MN Fruit & Vegetable IPM News - Vol. 4, No. 5

Let’s consider a scenario. A person comes to your farmers’ market stand and asks for sweet corn. This is a reasonable request, except for the fact that it is June 15. For the grower and the knowledgeable shopper this is a silly request. After all we were lucky to get the first planting completed in April and if the weather is good we could have corn for the fourth of July. The small critical voice in the back of your head might be saying, “What are you stupid? We never have local sweet corn in June!” However, for the unseasoned customer who has been seeing sweet corn in the supermarkets for maybe a month this does not appear to be a stupid question.

The critical instant is when a customer can be won or lost is when the grower hears the question and reacts often before anything is said. If the body language and then the tone or nature of the response indicates that this is a stupid question, the customer can feel demeaned. If the customer perceives this as condescension, they will go somewhere else where their ignorance is met in a different manner.

When you are totally engaged in what you do the first thought is that everyone operates from the same knowledge base. Obviously this is not so, but this is why it is easy to make such a mistake. On the other side of the equation is condescension. Few human behaviors can compare with the negative appeal of condescension. Patients who perceive their doctors to be condescending are more likely to sue them. Relationships where one partner speaks down to the other are in serious jeopardy.

If many of your customers are women, remember that women as a general rule are better at reading social cues (Howard, P., 2006). In the above scenario the man as vendor might say, “I just told her that we wouldn’t have the sweet corn for three weeks”. If the tone or body language was negative the woman shopper might say, “He made me feel stupid for asking”.

Recommendations
Be prepared for what you might perceive as a stupid question. Respect the customer’s perspective. Be aware of your non-verbal communications.

References and Recommended reading
Gladwell, Malcolm, Blink – The Power of Thinking without Thinking, Little, Brown, and Company 2005.
Godin, Seth, All Marketers are Liars, Joseph Michael (Peng) 2006.
Howard, Pierce, The Owner’s Manual for the Brain, p. 906, Bard Press, 2006

Editor’s Note: Karl Foord, Ph.D., MBA, has considerable experience with horticultural crop production and marketing. Beginning with this 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 (hutch002@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Jeanne Ciborowski, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Ag. Resources Management and Development Division, and Suzanne Wold-Burkness (woldx018@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota

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., Wednesday to Jeanne Ciborowski, 651-201-6217, jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us , MDA, 625 Robert St. North, St. Paul, MN 55155. 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/plants/pestmanagement/ipm/ipmnews.htm

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

DISCLAIMER

Reference 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, 2007 by woldx018@umn.edu
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