Whether you've recently started a flower business or are a seasoned floral shop owner, there is one question we all have in common: How do we create a great customer experience?

Being a talented florist, streamlining your production, and having a great team are all wonderful things for your business, but they leave out one crucial element—the customer. How does a client feel after working with you? Was the experience memorable enough to share with a friend?

Here are five ways to help create a memorable experience for your floral clients!

1. Educate Your Staff

This seems like a no-brainer, but having an educated, courteous staff definitely can make encounters with your business memorable for clients. Does the staff member who regularly answers the telephone know how to take care of a customer's questions and needs? If the answer is no, consider typing up a few FAQs for your team to have answers readily available for customers. Here are a few examples:

Q: How far are you willing to travel for an event?

A: We currently only serve our local city.

Q: What’s my total again? I can't seem to find my invoice.

A: Have a computer available to your staff to quickly re-send invoices to clients or answer quick questions about what they have ordered.

Q: One of the guests I've ordered flowers for may not be able to make it to the event. How long do I have to make changes to my flowers?

A: You have until two weeks before your event. At that point, payment is received, and flowers are ordered.

I'm sure you may be reading this thinking of other things that your team often gets calls about. The point of typing up an FAQ list for your staff is to eliminate call backs or long hold times. You don't enjoy having to make a bunch of return calls, and the customer equally doesn't enjoy having to wait for their answer. Problem solved!

2. Make a Good First Impression

When a client meets you for a consultation, what is their first impression of your business? You might be asking why this first impression matters as long as the end product on their wedding day is fantastic. The reality is, when we don't receive good customer service as individuals, it doesn't matter how great the product is—we won't remember it as a positive experience.

Small touches could include offering drinks to your customers as they come in. Playing wedding songs softly in the background could help put customers in the "wedding spirit," so to speak. Think about the holiday season when you go out to shop for Christmas—you hear the Christmas music in the stores and see all the shop decorations. You can create a similar effect in your studio or shop space by having fresh cut flowers in a vase or something that a customer might be able to smell or touch. Involving the five senses has proven to make things more memorable.

Lastly, you need a visually appealing consultation space. It's like that old saying, "We eat with our eyes first." When something isn't visually appealing—whether it's food, a business space, or a home we're looking to buy—we lose our interest in it. Making that great first impression could make all the difference in how much a customer is willing to spend. It will also affect how at ease they are between the consultation and the wedding day.

3. Give a Memorable Design Consultation

Providing a memorable consultation fits right in with making a great first impression. Ensuring you are well prepared for your consultation is very important. Be ready for as many potential questions as possible. In the world of sales, it is highly recommended to rehearse speeches or proposals before giving it to the customer. This is even more important if you're new to the business!

If the first time you're sharing a proposal is when you’re in front of the client, you may have already lost the sale. Before my first proposal, I sat at my kitchen table and talked to an invisible person across from me several times. My two-year-old thought his mommy was crazy, but once the consultation began, I was happy for the practice. I was ready to answer all of the questions thrown at me!

When you’re preparing for the consultation, consider whether or not the bride receives something in hand when she leaves your consultation. Does she get a copy of a proposal or pricing? If you can't give an invoice at that meeting, I recommend offering something else. My last bride was so excited when I let her keep the mood board I had prepared for the meeting! As long as you're taking a non-refundable deposit at your consultation, there should be no risk of handing the bride something such as a proposal or mood board.

4. Offer White Glove Delivery

When you deliver that beautiful bridal bouquet, what is the bride's impression? Have you ever opened a parcel from a high-end department store to find your item carefully wrapped in tissue paper with a personalized note? It doesn't change the merchandise inside the box, but it does elevate the service. It makes you feel special, and it encourages you to leave them a positive review. 

It's a hot trend right now to reuse your flower boxes to deliver your flowers to the customer because it's cheap, simple, and sustainable. But let’s go back to the food analogy. What if you went to a fancy steakhouse and ordered a steak that costs $98, and they served it on a disposable plate? You would not have a very good impression of that restaurant. The quality of the steak wouldn't matter at that point.

Consider using some form of open-faced gift boxes to deliver the personals, using tissue paper and gift tags to label the items. Maybe you could bring a fancy tray to deliver boutonnieres if you offer the service of pinning them on yourself (and then can ensure that you will get your dish back!). Reception and ceremony flowers can be delivered in whatever manner is least expensive, as the customer never sees those items until they are installed.

5. Follow-Up with the Customer

Is it a common practice for your business to follow up with brides? If you've created a memorable experience, it shouldn't be challenging to get a bride to leave you a great review.

Usually, sending a short email two weeks after the wedding telling them how much you enjoyed working with them and asking if they would leave a review for your business will do the trick.

Including a link in that email to your Google business page could go a long way to ensure a bride will take the time to leave great feedback. If you have the email address of the mother of the bride or maid of honor, send them a follow-up email as well. Good reviews are the least expensive form of advertising! If you're anything like me, you read reviews of items you're looking to purchase before you make a decision. We all need a bit of reassurance that we're making the right choice before buying that product.

Investing in great customer service practices will deliver dividends over and over again. Remember, these suggestions may take a big of time, but they don’t take too much out of the business budget. Rethinking your delivery method could also be cost-effective—you could even add a small fee to your standard delivery charge to cover some of those personalized delivery items. Ask yourself how long a follow-up email really takes. The return on a positive review is definitely worth the effort.

What will the experience of your next client look like? Make it memorable enough to have clients share their experience with others! It’s the best advertising for your business.

Feel free to hop over to the Team Flower Community page and share additional ideas, tips, and tricks for creating that great experience. What can we do for our clients that will have them still talking about us on their tenth wedding anniversary?