Cultivate

A client wants champagne florals on a prosecco budget. You know the numbers don’t work and you’re trying to work out how to say it without killing the mood... So you don’t.

Based on my Substack essay ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Why florists avoid the budget conversation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ over on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, we explore the fourth pattern that pulls florists out of congruence in our four-part series: the Avoider.

We talk about why budget conversations feel so loaded, why disappointment can feel like proof you’ve handled the consultation badly, and how avoiding tension can leave clients with less clarity and harder decisions later.

Want to know which pattern is running your client conversations? ⁠⁠⁠Schedule an Accelerator session⁠⁠⁠. You send me one real sales conversation and I'll walk you through it the way I just walked through this one: the pattern, where it fires, what it's costing you, and the shift that closes it. Because once you can see the pattern, you can catch it in every consultation after.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

You can create stunning arrangements and still leave clients with nothing more than, “They were nice, thanks.”

Based on my Substack essay ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I know what you mean" isn't listening; it's assuming⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ over on ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠⁠, we explore the third pattern that pulls florists out of congruence in our four-part series: the Assumer.

We get into why this pattern can look like confidence and experience, why it happens to both newer and highly experienced florists, and how it leads to generic designs, weaker client rapport, and good feedback… but not the kind that has clients raving about you to everyone they know.

Want to know which pattern is running your client conversations? ⁠⁠Schedule an Accelerator session⁠⁠. You send me one real sales conversation and I'll walk you through it the way I just walked through this one: the pattern, where it fires, what it's costing you, and the shift that closes it. Because once you can see the pattern, you can catch it in every consultation after.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

You can offer a million ideas, and your client can choose none.

Based on my Substack essay ⁠⁠⁠Why clients love your ideas but still don’t book⁠⁠ over on ⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠, we explore the second pattern that pulls florists out of congruence in our four-part series: the Pitcher.

We get into why Pitchers associate expertise with output, how offering multiple directions protects you from the vulnerability of having one recommendation rejected, and why a client can admire your creativity without recognising themselves inside your proposal.

Want to know which pattern is running your calls? ⁠Schedule an Accelerator session⁠. You send me one real sales conversation and I'll walk you through it the way I just walked through this one: the pattern, where it fires, what it's costing you, and the shift that closes it. Because once you can see the pattern, you can catch it in every consultation after.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

A florist sent me a recording of one of her consultations to audit. Her message said it was her best consult yet. The couple ghosted her.

Based on my Substack essay ⁠⁠How florists lose bookings by talking too much⁠ over on ⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠, we explore the first pattern that pulls florists out of congruence in our four-part series: the Filler. It's the pattern that fills every pause and softens every recommendation until it no longer sounds like one. From the inside it feels like care, but to a client, it reads as something else entirely.

We get into why "just talk less" is useless advice for a Filler, the psychology of contingent self-worth, restrained leadership, and the four steps that turn unbearable silence into the most persuasive part in your consultation.

Want to know which pattern is running your calls? Schedule an Accelerator session. You send me one real sales conversation and I'll walk you through it the way I just walked through this one: the pattern, where it fires, what it's costing you, and the shift that closes it. Because once you can see the pattern, you can catch it in every consultation after.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

Things are going fine. Then a silence stretches a beat too long, or the budget lands nowhere near what's needed for their inspo pics, and you feel something shift.

I've coached enough florists through their client conversations to know this: there are four common behaviours we slip into under pressure that take us from leading the consultation to trying to survive it.

Based on my Substack essay Why you suddenly stop being yourself in consultations over on The Tall Poppy, in this episode I walk you through all four and where they come from.

If the version of you that shows up in consultations sometimes surprises you, you'll want to hear this.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

Sometimes the thing you’re doing to try to make a client trust you is the exact thing creating doubt.

I learned this after telling a bride exactly what I thought she wanted to hear. She didn’t book me, and it took me a long time to understand why.

In this episode, I’m unpacking the psychology behind what happens when we try a little too hard to appear helpful, confident or professional — and why a couple can leave your consultation feeling like something was “off” without being able to explain what.

Based on my Substack essay, Why brides trust some florists more than others⁠⁠, published on ⁠⁠The Tall Poppy,⁠⁠ this episode introduces congruence, the split-second impressions shaping who a bride trusts, and the uncomfortable reason trying harder to appear confident or professional can sometimes have the opposite effect.

If you’ve ever walked away from a consultation convinced it went well, only to lose the booking and have absolutely no idea why, this might give you somewhere new to look.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

If you’ve ever walked away from a consultation thinking, “I don’t know where that went wrong,” this episode is for you.

I’m sharing my 5-stage framework for leading better wedding consultations without relying on a script. Most florists aren’t losing bookings because they said the wrong thing. They’re losing bookings because they moved the conversation forward before the groundwork was in place.

Based on my Substack essay, Leading Couples to Commitment, published on The Tall Poppy, this episode introduces The Consensus Sequence: Establish, Explore, Extract, Expand and Ensure. We’ll look at how each stage helps a couple move from uncertainty to clarity, why skipping a stage can make a consultation feel good but still not convert, and how to understand what the conversation actually needs next.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠⁠The Tall Poppy⁠⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

In this episode, we’ll get into the myth of “good chemistry”, the gap between what a couple says and what they actually mean, and why the real leverage in your business isn’t attempting to sound more confident but creating shared understanding with the couple on the call. No convincing. No closing scripts. Just a new way to understand what’s really happening in your consultations.

If you’re a florist who wants to book more weddings without turning into a salesperson, you can dive deeper into this topic on my Substack ⁠Chemistry, Consultations and Why Couples Choose,⁠ published on ⁠The Tall Poppy⁠.

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If you'd like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you'll find me here:

• ⁠The Tall Poppy⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• Instagram⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

If your bookings are slower than usual and your first instinct is to redesign your proposal, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I break down why so many florists are pouring their energy into proposals, templates and workflows when the real leverage sits inside the consultation itself. Couples are comparing more wedding florists than ever, and the way you show up in that conversation is a key part of whether they trust you enough to book.

Based on my Substack essay, Before the Quote, There's You, published on The Tall Poppy, this episode covers what the latest research says about how couples are choosing wedding vendors, why consultation skills are the most underused lever in a floristry business, and the one shift that changes every future enquiry.

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If you’d like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you’ll find me here:

• ⁠The Tall Poppy⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠Instagram⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.

A relaunch, a rename and a new direction for florists building booked out businesses.

Cultivate is a podcast for wedding florists, floral designers and creative business owners who want to be deliberate about how they build their floristry businesses - covering wedding consultations, sales, pricing, marketing, client experience, strategy and so much more.

In the first episode I’ve released in almost two years, I’ll take you behind the scenes of what’s shifted, why I’ve renamed the podcast Cultivate and what kind of content you can expect moving forward.

Welcome to a new era for the podcast.

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If you’d like more support, perspective or inspiration between episodes, you’ll find me here:

• ⁠The Tall Poppy⁠ - Essays at the intersection of floristry, business and creativity, for designers determined to bloom.

• ⁠Instagram⁠ - A home for the next gen of female florists building a booked out business.