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market-farming - Re: Farmers Market Display ideas/sampling/signs

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  • From: "Michaele Blakely" <mjb AT premier1.net>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Farmers Market Display ideas/sampling/signs
  • Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 09:18:43 -0800



----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Pike <pike AT always-online.com>
To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2000 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: Farmers Market Display ideas


I
> used.) Fix up the display with greens on bottom, & serving sized veggies
> or whatever on top. Keep dressing in the bottle with those tiny little
> sample cups for serving. Be generous with size. Grab them by their eyes &
> nose, tickle their tummies & you'll have a customer for life!
>

I'm sure health regulations vary county to county or state to state. One
item absolutely demanded by health authorities in our state is a hand
washing station set up in the booth somewhere. This doesn't need to be
complex, a simple large water jug (although in our state it has to be
insulated) with a free flowing spout, a drain bucket, soap and paper towels.
Something to clean the knive with as well, and a food handler's card. Why
we can't just wash our hands after visiting the restroom and call it good is
beyond me. The health department insists that we wash our hands after we
get back to the booth and I go along with it because it isn't too
unreasonable. If we don't cut the samples up, none of this is necessary.
I have not seen farm signs mentioned in this thread. A well placed and well
designed sign really draws the customer. It also gives credence to your
operation. You look more proffessional; your giving off an air of success.
It helps the customer separate your stand from the rest of the vendor's.
I agree with Liz that selling at the markets is a competitive game and
rather than use pricing as an advantage (it really isn't though) I strive
to set myself apart from the rest of the vendors. I look for making my
booth distinct, attractive, and a benefit to the customer. Product is
arranged to draw the eye. I plan my plantings to make sure certain items are
harvestable at the same times because they draw more if shown together than
separately. Sometimes that also means hiring a third or fourth person at
peak season times to keep customers from waiting too long in line. The extra
cash paid out evens out in the long run. I look at the arrangement of my
booth so customer flow is the best it can be. At times it can be really
crazy and I feel at the end of the day I haven't had a moment to catch my
breath, I still want to try to make a personal connection with each
customer. Remember names and tid bits about as many people as you can.
Bring those names and tid bits up the next time you see them. Study the
fine art of manipulation and use it to your advantage.( manipulation isn't
always a bad thing!) Enjoy building repoire with your customers, they will
love you for it.
With all that being said, it won't mean too much if you are in a spot that
goes against the psychology of the crowd. Location, location, location.
Watch how your crowd flow works. We were at a new market last year and
didn't get a chance to help decide where our booth was going to be. It was
horrible! We expected sales to be down by maybe half of what other markets
had been, but were not prepared for it being a fourth. The sun hit every
customers eyes for 2/3 of the market hours and people walked right by us.
We were also in the middle of two booths that were ez ups and try as we did
to separate our look we couldn't make enough of a distinction. I
continually told the manager it was a bad spot for the three of us. She
eventually moved us and we tripled sales immediately. It was pretty
dramatic.
Try to keep your containers of product full and over flowing if possible.
Nothing slows sales down then a partially filled container. If I sold out,
I didn't bring enough.
Michaele
Growing Things
Carnation WA

> Liz
> Morningstar Gardens
> Pollocksville NC
>
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