Alicia's Flower Manual

You’ve always liked flowers and you think the idea of turning emotions into floral expressions sounds like tremendous fun. You are between careers and have been investigating business opportunities  in your community. Yesterday, while perusing a business for sale paper in your local town, you notice that a family owned flower shop is up for sale. The ad says it’s a turnkey operation. This is your lucky day. Or is it?

Let’s look before we leap, OK? Here are some issues to be considered:
1. What is the current status of the singapore Florist business and it’s accounting?
You should be able to see the financial records and consult professional help if needed.

2. Does the business have a good reputation?
If there are negative opinions about the business, you may need to consider a name change and making a big show of the change in management. Factor in the cost of a face-lift on the fade of the physical facility.

3. What assets are included in the selling price?
If you are buying the building, equipment, and inventory, you need to carefully assess the age, condition and viability of these items. For example, there may be •£20,000 worth of inventory in the store, and the seller may be able to provide the monetary value by showing invoices. However, if the inventory is out of date or not in keeping with your business plan, the value of that inventory to you may be quite a bit lower than that the •£20,000 it is valued at.

Are you also buying the Accounts Receivable as an asset? If this is the case, you should do some serious research into the exact state of these accounts. Many traditional florists have struggled with in-house accounting. They have extended credit as a matter of tradition, rather than good business sense and have found themselves in cash flow trouble.

4. What liabilities are you purchasing?
You’ll need to be very clear about any outstanding debts or unpaid bills you will be taking over. Be sure that you hire professional help to highlight any such debt in your sales agreement. Because of seasonality of the flower and florist UK business and the existence of house accounts, many retail florists have difficulty with cash flow; you should avoid any situation where you will be paying bills run up by the previous owner.

Also, you should take time to consult with the flower Wholesalers that you will be buying from. Discuss payment terms and lay the way for a healthy business relationship with a reputable Wholesaler or perhaps more than one.

5. What about the business name and goodwill associated with that?
What value does the existing business Name have in the marketplace? , If it has good value, you probably won’t want to change the name of the business. In any case, consider a clause in the bill of sale limiting the use of the name by the previous owner in the future. This can be very sticky in the case of an owner’s own name, for example “Green and Co. Florist, Florist UK, Florist Scotland, Singapore florist etc “.

6. Will you need to hire new staff, or will the existing staff stay with the business?
Sometimes a previous owner chooses to stay on and work for the new owner in a period of hand-over. This can pose tremendous difficulties for all involved, so tread lightly on this territory. It’s an extreme analogy, but think about the difficulties in open adoptions between birth and adoptive parents. Everyone has their own style in the singapore florist business and it can be difficult to accept change or let go of something you have worked very hard to build up over the years.

That said, many valuable members of staff at successful florists have weathered the change in ownership of their place of employment. You should always make every effort to retain good people, as they may make your integration into the management of the business much easier. Of course, it’s all about relationships.

7. What is the best time to buy the business and start running?
Take the holidays into account when you plan your purchase of a flower shop. Valentine’s day is the single largest day, but Christmas is more of a marathon. Mother’s Day, weddings, proms, graduations and anniversaries team up to make the spring months a nice busy time. Depending upon your market, the summer can be a difficult time to make ends meet. Ideally, you would take over a shop with enough time to get your feet wet before a holiday, but not with so much down time that your funds dry up before you can get going.

8. What other opportunities exist, and at what cost?
Here’s the acid test. Take the time to sort out the options. Let’s work on the assumption that you WILL own a flower shop in the next year. Take a big sheet of paper and draw a line down the center. At the top of the left column, write “Buy a Flower Shop”. In the Right column, write “Open a New Flower Shop”. Now draw a line through the middle of the paper, so you have a top and bottom. The top left if for Strength’s. Top right for weaknesses. Bottom left for opportunities, and bottom right for threats. Fill in the grid with as many items as you can figure out.

Ask your trusted business friends and floral professionals for help. You’ll be considering such items as the finances and the marketing plan of your business. When you have completed this exercise, you should have two things. One is a good tool to help you make a decision. The second is the beginnings of a business plan.

Whatever your decision, a business plan is essential. It is your roadmap for success and will be necessary for a business loan. It is worth the extra time at the onset of this journey to compare the options and make the best decision you can.

Gail Michie is a Floral Industry Professional with many years of experience in the retail and wholesale sectors of the industry. She believes the common goal should be to sell more flowers to more people, more often.

For reasons out with her business and its successful operation, Gail is looking to sell the business soon.

Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/So-You-Want-To-Become-A-Florist–The-Pro-and-Cons-of-Flower-Shops-and-Florists/107149

On Wednesday, Bowen chose a bouquet of six red roses and six pink tulips to appear on his wife’s office desk in downtown Roanoke on Friday.

Valentine’s Day is Sunday, but Bowen wanted his wife, a supervisor, to receive the flower delivery on a work day.

“Women love attention like that … attention from the other ladies at work,” said Bowen, who works for a local mortgage company.

These sweet-scented displays of affection arrive at workplaces on or near Feb. 14 each year, making this a high-water mark of the year for cut flower sales.

However, this Valentine’s Day creates a bit of a headache for the floral industry. When Feb. 14 lands on a Sunday, flower shops often lose sales, industry experts say. With many businesses closed on Sunday, some people forgo office deliveries and opt for other celebrations, such as dining out or out-of-town travel.

Add to this challenge a Valentine’s holiday when couples say they will spend less on one another and a scare earlier this year that freezing temperatures would devastate rose crops in Colombia.

Luckily, the Colombian frost was not as widespread as previously feared, because it mostly affected younger and undeveloped flower buds, said Doug Lindamood, design room manager for George’s Flowers in Roanoke.

Also, wholesalers offset the frost threat by ordering roses from growers in other states and countries, including California, Ecuador and Mexico, said Jennifer Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Society of American Florists.

Still, the economy’s impact on Valentine’s Day spending remains a factor for retailers, restaurants and florists alike. The National Retail Federation predicts that couples will spend about 6 percent less on gifts for each other this year, compared with 2009. That’s an average of $63.34 per person, from $67.22 in 2009.

Some singapore florists in the area are trying to thwart economic challenges with offers to deliver roses to sweethearts on Sunday, a rare service. Many local floral shops typically are closed on Sundays.

Because Sunday is Valentine’s Day, some florists are beefing up staff and making sure that they have enough delivery drivers to handle what they hope will be a heavy workload.

Shops also have encouraged people to place flower delivery orders before Sunday. George’s Flowers in Roanoke even offered $10 and $25 discounts on orders for Friday delivery.

Also, through Sunday, Village Flowers is offering a $5 discount on a dozen or a half-dozen rose arrangements if people pick them up at its Grandin Village shop, rather than having the flowers delivered.

A consulting group of singapore florists encouraged flower shops this year to “get business done earlier in the week, so that we stretch it out,” said George Clements, owner of George’s Flowers.

The group, called Team Floral, estimated that flower shops lose 22 percent in sales when Feb. 14 falls on a Sunday, he said.

“We were working on what we are going to do to erase this 22 percent,” Clements said.

There’s something special about sending and receiving flowers at work, a service that drives Feb. 14 business for florists such as Village Flowers. Office delivery accounts for 40 percent to 50 percent of the shop’s sales when Feb. 14 lands during the work week, co-owner Marc Arrington said.

Sending flowers often makes the recipient feel “validated among their co-workers,” said Susan Boyes, a licensed professional counselor in Roanoke who works with couples.

“Many people are going to come by, and say, ‘Oh, those flowers are so pretty,’ ” she said.

But Boyes cautioned against sending flowers without regard to what the recipient truly wants.

“When a woman knows that her partner knows her well enough to know exactly what would please her, it comes off a lot better than calling the florist and sending some flowers,” she said.

Shane St. Clair opted for a Friday flower delivery to stay out of the doghouse.

For about $110, he ordered a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates at George’s Flowers to be delivered Friday to his girlfriend at her Wachovia office in Roanoke County. He said she enjoys the attention from her co-workers that a flower delivery brings.

Plus, “Better Friday than Monday,” St. Clair said. “I don’t want any disappointment to set in.”

To be sure, there is some benefit to this annual love holiday landing on the weekend. Singapore florists can spread out deliveries, rather than having all of them hit the same day.

Deliveries at George’s Flowers easily rise to 400 to 500 for one day when Feb. 14 falls during the week, Lindamood said. That’s compared with 75 deliveries for a typical non-holiday weekday, he said.

Friday appeared to be the busiest day for deliveries for some local florists, due to early-bird office orders, though orders for Saturday and Sunday deliveries to homes was picking up.

Even so, Bill Yates went against the flower delivery norm. He planned to pick up a pot of red tulips for his wife on Friday at George’s Flowers. It’s a gift that he has given her for past Valentine’s Days.

Rather than a vase of flowers, potted tulips are “something we can plant outside” and they last longer, he said.

Source: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/236402