Tips to Promote Your Produce

So you sell your produce at your market or a nearby farmers market. Are you providing customers with what they want? Do you know that often times marketers can promote themselves through their products? Just how can all of this be done, you may ask?

Well Susanna Dzejachok, who has worked at Shepherd’s Corner Farm and Ecology Center in Blacklick, OH, and operated her own bakery, Zuzanna’s Bakery, for three years, has some answers.

Dzejachok’s background also includes working at the Cleveland Food Co-op in customer service for about eight years. While she was there, she studied the co-op’s produce section and customers’ buying habits.

In January, Dzejachok made a presentation at the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association Congress in Sandusky, OH, on promoting through direct marketing. American Vegetable Grower asked her some questions on how growers can provide customers with what they want while maintaining profits. What follows are the questions and her answers.

Q: How do growers determine what they should sell at their markets?
Susanna Dzejachok (SD): It’s important to listen to the customer describe his or her needs and respond meaningfully, and also observe how customers interact with your products, your retail space, and your staff. It’s also important to consider carefully what the customer wants and determine if it’s feasible for you to provide that. Sometimes providing exactly what the customer wants is too difficult for your situation, and you will have to let it go or plan for it in the future.

For example, customers told me they wanted salad items available over the course of several months. At Shepherd’s Corner, all the vegetables were grown in the field so we couldn’t extend the season without the great expense of building a larger greenhouse. Using a different tactic, I explained to them how they could use some of our more unusual vegetables in a salad, such as Chinese greens and kohlrabi, and promoted the sales of these products. I also gave free samples of products customers were reluctant to try, and had a great response.

Q: Why is planning so important?
SD: For all the businesses I’ve been involved with, yearly planning and customer-responsive planning was very important. During the yearly planning, it’s vital to evaluate the efforts of the past year and determine the course of the coming year. We evaluate the large projects to determine whether the past effort resulted in the acceptable return on our investment of time and resources. During this time, evaluate potential projects or new courses of action.

For example, determine whether to add or decrease the number of farmers markets you will participate in the coming year. If this is not done, it’s easy to spend a lot of effort on something that wasn’t profitable, and that will hurt your bottom line. During this time, it’s a good idea to apply your mission and vision to each activity of your business.

It’s also very important to plan for success or failure. When I started my baking business I expected to sell only a few pies per week but very shortly I kept up with the demand only by baking late into the night. I learned it’s very important not to overmarket your ability to provide your product. I raised the price on my product repeatedly to cut down on sales, but it just increased.

Planning on a smaller time scale is also important. If you notice your customers are having trouble with some aspect of your retail space, you can quickly adapt to that situation and maximize your sales.

At Zuzanna’s Bakery, I noticed that if I used a tall display rack instead of just a table display, it really increased sales. At our farm stand at Shepherd’s Corner, customers kept arriving at 3 p.m. on the dot instead of 3:30 p.m., when we opened. So I changed the opening time to 3 p.m.

Q: How important is it to observe and listen to customers?
SD:The customers tell you how and why they want to buy from you. This is verbal and nonverbal. Also, the story of your business is as important as your products. Products sell because of quality, story, and location. People would frequently say to me, “I want to buy this because you made it,” or “I want to promote sustainable farming,” or, “I want to buy local,” or “I really like the idea of what you are doing here and want to promote that.”

Customers will also detail what they want to buy. If they say something directly, such as “I want heirloom tomatoes,” they are ready to buy that product and usually will if you point it out. However, customers also get caught up in what they think they should buy and will ask for that but frequently will not buy it, even if you have the best product around. At the co-op people would constantly ask for low-fat, low-sugar bakery, but it often doesn’t taste good and didn’t sell well.

At Shepherd’s Corner people would ask, “What fresh herbs do you have?” but these did not sell well either because many of our customers were too busy to cook. The pesto prepared from the herbs sold a lot better, because it was easy to use.