How much should I charge for this ?
It’s the question I get asked the most often.
New flower growers start out with confidence on their planting, spend large amounts of time on seed sowing and pricking out, ponder for hours on tools, polytunnels, compost and plant supports, but rarely think about their pricing until the last minute when the flowers are ready to be sold.
How much should I charge for this bouquet? was a subject of a one to one call I did earlier this week with a new flower grower.
She’s been on our Business of Growing flowers course, so had worked out an excellent mixture of flowers for her bouquet, and had been given advice on wrapping it. She’d worked out timings for picking and making, counted her sheets of wrapping paper so she knew an exact price, and knew the hourly rate she wanted to make. We talked in the call about costs of sales, expenses and the all important Profit element that so many flower farmers seem to ignore. We agreed a price that the bouquet should be……….. She went away and created a beautiful sample taking into account what we’d talked about…… Then she advertised it at £7 less.
Unsurprisingly she sold out that day, everyone loves a bargain. Because of the call and our talking things through, she knew that although her costs and expenses were covered she wasn’t making profit. So why put the flowers for sale than less than they could have been?
CONFIDENCE
After 9 years of growing flowers for sale
I know …… That my flowers are better quality than others, and I’m charging a fair price
I know…. What I need to charge to not only cover my costs and expenses but to make profit, and I don’t think that’s a dirty word
I know….. That my product is artisan and special and has hugely better sustainability credentials than other flowers my customers are likely to buy
I know… That I have a reputation for Excellence and Expertise and Quality
I know…. My flowers are worth it.
Do you have confidence in your flowers?
Here’s the last word from my one to one grower
“Feeling a plonker. Should have listened to Claire. Who was I, thinking I might know my area better than she knows the flowers.”