Organic Farmers MarketOrganic Foods, Green Products, Books & Farming Information

Marketing Lessons from the Midway

Grilled Onions

Yummmmm! Before your feet can hit the farmer’s dusty, rocky ground they call the County Fair Parking lot, the aroma seduces you like the sirens lured the ancient mariners. The smell is irresistible. Giving your ticket at the front gate you have every intention of visiting the exhibits, but the smoky haze down the midway pulls you forward like a mystery to be discovered.

Strolling the corridor of make-shift booths and multi-colored tents, the mixture of smells from the grilled onions and burgers leap out and try to pull you in. But you fight the urge. Suddenly, without warning, a sudden burst of smoke from a raised pit door shoots out like a smoke signal bearing a secret message just for you. You’re glands are salivating as you’re drawn dangerously close. The smoke clears. The chickens – all halves of course – have the perfect mixture of spicy sauce that blackens them in certain places to ensure their crispiness. You’re only a man. You can take just so much. Hold on! Hold on! You can make it. What? What’s that? The grill master’s turning the plump sausages and as his fork punctures the one you have your eye on, the juices flow causing the flames to shoot up from below.

“I can’t take it any more!” your tongue screams to your brain. “I’ll have one of each,” you practically yell at the devilish grill master, “and plenty of onions to go!”

So…how’s your marketing? What’s missing in your sales? Many people say that if only they could get in front of a prospect, they could sell her anything. “The problem,” they admit, “is simply getting in front of her.”

The problem is not “simply getting in front of her”. The problem is doing something to get in front of her. It’s called marketing. In its simplest form it’s getting her attention to look at your message; to smell the grilled onions. “The person who can capture and hold attention is the person who can effectively influence human behavior,” wrote H.A. Overstreet in his book Influencing Human Behavior. And every company, every salesperson must be masters of the art.

Salespeople think of themselves as just that: people who sell. They think their purpose is to make a presentation, handle the objections, and close the deal. But that was in their father’s lifetime. This is your time. This is your marketplace. You don’t have the luxury of a marketing department or advertising firm. You are them.

You market. You sell. You have no choice.

One mistake companies make, either through neglect or simply because they don’t even know it themselves, is that when they hire salespeople, they fail to tell them that it’s their responsibility to market themselves. The company is too busy promoting itself. They don’t have the time, money, or inclination to market the individuals. That’s not the company’s responsibility. Doesn’t seem fair, but in today’s business climate, that’s the way it is.

Companies may call it selling – cold calling, networking, getting referrals, or working trade shows. But it’s not. It’s marketing in its purest form; it’s getting people to smell the grilled onions.

Market first. The customers will come. The sales will be made.

About the Author

© 2006 Jerry Hocutt, Hocutt & Associates, Inc. Download your FREE ebook, Creating Sales Opportunities – Five Proven Ways, and get a FREE 30-day trial of the D-I-Y Sales & Marketing Email Postcards™ at http://www.YouveGotContacts.com. For many more sales & marketing tips, visit our blog at http://footinthedoor.typepad.com.

Mystery Crop Damage Threatens Hundreds Of Acres and ORGANIC FARMERS

Farmers Market (Paperback) $8.13 Colorful vegetables, delicious fruits, and lots of friends. . . . The farmers market is always fun! Illustrator Edward Martinez brings the hustle and bustle of market day to life.

Farmers’ Market Bridal Shower Invitations $1.81 These whimsical hand-drawn bridal shower invitations are reminiscent of posters you might see at your local farmers’ market.

The Irish Farmers Market Cookbook $15.99 Both a cookbook and a culinary tour of Ireland, celebrating the diversity and quality of local food and showing how the experience of shopping at farmers’ markets can transform your everyday cooking.Over 100 recipes range from new takes on traditional Irish favourites to dishes with more Mediterranean flavours, always emphasising seasonality, local produce and fresh ingredients the return to slow food.Includes a guide to the best farmers’ markets in each region of Ireland, with profiles of some of the farmers and producers bringing their food sensations to market.As well as using ingredients available at the market, recipes also recreate some of the breads, cakes, chutneys available, like Gallic Kitchens organic steak pies and Giana Fergusons baked cheese with winter herbs so even if you can’t visit the markets you can still enjoy a taste of Ireland.Recipes for everyday cooking Fried mackerel, Cork Beef Stew as well as more unusual offerings that reflect the wider range of produce available at farmers’ markets, such as Roast Pheasant with Apple and Sweet Geranium Stew.