Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Direct Farm podcast, the weekly listen for farm selling direct. We'll talk about the four levers for farm success, which are quality, brand, price, and convenience. We'll hear from outside industry experts and producers like you to delight your customers, save time, and to increase your direct farm sales and business. We're glad you're here.
Speaker: Welcome back to the Direct Farm podcast, everybody. My name is Sebastian. I am on the marketing team. And today we have a guest from the sales team. We have Richard here. Could you kind of introduce yourself, Richard, for everybody on the podcast listening? Yeah, absolutely. So as Sebastian said, my name is Richard. I've been with Barn to Doors since October. So really only a handful of months. It's my first sales job, but having a blast.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, what drew you here to Barnadore? What made you apply? Great question. Actually, one of my friends was working for Barnadore. And before I was even interested in applying, before I wasn't even looking for another job, all they could do was rant and rave about Barnadore. But it wasn't so much about kind of what they did, but it was why they did it.
Speaker: And so about six months before I applied, I got several earfuls from this incredible startup in Seattle, doing this great mission of empowering farmers, getting kind of local food into the hands of customers who are looking for it in a super easy way, and really turning the whole food system upside down. And that planted some seeds in my mind. I didn't even realize it.
Speaker: And so six months later, you know, I started looking for a job and my wife was friends with this person at Barn to Door. She encouraged that I apply and believe it or not, now I work for her. That was my manager. Nice. This is your first sales position.
Speaker: How was it like coming in here with no prior sales experience and then, you know, doing what you're doing now? It happened fast. I was a little intimidated at first. It was outside of my wheelhouse, it was outside of my experience. I know I liked talking to people, but I was really interested in having a position where I had an impact and I was part of a team. And so that's what really was the tipping factor for my decision. I figured I can learn anything. I mean, that's the beauty of being a human being, right?
Speaker: I stuck my neck out there and I'm still learning a ton every single day. But being able to grow, especially at the pace that Barn to Door is growing, having the support of the team members and even my compatriots here and peers at Barn to Door have been instrumental in what I do now. And so I'm extremely grateful that they got me up to speed quickly, but I couldn't ask for a better team, honestly.
Speaker: awesome to hear. So then I guess what would how would you kind of describe what your day -to -day responsibilities are you know since I've gotten into the groove now I guess do you have any favorite parts of your job or any difficult parts? Yeah of course you know it's not all you know a rose walk in the park or anything like that but I'll start with my favorite part so my favorite part
Speaker: hands down is having meetings with the farmers, getting them on the video calls, learning a little bit more about not only their operation, but it's a little sneak peek in who they are, where they want to go, their dreams, their priorities for their farm and their business. And if there's an opportunity for us to help them achieve those goals, it's just awesome. It's been so much fun to be able to help empower them. And you can see their lives change over the course of even months of being with Barnadores. And so having those meetings is Barnard my favorite.
Speaker: The most challenging aspect, for me anyway, some people I'm sure don't struggle with this at all, is just making those dials. Calling farmers out of the blue, I mean, they're people, they're hard workers. I'm sure most of us can relate, you know, getting a call from a number we don't know is always a little odd. But, you know, thankfully we're working with farmers, and hands down they're some of the nicest folks around. They're passionate about what they do.
Speaker: Even the calls, well, the most uncomfortable for me anyway, they're not that uncomfortable. What are the main differences you think that working at Barn to Door is like versus any other place you've worked at before? Yeah, immediately it's the culture and it's the pace at which we move. So, you know, before I was working at Barn to Door, immediately before anyway I was working at a huge Fortune 500 company here in Washington state.
Speaker: And because it was so large and kind of bloated, if you will, it moved very, very slowly. And we quite literally felt like cogs in this huge machine. And so right away, the climate in Barn to Door is very fast paced. And it's exciting. You feel like you have a role and an impact. You know, you're working on small teams.
Speaker: You're working to all achieve the same goal. There's a high degree of communication and every role is really significant. And that's very different than what I felt in my previous job. Now in terms of culture, you know, my previous job being that larger company, of course, they had a much more kind of outdated cultural experience. It was very much suits and, you know, thankfully no ties.
Speaker: But it was a very old school feeling. And being a part of this fun startup, everyone's passionate about what they're doing. And so being around a bunch of people that are ignited with their passions, their excitement, even the management here, the board meetings we have every Thursday are so much fun. And the first one I went to, my jaw dropped because it was so much different than the staff meetings I was used to going to. Wow. I think when you're moving so fast, you definitely have to kind of maintain that culture because you're exposed to so many changes while you're growing.
Speaker: And Barnadore has done really a good job at maintaining that culture. And it really sticks with everybody here. For any potential candidates out there that are interested or looking to apply at Barnadore, maybe a future team member of yours, what would you have to say to them?
Speaker: Oh, man. I can only really speak on the sales side of things, of course. And so to any potential future teammates, if you're passionate about helping people and you want to make a change, not only in the teams you're working with, but eventually the world, like I have no doubt that our reach and the mission will take us there. Come on on board.
Speaker: Like, Barn to Door is blowing up and we're helping so many people along the way and it's such a wild ride to be a part of. But it's been a blast and it's such a privilege to be able to work here and I mean if there's any bit of interest of having an impact on the world around you, Barn to Door is going to be a great place to do that.
Speaker: And I do have just the last question here. Can you share a memorable experience helping a farm sell online or being successful with a farmer recently? Yeah, I'll withhold any specific farm names. But so the state that I work in, it's been a lot of fun building those relationships and then especially having that initial conversation with farms and kind of hearing it click like, wait, there's options out there.
Speaker: Like, what else can we do? We need to grow our farm. We're in need of help for service, but we're not sure what our options are. And so having that first contact with them, having that first discussion, kind of watching their eyes light up on those meetings, like, holy smokes.
Speaker: This can all do all of these things like the barn to door platform can help us and they'll be with us every step of the way you know and then of course well how much does it cost right you know of course we're not the most expensive but we're also not the cheapest when they saw how much they were gonna save by going with barn to door rather than certain web developers and other major programs out there.
Speaker: They just lost it. They were so excited. And then, you know, once they got signed up, it was fun kind of following them through the process. And then, of course, there's always communication between the teams. And so I was notified when their website went live. Very exciting for them.
Speaker: And then later, when their first orders started coming in. And to be able to see their success, and you know, even here other farmers in Missouri who know this farm, talk about, oh well, they're using you guys, they're seeing these success, they now have all these programs. It's, that to me makes it a lot more real, because all these other farmers are seeing the success themselves on a more operational side.
Speaker: rather than the business side. And so I'm excited to continue to watch them grow, continue to watch them, you know, build their business and serve the people in their communities. Awesome. Well, thank you so much Richard for sharing and coming on to the podcast today. Happy to do it.
Speaker: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast. You can subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to automatically download new episodes. For more free resources that you can read, watch, and listen to, visit farntador .com slash resources. Thank you again for tuning in and we'll see you again next week.
