order-gatherers. They appear in the phone book as “Flowers in Sacramento” or “Sacramento Florist” or something similar. Most of the time they are only a local phone number attached to an out-of-state order desk. They take the order, charge big service or delivery fees, then assure the customer that they will process and deliver the order as specified. Little does the customer know what happens next.

The order-gatherer will attempt to find a real florist in the delivery area who will do the work for a discounted price. The discount is hefty. Many times the local florist who fills the order will only get 73% of the order value to actually fill the order. So, for example, if you order a $50 arrangement, you will pay $50 plus a $15.00 delivery or service fee plus tax, or about $70 for the order. The filling florist will get about $48.00 to fill and deliver your order. (You have to ask yourself, how motivated would I be to work for 73% of my wage?) The order-gatherer gets about $22.00 just for answering the phone and taking the order.


There’s an easy way to save money when ordering flowers out-of-town. An Internet search on “flowers Sacramento, CA”, for example, will yield an abundant list of florists, but be careful. Select a florist who has a street address in the ZIP code of the recipient. This will guarantee you have selected a real florist who has a real shop, and who will make and deliver your arrangement, usually at a lower cost than an order-gatherer. If you can’t find a street address associated with the phone number, chances are there isn’t one. This is the first tip-off that the business is just an order-gatherer, not a real florist.

So there you have it. You win with a real florist every time. No “buds” about it!

A Little Flower Shop in Sacramento, CA

Most small business owners in the Sacramento area are looking for ways to drum up business. As a small business owner, I get so much phone calls from telemarketers promising to send business my way. One caller claimed their directory gets thousands of potential customers, claiming that they get a lot of web surfers searching for Sacramento florists. One company asked me to type certain keywords to show that their directory is on the top listing. Trouble is they are asking so much money, money that will eat up into the small budget that we small business owners work with.
Another caller used the same line, a promise to send more customers to our website. They can optimize our site and we'll find our site on the top listing on the search engines within a week. It's annoying sometimes to get so many calls each day of the week, taking our precious time on our main business - which is retailing of flowers and gifts and looking for simple and affordable ways to attract more business.

Affordable Florists Are in Your Local City

Affordable florists are in your neighborhood. Just look around your neighborhood, and you might find not one but a couple of flower shops to choose from. In my neighborhood, I just discovered that there are actually 2 florists at the corner shopping center, each facing each other and separated only by a parking lot access street. Amazing! But it is nice to just walk in and see what each one offers, select the freshest flowers, or plants, balloons or other gifts to send to friends or loved ones.
If you need flowers sent out of town, chances are you'll look online and search for florist in that town or city. Often times, the florists that pop up first are the big wire service providers that send orders nationally. But beware, even with their advertisement of saving you money, it usually just means that your recipient of flowers will not get the best value for your money.

Upon opening the phone book, one usually finds big and attractive ads of florists. Most local florists would only be able to afford small ads and the ads show their exact address and their local phone numbers. The big ads would usually have their 800 numbers and occasionally have a local number but would not disclose their actual address or location. If you call their 800 number you could potentially be calling a call center not only out-of-town, but out of the country!

Here's top 5 reasons for calling and ordering from your real local florist:
1 You get the best value for your money; you won't get charged any handling or shipping fee. The only fee added to your order of flowers is their standard delivery fee, and the applicable sales tax.
2 You get to speak directly to the florist who knows what is the freshest flower in stock, the flowers in season, and can answer any of your questions and concerns, and give you suggestions if you need any. And if you have any custom design in mind, the florist can make it to your specifications.
3 You can be assured that your flowers will be delivered promptly. The local florist knows the area very well, is familiar with the policies of funeral homes and hospitals in their delivery area, and if your order needs to be there at a certain time, you can communicate it directly with the florist.
4 In a rush, you have a better chance of having your delivery delivered the same day if you call the florist directly.
5 By talking to the local florist, you will get a feel of whether they will take care of your order with care or not. You can give them special instructions on how to handle the order or delivery, i.e, the recipient is hard of hearing, or is slow to get to the door.

So, the next time you need flowers, visit your local florist, you'll save a lot more than the $5.00 dollar coupon from the national flower wire sending service. In Sacramento, use A Vanity Fair Florist - the most affordable florist in Sacramento, CA.