January ... time to plan for the next 12 months!

It’s that funny time of year.  Christmas is gone ... Valentine's isn't what it used to be plus a Friday one is never the greatest ... and Mother's Day is a long way off.

And even if you are back in the shop, it won’t be anywhere near as manic as it was a few weeks ago. There will be funeral work - and sadly probably a lot more due to the weather - but it does mean January is the perfect time to clear the decks … mentally and physically ... and start thinking how you are going to approach 2025. 

Because let’s face it the economic situation isn’t that brilliant and with some big changes in the offing because of the draconian UK budget at the end of October and the global economy not looking great either, there is absolutely no room for complacency never mind the fact that there may well be ways you could work smarter not harder and make better profit!!  

We look at ways to get 2025 ready.

Before you forget, do the paperwork and review your Christmas trading.  And make sure you include everything.  Christmas sales started way back in November and unless you have a dedicated button on the till/payment system for Christmas and seasonal sales you may forget it. 

Really think about what did and didn't work, what did and didn’t make money and how you could streamline.  Often, they will be ideas you can use at Valentine’s and Mother’s Day too. 

Be confident you know where the sales came from.  Phone, walk in or web? It doesn’t necessarily follow that if web/phone sales are up, your shop is redundant (chances are they may have seen it and actually been more confident to buy online – never forget that) but you do need to understand what channel is producing what.

Yes, you may have put a  thank you post on your social media, but have you personally thanked everyone who ordered from you?  A direct thank you by email to your customers is far more personal and shows you value them. 

If you want, you can include a discount voucher to encourage them back- important if they are first time buyers – but best practice is to offer a discount (i.e. 10%) rather than a fixed amount (like a fiver) unless you set a minimum spend and can really afford to give £5/£10 off.

If you can, settle ALL the bills and put the VAT money etc on a separate account.  And don’t hold back on chasing any outstanding corporate accounts … you’ve done the work; you are owed the dosh.  That way you start the year knowing your true financial position. 

But if you are going to find it hard to pay your suppliers/rent/VAT talk to them – don’t just put your head in the sand. 

The VAT and PAYE people are actually very helpful, your supplier, assuming you have a previously good track record, will probably be supportive too and landlords are not ALL ogres; chances are they’ll prefer a slow paying tenant than an empty building.

OK Valentines may only be a few weeks away - and fortunately Mother’s Day is a decent time after this year – but don’t fall into the trap of thinking peaks are your salvation. 

The profit can often be lower than normal trading days simply because they come with extra staffing costs, longer hours and higher COGS. 

Peaks should only be viewed as the icing on the cake not the foundations … it’s the business you do the other 48 weeks of the year that really count and the bit you should be concentrating on. 

Make a list of ALL the other things you could be doing – like all year-round workshops, pushing your funeral work, developing the self purchase market – to make sure you are REALLY making the best use of your skills and services.  Because florists are for every occasion and reason NOT just for Christmas! 

Use the down time to clear the decs and the decks.  We’ve been saying this for years but chuck out the grotty mugs, the scratty pens, blunt knives and bits of ribbon/string and anything else you’ve been keeping just in case. 

Unless you REALLY know you can repurpose them, dump/donate any containers, baskets and other odds and sods that have been lurking on the shelves to the charity shop or recycling depot.  It may be hard, but it can also be cathartic because anything that is cluttering your workspace or brain is a distraction and why clear minds and empty surfaces work wonders.

That said - and totally breaking our own rule – look out for bargains on baubles and other Christmas decs in January. Often, they are being knocked out for silly money and if you REALLY have the storage room can be worth buying!  

The new UK costs come into effect in April which is good as you will need your whole team to cope with the next two peaks … or will you?

We know only too well how precious staff are … both personally and physically … but the double whammy of rising costs and flat sales are not a good combination which means you may need to be ruthless when the new NI charges and minimum wages coming into effect in the UK start to hit.

Do an in-depth chart on your payroll, what your increases will be and see where you may need to trim. Once you have the real numbers (remember there are levels and small business support) and have taken professional advice on possible redundancies, talk to your team openly and honestly about the position. 

There may be ones who either want to leave but didn’t want to leave you in the lurch or who would prefer less hours in which case the process will be easier.  If there is no other alternative than redundancies, do it legally to avoid any comeback and with tact and kindness as you don’t want the remaining staff feeling any ill-will.

It’s good to write down your dreams and aspirations for 2025 but please DON’T make any radical decisions - like shutting the shop/giving up - until you have really thought about it and taken professional advice.

For example, if Christmas was less than you’d hope for, and you think shutting the shop is the answer hold fire until you have taken plenty of advice and really thought it through.   

Making life changing decisions when you are tired/worried/trackled is not a good thing and it could be that working smarter rather than harder would produce better results – like only operating Wed – Sat, converting the studio/shop to a classroom on the slow days etc etc.

As we've learned from talking to many readers, closing down/moving out into a studio/back home/giving up comes with its own issues and may not be the best decision. 

Social media may be free to use but it takes a lot of time to do properly and doesn’t necessarily make you the most sales. 

Classic marketing says you need 7 (SEVEN) different messages for each thing you are promoting to get the customers attention and that isn’t just 7 different posts.  That’s why you need to add Newsletters, Blogs, Direct Mail (yes it does work in a digital world!), In Real Life (IRL) connections (dems, shop front, markets et al) into the mix.

If you haven’t got a database, you need to make that one of your 2025 Resolutions.  If you haven’t got a shop front you need to find other locations to get your products in front of people (think link ups with other traders etc), if you are scared of dems you need to get over it and get yourself out there because people buy from people and if all you do is put up pictures of flowers then you need to rethink the strategy.

Because quite frankly just bunging up pictures of flowers isn’t enough.  They may look pretty but you also need to be telling back stories, showing behind the scenes stuff and being a real person.

Most of all you need to spend money on it.  Be that employing someone to do it for you or making sure you allocate time and money on decent photography and design, so it looks slick and professional.  Canva Pro is a must have in our books if you are going to do it yourself but sometimes paying a third party can be a whole lot easier and should pay for itself in spades.

However gloomy things may feel or sound there WILL be opportunities in 2025 just like every other year and why you need to spend time and money on you and your business to help you grow.

Treat yourself to away days and outings but also look for courses you can do … design or business … that will freshen your skill base and stretch your business knowledge. Personally, we always think it’s better if you can do them in real life as it gets you out and talking to people – but online is not totally useless … just make sure you spend your money wisely as some of them are horribly expensive. 

If you are going to find a mentor, make sure you choose someone you feel comfortable with … they should give you a free taster session to make sure you’re on the same wavelength.

And don’t just rely on Facebook groups.  They may be free but just as you expect to be paid for your services so should you expect to pay for good business advice plus it means you’ll be mixing with people like you … the ones prepared to invest in their futures not just looking for free advice.

An empty inbox is a lovely thing!  We try to do it every Friday afternoon but if you’ve let it build up clear out all the old emails and that includes the junk and clutter folders too.  The quickest way to clear the in-box is to sort by ‘sent from’ and if you’ve got hundreds from the same company, you can delete a whole tranche of garbage in nano seconds. 

As for junk whilst it’s tempting just to delete all, do a quick check (again sorting it by sender) to make sure you haven’t missed anything vital.  Make them a favourite sender so it goes into your main inbox, and then delete the rest … you will feel sooooo good!

Phones and social media accounts are marvellous, but the former can get wet/dropped/stolen, the latter can be hacked and lost. 

Neither are reliable ways to store your valuable pictures.  Either buy a cloud system package – we use One Drive – or a decent remote hard drive – at least 500gb or more. – and make a copy of everything … your photos aren’t just a memory bank but the basis of your business. When it comes to your business files again use One Drive or similar but personally, we back up every 3 months to a hard drive as well, especially our database.

The other bit of security is to have two step authentication on all your key accounts – both emails and social media accounts – and have another person on each account with full access permissions.  If you get hacked, it means you have someone else who can get it and all being well reset it.  It doesn’t always work but it is a safeguard.  Oh yes and never use the word Hacked or hacker in social media posts.  All that happens is that you get assailed by dodgy adverts and people claiming they can fix it.