Selling at your local farmer’s market can be a great way to make money, grow your brand, and meet your customers. But a good farmer’s market stand also takes time. So to make sure that you are poised to make a good return on your investment, there are several key tips to know. Let’s go over 7 key secrets to selling effectively at a farmer’s market.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through a link, Hickory Hollow Farm will receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, used toward keeping our recipes and country life coming to your inbox! I only recommend products I appreciate and trust. Thank you for your support! Full disclosures here.
Find Information at your Local Extension Office
Your local extension office will have lots of information about getting paperwork in order to sell at your local farmer’s market. They may also have classes that help you get ready, understand the rules to selling at your market, and what signage and permits you will need.
Based on the state and county you live in, there will be slightly different rules. We live in Kentucky, so there is a lot of support for local farmer’s markets. Now I’ve heard that the county we live in has more farmer’s market rules than some, but it also has a lot of classes we can take to get ready. I appreciate having an organized farmer’s market, so I don’t mind a few extra guidelines.
A few basic steps that you will have to take is signing up to be at the local farmer’s market, registering with the state, making sure you have the correct signage, and understanding what you are allowed to sell.
Create a Business Plan
Before the farmer’s market season starts, know what your main goal is! This may seem simple, but yet, most people skip this step. If your goal is to make money, how do you plan to do that?
For example, the first year at the farmer’s market, my long term goal was to meet new Kentucky customers that would buy our wholesale beef. The main focus of our business is selling by the quarter, half, or whole, so I wanted to funnel customers that direction through my efforts.
Here are the steps I used:
- Create an attractive booth with signage about our beef, plus some pretty jams and veggies available for sale.
- Meet new customers and share about our beef
- Sell individual beef to customers to get them to try our grain-finished beef
- Ask for customers’ email information
- Send weekly email to new customers
- Tell new customers about our wholesale beef by the quarter, half, or whole.
- Sell existing customers a quarter, half, or whole that fall.
So while, I may have sold mostly individual beef at the farmer’s market, I met lots of new potential customers. My long term goal was to create brand awareness and find customers who would be interested in buying a quarter, half, or whole beef.
What is your main goal? How will you create a good return on your investment. If your goal is to make money selling sourdough bread, how much do you need to charge and how many products do you need to sell in order to make good money.
After the first season at the farmer’s market, I learned two things. One, I discovered what items sold well at the market. And two, I found my ideal customer who liked buying from our farm. Let’s chat about discovering what items sell well.
Try to do a little market research in your area, before deciding what items to sell or focus most on at the farmer’s market. Think about what you go to the farmer’s market to buy. Visit a few farmer’s markets, as you have time. Notice what friends and families already ask you to create or make.
We are beef farmers so I knew that I was going to be selling beef. However, I focused on selling individually packaged beef instead of our wholesale beef by the quarters, halves, or wholes. This worked best because my pool of customers were larger. Most people come to the farmer’s market for a few items, not to buy a whole beef. But once I located customers that liked out beef, I could tell them how to buy by the quarter, half, or whole from our farm.
To draw people to our booth, I also had homemade jams displayed and available for sale. I don’t make a lot of money on the jams and jellies but it is an item that make our booth more approachable.
To be successful at the farmer’s market, find your sweet spot by answering these three questions: What do you like to sell? What are people looking to buy? And what makes your farm unique?
For example, our ideal customers at the farmer’s market, are people that are new to the area. Here in Kentucky, there are a lot of people who know a friend or family member that sell a side of beef or two a year. They already have a way to buy wholesale beef. ‘They were not interested in buying from us.
However, families that are new to this area are typically here because they want to live a country life, but they don’t know a local farmer. So they are excited to meet us and find out they can buy straight from our farm. This makes my job of selling so much easier!
While you want to talk to everyone who comes by your booth, you will double your sales, when you find your ideal customer. Take note of who buys from you, what they buy, and if they are a repeat customer.
Spend a little time and money on having clear labeling and signage. Make sure all your items are priced and easy to understand. There is a saying that confused customers will NOT buy from you. We want to make it EASY to buy from us with items and produce this are labeled and clearly priced.
Check your booth to ensure the following:
- Tables with items displayed at eye level
- Clear signage displaying pricing
- Bins to keep items corraled
- Clear frames to detail how to pay or order
- Plastic bags or cute produce pint baskets
- Cards or pens with your information
Here are a few of our FAVORITES! We bought these reusable signs. They are the perfect size, easy to write on, and wash clean to be used again. You’ll also want to pick up these extra chalk pens, because they are way better.
We also loved these stretchy black table cloths. They made all our items pop, were easy to use, and they didn’t blow around in the wind like typical table cloths.
We also used these clear frames to display how to pay and another on how to order a quarter of beef. And of course, purchase a business card holder.
Lastly, we had resuable cloth bags made to give customers when they purchased our beef. We applied for a state grant that helped with paying for the bags. The bags were a nice way to thank our customers and advertise our business. You all also use Vistaprint to have business cards and thank you cards made.
You are going to be spending a lot of time with your other farmer’s market vendors. So instead of seeing them as competitors, see them as co-workers. You all want the same thing: more customers and sales!
Here are some ways you can help out your fellow vendors and create a great environement!
- Help fellow vendors set up, when you have time (such a BIG way to connect)
- Buy items from others vendors
- Tell customers what you bought and loved from another vendor
- Send your customer to another booth if you are out of an item
- Post on social media weekly about the farmer’s market
Boost Sales & Sell a Complimentary Item
We boosted our sales at the farmer’s market last summer, by thousands of dollars, when we sold another item that complimented our beef. Our customers already knew us as farmers, and we noticed that sweet corn was a big hit at the farmer’s market. So we decided to grow sweet corn and sell at the farmer’s market.
We planted around 5 acres of sweet corn, so we had a lot to sell. It was a huge hit, and we sold out almost every week. And since customers were at our booth, we also sold them individual beef to go with their sweet corn.
Our total sales on our sweet corn, between the farmer’s market and a local country store, paid for the seed and covered the mortage payment for that section of our farm. In addition, we sold more beef! Win, Win!
I also know of a local bakery that sells the most amazing baked goods. But she also has a shop where she sells natural beauty products. She said the secret to her business is that the baked goods brings in tons of customers, but the sales on her beauty products is where she makes her income!
As I mentioned, you want to learn to identify your ideal customers at the farmer’s market. But you also want to greet every customer, for two reasons. One, you want every customer to have a good experience at the farmer’s market. If a customer feels comfortable and welcomed at the market, they will return and maybe bring a friend who is your ideal customer.
Two, you will rarely make a sale without extending yourself. On days when I’m too tired to be chatty, my sales are way less. So greeting people, asking how they are doing, and talking about the weather really is important.
When you share about your products, focus more on how they will make your customers life a little better. Your yummy jams will be loved by their family on a Sunday morning breakfast. Your local beef will impress the neighbors at their next cook-out. People are more interested in how a product will make their life easier or better than they are about all the details.
Lastly, ASK FOR THE SALE! You can have a customer standing there, interested and engaged, but then you don’t ask for the sale. Something distracts them or they feel overwhelmed by the choices, and they walk away.
Make more sales by asking simple questions such as
- Would you like me to wrap up one jar of jam for you or two?
- Would you like to try our ground beef or our beef patties?
- Do you like to grill? Our Ribeye steaks are amazing?
- Would you like to pick your own sweet corn or do you want me to pick out some for you?
Greeting the customer, share how your product will make their life better, and then ask for the sale. If they say, no, that is totally fine too. Smile and thank them for coming out!
If you are serious about creating a small business, then you will want to ask for your customers’ email address. Social media looks prettier and flashier, but you can’t guarantee that people will actually see your post. Social media platforms only show your posts to a small percentage.
Email is vital because you can:
- Guarantee your customers will receive your email
- Build trust with your customers all year long
- Remind your customer about what is new and in season
- Continue to sell to your customer after farmer’s market season.
I put out a simple sheet asking customers to add their address if they like easy recipes. Simple and effective!
Selling at the farmer’s market can be rewarding as you get to jump right into selling. But to make the best use of your time read through the tips above and use a few of these proven strategies. Make more money and move your business idea forward!
