You may have picked an arrangement up from your local flower shop before and thought, “Wow, that is beautiful,” and then walked out to deliver your arrangement, never realizing all the skill and effort that went into the floral creation. Well, a lot of thought, logistics, organization, and hard work was put into making the arrangement you purchased. It was arranged with creativity, skill, knowledge, and a professional eye for detail. In this blog, we want to highlight the people and the flower magic that happens behind the scenes.
Organization Station
Organization, or lack thereof, can make or break a florist. This skill is at the core of everything in a flower shop. When the florist arrives at work, there’s an array of tasks they must immediately address. Some are:
- Checking for new, last-minute orders for that same day.
- Prioritizing the weekly orders””there may be special items that need to be ordered from suppliers ahead of time to complete an arrangement.
- Every detail of the day will need to be organized in busier seasons like: spring, summer, and certain holidays. There is often a head florist or floral manager that will allot orders and time frames to all corresponding florists. This is crucial during the holidays!
- Deliveries must be delivered on time. Deliveries must be organized: daily, weekly, and sometimes monthly, especially to accommodate special occasions, such as weddings.
Customer Communication
Many don’t realize, but there is a lot of customer service and effective communication skills required from a florist. Customers order the arrangement they want, but it is up to the florists to realize the true vision of the order and to think of what the customer may not. Florists also need special skills and compassion when communicating with customers about weddings or funerals, as tensions or emotions can be running higher than usual!
Make Exactly What I Want, Now…Please.
This would be ideal when ordering an arrangement, but there are a lot of logistics behind your requests. Here are some things to consider the next time you order fresh flowers:
- Fresh flowers are often flown in from South America. This means that they arrive at the airport in your area and are then dispersed to wholesale suppliers (in most cases). The retail flower shops have to order from their suppliers and coordinate these deliveries, so sometimes the flowers you want are unavailable.
- If your fresh floral arrangement has a specific or unique request, like an exotic or seasonal flower, these can take time to procure for the above reasons.
- Time and consideration must be given to a flower shop whenever you are ordering around a major holiday. Florists coordinate many orders, often from several wholesalers, to ensure they have enough stock to last throughout the holiday for their customers.
- Deliveries for your local flower shop around holidays can be a bit stressful and extensive. They will often have to call in extra delivery people to get them all out on the correct day. Consider this when ordering flowers at the last minute, or better yet, try not to!
Ordering Flowers During the Holidays
Holidays can be a tense time for florists in a flower shop. They are working when most others are not, and coordinating large amounts of orders with long hours on their feet. It can be stressful, but they must work fast, be creative, and not lose their eye for detail. Orders must be read with thorough attention so as not to miss any specific requests from the customer.
Florists Are Creative Problem Solvers
When so many tasks are juggled at once, things can go wrong. This job takes creative problem-solving skills; they must be able to step out of their comfort zone, and be versatile to meet the many needs of their customers.
But, even with all the high demands, most florists love their jobs! It is an outlet for them to explore their creativity and artistic side, which they all seem to have in common. Visit our Flower Studio at Salisbury Enjoy to chat with our amazing St. Albert florist and let us create the vision you’ve been looking for!
