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Struggling to turn your floral design talent into a profitable, scalable, and stress-free business? Welcome to The Floral CEO® Podcast—the ultimate audio destination for wedding and event florists, flower-shop owners, and creative entrepreneurs who want to book bigger budgets, price with confidence, and lead like a true CEO.
Hosted by Jeni Becht, award-winning wedding florist, event designer, and floral business coach with 25 + years in the industry, each weekly episode dives into:
Profitable pricing strategies: markup formulas and minimums fine-tuned for weddings & events
Magnetic marketing & local-SEO hacks: social posts, blogs, and Google tricks that attract high-budget couples and planners
High-converting sales funnels: inquiry replies, proposals, and follow-up scripts that turn curious leads into dream clients
Streamlined systems & smart outsourcing: workflows, templates, and hiring tips that free you from the design bench
CEO mindset & sustainable growth: leadership habits and eco-friendly practices that keep both you and your business flourishing
Jeni pairs real-world success stories with actionable strategies you can implement today, so you’ll spend less time hustling and more time designing breathtaking bouquets, installations, and arrangements.
Ready to scale your florist business and reclaim your life? Follow, subscribe, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app. 🌸
Connect & learn more:
Website & free resources: http://floralceo.com
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Turn your passion for flowers into the six-figure floral business you deserve—one episode at a time.
Website- floralceo.com
Social @thefloralceo.com
Hello, flower friends. This is Jen, and I wanna dive into how to make your marketing actually lead to inquiries. Because you can market your business, but if it's not actually ending in some type of connection or transaction somehow, some way it's not really marketing. We need a clear path from content to building trust to building that inquiry that's coming into your inbox.
So marketing is not just about being seen. It's about helping that right person, and you want that right person to notice you, to understand what you do, to trust you, to see themselves working with you and know exactly what to do next. Visibility with a, really without a path to conversion is just noise.
Like you're just talking in the abyss if it inevitably is not going to do some type of conversion. So stop measuring marketing by likes. A post can get 5,000 views and create zero inquiries. You guys, my farm videos of me touring the farm and sharing the farm Nothing. I mean, I, I get shitloads, but do they inevitably end up with me getting a wedding?
No. It's just content that I feel like maybe builds a like factor, but it's not building me as an authority. It's not building me as someone that is like they should do their flowers with. But another post that gets 500 views and books a $10,000 wedding, that's impactful. So there are things that make everybody feel good, number of followter- followers, saves and shares and profile visits and the number of website clicks.
The things that matter is, like, how are we getting people to our website if that is our \ chosen conversion path, and how many inquiries are we getting? How many consultations are we booking? How many actual bookings are we getting from that? Did your content move someone closer to actually working with you?
Your marketing does not need to go viral. It just doesn't. And I know it's so funny because there's other educators that literally are banking on virality. They're banking on that you need to go viral to have a successful business, and I just feel like that couldn't be f- farther from the truth because somebody in, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and you're in California seeing your video what's the likelihood that they're actually gonna make a conversion with you?
Pretty slim if you ask me. But that's what people are focusing on, not focusing on, how can I make the person who is in my local area... And this is why I he- I heavily try to focus on venue specific or really geo-targeted, tagging and things like that because I know those people looking that, at, at that are most likely getting married at a venue that I've been at.
So how can you make it abundantly clear what you actually do that you can actually help them in your area? So someone who lands on your Instagram or website should immediately know what you do, where you do it. So if you don't, if on your Instagram profile page, guys, you don't have where you're located, go add that.
What kind of client you serve, what kind of work you specialize in, and how to work with you. Wedding florist is not enough. Maybe you specialize in full service weddings, colorful elevated designs, cultural weddings, installations, intimate weddings, elopements, luxury events. Confused people do not inquire 'cause they think they might be able to work with you.
That's not how this works. You need to be abundantly clear "I'm for you, and in glancing at my page, you figure that out pretty easily." All right. Your portfolio has to also really match what you're selling. This connects beautifully with so much of a kind of tiered marketing approach because if you are going in and posting, like, this really pretty wedding or this really pretty thing that you did, but then you're posting shit that is going to make a very disjointed portfolio.
So you wanna make sure you're showing in your portfolio the scale that you can produce. Show full rooms, installations, elevated details, venue types that are really elevated and really speak to your ideal client, color palettes that you're drawn to. Remove work you have outgrown. Do not post things that you would not want to do again.
Your marketing teaches people what to hire you for. All right. Next is stop only posting pretty flowers. Pretty flowers are important. We do flowers. But anybody can make flowers. Not everybody makes flowers like Green Goddess. We want to make sure that they should know why should they hire y- hire you?
What is your process like? Can I trust you? Are you a trustworthy person, or are you Ava Flowers or 1-800-Flowers, which we have no idea where that goes? Do you understand their problem? Are you worth the investment? Content should also include education behind the scenes, your process, opinions, clients' experience, FAQs, pricing context, testimonials.
Pretty really can get attention, but trust gets inquiries. They h- need to be able to connect with you and feel like they're drawn to work with you. So a beautiful wedding from Saturday, try switching that around to say you don't know how much wedding flowers cost. You want a beautiful wedding, but do not want to manage 25 design decisions.
Your flow- You love flowers, but have no idea how to make the whole re- room feel cohesive. You are worried your venue feels empty. Here's how to fill it without breaking the bank. Then explain how you solve it. Your client cares about flowers, but they also care more about how you make their life easier.
Building trust before asking for the inquiry is critical. People want proof, so use testimonials, reviews, published work, behind-the-scenes footage, experience of a venue, planner relationships, number of weddings completed, examples of problems you have solved. Also talk about the power of I have hands down done the most weddings out of any florist at this venue.
I can say that wholeheartedly about two venues in my market. If I meet with somebody or if I'm talking about them, I know everything about that venue, and that person can have a lot of trust in that. If you disappear for three months and then suddenly post, "Now booking 2027," people are like, "I don't even know who this person really is."
People buy when they feel safe saying yes. So show off your face, your personality. Wedding flowers are extremely personal, you guys. Clients are not only choosing flowers, they are choosing a person they will communicate for months. And this wedding that I have in a couple weeks where I feel like there was some major communication breakdowns n- that communication just wasn't going well because, for one, I think people were using ChatGPT to write emails, which is never a good idea, but also I don't think that they've really f- took the time in really understanding what the client wanted.
They were I'm guessing, super busy and shooed the client off to the side and didn't... They said on the phone with me that I had answered more questions and provided more information in the 10 minutes on the phone than the previous florist did in months. So I'm... People wanna feel heard.
They wanna feel connected with you. They want to feel like you're on their team. And showing up as you with your personality, all sass and whatever fired up red head, full of tattoos, ready to tell you what I actually think 99% of the time. And I do so by talking about... doing, like, talking head videos.
I give my opinions on things. I show behind the scenes in my Instagram. I share stories. I show my life because it's pretty magical. And I am way different than most every other florist in my marketplace 'cause I, I have the experience accordingly with that. I live a very interesting life. I grow flowers.
I live on a farm. I have, so much experience. I'm an educator. There's just, so much... Th- the layers of complexity that could build trust with my business are infinite, and this differentiates me, and I bet you there's a million things that differentiate you. A dozen florists can make beautiful flowers, but there is only one of you.
One you. So you need to make sure that they understand you and how you are different. Your personality is part of your brand whether you use it or not. All right, give every piece of content a purpose. So you want it... Three basic goals of content is you want to attract, you want trust, and you want conversion.
So attraction is the pretty pictures, the reels, the venue tags, the collaboration requests, the educational content. "Hey, new people, notice me, please." Then trust is where we want people to believe you are the right person. So that is testimonials, process, experience, behind the scenes, and expertise. How people work with you, period.
This is how somebody works with you, making it really simple. All right, then conversion. We want these people to work with you, so what do they do next to do that? How do they inquire? Your services you offer to fill their solutions, your availability, pricing information, a direct link in your Instagram stories.
Not every post needs to sell, but your overall marketing needs to lead somewhere.
Your call to action cannot be invisible, though. Florists sometimes feel weird telling people what to do next. Say it. Inquire through the 📍 link in bio. Download my pricing guide, if you have a pricing guide on your website. Check your date on my date checker. Schedule a consultation. Send me a DM. Visit the services page.
Do not assume that people just know how to connect with you. People need to be invited in. Give them an invitation All right. Make your inquiry process stupidly easy. So easy. This is something you should be auditing periodically. Can grandma figure out how to send you an inquiry? Are there broken links?
Is your navigation confusing? Is the word contact us form even labeled so that it makes sense? Is there any pricing context? Is there no clear services page? Is there a really slow response when you do get it, or unclear next steps? Do not create friction between interest and inquiry. We wanna make this frictionless.
All right. And then something that I'm super passionate about, and I've talked about this a million times over, but pricing t- com- transparency or pricing guides, pricing f- just any pricing guidance. It... This is your way to really get people to understand that if you're in the ballpark of where...
what they are thinking they're going to spend. And I'm not saying that that is what they end up spending. Starting at investments are just that, starting at. But at least they understand if they're in the ballpark. So starting investments, minimums, typical spends, service options. This helps fil- filter out poor fit leads before they consume your time.
I do not meet with anyone, and I do not put my Schedule a Meeting link out for shits and giggles. Like I, I know this person is... got my pricing guide and hopefully has read it and has some idea if I'm the right thing for them. So your goal is not more inquiries, your goal is more right fit inquiries.
All right. Next up is marketing. Marketing does not stop with when someone submits the form. Everything with marketing backs down to your follow-up once you've actually had that person connect with you, which I think we f- forget about that part because we think that we got an inquiry and like that's what we look at, but we don't look at how we actually interacted with that inquiry.
So quick responses, a brochure, personally connecting with them, a consultation, a follow-up cadence, staying super helpful, not assuming silence means no, is a huge amount of marketing effort is wasted when people do not follow up. You worked too hard to get this lead and let it die because you were afraid to follow up.
Be the CEO, step into those big girl panties and be like, "This person is going to hear from me." All right, next is look at the whole conversion path. Walk through it, like Instagram, website, services page, inquiry form, consultation, proposal, booking. Where are people falling off in that? Are you getting a lot of views, but your website is getting very few clicks?
Your content or your call to action may be weak. Lots of website traffic, but few inquiries. Your website is not converting. Why? Dig into that. Lots of inquiries, but after your initial email, you're not getting any consultations. Why is that? Maybe lead quality is bad. Response process may be weak. Uh, but just stepping back and looking like, what is going on, is the first part of the battle.
Maybe you're getting lots of consultations but few bookings. Your sales process, your s- sales skills in general, your positioning, your pricing could be the issue. Who knows? But unless you step back and look like, where are things falling apart, you'll never figure it out. We can't blame Instagram when the problem might be the five steps later All right.
We wanna break this down so simple, you guys. We wanna attract, we wanna connect, we wanna prove, we wanna invite people in, and then we wanna convert. Get people's attention is attracting. Connecting with them, speak to what they want and what they are struggling with. Wedding flowers are a very complicated process.
You don't... I mean, this is probably the first time. I've done repeat customers for weddings, but this is something that they haven't navigated before, and they've seen Trader Joe flowers. They have no clue how much things cost. So show why they can trust you. We need to prove that you are the person to be trusted.
We wanna give them clear next steps. We wanna make the inquiry and sales process super easy. Visibility without conversion is just noise. Pretty gets attention, but trust gets inquiries. Confused people do not inquire. All of this is something I can help you figure out in the Floral CEO Mastermind. And actually, this month, we are diving into creating a sales engine out of your social media.
So go check out floralceo.com/mastermind for more details, but we are laying out a path to profitability using Instagram, 'cause I get leads in my inbox all the time saying, "I found you on Instagram," and that could be you. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower-filled day.