How to Farm Orders

When you have a great service or product, it may seem unnecessary to tell people more than once how amazing it is - it is obvious! To you maybe, but probably not to your potential customers. They have not been on your journey, and their focus is on their core business – not yours.

You can have a fantastic “why”, you can pick the perfect seeds, and you can make a great introduction - without having a single order…

Seeds will not grow without water, nutrition and care.

You need ongoing interaction with your potential customers, and you need to make them grow, before you will get the order.

Sales people are farmers, and farmers can’t reap before the seeds are fully grown. This will not happen without care and attention.

When you introduce yourself and the value you create, you are planting the seeds – now the sales work begins. You can’t just wait to reap orders – you need to be a great farmer.

How?

You need appetizers – the nutrition for your seeds. Like the farmer you invest in your seeds, and if you do well for your customers, you will be rewarded. 

Why? See my blog post about why we want appetizers.

What kind of appetizers? 

Below I have listed suggestions:

• Write blogposts where you share your knowledge without demanding email address or likes.

• Post your thoughts and passion on social media – show the value you want to create, not the service and products you want to sell.

• Mention your customers and partners in your posts, and share you acknowledge them - show you care.

• Have conversations with your customers, where you have prepared some great tips for them, that they can use without giving you an order. Listen and help. Make them see, that you want to - and can make them grow. Remember to have ongoing conversations both online and in real life.

• Arrange free seminars where you share your knowledge and interact with your customers – it is a great way to gather people, where you meet them personally, and they come to you. Beside the knowledge you give them, they will also expand their network, and meet people with the same interests – they will love you for it!

• Join relevant online groups on social media - comment and start up discussions – show you know and care.

• Follow and support your customers and partners on social media – comment on their posts and interact with them. Learn from what they share, and bring it into your personal conversations with them.

• Attend events arranged by your customers – show your support, strengthen your network and learn more about your customers.

Basically, you need to stay in touch, and make it a pleasure to know and follow you.

When the time is right; reap – timing is everything, especially in farming, so pay attention and know what to look for, to see when your seeds are fully grown and ready to reap – don’t let them fade.

Like the good farmer you take out seeds from your harvest, plant new seeds and start all over again. See customer relations in circles.

Never wait – be present and do good.