AI & ChatGPT for Florists w/ Brandy Ferrer

Revolutionize Your Floral Business with AI & ChatGPT!

You don’t have to be tech-savvy to explore AI solutions for your floral business. Join Sharon McGukin and Brandy Ferrer as they discuss the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the floral industry. 

Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can empower florists by streamlining tasks, tracking trends, enhancing marketing strategies, creating social media campaigns, and aiding in employee training without replacing the artistry that defines your floral designs. Sharon and Brandy guide you through practical ways to integrate AI into your flower shop. Giving you more time for your creative flower passion and for staying ahead in the competitive floral market.

How we Bloom podcast is an oasis of flower ideas. Hosts Sharon McGukin and Smithers-Oasis North America interview floral guests who dare to do things differently. We listen, learn, explore new opportunities and that's how we bloom!

Transcript

Brandy Ferrer: 0:08

I use ChatGPT as my little assistant that I don't have to pay. That's there 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Sharon McGukin: 0:28

Welcome to How We Bloom, an Oasis of Flower Ideas. I'm your host, Sharon McGukin AIFD, AAF, PFCI and I believe that every great success story starts with one simple idea. That's why we interview those who dare to do things differently, inspiring people who plant seeds, grow ideas, and bloom to their full potential. In this podcast, we listen, learn, explore new opportunities, and that's How we Bloom. Remember when your flower shop got its first computer? No longer handwriting checks, orders, or signature cards. Day to day management of the business was locked, out of reach, in a screen faced metal box filled with wires and wisdom. And it was all run by a mouse, of all things. The process felt uncomfortable until you gained confidence in this mystifying electronic co worker. Fast forward to today, when we can't even imagine running a business without our computer system. In an industry based on artistry rather than technology, learning a new system can be challenging. Uncertainty often inspires a fear of the unknown. That day has dawned again. Our lack of understanding for the complex technology known as AI Artificial intelligence can be a little overwhelming. This new science of making a machine think like a human is based on recognizing pattern. Learned from data rather than learning from communication and new experiences like people do. Consumers worry. Will it take my job? Will it do my thinking for me? And ChatGPT are user friendly. Good news. We're here for the learning curve. Today's guest, Brandy Ferrer, AIFD, CFD, TMF, is here to help us understand how we can use AI as a tool designed to assist us. Not replace us. Brandy is passionate about blending the beauty of flowers with the nuts and bolts of running a successful business. She isn't pedal deep in her East Texas flower shop, Simply Beautiful Floral Company, this award winning designer, tech enthusiast, and workshop wizard loves a challenge. Teaching the use of AI to florists is her latest gig in a long list of opportunities. She's here to explain how florists can get comfortable with AI, and ChatGPT. Thanks for joining us today to share with our listeners how to utilize AI and ChatGPT in their day to day flower shop operations, Brandy.

Brandy Ferrer: 3:41

Thanks so much. I am so happy to be here today.

Sharon McGukin: 3:46

there's a lot to learn and we're glad you're going to teach us, so let's jump in with the discomfort. Many florists feel intimidated by AI. How can we replace that fear with function.

Brandy Ferrer: 4:01

Well, I want everyone to think about artificial intelligence as an opportunity for you to be able to utilize technology in a way where it's more human like. So specifically ChatGPT, which is kind of where it all started. That is the program that came along a few years back and it just kind of grew from there as far as being able to get AI into the hands of the common consumer. And, and people like us And artificial intelligence really is human like so people who are very uncomfortable with technology like Microsoft Excel. And I mentioned Microsoft Excel a lot because I cannot stand having to remember formulas and things like that for a program like Microsoft Excel. Well, ChatGPT and other AI programs. are so human like that if you can have a conversation with it and that's what you're doing. And if you are able to describe what you would like for it to do for you, you can use it. You don't have to know any type of certain language or formulas or coding. And so it understands language and it starts recognizing patterns especially in the conversations that you have with it. Which makes it really interesting. It will remember that conversation. You can come back to it later. And so I use things like ChatGPT to help me run my business because I'm kind of a one woman show. I have employees, but as far as the business operation aspect of owning a flower shop, I'm pretty much on my own. It

Sharon McGukin: 5:52

couple of things that will be really interesting to florists in ways that they can use them is that ChatGPT can help you make decisions. It helps you to create options that maybe are more efficient. We tend to do what we've been doing and it's a hard time getting people to move away from that. So I can see where when it helps you to make a decision it's more efficient. And also. It can assist with employee training and management issues. And that's something that we all have on a day to day basis. I like that you say it's having a conversation that's human like because it does feel like that when you're working with it, doesn't it?

Brandy Ferrer: 6:37

does. I describe it as my little assistant. I joke all the time that they haven't figured out how to clone people yet. And, and I feel like as a mom and a wife and a business owner and a florist, I want to clone myself. And of course we don't have those capabilities yet. So I use ChatGPT as my little assistant that I don't have to pay. That's there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So if I needed to take on the persona of a real estate expert or a CPA, Or a creative assistant or an event manager. I can have it take on that persona and then have a conversation with it and get some more knowledge. Yes. Work on decision making make plans and come up with ideas that I may not have even thought of by myself.

Sharon McGukin: 7:34

You know, I bet the kids of the world are saying, don't clone my mom, because can you imagine if we could clone all the moms of the universe, there would be clean rooms everywhere. Now, some of the basic things that florists can use AI for, like order processing. Analyzing other trends. What are some other things that your basic mom and pop shop would find so helpful?

Brandy Ferrer: 8:00

Well, one of the ways that I have used ChatGPT I have. Of course, my website for my flower shop and something that wastes a lot of my time, but is very important is for example, product descriptions. So those descriptions of flower arrangements on my website. So, first of all, yes, they need to be descriptive, but they need to be brief. And they also need to be SEO enhanced, meaning there needs to be certain keywords in those product descriptions so that Google will detect them. And I can start moving up in the search engine when people search for red roses or flowers in Gilmer, Texas, which is where I am. So what I will do is use ChatGPT to To help me create those product descriptions my flower arrangements. It's, it's something that can save me hours. And so that's just one example of how I've used it for my business.

Sharon McGukin: 9:09

So for people who fear that automation will replace their jobs The good news is it can just replace the parts. You didn't want to do anyway That's very helpful.

Brandy Ferrer: 9:21

you only have 24 hours in a day. And as a small business owner, you are on call 24 hours a day. And a lot of those little time consuming tasks are what keep me personally away from the design table. And I can get really bogged down in that part of owning a business. And so if I can use ChatGPT to just replace a few of these time consuming tasks so that I can get back to the design table and work on my floral designs and, and nurture my creativity, then it's worth it for me.

Sharon McGukin: 10:01

If you can trust this helper to take care of some scheduling issues, deadlines, appointment management, if you can turn those things over to another system, This is an affordable way to do it. AI is not as expensive as hiring consultants how ChatGPT benefit your flower shop just in a day to day?

Brandy Ferrer: 10:28

In a day to day way. Well, of course, if I have social media. Post that I need to do to create, it can help me create social media captions very quickly. If I do have scheduling issues, if I have several different employees and they have different schedules and people have different times, they need to be off, so on and so forth, that's something that I can use to work through those problems. Also, it's helped me to create schedules. In my flower shop, I have not only an employee handbook, which ChatGPT helped me to create based on my state laws, federal laws, and my personal preferences for certain things. I also have a, what I call our little Bible. So we created to do lists. Things that need to be done on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I didn't have to come up with all of that information off the top of my head. I was able to use ChatGPT to put in a description of what I wanted it to create. Then it created me a draft. Then I gave it some feedback and said, well, I want you to change this. We need to do this twice a week. We need to put gas in the delivery van on Fridays. We need to so on and so forth. And then it was able to go back and create another draft for me. And then I just go from there. So it, it just kind of it assists me with those tasks. It's not replacing me, but it's definitely saving me time.

Sharon McGukin: 12:06

Sometimes even if it's just a verification that what you're doing is good. We were rearranging deck furniture outdoors on my deck on Sunday and my son said, let me just put it in to ChatGPT and see what it suggests. He put it in and it came back with exactly the way it had been previously set up, and said, and you might want to add more green plants. So nice just even that it's a verification that you're on the right track.

Brandy Ferrer: 12:38

Right. One of the ways that I used it recently, and it kind of saved my rear end. I had a wedding that. The reception was happening in a 30 foot by 60 foot tent and the bride had originally wanted garland to be strung from one side to the other. So from the 30 foot side across, so that means I would have needed about 32 feet. To go from one side to the other and let it kind of swag just a little bit. Well, she changed her mind and then she wanted it crisscrossed. So from one corner, then crisscrossed like across to the center on the opposite side of the 60 foot tent, and then crisscrossed the opposite way to the other end. Well, I, I don't math very well. Okay. And so I was able to say, okay, I need to know how long these garlands need to be. If I have a 30 by 60 tent and I'm stringing it, you know, this way. And it, I would have thought it would have been 32 feet because it was to me in my head, it was almost the same, but it wasn't, it was 43 feet or something like that, and thank God that I did that. Because I would have gotten there and I would not have had enough garland. So something as small as that, but it saved me so much time and money. And I didn't have to know any special language or coding. I just opened up a chat with ChatGPT and said, I have this problem. Here's the deal. Can you tell me how long these garlands need to be? And it, it was perfect.

Sharon McGukin: 14:25

That's a point that I wanted us to cover when you, quote,"tell it" and you're using your language, how specific do you have to be in giving the instructions? Do you have any specific language you default to when you're working with any of the AI processes?

Brandy Ferrer: 14:47

if you are a beginner, I would say just go in and experiment with open ended questions. And then as it gives you feedback, you can you can pinpoint exactly the ideas that it comes up with that you would like to further explore. Now, as you become more experienced, you're going to have what we call master prompts. Those are longer, more detailed prompts. And you can tell ChatGPT to take on the persona. That's something you can do in the beginning. Actually, if you want it to think like a certain person or a certain think, I need you to take on the persona of a, an accountant. I need you to take on the persona of a nurse, a doctor. Then it will just kind of, okay. Put it into that thought process and it will know that's where the conversation's going. There are more complex prompts that are, I call them they're like linking prompts. So I start out with a certain idea and then it feeds into a different one. And so I kind of take ChatGPT through a conversation and then I have it produce something for me in the end. I'll give you an example. At AIFD, I had one participant in my AI hands on workshop that wanted to create an image that had a very Marie Antoinette esque floral design in it. And she was putting that in, she was typing in, create a floral design that Marie Antoinette would like. And it really wasn't giving her what she wanted. So I said, okay, start like this. Ask ChatGPT what the fashion trends were and color trends of the time period in which Marie Antoinette was alive. And so then it produced some information. And then the next prompt was what's a description of the fashion sense of Marie Antoinette? And then it gave her that. And then I said, okay, now tell it to create an image. of a floral design or a floral arrangement that symbolizes the fashion sense of Marie Antoinette. And then she got what she wanted. So the wonderful thing about ChatGPT is it has that AI image creation kind of built into it. It's called DALL-E. So you can start a conversation and at any point in time in that conversation, you can have it. Create an image based on the conversation you've been having. That's great for social media too. You have it developed like a social media campaign for you for Valentine's Day, and then tell it to create some images that you could use on Facebook and Instagram, and then it will do that based on the conversation that you've already had.

Sharon McGukin: 18:04

Fantastic. So it's just like any other relationship. You have to learn how to communicate directly with that entity so that you understand each other. Don't you remember that's how it was when we started to Google things? Also, we had to learn what words would bring to us information. The message we were looking for for Google. So I love that, that you just keep asking for the information until it's exactly what you're looking for. And you know, that could really be helpful in improving customer service because when you say, take on this persona and what are the trends and how can you deliver something to this person that's in sync with the things that they like? That's a great way to brainstorm with a machine.

Brandy Ferrer: 18:56

And think about this, a lot of. flower shop owners business owners in general do not think about their customer personas and they don't think about customer pain points enough because you can put out there all day long on social media that you're creating really beautiful floral designs for Valentine's Day but is the language that you're using actually for the customer that you're trying to target. So if you're trying to target men ages 25 to 65 for Valentine's Day and their pain points might be convenience, Finding something unusual and personalized. Maybe being on a budget. I mean, because that's a totally different that someone who's on a budget, a man who's on a budget is totally different than the guy who's looking for the luxury item is the language that you're using in your email marketing, in your social media campaigns. targeted to that customer persona. Well, the great thing is, is you can have ChatGPT, create that language for the email that you need to send out to this group of customers and make sure that it addresses those pain points. That's what's great. So that saves me time. Otherwise I'm sitting there having to learn marketing. I'm not a marketing major, but I do need to know enough about it. But ChatGPT can fill in the blanks, which is great. Absolutely.

Sharon McGukin: 20:35

also when you're writing up your marketing materials that you are writing, not ChatGPT, to be able to use a writing assistant, to check the grammar, to check the pronunciation, to offer better suggestions as to how to phrase it. That's very valuable too.

Brandy Ferrer: 20:55

And the language, the style and tone of writing that I use for my customers in rural East Texas. is different than the style and tone of writing of a florist that's in downtown Manhattan. We have different customers, different cultures. So the style and tone of writing may be more relaxed and casual for me, where it may be a little bit more formal and trendy for them. So again, you can have And this is where I would take ChatGPT on that journey in a conversation if I have it create something for me, a piece of writing. And then I say, I need you to change the style and tone of writing to be more relaxed. and add a little bit of humor to it, then it can rewrite that. So now it's for my customer base. It can also mimic my own writing. All I have to do is upload a piece of my own writing and say, I need you to mimic my style, tone, and my grammar usage and, and rewrite this draft of this email we just created in my style and tone of writing. And then it will do that. As long as you've given an example of how you want it to write, it will write that way. I have gotten it to do that before. So you know what? It can be, your biggest cheerleader and it can be a critic as well because there have been times when I have asked it to critique. Some work that I did, whether it be a proposal or a piece of writing and boy, howdy, it can it can hurt your feelings if you want it to. I mean,

Sharon McGukin: 22:39

One thing that I noticed, Tech savvy florists have been using this for us to track trends. But to your point about regional materials being so important, also regionally addressing trends is very important because trends hit the large cities first and then they migrate out into the rural areas. So what's trendy in New York City is most likely not trendy in Gilmer, Texas. And so it's very important that you feed in that regional information when the process is trying to give you either written materials, image materials, or making suggestions for innovative new design ideas, because it's different in different parts of the country, for sure.

Brandy Ferrer: 23:30

And this is where AI will never replace. You as a business owner and as a florist, because you have to have a relationship with your customers. You have to know their likes, their dislikes, what they're comfortable with. And that's not anything that technology could ever replace. But if I know those things about my customers and what they're comfortable with and, and the trends I see coming down the pipe and the trends that I want to kind of kick out the door. I can also use ChatGPT and other AI programs to create those marketing campaigns, to create those dream boards for my brides so that I know what they like, but I also want to push them just a little bit. And that's just where it can come in and be my assistant. Because that's a lot of time and energy and to find those words, that writing, those images for a dream board, just so we can have a visual that's where it can step in and, and save me time. Because I, my husband is an assistant superintendent of a school district. I'm a business owner with five employees. I have two kids that I try to keep up with. I am a leader in my community, Chamber of Commerce, Lion's Club. And then I love doing design competitions. I am on the board for TSFA and South Central. So that allows me to work on those relationships and to nurture those relationships and be out in the community. And this saves me time on those menial tasks that, that do not matter. Nobody cares if I wrote that product description on my website. It, and actually it could do it better than me because I can tell it to, you know, make it SEO enhanced. And then I didn't have to do that. And then I spend my time working on my art and working on my relationships.

Sharon McGukin: 25:44

And you briefly alluded to your competitions lately, so tell us about your success.

Brandy Ferrer: 25:51

Oh, wow. I think I have an addiction. I love the rush of a competition. I won Frankie Shelton last year, and then I won Texas designer of the year this summer in San Antonio. And ChatDPT actually helped me with my prop design. I planned it for almost an entire year. So that was an archived conversation that. Went on for months and months and months trying to come up with that design. And then I did Sylvia Cup and I didn't place, but I had so much fun. And, I love doing competitions for the thrill of it and for the camaraderie and the relationships that I developed with other floral designers. Sylvia Cup was amazing. And then I just did Mid America in Little R ock and I got second place. So yeah, well, and congratulations to Sharon Ivey. She is on a roll this year. I tell you what,

Sharon McGukin: 26:54

so well.

Brandy Ferrer: 26:55

Amazing. We were neck and neck. She won first place in the wedding bouquet. I got first place in casket spray, and then we tied for the lapel boutonniere we had to create. So we literally were neck and neck and I'm totally cool with it because she's like the most amazing designer and I've learned so much from her. She's such a sweetheart. And. So I'm just going to keep going and I'm already making preparations for next year, whatever comes down the pipe next. Of course I will be chairing the Texas Designer of the Year. So I am creating all of my fun stuff for that coming up with new ideas for what I'm going to throw at those designers. And then I also run a student competition here in East Texas for Upshur County. So all of our FFA students who are in floral design and our 4 H students can be part of the Yamboree Student Floral Cup.

Sharon McGukin: 27:56

All exciting things. And I love it that all of you as competitors realize when you hit that design table in a competition, you're really only competing against yourself and the scorecard. And you all just enjoy the fellowship of being there and cheering each other on. And that, that's really lovely. All of your parts. So congratulations to you and also to Sharon Ivey. And we're just excited for all of you. Oh, and Jackie

Brandy Ferrer: 28:25

lacey.

Sharon McGukin: 28:26

Jackie

Brandy Ferrer: 28:26

he was right next to me. Yes. He was, his table was right next to me. And at one point I looked over at him and I said, Jackie, I'm ready to get my rear end kicked by you. I was just like, you know, I totally, I, I respect, Hey, respect, man, you have been doing this. for a lot longer than me. You are amazing. And I just to be in the presence of the great designers that I competed against. It's like a dream come true. I mean, because three, four years ago, these are people that I just, I saw them on social media and said, wow, I want to be like that, and here I am competing side by side with them. So I'm living my dream. I don't care if I win or not. I am having fun. The thrill of the competition is great. And I've learned new things every single time I compete

Sharon McGukin: 29:19

And you're at the party. And that's the fun part, that flower party. Jackie, of course, won Sylvia Cup. And he is a master. So that was well deserved.

Brandy Ferrer: 29:31

well deserved.

Sharon McGukin: 29:32

Early on and even today, some early adopters think that AI is too technical, too expensive, a threat to jobs. You've just given us all the ways that really it saves you money because it takes away some of the mundane and some of the challenges just in every day for time. Any tips for beginners telling people where they can start? What advice would you offer to the florist with"start here?" I know you said earlier go to ChatGPT and play around with that. But I'm thinking of simple tasks like writing assignments or like doing couponing or membership mail outs, that type of thing. How would you start that?

Brandy Ferrer: 30:24

Well, here's the great thing. So yes, ChatGPT is where it all started. There are a lot of websites that now have, they have AI components. You've probably seen it. Google has Bard. Even Facebook has an AI component. And I'm a, Google girl. Okay. I use Google keep Google sheets, Google everything. I'm an Android. I know haters. I'm sorry, Apple people. But I am an Android girl and I love Google. So I would say, just give it a chance. And I remember one of the first things that I use ChatGPT for way back when is when I was trying to figure out some health problems I was in the past year diagnosed with Crohn's disease. And I didn't understand what was going on with my body. And I had several different doctors that had different opinions that didn't communicate with each other. So when I just went into ChatGPT, and yes, I know it does not replace doctors. I get that. But sometimes, You need some help putting some of those puzzle pieces together. And so I just started describing my symptoms and of course it told me,""now I'm not a doctor," this is not professional advice. Yes, I know that. But it will still give you some great information and you can say, you can ask it, based on the symptoms that I am describing to you, what are some of the possibilities Or if you know what you have, for example, now that I know I have Crohn's disease, Celiac, Amyloid nodes, It can help me come up with a diet plans. I did autoimmune protocol diet for a while, phase one. Now I'm in phase two. I have certain foods that I know I can't eat. So if I say I need you to develop me a meal plan for this week based on keto or this or that and in my case, I have very specific dietary restrictions. It can do that. Gosh, I've even seen people say, okay, I have these five items in my fridge. Give me some recipes of what I can create with just these five items.

Sharon McGukin: 32:57

Google also. Recipe, comma, and then just list with a comma after each one the ingredients you have and it comes up with great meals.

Brandy Ferrer: 33:06

Absolutely. And, and we're so used to Google, and yes, I use Google all the time. The difference, you can use ChatGPT like a search engine. And instead of having to Google and then, you know, Kind of look down through the list of things that it comes up with and say, okay, well, maybe I'll go here and look, Oh, no, that's not what I need. And then you go back to the list of things that comes up with, if you're having that conversation with ChatGPT, it can combine all the information in real time. And then it can give you links, but it will like summarize. From multiple websites, multiple pieces of information and, and cater create an answer that caters to exactly what you're asking it for and so it's more efficient.

Sharon McGukin: 34:03

Did you ever think you would be brainstorming with a machine?

Brandy Ferrer: 34:08

No, I did not. But I tell you what, I really like it because it does, it's, it's very non judgmental most of the time, so I can come up with crazy junk and it will just be like, okay, well let's try it, you know,

Sharon McGukin: 34:21

now, some people fear that AI will, in the flower shop, replace their artistic touch, but realistically, while AI can generate ideas and images, the florist's personal touch, their expertise, their artistic, Interpretation, their time and talent invested will always be the true beauty of a design. No matter how we change the way we approach our customers, we always, always go back to relationship selling. That has been the strength of our industry. And I don't see this. Taking away from that in any form. I think you have given us great suggestions of how rather than taking away, it's just building on and freeing up time and allowing us to, to have new thoughts and new concepts that we hadn't looked at before. I think one of the main things people are going to want to know is how do I learn more? Where are the resources for continued learning here? Where can they go to learn how to integrate AI into their business? And I would suggest reaching out to Brandy at her website, www. bloomwithbrandy. com. That'll be in the transcript for this podcast. And we will also do a blog from this podcast and it will be a link in the blog This will give you floristry resources, tutorials, upcoming AI training sessions, and you can look with Brandy and also online for webinars, workshops, online courses that can help you get comfortable with AI tools like ChatGPT. Brandy, do you have other suggestions for exploring this process

Brandy Ferrer: 36:10

Well, when I first started playing around with ChatGPT and AI I would just, seriously, I use TikTok sometimes as a library so I can do a search for AI tools on TikTok and people have videos on there and, and I'm starting to do it too just showing, hey, look at this AI tool. I mean, Grammarly has been around forever and yes, and it's now just more intuitive. Canva has AI components. If you're a Canva user, there are videos out there of people who are Canva experts that will show you how to use the AI components of Canva. Then you have HubSpot, you have you have all of these different ones. Tango is one of my favorite ones. So Tango is. If I need to create like a step by step handout, I guess you would say like a PDF document of step by step how to do something. For example, my new customer service employee did not know how to how to add payments to house accounts. on our POS system. Well, I use Tango, which is free. And one time I took her through the process, click here, click here, click here. Well, Tango was following me the whole time. And at the same time I was showing her, It was creating a step by step handout that had the instructions and snapshots that will go nice, clean PDF handout. So by the time I was done, I clicked done and it had created it for me. I know we used to take screenshots and then crop, you know, and then cut and paste onto a Microsoft Word document, then type out instructions. Yep. Nope, no more. Tango can do that for you. And yes, I am slowly starting to put out information as to how you can use AI. I do, I have some resources that I will make sure that you have. There is an introduction to ChatGPT E-course on my website. That is free. There's a little E-book if you want to get started and then I'll start putting out other things very soon.

Sharon McGukin: 38:36

You have been such a great resource of information. And I just thank you so much for being with us and sharing everything that you've learned about AI and encouraging us to delve deeper into it.

Brandy Ferrer: 38:48

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And I was so excited to be able to share this with you today.

Sharon McGukin: 38:56

And you did it beautifully. Thank you. To our audience, Smithers Oasis North America, Brandy and I want to thank you for joining us today. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and be sure to hit subscribe. You don't want to miss the inspired solutions our guests will share with you for your personal or business growth. If you have topics or guests you want to hear, please message me. We love to hear from you. Until next time, I'm Sharon McGukin reminding you that like the unfurling petals of a flower, we grow by changing form. Soaking inspiration in like raindrops. Absorbing energy from others like warmth from the sun. This growth opens us up to new ideas and that's How we Bloom.