7 Secrets of Successful Direct-to-Market Farmers

With the good fortune of serving Farmers across every state in America and literally millions of pageviews on our platform every month, Barn2Door captures a lot of data. Consistently, we are asked by Farms, “What should my Farm do to be successful as a Business?”

Candidly, there is no silver bullet. Every Farmer knows their business is unique and it takes hard work to be a good steward of the land, care for their animals, build customer loyalty and operate the business (not to mention, making sure to find time for loved ones!). Of course unknown or unforeseen variables can always crimp the careful planning and efforts of any Farmer - weather, infestations, natural disaster and disease (pandemic).

Surveying the Farms we serve, there are generally consistent traits across the board among the most successful Farmers (who regularly sell out). Not surprisingly, we see these traits exhibited in other businesses and industries, too. 

Here are the Seven (7) Traits of Farms that Operate Like a Business (and Make Money):

1. Time is money

The best Farmers put an hourly rate on their own time; most Farmers do not. Not surprisingly, we have never met a Farmer with extra time on their hands. Putting a price tag on your time (and those you employ) is critical in terms of evaluating the effectiveness (and profitability) of your efforts. Whatever channel to market your Farm pursues - offline (e.g. farmers markets) or online (e.g. Facebook) - always factor in the time it takes to acquire and serve your buyers.

Read this ebook: 5 Mistakes that Lead to Farm Failure.

2. Prioritize your Efforts

Identify the one thing your Farm aspires to do that is “world-class”, then prioritize your efforts accordingly (put first things first). Often this entails making choices on what to do for your Farm business and, more importantly, what not to do. If you’re a regenerative Farmer, then be a world-class producer. But, recognize you’re not going to be the best bookkeeper, veterinarian and marketer, too. The best Farmers leverage experts in other areas to help their business thrive.

3. 80 / 20 Rule

Farmers that manage their operations well do not attempt to be all things to all people. Rather, they focus explicitly on serving the 80% of buyers who are low maintenance, versus trying to satisfy the needs of 20% of buyers who have unusual expectations and may be difficult to please. Those picky buyers often have dozens of questions and make special demands; accommodating every little request will eat up your time and is the quickest route to erode your margins. Successful Farmers give themselves permission to say no to customers with too many special requests and customers that eat up their time. Remember your time is money and time is best spent finding and serving low maintenance buyers. Note, Apple (a multi-billion dollar company) only makes iPhones in 5 colors. 

4. Simplify Pricing & Packaging

Farmers who think 80/20, choose to simplify their pricing and packaging for target customers. Forget complicated cut sheets, custom payment plans (stick to upfront or per delivery), or products or packaging that require a lot of time to explain or maintain. Package for easy purchasing by prospective buyers, and keep variables to a minimum. This makes purchasing straightforward and obvious for buyers, while saving your Farm time filling orders. If you’re a pastured poultry producer - you can sell your birds as small, medium and large (based on average weight ranges). The time spent calculating the exact weight per bird is not worth your time. Pre-selected Protein and Produce bundle boxes for a household of 1, 2, or 4 is easy to understand for buyers; successful Farms utilize bundle boxes to move their products (and minimize waste). Note: many consumers don’t recognize the term ‘CSA’, we recommend using vernacular they understand such as a ‘bundle box’ or ‘farm box’ subscription.

Read this Blog: Why Bundle? Because Meat Subscriptions Work.
Read this Blog: Farm CSA or Subscription? Align to Buyer Expectations.

5. Convenient Purchasing & Fulfillment

The Farms seeing success know that buyer preferences rule the day. If you want to sell, you need to acknowledge and embrace how buyers want to buy. In an Amazon-Prime culture, buyers expect easy purchasing and fulfillment options at their fingertips. People use credit cards that are saved online and easy to use; 6 in 10 millennials (25-39 year olds) don’t own a checkbook. Successful Farmers encourage credit card payments and recognize processing fees are a part of doing business. Farmers with the most consistent sales, are offering their buyers the convenience of“grab-and-go” meetups or door-to-door delivery (for an additional fee). Farms have discovered that consumers willingness to pay for delivery actually makes it profitable. ‘

Read this Blog: 5 Steps to Make Door-to-Door Delivery Profitable for your Farm.
Listen to this Webinar: Food on the Doorstep? This Farm Wins with Convenience.

6. Measure The Outcomes

Successful Farmers embrace data. We’ve seen our most successful Farmers are capturing more than 65% of all their online purchases through social and mobile channels. Your Farm website, email and newsletters account for the other 35%. Every channel is important - but you need to measure which channels, which products and what fulfillment options are most profitable. While shipping works well for some Farmers, for others it does not. Your Farm’s proximity to metropolitan areas is a big factor in measuring the cost effectiveness of shipping for your Farm products. Measure the outcomes to determine what is profitable for your Farm.

Read this eBook: Shipping? Is It Right for your Farm?

7. Invest in your Brand

Perhaps less obvious is the importance of building your Farm brand. While many Farmers do a good job personally building relationships and loyalty - successful Farmers build a brand that extends beyond person-to-person conversations. To scale their business and efficiently engage customers for regular sales, successful Farmers build their brand online to maintain and grow relationships, and to find new customers. Your customers are online and will respond across channels (web, mobile, social, email), so having a consistent look, feel, voice and regular engagement across all channels is key. Your brand is the sum or customers’ online and offline experience of you, your farm, and your products. 

Listen to this Webinar: Selling Thru Social and Email? This Farm is Driving Sales

To reiterate, the playbook to successfully operate your Farm will be unique - different from any other Farmer. And, there are no silver bullets. But to answer, “What should my Farm do to be successful as a Business?”, we recommend considering these Seven (7) Traits we consistently see across the successful Farmers we serve.

Watch this 5:40 video to see how Barn2Door could support your Farm in building your business. Or, read these Farmer Spotlights to learn about the experience of other Farmers online.

We would be delighted to learn more about your Farm.