Farmer Spotlight: Spring Hills Farm
Roland Hoffman and his wife had a vision: go back to the basics and live as self-sustaining of a life as possible. After moving their 3 small children from Corvallis, OR to Kentucky in 1999, the family’s “simple life” grew to include chickens, ducks, milk goats and a cow. Eventually, they added grass fed beef and gained recognition in the community. Roland explained how their ‘sustainable life’ turned into Spring Hills Farm. While their business and customer base grew slowly and organically, due to the coronavirus (aka ‘market conditions’) they had to make quick adjustments to their business in order to continue to serve their customers.
“We started selling off the Farm by word of mouth. Friends and family would talk to their friends, who would want to buy a half or whole beef. It was slow growth but worked for our Farm and meant we were slowly building up our customer base. Eventually, we decided to make it accessible to people who didn’t have space or couldn't afford that amount all at once (aka ‘new potential customers’); in 2002 we became FDA certified so we could sell by the cut(s).
At that point I know we needed a website, so I made one from scratch. I don’t consider myself “good” at it, but we needed to educate the local market about grass fed beef (and we know people research online). We sell mostly to locals, at the farmers market and off the Farm. We try to make them informed consumers, not just for our sake but for theirs. It can be hard when our beef costs more than that at Walmart. We have to explain why it’s worth paying more for our beef, because it is!
I want what we do here to have a positive impact on people. After all, farming is the oldest profession. I remember plowing (which I don’t do very often, we try to be no-till, but my pasture was in rough shape) the first couple years on the Farm. Something about the smell of the soil brought me back to being a teenager, to hold it in my hands was energizing. It reminded me why it’s so important for someone to keep doing this; it’s so natural to grow things.
Word of mouth and farmers markets are good for marketing and sales, but can be slow-going and unreliable; I wanted more consistency in my sales. I knew it was important to diversify the ways I was selling, and had wanted an online store for 8-10 years, but knew that it needed to be done right. People not only want to research online, today they want to buy online. I was relying on calling or emailing, and losing the people who wanted to shop online (aka ‘new potential customers’), to place an order with a click of a mouse. The avenues I was selling through were constrained. I wanted to grow to the next level but didn’t have a plan or the skills to do that.
Then, in March this year I got a call, and learned that Barn2Door had the capability and the team and experts to not only do my store, but also build me a website and help me set up my brand and shopping on Facebook and email, too! Even though I’d put a website together, I needed professionals who knew what people were looking for and could help me stand out. Truly, the value Barn2Door offered far outweighed the price.
I’d never used Instagram, but with the resources I found on Barn2Door, I was able to set one up and make a post. It’s different from Facebook—and can reach a different group of customers—I knew it was important to have and so I figured it out.
Farmers nowadays can’t think the way their dads or grandads thought, in the same way we don’t work animals the same way. It’s important to diversify how you’re selling, and think ahead. It’s not about how you’re selling right now, it’s about how the market expects you to sell. That’s the message I want to send to Farmers on the fence.
It’s lucky I made the decision to sign up when I did. Like I said, I’d wanted an online store for a long time, but when coronavirus rolled in and I couldn’t directly interface with my customers anymore—it was the push I needed. I got a call that the market won’t be starting up, and they’re not sure when it will. I am fortunate that I have been building my customer base over years and had their emails. Inside my account I have all their emails and can readily send order reminders and group emails. Customers can order online anytime and get an automatic reminder for pickup or delivery. It keeps me organized, saves a ton of time and it makes it easy to track inventory and customer orders.
The pandemic has actually increased my business. The day my store went live was the single most profitable day in the history of the Farm. People were in town looking to stock up on beef, and when the grocery store was sold out they started looking online. I think they normally would have called me, but with the link they just went on and purchased! Within an hour of going online I sold a whole steer, and I’ve sold another steer and two sides since. I was saving time, selling more and my customers were happily shopping online.
When you buy a steer, customers put down a deposit and then pay by weight, and that’s one of the things that kept me from having an online store, I wasn’t sure how to charge for that without over-complicating it, since I knew customers would get confused and not purchase. If I had to pick just one good reason for signing up, it would be that. There’s no part of this process that I have an ounce of regret about. Farmers can be really tight, I know I am. I won’t spend money on something that won’t be effective. Man, I made a good decision.
Every person that was involved has been absolutely top notch. From Lauren to Kylie to Kevin and Kara [Barn2Door employees], each person who’s helped me through this transition has been awesome. You guys have put together a structure and a team to really make this happen for a variety of people, whether they’re ‘techy’ or not. I was quick to get the information Kevin [Barn2Door Onboarding Manager] needed to him, and we had the store up and going in no time.
The designers took information from my existing site to the new one, and to my social and email channels. I leaned heavily on their creativity, and didn’t want my opinions to get in the way. I told them, ‘I want it to feel like someone’s sitting on a stump on the Farm ordering beef.’ They put something together with that look and feel, using the pictures I took and sent over.
Throughout my Onboarding meetings I asked questions. I have to recognize I’m not good at the marketing part of farming. Sometimes I don’t know what to do, or even what questions to ask. You guys were able to fill in the gap, to say ‘this is what you need’. My business as a whole feels more complete. I’m thankful for what you’re doing.”
Barn2Door is humbled to support Roland and Spring Hills Farm, as they grow their business and continue supplying their local community.We’ve compiled other Farm success stories and free resources for Farmers navigating the coronavirus pandemic. If you’re curious to learn about how Barn2Door might work for your Farm, you can learn more in this 5:40 video.