What’s your name and where do you come from?
Andrea Caldecourt, Flowers & Plants Association
Where is your company based, and why?
New Covent Garden Market, London. We’re here because - like a bank is in the City or Docklands, or a newspaper is at Wapping - it makes sense to other people that we are here. It is also useful for us when we are buying product for media photoshoots, to keep up to date with seasonal trends, or to check availability.
How long has the company been trading?
Since 1984.
What time do you start work and why?
Between 8.30am and 9.30am. We talk to the media and the public, so we don’t need to start really early like the wholesalers! Occasionally if we are involved in a show or event we’ll start at around 7am; at peak times like Valentine’s Day I might be doing a broadcast for TV or radio, which could start at 5.30am.
What does your typical day involve?
There is no typical day, one of the reasons I love the job. As a team, we might : select images for a newspaper to use in a feature; buy flowers for a magazine photoshoot, answer emails from the public on plant care or wedding flowers; write a blog or article; record a radio interview; sign up a company as a member; make a presentation at a conference; write and load up a new website page. I also pay the bills and wages.
Are there any misconceptions of your job role by the public?
People think we are a much bigger company than we are. Our website gets over 3 million visitors a year, and we place around 500 items of PR coverage annually, so we have quite a high profile for the work we do. But there’s only 3 full-time and two part-time staff.
What takes up most of your time?
Waiting for the computer to catch up with me. For emails to download or send, for files to open across the network, for photos to upload, for websites to appear. Drives me crackers.
Does your job require specific skills and qualifications to do it properly?
Not necessarily qualifications (although I have an honours marketing degree and Chartered Institute of Public Relations accreditation), but definitely skills. Excellent written and spoken English for one. An understanding of how to communicate effectively, specific to both the media channel and the audience on each occasion. An ability to multitask and juggle many projects. Fast responses to immediate situations, combined with a head for long-term planning. Broad knowledge of who’s who in the industry, and where the new developments are. Understanding of the product helps immensely too, in horticulture.
In my specific role as CEO I also need to understand finances and accounting, employment law, and matters concerned with running any business.
Are you mainly office based?
Yes.
What is the best part of your job?
The variety of tasks, and the product itself. Flowers and plants are delightful products to promote. I also enjoy talking and writing and presenting and designing so it uses my favourite skills.
Is there a bad side to it?
There’s an awful lot of paperwork attached to the financial side of a business, as anyone who runs a small business can tell you. And getting people to pay you promptly is time-consuming.
It’s also a little tricky not having a definite brand to promote. It’s harder to evaluate how effective our promotions have been, as we don’t have a brand name to look for in the press cuttings, or to track in retailer sales data. We raise awareness of products and encourage interest, but we don’t control what happens in the retail environment. We can lead a horse to water but we can’t make it drink!
How did you break into the industry – do you have any tips for aspiring growers / florists / wholesalers / importers?
I graduated with an honours degree in marketing, and worked in various marketing and promotional roles outside of horticulture, for several years.
Then I envisaged exactly my perfect job in horticulture, based on the skills I had and wanted to make use of.
I wrote one hundred letters to every contact I could find in horticulture, asking for advice; to ask if such a job existed anywhere, and whether they thought I could get from where I was, to where I wanted to be.
I was offered a temporary junior administrative role. I took it, and grabbed every opportunity to learn, to read up, to develop, to work, to train myself, and to acquire new skills.
If you’re intelligent, a fast learner, keen and enthusiastic, conscientious, willing to put long hours in, willing to develop your knowledge in your free time, and make useful contributions, there’s always someone ready to employ you.
What does the future hold for your sector?
Increasing emphasis on production methods and logistics. Growers are concerned with minimising costs and maximising yields within tight margins and rising prices. Consumers are concerned (as never before) with staff welfare, pesticide use, local sourcing, carbon footprint, ethical trading. It will be interesting to see if this continues in the current economic climate, or if consumers begin to say “I don’t care how it’s produced so long as I can afford it”.
What more could we do for your sector?
Join the association! And once you’ve joined, be an active member. Fill in our surveys, send us your news, let us know how we could help your business. The association is only as strong as its membership and we are always looking at ways we can support our members to grow the industry.
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