Vow to Profit BY HEATHER WAITS COPING WITH CRISIS: IT HAPPENS, SO PLAN AHEAD
> You wake up to 12 inches of glistening snow from an overnight storm. Your lead designer’s child has a temperature of 104.6. Your cooler dies and you now have 200 brown hydrangeas instead of white. Your building catches on fire. Two words: kidney stones. It was the last one that made my hair fall out, and it happened right before our biggest wedding weekend of 2017. And now we are all suffering some level of anguish as we navigate through the coronavirus pandemic. No one wants to think about di-
sasters and how they can affect our businesses, but sooner or later one will happen. Here are my tried and true tips for surviving unforeseen acts of God or plumb bad luck. 1. Have a backup plan. Have you documented procedures? If not, do it now. And be sure to write them step by step, so that anyone can follow them. Then make sure someone other than you knows where this procedure book is and how to use it. As part of this backup plan, I
recommend having one to three other people who can jump in at a moment’s notice should someone not be able to perform their job. In my back pocket: freelance
designers and current/former employees who can work nights and weekends. Hey, life happens. But your client’s wedding, bar mitzvah or gala is going to go on whether your regular team shows up or not.
would handle each one. Bonus: Sharing this information during the consultation will score you brownie points because, I bet you a bouquet of roses, your local competition doesn’t have this.
No one wants to think about disasters and how they can affect our businesses, but sooner or later one will happen.
2. Have a future-thinking plan. You can’t predict the future, but you can plan for foreseeable issues. Say, for instance, your weather forecast warns of a massive snowstorm arriving overnight, and you have a large event the next day. Could you deliver the flowers to the venue early and book a room at the nearest hotel so you can get to the venue in the morning to set up? If your current clients haven’t
already asked about backup plans and “what-if” situations, they will soon. Grab a sheet of paper right now and write out five possible scenarios of things that could happen. Next, write a feasible plan for how you
3. Update your contract. Make certain you have an “Acts of God” policy that includes natural disasters and weather (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards) as well as pandemics and medical emergencies to protect you. The term “force majeure” has been a hot topic lately. It’s worth consulting with your attorney for more details, but my advice is to make sure this subject is covered in your contract for your protection and your client’s.
4. Check your insurance policy coverage. Most policies do not include pandemics, but you need to know what will be covered in the event you get snowed in and cannot deliver a wedding to the church. Or if your building catches on fire the night before a huge gala. Or your delivery van is stolen. This will give you peace of mind that things will be all right … eventually.
Imagining what can go wrong is
no fun; but trust me, thinking ahead about them and having a plan in place to handle worst-case scenarios will save your reputation, your pride and your sanity.
Heather Waits owns Bloomtastic Flowers & Events in Columbus, Ohio, servicing as many as 400 weddings a year. She also coaches wedding pros to have profitable and rewarding businesses. heather.waits1@
bloomtastic.com
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FLORAL MANAGEMENT | June 2020 |
WWW.SAFNOW.ORG
SHUTTERSTOCK/ JACOB LUND
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