Business Sessions at the 2017 WUMFA Annual Convention

This year the WUMFA Annual Convention moves from Green Bay to the Wisconsin Dells and includes some fun new content like this, which was a great success at the 2016 GLFE:

 

New this year...the exciting Flower Chopped contest, our version of the Food Network’s Chopped program. Live and in color you will see experienced designers mentoring a select group of industry professionals who have no design experience whatsoever. These novice designers will create one of a kind arrangements, all using the same materials. There will be one winner declared the Chopped champion.

 

FloristWare is pleased to support WUMFA and their members by sponsoring two business sessions that should help all florists that can attend.

 

Building/Maintaining/Monitoring Relationships With Funeral Directors

Robbin Yelverton AIFD, AAF, CF, MCF, PFCI and co-owner of Blumz in Detroit

Saturday, March 25, 2017 Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Location: Room E and F

In this interactive session, Robbin will show florists his tricks on how to get through the door and connect with funeral home directors. Establishing and maintaining this connection is the essential first step to communication and a profitable relationship. He’ll also cover the importance of monitoring the florist/funeral director relationship – you always need to know where you stand and Robbin has proven ways of doing just that.

This session was presented for the very first time at the 2016 GLFE, drawing on Robbin's own experience and sympathy success at Blumz in Detroit. Florists who attended left excited about tackling an aspect of the business many of them had simply given up on, and we've been enjoyed hearing back from them about their newfound success.

 

Working Around Changes in the Floral and Funeral Industries

Robbin Yelverton AIFD, AAF, CF, MCF, PFCI and co-owner of Blumz in Detroit

Saturday, March 25, 2017 Time: 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Location: Room E and F

Changes in the funeral industry like the increased popularity of cremation, “in lieu of flowers” messaging and free websites from floral order gatherers have made sympathy work harder to come by and less profitable. This session, using a combination of presentation, discussion and Type in Action activities, will show you how to stay profitable while working around these issues. It will also look at marketing to customers that increasingly default to order-gatherers and drop-shippers when buying flowers.

 

Ways to Improve Your Bottom Line

Mark Anderson

Sunday, March 26, 2017 Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Location: Room E and F

In this workshop approach, Mark Anderson will help develop a plan participants can actually put in place when they get back to their shops. Among the topics covered will be little changes that can make bigger profits, how to upsell, and accounting, pricing, and profitability. It's all built around the idea that participants can think about the material on the drive home, put it into practice Monday morning and start seeing greater profits immediately.

 

FloristWare remains the only independent POS provider to support associations like WUMFA and sponsor this kind of session. We hope that all of the hard-working florists in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan will benefit.