Bad Sales Pitch

On the way home from a much anticipated Nota Conference with our farming friends, we were discussing things that just flowed naturally from some of our discussions.  For example, a perennial topic that has made an appearance at nearly every one of these gatherings was how we all can go about promoting what we do on our farms - so we can actually manage to keep going about doing those things on our farms.

You see, it doesn't actually matter all that much if small farms like ours are particularly good at growing/raising good quality food for local markets.  What often seems to matter more is that we are excellent salespeople. 

For small farms and probably small businesses of all sorts, marketing skills can carry the day - until our incompetence in other areas finally catches up to us.  Or, perhaps until we grow tired of marketing ourselves and our products.  

I guess it can go either way.

Incompetence Revealed

The group of people that comprise our "gang" of farms are some of the most interesting, multi-talented and gifted people I know in the world.  I suppose you could argue that I do not know many people - and that's fine.  But, I still think highly of these people and I'll stack them up against anyone and be fairly confident we could do well as a group.

I am also awed by the incredible range of experiences we, as a group, bring to the table.  As a result, our collective experience - as we share it with each other - can reveal some pretty amazing patterns in the world.  One of those patterns is that "all flash and no substance" comes in all shapes and sizes and it rears its ugly head in nearly every occupation and interest area.

Each of us has had an unfortunate experience or three with people who are skilled in self-promotion and less skilled in producing what they so brilliantly offer in their sales pitches.  They sell themselves and whatever they claim to be doing extremely well.  Somehow, they manage to encourage or persuade you to overlook the details - or they convince you that you should not worry about those details because "they will take care of them."  Suddenly, you are in a business or professional relationship with them.  And, eventually you realize you're carrying the load - by yourself.  And sometimes, you look back and realize they've been knocking down the towers you been building at the same time you were trudging along - doing that thing you do well.

In the world of local foods, those with competence and experience can outline fairly clearly exactly how these "self-selling" individuals have pillaged the local foods scene - and then left - riding off with their plunder.  Usually (but not always) they depart just a step ahead of the posse that has finally formed to remove them from the scene. 

Of course, this is NOT to say that everyone who has good marketing skills is this sort of person.  There are all sorts of people in this world, with a wide range of abilities and qualities.  I am merely profiling a small group of bad actors that make so many other members of a group look bad even after the bad actor has moved on.

Reticence Revealed

Then, there are people like myself and Tammy.  We actually could be reasonably good at marketing and promotion.  But, when it comes to self-promotion, we tend to be quite reserved...   probably to a fault.

No.  Actually, we are reserved to a fault if we actually wanted to maintain consistent sales for the Genuine Faux Farm, or if we wanted to climb whatever promotion ladder we wanted.  And we know it.  We just don't feel comfortable spending too much time talking about ourselves, how good we are at certain things, and we figure if you don't want something - you don't want it, I guess.  For example, we also prefer to spend our time raising the good food, writing the good blog posts, putting effort into education, etc.  Pick the task - we want to do it well, but we really don't want to spend time and effort on trying to promote what we're doing especially if it takes time away from the other tasks.

Generally speaking, if you're trying to sell a product or a service, you've got to have a good sales pitch.  You have to expend effort on making yourself and what you are selling look good.  And, you have to keep at it.  Our personalities squirm uncomfortably if we we go much past the initial offering.

You see, we tend to have the opinion that people will recognize quality work, quality efforts, real skills, good produce and tasty poultry products when they see them.  So, we put our heads down and do our learning, hone our skills, and put in our effort.  Yes, we know that we are in error here.  People can't recognize things if no one helps them to see  - that's another reason you have to have a good sales pitch.

Quandary Revealed

The conflict for a person like me is this.  

Perhaps I have a desire to do something and do it well.  Raise turkeys for meat.  Grow some excellent heirloom tomatoes and onions.  Write some quality articles.  Design and lead participants through an excellent learning course.  But, if I want to keep doing that thing, there has to be a balance between expending that energy to do that thing well AND getting enough return so I can continue to do that thing.

And that requires the good sales pitch.

All I've got is a bad sales pitch - or maybe its a good sales pitch that doesn't get put out there often enough.  I suspect there are many other people who are like the two of us in this regard.  After all, the world is filled with all sorts - and lots of them probably have their own quandaries to solve.

Here's to figuring these things out in the future and I hope you have a great Friday and a good weekend to come!