Being a Flower Solicitor

Try new things. Persevere. Be bold and creative.
I've heard those things plenty of times, and heaven knows I've used those little mantras in most of the business I've done. However, never have they become so apparent as in my latest enterprise.
Weekly bouquet subscriptions, marketed door-to-door. I found it an interesting experience, and I thought I'd share it with you, so read on for a story and some insight at the end.

Now, I like to consider myself an extrovert, because I am, but I was not prepared for the psychological experience that is being a door-to-door salesman.

Here's how the idea came about: I have a lot of flowers in the field, but, this being my first year as a flower farmer, I had no idea what I was doing when I selected varieties and planted. Long story short, the result was about 2 or 3 up-to-florist-standard kinds of flowers, and the other 60% have too-short stems for "professional" bouquet work.
And after the work and worry that went into growing them, I'm NOT letting them go to waste.

A photo posted by Mary Schaefbauer (@lil_hayseed) on Jul 20, 2016 at 11:48am PDT

So I was pondering this problem while cutting one morning, and I hit upon a fantabulous idea... the smaller flowers are just fine in bouquets with similar-sized blooms. I already have some bouquets in a local coffee shop, so why wouldn't other businesses want them? So I formulated a plan for weekly bouquet subscriptions, made a list of businesses that might be interested, bought a bunch of cheap vases, filled them with flowers and left.

Prepping for the first outing

I journeyed to the street/block with all of the cute, independently-owned gift-y shops on it. The first place I went turned me down, but I went unruffled to the next shop down. I don't know how I hit upon such luck, but the second place I tried (a little bookstore) signed up for 5 weeks--$80 worth of bouquets. Needless to say, I got super excited and my expectations were placed exceedingly and unrealistically high.
I didn't get any more sales that day, but I left my calling card (a flyer) and a free bouquet at a couple other places where the manager wasn't in at the moment.
I continued this process over the next couple weeks, and I ended up with a grand total of 4 clients out of the 2 dozen or so places I visited.
Rejection can be a hard pill to swallow, I've learned. Even though it's really not that bad when written out, and it's impossible to explain why it's tough... it's tough. There's always that inevitable awkwardness for both parties--that moment of 'err... no. Sorry.'
And I'd always feel bad because I knew they felt bad for turning me down, because I know I'm adorable and people don't like crushing my widdle dweams. I'm naturally very empathetic and so I felt not only my own awkwardness and disappointment but theirs as well. I got better at it after a while, perfecting the art of the "okay, thanks anyway" face that doesn't look forced, but it took its toll on me and I always dreaded going out.

Latest harvest

As everything is, this has been a huge learning experience. Some thoughts and things I've learned:

• I've learned that a big part of running a successful business is just having the guts to throw yourself out there; get in people's faces. Make them want what you're selling. This involves a lot of getting-your-game-face-on, but it's a very important part of marketing. And it does take a lot of guts, I've found.
• I've learned how to face rejection. After those couple weeks I had about a 40% chance of being flat-out turned down any time I walked into a place, and that's something I had to keep in mind. What I had to remind myself is I have nothing to lose, so I may as well try. The worst thing that could happen is someone could say no, and that's really not that bad. Just smile, say 'thanks anyway,' and move on to the next place.
• I've learned that nothing is guaranteed, and without sticking your smiling face into someone else's face it's likely they won't care at all. I left a flyer and complementary bouquet at at least a dozen places, and I did not get a single call. I got a call that I could come pick up the empty vase, but that was all. People need a personal connection or they're not going to buy into you. We are, after all, created to relate, and there needs to be a face and a person behind a small business brand if it's to be successful.

And of course I learned a lot about people skills and interpersonal communications on this wild ride.

I also learned that selling flowers door-to-door isn't extremely profitable. So I'm closing the chapter in this flower farming venture about going door-to-door. It's given me some valuable skills, and I'm glad I got out there and got some funds, but it's time to move on to the next idea. Coming up: Facebook. Stay tuned for the next chapter of this crazy enterprise.