Valuing your own skills
I was recently in conversation with Emma Sampson who is the founder of the gorgeous Green Parlour in Berkshire. Those who know me know that Emma and i have been floral buddies for over 6 years, first meeting when i became her wholesale rep. With the May 2022 hub focus being ‘Value’ i was delighted that Emma could come and join me to chat about this topic as its one that we personally and regularly talk about.
We’re both in agreement that Florists never put enough emphasis on our skills when they’re quoting for work or indeed even helping a customer with information when they pop in.
It’s super easy to forget what we’ve accomplished through our years in the trade with investing our own time and money to learn the skills we need to be an incredible florist.
When’s the last time a customer questioned your floral judgement?
The last time someone asked your advice for free?
You were asked to help out on a project without any return?
We take it for granted that our customers will have unfailing certainty in us and our business and fail to value our skills. As an industry we need to talk more about our qualifications, and not be so humble about our achievements. If you don’t tell people …they wont ever know or have a better understanding. Don’t forget also that not everyone has spent time investing in qualifications, courses.
If we look at look at other trades in our world like plumbers, Sign writers, Hairdressers, Bakers they all have a great confidence and pride in their skills. They know and understand that their skills are the point of difference between them and their competitors.
Having a lack of confidence in your skills can:
Easily lead to mental and physical burn out because you set a lower price than what your skills are worth.
Forget what we have accomplished in our training and floral journey.
Mean that your customers don’t know or appreciate what time we have spent upskilling which leads to a lack of trust and confidence in you. Think about those times people have questioned your ability…
With more florists in your area and more florists entering our industry bubble, if you don’t promote your unique set of skills you can end up looking the same as every other florist.
So how can you value your skills better?
Start explaining to your customers and target audience what your skills and qualifications are and what they mean to your business too.
What did you have to do to achieve them?
What did you learn?
How does this help your customers?
Make sure to show and shout about yours skills by putting them:
On your website
On social media
Or in a frame in your shop or studio
Think outside the box too.
There are many things you’ve done that contribute to your business, it doesn’t have to be just floristry courses. Some florists have come into floristry from previous careers from retail, accounting, social media course…..these all help you run a successful business.
Think about any life skills you’ve learnt in your journey as well. for example if you’re a Funeral florist and you’ve been through organising and planning a personal funeral, if you’re a wedding florist and you’ve gotten married yourself. Your customers can relate to these life skills you’ve also experienced which means you can share empathy, compassion, give them guidance and show your important emotive skills.
Remind yourself.
Take 10 minutes to write down and brainstorm every skill, qualification and time you’ve invested in yourself and your floral journey. Be proud of what you’ve achieved and how far you’ve come.
Not got time to read it all?
Our huge thanks to Emma for joining us to chat about this important subject.
We’d highly recommend checking out Emma here on Instagram and here on Pinterest
Florally yours,
Rachel