|
When our late son, Fred, worked with me in the real estate investment field and we were going to make a presentation he would rub his hands together and say, “O.k. Ma, It’s Show Time!” A good friend of mine, who is the widow, of a famous circus owner used to say to me, “Arlene, its all theater!”
The other day, at the local farmer’s market, those words came home to me and as I looked around I thought these good folks could use some “show time!”
It takes a lot of work to get set up at a farmer’s market. It took a lot of work to get ready to get there. It took a lot of work to grow the fruits and vegetables, to harvest them, to gather the eggs, to tend the chickens who gave you the eggs, to bake the bread or other goodies you may be bringing there, so why not spend a little more energy to make sure the stuff sells while you are sitting out in the hot sun.
The gas prices have caused several things to happen in a catch-22 situation, that makes even the prices higher at the local farmer’s market and the buyer’ food budget lower. Thus some marketing is needed here, at least in my opinion.
What can someone do to enhance the farmer’s market place or to just increase your own sales?
Let’s get back to the other day when I looked at a stall of a gal who had some radishes for sale. I am sure they were fresh, but the sure did not look it. She had them in a plastic bowl and she had cut the leaves off of them and these little dry looking reddish-white marbles with their short green stubs looked as unattractive as heck and she was the only radish game in town, but they were not selling.
Lets suppose she left the leaves on them and bundled them up in bundles of 6 to 10 radishes with a rubber band, laid them out on her table and spritzed them with water every now and then. The colors would have been brighter, they would have looked a lot more appetizing with glistening beads of water on the now bright red radish, and she could have had the rest of the bundles sitting in a pail of cold water ready to go. Lots of people like the radish greens and add them to salads.
The girls selling lovely white and brown organically raised eggs had lots of them there, but for two weeks now they did not seem to be doing a “land office” business at least while I was there. I was not the buyer for them because I do not use a lot of eggs any more, plus at $3.25 a dozen they were not in my budget. However, they might have been in someone else’s. This was the fair market value for this type of egg at stores like “World Market” or “Natural Foods”. However, buyers at farmer’s markets expect things to be cheaper or expect to get more for their money. So if you cannot be cheaper and still stay in business, why not give them more for their money?
Why not have a printed flyer with a couple of good egg recipes on it and your farm’s name and phone number, plus directions to your farm if you are in the business of selling eggs all week long welcoming people to stop by for a farm tour and egg sale? Plus these gals are musicians; why not has a really festive day at your stall with some fiddling etc? It sure would stir up some activity and probably buying activity because you are giving the crowd something extra.
The stall selling herbs was not crowded with buyer’s either, even though people were driving in and out of there, and he had some nice plants. The price was a $1.00 more than last year and I can understand why. It cost him more to grow and get his stuff to the market place. Why not have something free to give away with each plant? What could that be? I would suggest a FREE post card size printed card with a recipe using that particular herb. This would allow you to chat up the future buyer and more than likely get a sale.
I have been in sales for over 50 years and people buy from need, greed and fear. At the farmer’s market they need food and you have it so you have to appeal to those 3 factors to get them to open up their wallets.
If you are selling baked goods, have some small samples to let your future customers try because marketing research has proven that these customers buy after getting a free sample. The same thing applies to your jam and jelly samples and you could have a small dish of crackers where you offer a sample of your wares on a cracker.
I have watched the buyers at these farmer’s markets and timed them because at one time I thought I might take my herb blends down to the local market. The buyer drives in, walks past every stall, at least the ones that the seller does not stop and “chat” them up at and they quickly move on and drive away. The average was dry run was 90 to 120 seconds!
I also noticed that sellers often sit at their stalls and read books totally ignoring the prospective buyer unless the buyer asks them a question. Why not stand up when a customer stops buy, greet them warmly and tell them a little about what you are selling. Ask them where they are from, are they looking for something special or anything that gets you to learn a little about their needs.
When we owned the “Great American Hot Dog Factory”, Carl had a punch card that he gave his customers. Every time they bought a hot dog they got a punch on their card and when the card has 12 punch holes (which were a special design) then they got a free hot dog. My favorite ice cream stand does the same thing and I would not dream of getting my ice cream cone any other place. Plus on days it is raining and snowing if I buy a cone I get an extra free scoop! Now, boys and girls that is “Show Time”!
If I was selling eggs I would employ the punch card sales technique. I would come back for the free dozen eggs after 12 weeks of purchases. Why, because I was buying from need and greed and because I had created a habit. I used to teach time management and I learned that it takes only 25 to 45 days to create a habit and almost 2 years to get rid of one!
If I was selling cupcakes I would sell them a baker’s dozen which gives you 13 instead of 12 and I would have a sign that says that.
If I was selling plants I would say buy 6 and get the 7th one free!
You never get a second chance to make a good first impression and that is what you must do when you spend all your time, effort and money to get your wares to a farmer’s market. It only takes a little “show time” to make your cash register ring!
|
Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
Didn't really find what you were looking for?
|
|
|
| |
|
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](images/rss.gif "Subscribe to our XML Feed for RSS")
(Read 100+ times)
