Market Farming

["Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>]

>>
>One of the farmer's markets I sell at has the "It's a FM so everything must
>be cheap" I explain to people that complain that we don't really have
>anything comparable to a grocery store. Everything is far fresher, the
>varieties cannot be found at the store and the customer gets to actually
>talk to the grower plus we give cooking tips and recipes. In other words,
we
>give the customer a lot more than a grocery store possibly could. That in
>itself is worth more money.
>
>Still we get detractors which my husband tells me to ignore, but still when
>someone complains about our prices I want to drop them. Fortunatly he won't
>let me.
>Lucy Goodman-Owsley
>Boulder Belt CSA
>New Paris, OH
>Website: http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa
>Organic Farming and Gardening Forum:


I'm glad to hear your husband stands up to their attempt to talk you down.
You're not just offering a commodity, you're offering quality. Education is
an essential component of sales. When you sell you have the responsibility
to convince your customer to buy your product. There is nothing wrong with
insisting it's superior if it is. You're just defending the truth about your
product. There will always be customers whose purpose is to undermine your
product to get a better price. Don't let them. If your product is superior,
don't let anyone say it isn't. Superior quality is your whole market!

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center