One of the best investments you can make is hiring an outside exert to help you with the various aspects of your business.

There are many qualified experts out there with different approaches and areas of expertise. Some are business consultants who can remotely help you analyze your business and help you make significant improvements. Others are onsite trainers that come to your store to work with you and your employees. And of course there are countless variations in between - sales trainers who can do their training over the phone, consultants who will come and visit your shop, etc.

Florists are often reluctant to bring in outside help. Most often it is a pride issue - they just aren't prepared to admit that an outsider might know their business better than they do. The sad thing is that they usually know they need help - they just aren't prepared to ask for it! We often hear store owners say things like "it's not working anymore and I don't know how to fix it!" But when we suggest bringing someone in they are almost offended!

Bringing in an expert is not an admission of defeat. It's a clear sign that you are focussed on success and prepared to do whatever it takes to make it happens. The most successful businesses in the world use consultants so there is clearly no shame in it!

And it doesn't mean that they know more about your business than you do. All it means is they might be able to see some solutions that you can't. Sometimes it's because they have worked with other shops similar to yours. Other times it's because they might have a strong background in accounting. Whatever the case they can help - so don't let pride get in your way.

The other objection we often hear is cost. Worrying about costs (especially when money is tight) is completely understandable but it can also be very short sighted - all of the people we are about to recommend will save and/or make you more than what they cost in short order.

One of our favorites is a sales trainer who teaches your staff (either in person or over the phone) how to best take an order. Sounds simple right? So simple that some stores balk at paying his fee which - at first glance - can seem like a lot of money.

The thing is that what he teaches your staff will increase your average order value by $10 or more. And the returns are immediate - by the time he leaves your store you will be making that extra money! It is a great investment.

Another favorite consultant can quickly save a florist hundreds of dollars a month in various ways. Once again the savings he provides more than cover the expense of hiring him.

The most important thing is that you shouldn't wait. There are people out there who can increase your sales and decrease your costs today - so why wait? Forget about what they will cost you - the longer you wait the more money you are losing.

Here is another great idea from J Schwanke - a high-margin add on for Valentines Flowers.

So far we have talked a lot about encouraging customers to pre-order for Valentines Day and hopefully you understand the benefit.

The next question is what you offer them as an incentive. You want them to order now, they'd probably like to wait and hold on to their money. How do you get them to commit?

Some florists use discounts. Discounts are effective and easy - they really do work. The downside is that they also leave you with less money!

Is there an alternative? I like using points. Hopefully you are already running some kind of points-based incentive plan. The trick is to now copy some of the best marketers out there and offer bonus points for people pre-ordering for Valentines.

How do you do it? Typically you would promote double or triple points on all purchases made in January. Mention it in every conversation with every customer. Put that message on your receipts, invoices, statements, etc. Send out e-mail and postcards. Make sure everybody understands the benefit of ordering in advance!

Then on February 1 you are going to extend the special by another week. You're going to send another e-mail promoting double or triple points for anyone who places their order before February 8th.

This should help you generate lots of advance orders without giving up any revenue in the form of discounts.

Now - let's say you don't have a points program. What are your options? Discounting is still a very good possibility but think about add-ons instead. Rather than giving the customer a discount see if you can give them something for free instead.

What is the benefit? Let's say you were looking at offering a $10 discount on a $50 item - this leaves you with $40 in revenue. If instead you offer add-on x (retail value $10, your cost $4) your revenue increases by $10 ($50 instead of $40) and your costs go up by just $4.