At 33 years of age, Pascal Koeleman already has a lifetime of professional floristry experience behind him, which is perhaps not so surprising for someone who virtually has flowers in his blood: his father was a florist and his grandfather a chrysanthemum grower. Today, Pascal - who owned his first flower shop at age 19 - is one of Holland's top floral arrangers and co-owner of 2Dezign, a marketing agency that helps promote Dutch flowers worldwide. Yet, for all his experience, Pascal credits his positive attitude as the key to his continuing business success. Of the commercial challenges facing US florists, he says, "I only see great opportunities for a market with tremendous growth potential!" 

Varieties
The purchase moment is the crucial moment when customers decide if and what they will buy. Pascal: "Ideally, customers should buy flowers for themselves, and not only for the special occasions, like birthdays and Mother's Day." Retailers must therefore continue to work on changing the way people think about flowers in the US. "In Holland, we buy flowers because they're beautiful and make us feel happy when displayed in our homes," Pascal explains. "Flowers come in such wonderful varieties and colors that you can always buy something different and they will always make you feel good – and that's the message we should keep communicating to our customers!" 

Checklists
Good communication is vital for maximizing sales opportunities at the purchase moment. "Salespeople should make their customers feel that they can trust them," Pascal suggests. "In effect, what florists are saying is, 'Give me your $30 dollars and I'll make you something very nice that makes you feel very good!" He suggests that salespeople create mental checklists for conversing with customers: "Find out their likes and dislikes are, before suggesting something to buy." Pascal also likes to call this process 'cooking with flowers': "Every customer has a different taste, and successful florists are those who find out what that taste is and then provide the floral product to match."

Theater
Creative, physical activity in a shop also positively influences the quality of interaction between customers and retailers. "Bouquets should always be made out in the open, and not in back rooms or behind cluttered countertops," Pascal advises. "Let everyone see the flowers you're using and the arrangements you're making." Doing this will also lend an entertaining element of theatre to the flower store, making it a "fun place" to shop. And, Pascal adds, another advantage of arranging flowers openly is "that other customers see the beautiful bouquets that other people are buying and often they will then want to buy the same bouquet as well!" 

Fridays
Starting a special marketing campaign - like a weekly or monthly 'Friday is Flower Day' - is a great way to boost sales at the purchase moment. "For me, everyday is Flower Day," Pascal says, "but a special Friday Flower Day is a good place to start." Tips for this include creating special designs for Friday bouquets and then giving them fun names, like 'Friday Frolic' and 'TGI Flowers! (Thank God it's Flowers!)'. "Fridays are perfect because your customers then have the whole weekend to enjoy the flowers," Pascal adds. "Flowers really are addicting, so soon people will need  to have beautiful flowers decorating their homes every weekend!"