Size Does Matter…And Bigger is not Always Better

I remember how excited (and nervous!) I was the first time I approached a local florist to sell our flowers. I walked into a local flower shop with a bunch of fresh-cut flowers in my arms and my 30-second pitch in my head. I laid our flowers out on their counter and the shop owner and I chatted while he picked up the stems of zinnia, celosia, basil, sunflowers, and the other flowers I had brought with me. I watched him hold up one of our sunflowers, and I had this warm feeling as he inspected the enormous, bright yellow flower with its thick stem. The sunflowers we had growing were four feet tall with blooms as big as cake pans. I was so proud of the size of our sunflowers!

And then he said, still holding my big, beautiful flower, “Do you grow any smaller sunflowers? These are just too big for our arrangements.”

The warm feeling that had been building up started to turn into a cold pit in my stomach.

“And these,” he continued, picking up one of the red Benary’s Giant zinnias. “These are beautiful but also a little big.  Here, let me show you.” He dropped the flower back on the counter and went back to the cooler. He emerged with a very pretty, much smaller zinnia. “This is typically the size we use in our arrangements.”

That florist was so generous with his time that morning. We talked for about 45 minutes, as he and his wife told me more about their 30 years in business and I asked question after question about the types of flowers they used in their bouquets and other arrangements.

That meeting, standing over an armload of our flowers, did turn into a sale. But even more important, I learned more about understanding what our prospective customers are looking for. After that, I did more research on the types of flowers different potential customers use. Bigger is not always better, particularly for florists making arrangements for delivery to homes and offices. As we plan for our next season, we now have better information on the types of flowers we will want to grow to keep sales to florists as part of our business.

We will still grow giant sunflowers because I love giant sunflowers and there is a market for them. But I am definitely grateful to that local florist who helped me on my way to understanding how to think about growing for different types of customers.