Exclusive Content: Farmers’ Market Day? Double your Sales
Farmers’ markets can boost visibility in your local community, but they are not necessarily a catch-all. Today, 99% of Americans don’t regularly attend farmers’ markets. The lives of Americans are busy, and many buyers choose to opt for the most convenient option. That’s why the markets aren’t just about selling products but attracting and engaging new customers to make regularly purchasing from your Farm the more convenient option.
This audiobook outlines the tactics to double your sales on market day. By diversifying your market approach, you’ll find new avenues to increase your sales and improve buyer loyalty.
For more Farm resources, visit: https://www.barn2door.com/resources
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Hello and welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast, the go to podcast for do it yourself farmers who are taking control of their own business, skipping the middleman and selling direct to local consumer and wholesale buyers. This podcast is hosted by Barn2Door, the number one business tool for independent farmers to manage their business, promote their brand and sell online and in person.
Let's dive in to today's Independent Farmer Podcast.
Riley Koerner: Farmer's Market Day? Double your Sales.
Introduction. When Americans think of farmers, they often think of visiting farmer's markets.
Throughout history, markets have served as a traditional route for farmers to sell their products to buyers. In the modern age, however, many farmers cannot make [00:01:00] enough income at markets to meet their financial goals. The good news is that these sales can be improved.
Farmer's markets can boost visibility in your local community, but they are not necessarily a catch all. Today, 99 percent of Americans don't regularly attend farmer's markets. The lives of Americans are busy, and many buyers choose to opt for the most convenient option. That's why the markets aren't just about selling products, but attracting and engaging new customers to make regularly purchasing from your farm the more convenient option.
This ebook outlines the tactics to double your sales on market day. By diversifying your market approach, you'll find new avenues to increase your sales and improve buyer loyalty.
Pre order for pickup. The market is all about foot traffic. A busy market generates buzz. While longer lines can drive some customers away, lines often generate interest for many buyers. They'll ask themselves, Why is it so busy?
What are they selling that has everyone over there? [00:02:00] Longer lines can generate excitement. People are often willing to wait in lines, especially if it's for something with significant value.
Offering pre order for pickup at the market is about getting customers to your booth and securing upfront payments. You're generating engagement with your farm from loyal customers and prospective customers. New customers want to know why buyers are in line to pick up a box of products from your farm.
Pre orders also increase your farm's average order value, given it's easy for buyers to purchase more online ahead of the market. Typically, a market attendee will spread their dollars across multiple vendors, feeling obliged to support multiple producers. Unfortunately, this means your farm is not guaranteed to see a sale.
However, if you have secured pre orders for pickup, you can be assured that your farm products taken to the market will be sold.
Customers are guaranteed to be at your market stall when your farm catches pre orders for pickup. Buyers are incredibly busy, but pre-orders will ensure they show up [00:03:00] notwithstanding unexpected family commitments, guests, illnesses, or bad weather. No farmer's market guarantees foot traffic, especially when the weather can be unpredictable. But when buyers have pre-ordered products to pick up at the market, they must show up to collect their order.
Preorders for pickup can also help your farm generate FOMO, or the fear of missing out, and guarantee customers arrive in line at the market. There are two ways for farmers to guarantee FOMO and increase their line length at the market.
Number one is to sell a limited number of specialty products only available as pre order for pickup at the market.
Are there products that you can't seem to keep in stock and loyal customers miss out? Like bacon, fillets, huckleberries, truffles. Set aside your farm's most desirable specialty products and make them only available for pre order for pickup. Offering these high demand products to pickup customers only drives prospective customer interest, like scan our QR code to get our exclusive mailing list. [00:04:00] Not only that, you're treating loyal customers as royalty. Why would customers not want to pre order from your farm knowing they get the best products?
Number two is to set up an exclusive line for pickup customers only. One line at a market can cause a lot of backups, which may frustrate your pre order customers. Set up a second line for pickup customers who just want to grab their food box and go. With two lines, you'll offer quicker service to your loyal customers and entice new customers who will be curious about the distinct lines, and want to purchase online for faster service next time.
Pre orders are a powerful tool for farmers to generate interest at the market and secure more sales. Your products are guaranteed to be moved and customers are guaranteed to arrive at your stall. All these combined make it a foolproof tactic to offer pre order for pickup at the market.
Our customers ask to pre order our tomatoes ahead of the season. If they pre order, we give them a little discount and guarantee they'll get the first tomatoes when we harvest. A quote from a [00:05:00] produce farmer in California.
Plan your trip.
If there's one day of the week that you're guaranteed to be off the farm, it's on market day. While there are many details to prepare for ahead of market day, including packaging all your pre orders, consider the market opportunity travel presents your farm. You're picking and packing your products for the market, so why not make the most of your day and consider making a few deliveries or drop offs along the way.
Ask yourself this question. Can you make some drops at pickup locations before the markets open, or consider offering deliveries nearby after it closes? Instead of relying on moving all your products at the market, consider the opportunity of serving all the buyers you're driving past en route to and from the market.
Make the most of the day you're off the farm and capture every available sales opportunity. Many farmers look at two options when planning their market day trips.
Option one is pickup and deliveries en route to the market. Only one out of 100 people attend a farmer's market regularly. [00:06:00] Meaning on your way to the markets, you're driving past the 99 people who will not be attending that day. As a result, planning pickup and deliveries en route to and from the market can make the day much more profitable. Many farmers attend a market in a faraway city, which opens up a wider range of available buyers.
And many Americans want to purchase from local farmers but find the market's inconvenient or your farm inaccessible because it's too far away. When you offer pickups and deliveries to folks enroute to and from the market, you'll greatly expand the sales opportunity for your farm. Analyze the location of your existing or past buyers and establish a beachhead to grow your sales on delivery day.
Option 2 is to target your buyer's local loop. The local loop is the path that your buyers frequent on a routine basis, weekdays or weekends. First, you need to identify your target customers. Are they families in the suburbs, urban dwellers in the city, or specific groups of people in certain neighborhoods or towns?
Then identify where your target [00:07:00] customers frequent regularly. Are they at work, a school, a church, or the local coffee shop? Knowing these details can help plan delivery and pickup schedules to align with your market days.
If your market is on a Sunday, offer to drop off products in a church parking lot. If your farmer's market's on a weekday, you can host a pickup location at a school or business that buyers frequent.
Don't be afraid to sell to any and every demographic. For example, teachers are a great target market. Since so many adults pass through schools, like other faculty and parents, you're basically receiving free marketing.
Most local loop destinations are high visibility with lots of foot and vehicular traffic, increasing farm brand awareness, aka free marketing. When you pair high visibility with your farm brand on your vehicle or boxes, consumers will know what farm to search for to purchase your products. Best of all, you're not competing with other farmers.
Perspective customers are looking at your products and your products only.
Use the market day to your [00:08:00] advantage. If you're going to leave the farm, don't plan to be stationary. Instead, plan out your day to move the most product possible and increase your sales and your farm brand visibility with pickups and deliveries en route to and from the markets.
Since farmers markets only ran six months out of the year, we knew we needed a way to sell our products like Amazon. That's what people expect today, having orders arrive at their doorstep. It's amazing that Barn2Door helped set up our delivery process, making it frictionless and profitable. A quote from a regenerative farmer in South Carolina.
Capture buyer details with QR codes.
Markets offer a great opportunity to foster customer relationships. That's a huge reason why customers want to shop local. To keep money in their community and know they are supporting local businesses and jobs. Buyers enjoy seeing you face to face and getting to know your farm's story. Those who connect with your farm brand will want to continue to learn about your farm values, practices, and products. Not just at the market.
Capturing buyer [00:09:00] details like their name and email address is crucial when communicating regularly with your customers to send emails and keep them updated. You should make it simple to collect emails with a QR code and an email sign up sheet. Customers can quickly write down their email address or scan the QR code to sign up for your farm newsletter using their smartphone.
Email is an active communication channel. 97 percent of American adults check their email inbox every day. Your buyers are receiving information about brands they've chosen to interact with. If they care about your farm, they'll want email updates from your farm too.
Other farmers incentivize their employees when collecting email addresses, paying each employee $1 per validated email address. This incentive adds up quickly for the workers, even more so for your farm sales. One farmer saw his average order value go from $20 to $88 simply by collecting emails at the markets and sending his email newsletters to encourage pre orders for pickup.
Prospective buyers may need some encouragement if they are hesitant to [00:10:00] share their email address. More specifically, offer prospective buyers a promo code if they join your newsletter list, which includes access to your specialty products that are only available for pre order.
Monthly farm newsletters are handy for providing farm updates, information details, and special access to promos and high demand products. Your email subscribers are important, so show them some love. Provide email subscribers with exclusive deals and show them sneak peeks of new products or happenings on the farm.
Email marketing is like taking gold from an ATM machine. A quote from a protein farmer in Michigan.
Farm success story. Upsell value added products for pickup at the market.
Subscribers to your farm products are loyal customers. These customers will gladly pick up your products at the market or meet you at any drop point in Route 2 or from. They are ready to support your farm. Tagge's Famous Fruit and Veggie Farms appreciates the power of pre orders for pickup, trip planning on market day for drop points, and email [00:11:00] marketing.
In fact, they use all three.
By capturing buyer emails, Tagge's can send out order reminders alongside upselling their products. The more they send out, the more successful their program has become. Often people simply forget to make a purchase or are unable to commit to a subscription. However, providing a little nudge to buy from your farm doesn't hurt anyone.
However, one of Tagge's most successful tactics to increase sales on the market day has been upselling value added products to their existing loyal customers. While you may think your buyers don't want another email asking for them to purchase more products from your farm, you might be surprised. And Tagge's Fruit and Veggie Farms knows it.
Tagge's amassed more than $80, 000 in add on sales by upselling products that paired well with their product offerings to existing subscribers.
It's genuinely all about convenience. Your loyal buyers trust your judgment and recommendations. Candidly, your customers won't know what add on products are available unless you literally offer it to them.
It's very easy [00:12:00] for Americans to think that farmers only offer raw, unfinished products. However, many farmers offer great value added products that are highly desirable and profitable. Meat sticks, jerky, salsa, jams, sauces, syrups, pickles, honey, or bread are all things customers want and may simply forget that farmers offer alongside their core products.
Showcase your value added products through email or providing a sneak peek at the markets, and your farm will drive more sales on market day.
Add ons were the reason why I was initially so excited about Barn2Door. In 2022 alone, I've sold about $80, 000 in add ons. It's proven to be an excellent way to generate extra sales and revenue for the business. A quote from Tagge's Famous Fruit and Veggie Farms, located in Utah.
Conclusion.
Farmers markets are a great tool to increase brand awareness and meet prospective buyers. Instead of focusing solely on the sales generated from foot traffic at the markets that day, expand your [00:13:00] horizons. Consider the core value of markets as a vehicle to attract and engage new loyal buyers, secure more pre orders for pickup, expand your delivery and pickups, and drive more add on sales to help double your farm sales.
Farmer's Market Day? Double your Sales. Narrated by Riley Koerner.
Barn2Door is an all in one solution for farmers selling direct, online and in person. To learn why successful farms run on Barn2Door, visit our website at www. barn2door. com.
Thank you for joining us on the Independent Farmer Podcast. At Barn2Door, we are passionate about empowering independent farmers to build a thriving business. To all the farmers out there, thank you for all you do to grow amazing food, care for the soil, and serve your local communities. You are the backbone of our country.
For free farm resources, or to listen to prior [00:14:00] podcasts, go to barn2door.com/resources. We hope you join us again and subscribe to the Independent Farmer Podcast wherever you stream your podcasts. Until next time.