Holiday ‘08
Yep! It’s not a typo.  Even while you’re setting up Holiday ’07, you should be planning for Holiday ’08.   In fact, as you bring back trees and wreaths in January, you should be compiling lists of what you will need for the next Holiday.  Now - before all that stuff goes into Holiday Heaven and you can’t remember who needs replacements of damaged greenery.  You know the bank needs two more trees next year and they want a larger wreath for the conference room.  And the restaurant’s prelit tree needs either to be relit or they’ll need a new one.  It’s also the best time to take an inventory of all those gold balls and miles of ribbon.   Then, once you have this information you can establish an "open to buy” list.  Since your Holiday business has grown, on average 15% each year, you know you will need new materials to fulfill these future orders.

 Then what?  Well, if you are doing $50,000 of Holiday business you can take a breather and at the appropriate time contact local floral wholesalers for the fill in stuff.  However, if your Holiday business is large enough - it is time to go to market.  In January, Marts in Dallas, Atlanta, New York, LA, and Chicago will open their doors for Holiday Product buyers.  If you have never been to such a show, your first time can be pretty intimidating.  How do I register?  How do I establish credit with these people?  What about hotel reservations?  A lot to learn in a very short time.

Sunday, January 20, 2008  
That’s why you might want to consider joining a few dozen other scapers and myself at the Holiday Expo at the Dallas Mart.  Sponsored by PIA as an educational opportunity, we’ll be attending the show on Sunday, January 20, 2008 in Dallas.  They have blocked a group of rooms at a hotel on the Shuttle route and will help you pre-register so you won’t have to stand in long lines.  They’ve established Sunday as the seminar and buying day in order to accommodate ‘scapers who will be attending TPIE in FtLauderdale but still want to tack on a Holiday Buying opportunity.  TPIE is Thursday, January ^{17 th} through 3 o’clock Saturday afternoon, January 19th.  Make travel arrangements to fly into Dallas on Saturday evening and you can kill two birds with one stone.  We will be holding classes on “How to Buy”, “How to Price”.  Then we’ll be going to Lunch at the Autograph Showroom where top Holiday Designers George and Brad from Plant Solutions in Phoenix will give us recipes and cost breakdowns for several cutting edge designs right in frotn of your eyes.  Yep, the hottest new looks , how to fabricate and how to price.  Note, if you can arrive early enough on Sat or Friday evening, Tim from European Gardens will lead a tour of other showrooms or if you wish you can tack on another day to do this after the Sunday seminar.  Just be sure to plan at least two days at the Mart. One is not enough.  And, there will be a dinner event where you can get together with everyone.  This is a fabulous opportunity to learn, buy, and get the information you need to grow your Holiday business.  For more information, please contact PIA at www.pia@piagrows.org.

 Yep! Another year of Holiday.  Make this next one easier, less stressful, and jump-start your business up to the next plateau.  Come join us in  Dallas.