Aiming for It! New Farmer 19 | Competing with Marketing
I am currently 49 years old.
Can I prepare now and start farming even after I turn 50?
This note is for writing down those preparations.
The type of farming I am aiming for is small-scale individual farming.
In the previous article, I talked about how the sales method that small-scale individual farmers can compete with is direct sales to individual consumers and retailers.
In this article, I will delve a little deeper into this.
30. The difference between marketing and sales
There are things that individual farmers must do before delivering crops or products to customers.
That is"marketing" and "sales"
I used to confuse these two and thought they were the same thing.
However, these two have different roles.
Marketing = Bringing prospective customers in front of you (attracting customers)
Sales = Selling to the prospective customers in front of you (selling)
In other words, marketing is gathering people who are interested in thehaskap berries or related products that I will be selling.
It is more efficient to say "Would you like some?" to people who are interested than to loudly say "Please buy this!" to people who are not interested in haskap berries.
And then, proposing to the customers who have come, such as"How about this haskap (product)?" is sales.
Since the customers have come because they are interested in haskap berries, they should buy them with a very high probability.
31. How should I get them to buy?
By "proposing" the appeal of the product to customers who have come because they are interested in the crops or products through marketing, the probability of them buying increases.
What is important is that it isa "proposal," not "persuasion".
In this book, Mr. Kanda emphasizes "Lord-style sales" (sales).
The purpose of sales is not to persuade the other party, but to judge whether the other party has a high probability of buying. Therefore, salespeople should only spend time on customers who have a high probability of purchasing, and quickly turn away customers who have a low probability of purchasing.
If you spend time on persuasion, you will end up taking away valuable time not only from the salesperson but also from the customer.
Therefore, you should not persuade customers who do not seem likely to accept your proposal.
Let's deal only with customers who will accept our proposals is what it means.
Hmm, Lord-style... That's a bold sales approach. Can I do something like that?
In that case, marketing becomes increasingly important.
Peter Drucker once said this about marketing:
“The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.”
In other words, the ultimate form of marketing is to create a state where “it sells itself.” state.
By conducting excellent marketing, it means that sales efforts are no longer necessary.
In addition to my goal of
producing high-quality crops, finishing them into high-value products, and delivering them to customers who want to buy them
it becomes important to
convey the appeal of the crops and products to interested people, make them aware of their existence, and make them feel like they want to buy them
as well.
It seems necessary to build a system that broadcasts information about crops and products widely and to distant places, and allows people to access deeper information once they come closer to us.
So, what kind of marketing can I specifically do?
I would like to think about this carefully from now on.
End
Thank you for reading until the end.
Thanks to you, the "Aim for it! New Farmer" series has progressed smoothly, and this is the 19th article.
So far, I have written about:
1. Let's go meet farmers
2. What kind of public support is available for new farmers?
3. Summary | Knowing the hurdles and facing them
4. Is agriculture something you love?
5. Work experience at a Haskap farm
6. What is a Haskap?
7. Starting to press the accelerator and brake at the same time
8. Aiming for the top with technology
9. "If it's something you love, you should do it!"
10. Just like a Roomba! Grass-cutting robot
11. The path to becoming a new farmer through third-party succession
12. Taking over management from a Haskap farmer
13. Atsuma Town's support for new farmers is generous!
14. I visited the agricultural training facility
15. Haskap berries starting to color
16. One per farm family!? Radio-controlled sprayer
17. The agriculture I want to practice in Atsuma Town
18.Even on the same tree, the taste differs depending on the location!
19. Haskap, the enchanting fruit that is good for your health
20. Let's go Haskap picking!
21. Restaurant in the field at Yamaguchi Farm
22. Wanting to become a Calendula farmer... and moving
23. The lifestyle of an artistic farmer
24. Why train? What should I train for?
25. What do I want to do as a Haskap farmer?
26.Making up my mind
27. Finding the agriculture I should aim for
28. Selling through the flow of Agricultural Co-op → Wholesale Market
29. Selling through direct-to-consumer methods
I have written under these themes, and they are compiled in a magazine.
Also, I am writing various other things on the theme of Education x ○○.
I would be happy if you read them.
If you are new here, please start from here.
I would be very happy if you could 'like' or 'follow' me.
The article that has been read the most this month is here.
