Managing price shoppers is the bane of every floral designer’s existence. You know, those inquiries who ask “Hi, I’m getting married on XX date so can you give me prices for the following list please”.
No hint that they like your design style. No request for your recommendation or advice. In fact, they don’t even ask if you’re available for their date. Just gimme the list please and thank you. I’m price shopping.
Managing these inquiries can be exhausting and demoralising as you begin to believe that price is the ONLY thing that customers care about. As a result, you second-guess your pricing and start down the dangerous path of trying to be the cheapest option.
Every industry has them
Can I let you in on a little secret? Floral design isn’t the only industry that has to manage price shoppers. The reality is that every single industry has them.
Every. Single. One.
The reason your customers keep asking about prices and looking for a good deal on flowers is because they don’t understand.
That is to say, they don’t understand what designers do. They don’t understand what floral design is all about.
Most importantly, they don’t see a difference between what YOU offer and what the next designer offers.
As a result, they assume that price is the only difference. Voila, you’re now stuck managing a price shopper.
The secret to managing Price Shoppers
The trick to managing those pesky price shoppers is knowing that customers are influenced by your entire brand. That is, the compilation of all the things you put out into the world, every touch point you have with your customers.
But remember, your visual identity — design style, logo, photos, colour palette, fonts — is only ONE aspect of your brand.
The mistake most floral designers make is they overlook the other areas of their brand that are just as important to their customers:
- Expertise – be an open book and share everything you know.
- Professionalism – your business needs to ooze legitimacy, everywhere.
- ‘You’ – you must show up in your marketing. Practice your selfies.
This is why an average designer, who doesn’t use premium ingredients or have a fancy logo, but does these branding steps well, can set themselves apart and minimise price shoppers.
More on Price Shoppers in the podcast
In this week’s episode of the Thrive Podcast #ForFlorists, I share with you my go-to approach for managing price shoppers. And I hand over my strategy for levelling-up your marketing so you can attract customers who aren’t obsessed with finding the lowest price available.
And finally, do you want more good stuff on conquering marketing, money and mindset for florists? Grab my Free Pricing Guide #ForFlorists.
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Kathleen