MN Fruit & Vegetable IPM News - Vol. 1, No. 7

What are your customers looking for?
Last week we made the case that your business could be defined by the customers who continue to buy from you year after year. Growing this sector of your customer base can reduce the cost of attraction, and is probably your most effective and efficient marketing tool. These folks give you peace of mind because you know they will be coming back. This also reduces your efforts because they know where things are and how business is done. No need to explain things. What are some things to think about if you were to develop a strategy to grow this customer segment?

Lay claim to a critical piece of turf in the mind of your customers
Some say we are in an experience economy. Our grandmothers made cakes from scratch. Our mothers made cakes from a box. My wife bought cakes at the local grocery or ice cream store. The young mothers in the extension office take their kids to birthday events at the bowling alley. People want memorable experiences. Can your business provide these? A truly memorable experience surrounding your business offering puts a memory in the mind of your customers. So that when they think of strawberries or sweet corn (whatever your product is) they think of you. Being first is a big deal. Being second can get wrapped up with a lot of other options and is not as valuable. This is positioning. This is what the brand battle is all about, claiming this piece of mind turf and making sure that the territorial land office receives your claim first.

What is the basis of your claim? It lies in the experience of your customer. How does your offering stand out? Can your strawberries give your customers something they cannot get at the local big box? Can you deliver strawberry taste light-years beyond the cardboard box taste of those strawberries selected for looks and shipping ability? If you give people a sample and they immediately buy, you got it right.

But do not restrict the improvement of the customer experience to just your product. The customer is recording on all five sensory tracks throughout the transaction. You can differentiate your business along the whole experience. Was your place easy to find? Was parking easy? Was the display pleasing? Was it easy for them to navigate and find what they wanted? Was the financial transaction easy? Did the product deliver on its promise when they had their friends over for dinner? If yes, you may have just created another loyal customer.

Strong Recommendation: Find a way to experience the whole thing from the perspective of one of your customers. Pretend you are a customer or have an honest, not “Minnesota Nice” (i.e., polite but avoiding painful truths) friend do your espionage work for you. It could be illuminating and help you claim that mind territory that does contain gold.

References and Recommended Reading

Pine II, B. Joseph and Gilmore, James H., Welcome to the Experience Economy, Harvard Business Review, July – August 1998. pp. 97-105.

Ries, A. and Trout, J. Positioning: The Battle for your mind, 1986 McGraw-Hill Inc. This is an older book, but the ideas presented are perhaps more valid today. Easy read.

Experience Engineering Inc. Businesses are now being created whose service function is to help other companies improve the experience of their customers. Check out this web site. http://www.expeng.com/ee.html

Editor’s Note: Karl Foord, Ph.D., MBA, has considerable experience with horticultural crop production and marketing. Beginning with last week's issue, we will be publishing a series of Karl’s articles on marketing and business management that we believe will be useful to many of our readers, particularly fresh market growers. Please send your feedback and questions to Karl at: foord001@umn.edu

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Co-Editors: Bill Hutchison, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, hutch002@umn.edu
Jeanne Ciborowski, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Ag. Resources Division,jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us
Suzanne Wold-Burkness, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, woldx018@umn.edu

The Newsletter is published weekly from May through August, cooperatively, by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the University of Minnesota (U of MN). Reports are posted on the U of MN and MDA web sites on Fridays. If you have suggestions and/or comments, please send your contributions by 4 p.m., Tuesday to Jeanne Ciborowski, 651-297-3217, jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us , MDA, 90 W. Plato Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55107-2094. You can access the Newsletter at the U of MN web site in htm. format at: www.vegedge.umn.edu/MNFruit&VegNews/mnindex.htm and at the MDA web site in pdf. format at: www.mda.state.mn.us/biocon/fruitreports/default.htm

Partial funding for this publication is provided through partnership agreements with the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the United States Department of Agriculture – Risk Management Agency (RMA) and the RMA Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program. These institutions are equal opportunity providers.

DISCLAIMER

References to products in this publication is not intended to be an endorsement to the exclusion of others which may have similar uses. Any person using products listed in this publication assumes full responsibility for their use in accordance with current manufacturer directions.

Last Revised June 17, 2004.
The University, including the Minnesota Extension Service, is an equal opportunity educator and employer. ©1999-2004 Minnesota Extension Service, University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Contact copyright@extension.umn.edu for information on reproduction or use of this material.