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.

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!