A32-Lancasler Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1993
Direct Marketing Means
(Continued from Page Al)
Also, the customer must be
treated with respect,
friendliness he is not an incon
venience, he is more important to
the farmer-marketer than the other
way around.
Dr. Patrick Kirschling, associate
professor of food marketing and
department chair at St Joseph’s
University, Philadelphia, was the
keynote speaker, telling the audi
ence to step off the main path, to
start thinking on broader terms
about what is possible in market
ing their goods to the public.
Using symbolic phrases such as,
“Go outside the box. Step outside
the lines. Hey, get in your offroad
vehicle and get outside the bound
aries,” Kirschling told the audi
ence to open up their minds to
direct marketing.
He said that the slightly diffe
rent approach, the little bit extra
service, can make all the differ
ence between success and failure
in attracting customers.
He also said not to restrict think
ing to geographic areas. Direct
mail order farm businesses are a
possibility. He said that reading is
important and to not eliminate any
possibility.
However, the person contemp
lating change or starting a direct
market should be very much aware
of their capabilities, and should
understand the customers.
For example, location of (he
market should be with the custom
er in mind, not to the personal
desires of the farmer-owner.
Also stressed was quality, and
customer satisfaction.
According to Kirschling, "96
percent of the customers who had a
bad experience fail to report it” to
the market owner.
However, 91 percent of those
who had a bad experience won’t
come back if the problem is not
addressed within 48 hours, he said.
And furthermore. On the aver
age, those 91 percent tell from nine
to 10 friends about the problems
they experienced at the market
On the other hand, he said that,
if there were 100 customers and 93
percent of the people were satis
fied with service, that doesn’t
mean a lot of people will know
about it he said.
According to Kirschling, this is
because people don’t lend to talk
about experiences which go
smoothly or even better than
expected, for two reasons.
If they had a good experience,
those customers apparently aren’t
willing to share the information for
fear of having it destroyed from
overuse.
Also, those memories aren’t as
apt to come out in friendly conver
sation as is one concerning poor
treatment.
He said that, of those 95 percent
who had a good experience, at best
they tell one person. If S percent of
the customers had a bad experi
ence, and they tell 20 people,
there’s actually more people hear
ing bad things about the market
than hear good things about it.
Kirschling said there is much
more detail to follow in looking at
marketing, however, he said he
wanted the audience to take the
blinders off, and to think about five
things.
He said that in any marketing
organization there must be a plan,
a theme which can be expressed in
a sentence, about the market and
that there must be a solid commit
ment from the top of the organiza
tion. family or strict business orga
nization, to support that.
A vision must be outlined and
communicated to everyone
involved in the market, including
the labor. He said they should
know what kind of experience the
business is trying to sell to the
public.
Customer research has to be
more than guessing. It should take
a lot of consideration and work,
surveys if necessary, but the
research has to be meaningful and
serious.
For running the operation, there
has to be training and rewards for
employees of the market.
And after all of this there has to
be follow-through, which in effect
means again, commitment
The panel that followed was
comprised of owner-operators of
three farm markets ranging in size
from small to large. They were
selected because of their successes
and variety of operation.
Sitting on the pannel was Stan
ley Nehrbas. of Sabrhen Farm, in
Bally, representing a small opera
tion; David Conover of Blossom
Hill Farm, Cranbuty, NJ„ reprc-
setting a medium sized farm
market; and Ronald Rohrbach of
Rohrbach Farm Market, consid
ered a large operation.
While each panelist represented
a different type of angle, they were
all consistent in that they said that
identifying customer types, cate
gorizing, and seeking to provide
them with an experience tailored
for them is the way to get and keep
customers.
From that standpoint, all pro
vide some form of entertainment
with their operation.
Nehrbas said that sometimes
they start up a tractor and have it
moving around a little, or making
noise, which seems to draw more
people to the two roadside stands
they operate along Rt 100. He said
they also will turn on the overhead
irrigation system once in a while,
just to break up the monotony for
customers.
Conover said that his operation
performs surveys and it seeks
direct customer advice on the oper
ation. They’ve changed business
hours and similar aspects to be
more kind to the customer.
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He also warned about ever
laughing at a customer, such as
people wanting to jack peaches in
November.
All agreed that customer educa
tion is key to improving
relationships.
Rohrbach’s farm-store opera
tion offers a wide variety of items.
He knows the populations of the
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urban centers which house his cus
tomers, he also knows the roads
and distances from those centers to
his operation. He has a variety of
products to provide a variety of
needs.
He also has a fall apple festival
which attracts from more than
7,000 people per day. This, he
gave as an example of providing
entertainment
Scholarship recipients are as
follows: Wanda Derr, Cogan Sta
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wood, PA; Shelly Harshbarger,
Mifflintown, PA; Lori Houser,
Woodward, PA; Jason Lewis, To
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PA; Jan Saunders, Gillett, PA;
James Woodmansee Jr., Lake
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