I Need More Sales...An Annual Check Up

Selling. It's that mysterious thing we all know that we should do, without which our businesses will fail, and which sometimes seems to be in the hands of the gods. If it's not working, how do we know what to fix?

Here's a quick assessment tool that I created to help me analyze the results of each year's efforts, and to see where I need to make changes. There are only three steps, so it is perfect for busy alpaca ranchers!

STEP 1: WHO'S CALLING?

Is your phone ringing? Is your email in-box filled? In other words, are people trying to contact you about the alpacas, your fiber, or your farm?

If not, or if the number of contacts is declining, or is not reaching the level you need, then...

...you have a marketing problem.

Your marketing is not working. The goal of every marketing piece you use-- every ad, every website, every direct mailing -- is to inspire potential customers to contact you. If you are not getting contacted, then you need to change your marketing because if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting the same unhappy result.

It is beyond the scope of this quick analysis to dissect all the ways to improve marketing, but I will just list a few options. You probably know, deep inside, what needs to change. You can:

• do more marketing by advertising in more places, or more frequently, or with larger ads
• be more visible, by attending more events or by hosting more ranch events
• create a new marketing approach, which is important if you have been using the same marketing pieces for a long time
• make sure your marketing targets the right people and gives them a reason to contact you.

STEP 2: IS YOUR PARKING LOT FULL?

If your marketing is working properly, then people are contacting you to ask about alpacas. The next, and very important, step is getting them to visit. The more people that visit, the more sales you make (alpacas and products, both). It is a very simple equation. To increase sales, you must increase visitation.

If you have plenty of contacts but not very many visitors, then you have a conversion problem. You are failing to convert the contacts to visits. The whole reason for getting people to call or email is so that you can invite them to visit the farm.

If this is where your plan needs help, then review how you respond to the people who contact you. Do you:

• Personally invite each contact to visit?
• Ask them for an appointment date?
• Tell them about an upcoming event that they'd like to attend at your farm?
• Reconnect after sending information to make sure they got it, and ask again about visiting?
• Offer to put them on the notification list for upcoming events if they can't visit right away?
• Invite them to attend shows, meetings or other events as your guest?

STEP 3: YOUR NEW BEST FRIENDS

The final step for you to consider is what happens when the people you invite, show up. Do they leave with a good feeling, excited to learn more, and committed to working with you? Do they want to come back?

If not, then you have a commitment problem. Probably you are failing to ask for a commitment, or you have not shown the visitor why they want to return. Every visitor should leave your farm with positive feelings, excited to return, even if all they did was pet an alpaca or buy a finger puppet. Your business will prosper if your customers can't wait to tell everyone they know about the wonderful time they had visiting the alpaca farm.

Walt Disney said it this way: "Do what you do so well that they will come back to see you do it again, and they will bring others."

So that's it: marketing, converting, selling. Three steps to a successful business. If anything here is not clear, please do not hesitate to ask because we want you to be as successful as you want to be.

10 Reasons Why We Still Love the Alpaca Industry

What's Good, Better, and Absolutely Fantastic

About the Future of Alpacas

or

Why We Still Love This Industry

By Deb Hill, Cloud Dancer Alpacas

Let's admit it...the past couple of years have been tough for our industry. It's true that taking the 'ostrich' approach to the difficulties we face isn't useful. Yes, we are completely aware that alpaca markets have been negatively impacted by the recession. Every week we hear about breeders that are forced to sell their herd, or their entire farm, and some of our best customers have been hit with loss of home equity, loss of retirement savings and investments, and uncertainty. Sales are down, prices are down, and breeders are worried.

While it doesn't do anything to help our situation, we need to understand that we are not the only industry that is feeling the effects of the recession. Alpacas are not the problem. The problem is the economy - banks failing, loans drying up, foreclosures and short sales, companies laying off workers, falling investment values. With all the bad news, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what makes this industry worth the effort of hanging on until better times.

So here's our list of the top ten reasons why we still believe in the future of the alpaca industry. Let's count down (or up, depending on your point of view!) from #10 to our #1 reason that alpacas represent an excellent business opportunity.

#10. World-wide Industry - Let's not forget that an alpaca industry already exists. Alpaca fiber is known and in demand around the globe. We are not working in a vacuum here in the U.S., and we have possible partners in many other countries. We also have partnering opportunities with other natural fiber industries. Working together, we can make it through the tough times. Locally, we're greatly encouraged by the positive response of the sheep producers in our area to the idea of jointly promoting natural animal fibers. Nationally, there is strength in numbers. Internationally, alpaca fiber is known, loved, and highly desired. The market for what we do is much larger than we realize.

#9. Consumers Know and Love Alpacas - Some of us remember when our biggest challenge was that no one we spoke with knew what an alpaca was or why they wanted one. Try selling something no one has heard of! Our industry has done an amazing job of introducing U.S. consumers to alpacas, and it's a true success story. Alpacas and alpaca products are much easier to market now that people know and love them. Even here in the 'wilds' of central Montana, residents flock to see the alpacas and can't wait to shop in our alpaca store, a direct result of the industry's marketing programs.

#8. U.S. Alpaca Product Development is Up and Running - Just a few years ago, the only alpaca products we could get were imported from South America. And while we have nothing against that, we are excited by the recent announcements of U.S. product development. In addition to national programs, more and more individual breeders are investing in fiber development. Suddenly there are many more opportunities for our fiber, whether it is for socks, blankets, rugs, or yarns. Our industry is full of brilliant entrepreneurs who continue to experiment, right through the recession. Think about where that puts our industry as consumer confidence begins to return and the demand for U.S.-made alpaca items begins to grow.

#7. Finally, Alpacas are Livestock - When we started raising alpacas in 1996, hardly anyone used their fiber and the industry seemed mainly focused on providing tax write offs, rather than creating a true agricultural venture. But look at us now! Through the efforts of many, alpacas are federally-recognized as livestock, and our industry is making the transition from high-end fuzzy pets or tax deductions, to producing the best quality animals and fiber that we can. With EPDs, fiber testing, and other measures, we're bringing the state of the art tools to the breeding game. That means we will soon be producing the best fiber, to satisfy the world's demand. Go U.S. alpaca breeders!

#6. Alpacas Come With Ag Benefits - Yes, we could get all the benefits of being in agricultural by raising goats or cattle. But hey! How cool is it that a side effect of falling in love with alpacas is this: we get to live in the country, deduct our legitimate agricultural expenses, use depreciation and other tools to offset other income, and lower our property taxes through ag classification on our land? All this, and we don't have to kill anything, milk anything, get kicked or run over by big animals, and yard clean up is easy. Woo hoo! Sign me up!

#5. Alpaca Industry Organizations are Working for Us - Whether it's national marketing, industry publications, educational programs, or developing tools for breeders such as EPDs, our industry organizations are working hard on our behalf. I don't know about you, but not many of my former career paths included such dedicated teams of individuals volunteering their energy to provide help for my business. Ok, you are going to say that sometimes they make decisions we don't agree with. Well, sure. Name someone with whom you agree 100% of the time! Agreeing isn't the point...the point is, these people are working hard to make sure our industry succeeds, and we reap the benefits, whether it is national marketing, creating brochures or other materials to provide to your clients, offering shows for us to attend, providing continuing education, giving us fiber product opportunities, or...the list is really long! We've got a good support system, altho we sometimes fail to take best advantage of all that is available.

#4. We Have a Small Farm Business with Big Returns - We dare you -- name another livestock business in which you can make enough to cover expenses with just a handful of animals. Name another livestock business where you can make a profit with less than 20 animals. Can you do this with alpacas? Absolutely. Our farm is living proof. If we wanted to invest in, say, a cattle ranch, we would need thousands of acres of pasture and hay fields, massive barns, chutes and corrals, and big equipment. In order to be profitable, we would need hundreds of cattle. Want to take a guess at how much all that would cost to get into? Because few alpaca breeders have any livestock experience, we sometimes lose sight of just how unusual our situation is. We can have a small group of very clean, cute, amusing critters, cover our expenses or make a small profit with a relatively tiny up-front investment, and we can even take time off for a little travel, see the grand kids, or go to a show. Ask your local cattle producer how his world works, and you will quickly realize how lucky we have it.

#3. We Raise Rare Livestock with Inherent Value - If you've been in the industry for a while, you may think that the lower prices we have seen in the past couple of years are a result of having too many alpacas. Yes, the U.S. alpaca herd has grown - according to ARI's figures, there are over 170,000 registered alpacas. But let's put that in perspective...according to the NASS, which collects ag statistics for the U.S.D.A., there are over 6 million sheep in this country. There are close to 4,000 members of AOBA, compared with over 64,000 sheep producers. Have we still got room for expansion in the alpaca world? You bet! We don't have anywhere near enough alpacas to satisfy even a small portion of the consumer demand for our fiber products - we need minimally 500,000 and probably closer to 1 million alpacas to do that. Because of alpacas' long gestation, the rate of herd growth is slow. So the bottom line is: as long as there is a demand for alpaca fiber, there will be a demand for more alpacas to produce it. As long as demand exceeds supply, alpaca prices will remain strong. The past two years are not a reflection of the value of an alpaca, they are a reflection of the economy. Don't give up just as a tiny light is beginning to shine at the end of the recession tunnel - prices will stabilize as the economy improves.

#2. Alpacas are Naturally Green - Did you know that alpacas come in more natural colors than any other fiber animal? That their fiber does not require harsh chemicals during scouring because there is no greasy lanolin to remove? That their hardy constitution means treatment with antibiotics and anti-parasitic products is kept to a minimum? That they do not require energy-expensive milled feeds, or water-intensive alfalfa to be healthy? That they can be kept on small-sized plots of land, leaving other land in a natural state or available for some other agricultural venture? I can't think of many other farm animals that are so naturally "green". And guess what? The impact of more costly oil, "buy local" movements, and consumer concerns about how things are grown, harvested and created is creating rapid growth in "green" consumerism. Depending on which survey you believe, between 30 and 75% of U.S. consumers now buy "green." Our alpaca industry is poised to catch the wave.

#1. Alpacas and Their People are Wonderful! In November of every year we mark another anniversary with alpacas. This month marks the beginning of our 15th year raising these extraordinary animals. Looking back over the past decade and a half, do you know what stands out the most? It's all the wonderful people we have met, all the friends we have made, and all the exciting, endearing, amusing, experiences we have had because of the alpacas. I can't think of many decisions in my life that have provided so many positive returns. Some of the best people we know are friends we met because of the alpacas. Some of the best times we've had are alpaca-related. We belong to more than just a tiny little fiber livestock industry - we're part of an amazing network of coast-to-coast friends and supporters.

So to all our friends and all our supporters, and anyone that loves alpacas, we offer this motto:

When the going gets tough, the tough get alpacas!

That's our story and we are sticking with it. Yes, our industry is facing some challenges right now, but name an industry that isn't? Economic downturns always end eventually, and once we work through the rest of this one, we expect rapid growth in the U.S. alpaca world. We plan to soar with it, and we hope you'll be along for the ride, too. Life didn't give us lemonade, it gave us alpacas. So let's get out there and squeeze some!

Labor Pains!

Over and over again through the years we have heard alpaca breeders state that it's almost impossible to know when your pregnant alpaca goes into labor.

Well, we beg to differ! While it's true that you won't see the alpaca in labor holding up a sign reading: "I'm having a baby", on the other hand, there are signals that you can learn to spot. In 14 years we have only missed 2 births! And even those had signs...we just chose to ignore them!

Most of the time, alpacas will deliver their crias between 335 days and 342 days from the last breeding. But alpacas have been known to deliver fully mature crias as early as 320 days of gestation, or to go as long as 380+ days before delivery. If you want to be at the birth, you quickly realize that you may be housebound for many weeks, unless you can learn to tell when your alpaca is nearing her deliver date, or is in active labor.

So what do we look for when determining if an alpaca is ready to have her baby? While there is no hard and fast 'smoking gun' rule, we look for a combination of the following:

-alpaca moves away from the herd and is off by herself.
-alpaca is vocalizing more than normal.
-alpaca is less interested or more interested in feed than usual.
-alpaca is rolling more than usual.
-alpaca is visiting the poop pile more frequently than usual.
-alpaca is stomping back foot on ground.
-alpaca drops to the ground suddenly, or sits down in a strange place (such as right in the middle of the doorway).
-udder is engorged and teats are enlarged.
-"waistline" disappears as baby moves into birth canal.
-alpaca's perineal area appears soft and the vaginal opening enlarges (looks longer).

If we see a one or two of these things, we know we are getting close. If we see several of them together, particularly physical changes to the udder and rear, in combination with vocalization and visiting the poop pile, we know the alpaca is in the early stages of labor.

Fairly commonly we hear something like this from breeders: "I checked my pregnant dam and nothing was happening, and then I went out two hours later and a cria was running around". Well, obviously, when they checked the first time, something WAS happening. The trick is to watch your alpaca for long enough to spot the behavior. If you take just a quick look, you may well miss the action. Alpacas are very good at pretending that everything is fine. Their instincts tell them not to let on when they are not feeling well. After all, the predator (you) might get them!

Since contractions can be 20 minutes apart at the beginning of labor, you have to be a patient observer to see one. But once the alpaca enters heavy labor, there is no excuse for confusion! In the late stage of labor, the alpaca is very vocal, very uncomfortable, and you can clearly see the contractions. At this point, delivery is 30 minutes away, or less, so this is not the time to make a quick run into town, or you will miss everything!

Most alpacas deliver 'by the book', without our help. But since our business is producing alpacas, and it takes almost a year to get one, it's well worth the effort to learn how to tell when your girls are about to deliver. You want to be there, in the rare case when the dam or baby needs help.

At the worst, the extra time spent observing your girls will mean a few less minutes for other things you need to do in your day. At best, it means you will know when labor starts and be there to make sure everything goes well.

And heck...wasn't spending time in the barn with our animals one of the reasons we got into breeding alpacas in the first place?!

Girrrl Power: Running a Ranch Single-Handedly

Wow, I had not realized two months have passed since I last blogged. Shows how much moving impacts life! Not just moving, either - in those eight weeks I have also sheared 34 alpacas, delivered two new ones, and battled the elements, all on my own.

Rain or shine, snow, sleet or hail...whatever the weather, I will be out in it. This is a working ranch - emphasis on the 'working'. Ranch life is not for the faint of heart. No matter what, animals must be fed, stalls must be cleaned, hay must be stacked and re-stacked, and water must be delivered. Routine chores take a physical toll, even on the best days.

People ask how I do this alone, usually in a tone of voice that implies I must be on a strange kind of suicide mission. I will admit that most nights I am asleep before I hit the sheets, and I no longer read before going to bed, because I end up asleep on my book! But there is a certain satisfaction at the end of each day, knowing that the animals are safe, clean, warm and fed, the barn is closed up tight for the night, and I have done what needed to be done.

Being the lone caretaker responsible for my creatures makes me very aware of risks and dangers inherent in living. I am all too aware that I am "it'. Every life here depends on me. If I get injured, even slightly, my ability to care for the critters that count on me will be reduced. "Safety first" has become my mantra, but it does not keep me from tackling really huge jobs, as long as I am careful about the risks.

While there are some things that I will not try alone (for example, I am NOT climbing the barn roof to replace the shingles ripped off by 70 mph winds), there is a certain sense of pride and accomplishment in learning how much I CAN do. "Girrl Power" is what my single women friends and I call it...the ability, through creative thinking and ingenuity, to accomplish tasks that in former days we assumed could only be done by a team of large, brawny guys.

Here are some examples:

• Stacking hay bales: the 'guy' approach is to pick up each bale by the strings and toss or walk it to the new location. The Girrl Power method is to slide, flip (end over end), or pull them in a shiney red wagon. Same result, less muscle!


• Moving large furniture: the 'guy' method requires lots of grunting and swearing, and banging into doorframes. The Girrl Power method: tip large piece onto movers blanket and pull it into place. No swearing required!


• Lifting heavy objects: the 'guy' way is all brawn. The Girrl Power approach is all about leverage. Giant barn door off its hinges? No problem. Lever up dragging bottom corner with crowbar, insert 2X4's or concrete bricks to hold at desired height, reattach hinges.

Don't get me wrong - all things considered, I would rather have my husband here to assist. But after over a year of running the ranch on my own, I have learned that there isn't much that a determined woman cannot do. Let's hear it for Girrl Power!

Moving, Part 2!

We're back in central Montana! Half of the alpacas have arrived. We chose to ship the pregnant females first, to make sure they had plenty of time to recover from the trip and get adjusted to the new location before crias are due. The first cria is due at the end of May.

The second load of alpacas is due any day now. Shipper Dick Hegeman does an outstanding job of moving alpacas. Since he has his own alpaca ranch, he knows to stop regularly to allow the animals to stand up (alpacas sit down, or kush, while traveling), and he checks to make sure everyone is eating and drinking well. The second trailer load contains all the stud males...hopefully they will not fight too much among themselves while on the road.

The weather in Montana is much improved over our experience of last year. Last year there was still plenty of snow on the ground, and weather systems came through every few days. This year the only snow left is in the deep coulees, and the pasture grass is green already. The sun has been shining and life is good!

Nothing makes me happier than watching alpacas enjoying their new pastures!

Trailer Travel and Travails

In my prior life, B.A. (Before Alpacas), I could not imagine towing a trailer across country. Even with growing up on a farm, because we had small stock (goats, rabbits, etc.), I had no experience with trailers. We just used the back of our Nissan truck with the camper shell to haul animals around. But I sure heard my share of harrowing trailer stories in which the term 'jack knife' was used to good effect. I somehow had the feeling that towing a trailer was way more adventure than I needed to have.

Enter the alpacas followed by the Rodeo/Chedesky fire in 2002. When the towering flames, which ultimately burned over 500,000 acres, forced friends of ours to evacuate their alpaca ranch, we realized that we needed to get serious. If an emergency struck, we had to be able to get all the animals off our place in one trip. All of a sudden I was the owner of a full-sized truck and a 16 foot stock trailer...which meant that I had to learn to pull a trailer safely.

The first time out on the road I felt like I was driving a big rig! Not only was my truck twice as high as any vehicle I had ever owned, but the trailer running behind seemed to take up the entire lane and then some. I was hugging the edge of the road, going about 30 miles under the speed limit, and sure that I would either end up in the ditch or sideswipe some on-coming car. And I was only driving 2 miles to the Safeway to use their parking lot to practice turning and backing! By the time I got there, I was shaking, sweaty, and about ready to give up.

Well, you never know what you can do until you try. Turns out I am pretty good at trailering. Since I have had to attend many alpaca shows by myself, not to mention moving to Montana and back to Arizona...it's a good thing! It did not take too long before I learned how to hook up, maneuver, back, and park the trailer. Towing it is easy. In fact, after a few hours on the road, I kind of forget the trailer is even back there.

I've also found there are many uses for trailers, now that I have one. You can pick up a big load of hay, move furniture from or to storage, make a temporary dog kennel, keep alpacas out of the weather if there is no room in the barn, set up an alpaca retail booth out of the rain if your tent blows down at a craft fair, store stuff you don't want to get wet, and even put a spare bed in it for kids when you have over-flow company.

I guess I have made my peace with towing a trailer now that we own two, the smaller one in the photo and the larger stock trailer. But you'll never catch me towing an RV! Those things are dangerous!

Some Thoughts on Living the Rural Life

Living in the country...it's what many of us dream of, while working at some high-stress 9 to 5 job. We envision the peace and quiet, the lovely scenery, the joys of setting our own schedules. Utopia!

And it is utopia. But like anything worth having, you make some sacrifices. For example, town is not so easy to get to any more. Which means all those cool things we do in town might now be only a weekly, or even monthly, treat.

Those daily (or more than daily?) trips to the coffee shop are now a thing of the past. I have traded my skinny, extra hot, 5 pump morning chai for the more pedestrian tea bag of choice. But I love my morning hot tea, often sipped while gazing out of my window at the fields and alpaca pastures, watching birds at my bird feeders or while puttering in the garden.

Shopping? Unless it takes place at the grocery store, the hardware store or the feed store, it is pretty much not a big part of my life now. Luckily, the alpacas do not seem to care that they see me in the same barn clothes every day, and I have truly not missed paying for all the stuff I used to 'need'. And if I do get the shopping bug...well, I just log on to my favorite on-line stores. Plus, it is amazing how much cool stuff you can find at some feed stores. The Big R chain rocks!

Speaking of logging on, one of the biggest challenges of the country lifestyle is getting connected. Forget wireless internet. If you are lucky, your farm will be served by satellite or cable, but many rural areas still only have dial up options. I have been known to hit the library while in town, just to get a faster internet connection. On the other hand, I have so much to do every day that I don't spend nearly the amount of time on-line, which has certainly helped my dress size (oops! I mean Carhartts size!).

It's funny, though. Most of the things that used to fill my life in town, I don't miss at all. They've been replaced by the wonder of waking up every day to a lifestyle that I love, with the animals and people that bring me joy. Trip to the mall? Not interested. I have baby alpacas to halter train, barns to clean, dogs to walk, and gardens to tend. See you at the feed store!

New Event for Alpaca Lovers!

Join 5 southern Arizona farms for two days of FREE education on all things alpaca, including:
-alpaca care
-building your alpaca facility
-choosing the right alpaca
-working with fiber (skirting, cleaning, fiber arts)
-setting up your alpaca store
-marketing
-selling in the new economy

All classes are taught by friendly, knowledgeable breeders with years of alpaca experience! In addition to classes, watch fiber arts and alpaca husbandry demonstrations, make your own felt project, and visit the alpaca store. Lunch is available for purchase each day, and snacks and beverages will be available.

Space is limited for this event, so reserve your spot today! Event will be held in Sonoita, AZ, at Square Top Ranch.

To register, call Deb at (520) 455-5126, or email clouddancer@infomagic.net.

Event sponsors: Cloud Dancer Alpacas, Square Top Ranch, Cienega Creek Farm, Desert Mountain Alpacas and Madera Canyon Alpacas and Fiber Works.