How to Get Buyers for Produce:
As the harvest season approaches, the most urgent concern for every large-scale grower is to get international buyers for his produce.
Getting buyers is so URGENT as without them, the grower is assured of Loss.
The grower can address this worry by having THIS plan as part of his marketing mix.
This strategy is none other than, “Selling the produce to potential buyers through a website.”
You and I know this idea sounds crazy–but it works like a charm.
In a bit, I will explain how.
Just imagine this– you:
- Work hard in the growing season.
- Apply fertilizer to your crops.
- Weed the plants.
- Spray the the plants with foliar feeds, fungicide, pesticides etc.
- Prune the plants.
- Spend much money paying for expensive labor,
- and you do ALL that relates to growing a crop.
After a long and tiresome wait, finally, the crop is ready.
It is looking good.
From the look of things, you expect nothing than a bumper harvest.
However, you have one unfortunate problem.
You don’t have enough buyers for the crop.
Ooh, what a tragic disappointment that would be.
Ooh, what a loss!
Without enough purchase orders, all the hard work, the sweat that flowed as your prepared the crop, and the money you invested into growing the crop is at a risk.
So, How Can you Market your Produce in Advance?
What can you do… so that you can sell your crop cheaply and effectively?
What steps do you take to ensure your pack-house staff is busy working to fulfill orders?
To ensure buying orders keep thundering in like a waterfall on a rainy day you need to:
“Market Your Produce Through Your Website.”
What?
“Are you saying that a website can help me get LOTS of potential buyers of produce?”
What about attending exhibitions, conferences, and networking seminars that is a popular way of networking buyers and sellers?
Let me assure you, that you can get lots of buyers through your website,
and I am here to explain to you how.
Don’t believe me? Internet marketing works wonders.
Here is what The Center for business inteligence is saying:
Web searches are very popular among buyers.
Thefore, be sure that your company can be found by using the most common search engines.
Remember that your website is the main online communication channel, and should fully reflect your business and commercial strengths.
Normally, a website is the first place where buyers will see whether you have a well-established company.
If you do not appear in their web searches, or when you have an unprofessional or unfinished website, they may assume that you are not a suitable exporter and unable to fulfil their demands.
To find this out ask the companies that are using Alibaba, E-bay, and Amazon to sell their produce.
They will say, “If it were not for the online platforms, our businesses could have collapsed a long time ago.”
So don’t be afraid to make this bold step.
Thousands of vegetable, fruits, and all manner of produce seller have found success by marketing their products on a website.
That success can be yours TOO
5 Steps To Preparing Your Website Become A Customer Aquisition Tool
Step 1: Build Your Brand
Please don’t get me wrong on this.
I know you have already taken steps to make your brand visible and professional.
What I want you to do is, “Look at your business from the viewpoint of the buyer.”
Ask yourself, “If I was buying from this company what would give me confidence to close the deal?”
Once you answer this question above you’ll be ready to build your brand.
From the experience of marketers potential customer would want to know:
- Does this company have the ability to meet my needs/fill my order
- Is this company certified,
- How soon can it deliver the produce,
- What are the grades on offer?
- How do you pack the produce
- and any other concern a customer is likely to raise
- Once you’ve answered this questions, you are ready to go to step 2
co Step 2: Communicate Your Brand Effectively
Please remember the job your website is supposed to accomplish is stupendous.
It is supposed to persuade somebody who does not know your business, who is probably thousands of miles away that you are;
1. Credible,
2. You can deliver beyond expectation,
3. You are a real business that exists.
That work is not easy. However, a fine tuned website can do it perfectly.
How can you achieve this?
How can you persuade someone who you do not know to place an order worth $50,000 or more?
To do this, you have to reveal SOME insider information about your company.
Revealing this information shows that you are a transparent company, ready to listen and cares about the customer interest.
What I see most companies do is, “They adding the following information on their websites”
- Photos of the products they sell
- A map of their location
- Photos of the directors and top staff.
- Well, that is a great way of building credibility–but a company can do a little more.
To gain more trust points the company can create short videos about its various aspects of operation.
For example it can create a video series showing:
- The CEO addressing potential customers about their ability to deliver.
- Workers in a Packhouse busy preparing products for export
- Workers in the field probably harvesting produce, spraying or doing a particular task.
- The Company’s physical address of the company and how to get there.
A company that does this will have an edge.
Step 3: Make Your Website ready to receive Customer Queries and Orders
I am saying this because many companies do a lot of marketing but they do not know how handle leads and customer querries.
Have you ever filled a website contact form, wrote an email, sent an SMS and you never got a response?
Don’t be a company that doesn’t respond to customers querries.
Step 4: List Your Website in relevant Business Directories
You can use trade databases to find potential buyers, but their directories are also useful to present your own products. Some trade directories charge for membership to publish your information or contact other traders. Sometimes, you can use a free trial to start with and then see whether it is worth paying the annual fee.
After your registration, you can either join as a supplier or directly look for buyers. Be selective in the directories that you are using and make sure that you leave a professional impression. Posting randomly on many sites may look cheap and even desperate.
Beside the listings of sector associations, there are no specific databases for the fresh fruit and vegetables sector. General databases and trade platforms are mentioned below.
- Organic Bio: International directory of organic food companies.
- Green trade: A marketplace for organic products.
- Kompass: Global B2B database.
- Global buyers online: a place to search for the latest trade leads from buyers and importers from all over the world.
- Europages: Directory of European companies; a professional portal that encourages business-to-business exchanges.
Step 5: Get Help If You Can’t Implement This Strategy On Your Own
If you’ve not been getting buyers, or advance orders through your website, I can help.
I specialize in helping businesses, in the horticulture industry, better communicate to potential customers.
Through various persuasive writing and SEO, I will make your website and other online marketing channels so attractive, that buyers will be ready and willing to order your products.
My name is Haron Mogeni Omweri, a copywriter—and a horticulturist by profession.
For over 10 years I have been growing different crops and marketing them.
Right now I focus on helping people in my industry become better at attracting buyers through their websites and other online channels.
I work with growers from all over the world remotely.
Through the power of the internet, I communicate with potential customers, negotiate with them about a website project and its terms, work on it, then deliver it.
You and I can be a good fit, and I assure you that you’ll get the very best service from me.
One more thing.
Remember, a successful season is not determined a bumper harvest.
Instead, it is determined by your ability to sell the harvest at a profit.
A good website, social media page can give you an edge when it comes to selling your product.
If you’d like to attract more horticulture customers through your website, just contact me with the words, “I need more customers, in the subject line and I will send you a comprehensive list of services I offer, and a proposal of how I will do that job.”
PS: Once we improve your website, I am sure you won’t mind working overtime, as you seek to fulfill your orders.
