The Profitable Florist was founded in 1997 by Tim Huckabee, Training Guru of the company. Tim had been working in a retail flower shop in New York City for several years and was frustrated by the lack of available business education and sales training for florists. In true entrepreneurial spirit he felt that if no one else was helping florists to earn more, he would!
26 years later, with over 100 years’ experience cumulated by the team in the industry, The Profitable Florist has supported more than 7,000 florists in five continents. The result? 25% typical sales increase seen by their customers
Tim is now living between Amsterdam and New York City. We met him to talk about his work in Europe.
Hi Tim, Can you relate your personal experience with flowers?
I have enjoyed flowers all my life and remember going into my first flower shop to order for my mom when I was only 12 years, and was hooked! Luckily, living in Amsterdam enables me to always keep gorgeous flowers in my flat!
How did The Profitable Florist idea come to you?
The concept evolved when I was working at Surroundings Flowers in New York City in the early 90s. Part of my job was calling florists when we had out of town orders. In so many of those casual conversations I realized that I was working at a very organized and prosperous shop – and that we were operating in a way many shops were not. That was the genesis of my idea to package all of our best practices, along with sales and customer care, and literally bring it to the industry one shop at a time
When and how did you come across preserved flowers?
I have seen preserved flowers for years in my many visits to shops but it was not until I moved to Europe that I began seeing them play a much bigger role in what many shops offer.
What can European florists expect from your program?
I am proud to say that we have over 7000 flower shops on five continents using our approach to sale and service, The Floral Confidence Workshop, with the same results: happier staff, happier customers and more money in the bank.
What advice would you give to our readers?
Invest in your staff and continuing education. The floral industry is changing and evolving every year and you don’t want to be left behind. The smartest florists I work with are those who are always looking to create a better and more dynamic shopping experience for their customers.
What’s planned for the upcoming years?
Following my own advice, we are looking to the future and evolving our brand by launching a new app for the industry in 2024 that will revolutionize the way orders are filled by florists, enabling them to save time and money on every order while improving their accuracy.
Enjoy a free tip from Tim Huckabee in our newsletters. You can learn more about the workshop from The Profitable Florist et submit a customized on-site training request for your company.
