Transcript
brett: Welcome plant people. We got a guest today, Savannah Columbia, master of sciences.
Plant People: Yes.
brett: And we're joined, but I want, before we jump in with Savannah, who's been on the pod before, a friend of the pod, I want to ask two questions.
Jessica : Samoa.
brett: One is a rapid fire lightning round, only the answer itself, no reflection. Favorite Girl Scout cookie.
Alexis : Thin mint.
Jessica : samoa
sav: Then men.
brett: I don't think they call them Samoas anymore, but I'll say Samoa as well.
Plant People: Uh,
Alexis : Caramel delights, i think is what you call
Plant People: Carmel Delight. Yeah. It's the mouthfeel.
Alexis : them.
Plant People: Brett, did you, uh, Caramel Delight.
brett: Wait, was that your answer too, Ray?
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: I would say, I would say the, is the tag along the peanut butter one?
Plant People: Or Caramel Delight, however you pronounce it.
brett: They call them like peanut butter fudge or something.
Plant People: Uh, I forget about that one.
Alexis : so.
Jessica : Maybe.
brett: They've all, they've all become like commodities like except for thin mint.
sav: and
brett: Thin mint's been allowed despite this, despite the body positivity movement, we've allowed thin mint to persist, but Samoan now is something else.
Jessica : they have a s'mores one now too.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : I know.
sav: Thank you.
Plant People: The Thinamina is a good one.
Jessica : it is.
Plant People: A question to go along with that, Brett, is what's your all's least favorite, which is a tougher one because I have no least favorite.
brett: Probably the Sandys or whatever they're they're like, the like shortbread.
Plant People: of I like those two if I'm in an airplane kind of mood.
Jessica : Those were the ones my dad always brought home from the fire department, right?
Plant People: I like the Sandys too. Yeah,
Jessica : Everybody would like bring their list in and my dad would be like, I got us Girl Scout cookies and they were always a Sandy's.
Plant People: you I like those two though.
Jessica : Yep. Don't worry. My husband, he gets a variety. I don't even want to know how much he spends.
brett: Yeah. tre Trefoils, the trefoils, trefoils is the shortbread.
Plant People: don't even know. Oh, is that what the shortbread is?
brett: Yeah, I'm looking up a cross section here.
Alexis : Do you put them in the freezer?
brett: Some of these I've never heard of before.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis : Have you ever eaten the Thin Mints out of the freezer?
Plant People: No.
Alexis : Because that's...
Jessica : Yes. Yes.
sav: I don't know where else they would go.
Plant People: In my belly, they never make it to the freezer.
Alexis : ah Some of us eat them fast enough they don't need to be in the freezer, but...
sav: oh yeah. yeah
brett: Yeah, the hard part is getting out of the freezer after you eat them.
Plant People: i like them. I like them warmed by sitting on my lap and me just eating them.
Alexis : if
Plant People: And like, I just pull the sleeve.
brett: Just store one under your arm to get it up to body temperature before you...
Plant People: Yeah. Yes. Like superstar for those who have an older vintage.
brett: yeah
Plant People: Yes. Just kind of. Yes. Like, yeah, truly.
brett: ah So i have I have another question completely unrelated, and this is more of a personal, i'm seeking advice from the squad.
Alexis : What was question two?
Plant People: Okay.
brett: Savannah, did you tell us what your favorite was?
sav: Thin mint also.
brett: Thin Mints. We had two Thin Mints, two Caramel Delights, artists formerly known as Samoa, and I said tag along the peanut butter ones, though I kind of think I don't agree with that.
Plant People: Yes. Mm hmm.
brett: I think I probably believe...
Plant People: ah The peanut butter ones are pretty solid, Brad. I don't know.
brett: Yeah, they're okay.
Plant People: I forgot about those.
Jessica : Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's two different kinds of peanut butter ones, though.
Plant People: Yeah, I was going to say which one.
Jessica : Because there's like ones that are covered in chocolate.
Alexis : There's the one dipped in chocolate.
Jessica : Yeah.
brett: Yeah, the peanut butter patties.
Jessica : And then there's one.
Alexis : Yeah.
brett: you know
Alexis : Like a peanut butter patty.
Jessica : There's one that's like just a ah nice cookie.
brett: Not the peanut butter sandwich, no.
Plant People: The peanut butter patty ones are amazing.
Jessica : oh you don't like the sandwich?
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: They're fine.
Jessica : The sandwich reminds me of a Nutter Butter. And that is a that's a good cookie.
Alexis : butters are on point.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : They are.
Plant People: Nutter butters are not safe from this guy.
brett: I think for me for me, and maybe I'll just save my other question for another time since this has clearly been fodder for some good discussion.
Jessica : but
sav: Thank you.
Plant People: It's food, Brett.
brett: For me, the question is, can I find a plausible alternative in the non-Girl Scout cookie cycle of the year?
Plant People: It's food.
Jessica : Thank you.
brett: So if I can find a Nutter Butter and it's as good it's a good substitute, cool. Don't know if I can find... my mom does actually make like these Ritz crackers that are dipped in chocolate mint and they are very for Christmas time.
Plant People: Hmm.
brett: And they are very close to a thin mint in flavor, texture, all the things.
Plant People: Okay.
brett: So I think that's the question. Like, can can we find a substitute?
Alexis : Oreo makes a a mint, like cream filling.
Jessica : They do.
Jessica : I think it's the Keebler, the other elves. We don't talk about those elves as much as we do Lord of the Ring elves. um They make like a car caramel delight cookie, I believe.
sav: Oh.
brett: The other elves.
Plant People: They do. And I thought that they were maybe infringing a little bit on the territory.
brett: Ooh, with it.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis : No. Sounds like lot.
Jessica : Right. It's very, very similar.
brett: Oh.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah, it is.
Jessica : right
brett: Have you all heard of Adventure Fools?
Alexis : oh
brett: Indulgent brownie inspired cookies with caramel flavored cream and a kind of, and i sorry, and a hint of sea salt.
Plant People: Is that a Girl Scout?
Alexis : sounds like a lot
brett: That's a Girl Scout cookie.
Plant People: No.
brett: That's probably regional.
Plant People: Yeah, no.
brett: Exploramores. This is apparently new as of some whenever this graphic was created. Rocky Road ice cream inspired cookies filled with flavors of chocolate marshmallow and toasted almond creme.
brett: Lemonades. Boo!
Plant People: Oh, I like those two.
brett: ah my god.
Alexis : They're fine.
Plant People: Not a bad one.
Jessica : That's right, Voo.
Alexis : They're
sav: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: I mean, after I polish off a pack of those other cookies, I'm going to have gone to the lemonade one.
Alexis : fine.
brett: Yeah, a little something lighter with a little lemon to cleanse the ballot.
Alexis : What's another pack?
Plant People: Yeah, that's right, Brett.
Alexis : have, yeah.
Plant People: A little appetit. Yeah. To cleanse the palate for the main course. Yeah. Yeah.
brett: Have you all ever been to a, um like a Girl Scout cookie pairing tasting thing, like with beer or with...
Plant People: Actually, yes.
Jessica : Yes, we we have.
Alexis : i have yeah I was going to did Jessica and I go together?
Plant People: What I think it.
brett: Go on.
Jessica : Together. And Ray, we all went together.
Plant People: Oh, yes. I went with you guys. That's been a long time ago. It was at a brewery.
brett: So then our our invite must have been lost in the mail, so...
Plant People: Yes.
brett: Mmm.
Plant People: That's that's been eight or 10 years ago.
Jessica : that was way before, probably not.
sav: Yeah.
brett: Mmm.
Plant People: That's been a while back.
brett: um
Alexis : was not legally able to drink at that time.
Jessica : you was way before children.
Alexis : Yeah,
sav: years ago, not know.
brett: Savannah wasn't legally available. We just did not want bread there. Got it.
Alexis : I remember that.
Plant People: but I thought it was an odd concept, but I was the weird guy in the corner that had a, that just ate all the cookies.
brett: Noted.
Alexis : yeah yeah i murmur
Plant People: I was like, I'll have another place.
Alexis : That was fun.
Jessica : was.
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: but Yeah, i think I think those kinds of tasting things can be pretty fun.
Plant People: But yes, Brett. Yes.
brett: And they like there's that's actually a way that like I've seen like breweries and people use it as a way to get people in who maybe otherwise wouldn't have
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
brett: come and drunk some beers or other things like that. And I think we have seen over the last 20, 15, 20 years, this growth of the like experience economy, where it's not just the thing, it's not just a product, it's this other stuff too. And our guest today, Savannah has recently completed some research.
brett: Well, not super recently, but in the last year has completed some research on some experience based stuff related to cut flower marketing. And she's also a member of the CCD team.
brett: And welcome back, Sav.
sav: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Alexis : I really liked that segue. um I was like, see where he's going with this.
Jessica : It was a good one.
Plant People: was good. That was good.
sav: It was nice.
Plant People: i didn't think that was going to happen.
Alexis : but but
Plant People: I did not think that was going to happen, but it did.
brett: Thank you. It's like breathing to me, you know?
Plant People: Good job. He just kind of floats floats one into the other. Love it.
brett: Well, yes. So Savannah, you did this for for some thesis, the thesis for your master's work.
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: Can you just kind of give us an overview for the ah clueless people like me among us who are interested in what you did? And then maybe we can jump into some of the stuff that you you found along the way and other stuff in the cut flower marketing world.
sav: Yeah, yeah. um So maybe I'll start with a little bit of background. um So my thesis, the large goal of my thesis was to provide insight for farmers interested in agritourism, but specifically specialty cut flower workshops.
sav: And so looking at our consumer behavior related to the workshop as an experienced good.
Plant People: Thank you.
sav: So to back up maybe a little bit, we have three types of goods, right? So we have search goods, experienced goods, and credence goods. Our search goods are going to be things that we um can identify and like place value to.
sav: right So in the food world, that could be um any type of commodity, like tomatoes. We can go to the store, we can know exactly what um type of price we want to pay for that product and
brett: Girl Scout cookies, maybe.
sav: Girl Scout cookies too. um We have some.
brett: I search and I find.
sav: Yeah.
Alexis : Yeah.
sav: um You know, so search goods are pretty easy to identify how we feel about them if we want to purchase them. Experienced goods though are not as...
sav: easy, right? So they are goods or services whose quality cannot be determined before purchase or, you know, experiencing them, right? So they have to be evaluated by the customer um after they've been experienced. And so that was a big thing that we kind of focused on, you know, our agritourism operations, you picks, these cut flower workshops, whether they're on the farm or not on the farm, are all types of of experience goods.
Jessica : Thank you.
sav: We also have credence goods, which um neither search nor credence goods we explored in my thesis, obviously, but just for reference, like ah a credence good is on the same line of an experience good where your value is placed um after you you know consume it.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: uh or you know take advantage of the service um but they're still kind of hard to quantify right something like that would be like a hospital visit or a um auto repair uh for example um i won't dive too deep into a credence goods
brett: Yeah, see, i thought when you said Creedence Good, I imagined what they were selling at the CCR merch table. ah
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: Big wheel, keep on turning, you know.
sav: well now you know now you know
brett: Now I know. That's good to know.
Plant People: Now, you know, Brett, you've been educated.
brett: I have crossed that out in my notes and replaced it with...
Plant People: Okay.
Alexis : Now you know you were wrong and now you can be right.
brett: Yeah.
sav: and That's okay.
brett: It's a lifelong set of experiences in that category.
sav: It's okay.
sav: Yeah, we're here to learn, right? um So...
brett: So what's an example of like ah a Like, I don't, I'm not even that familiar with like cut flower, cut flower workshop. Like that's kind of confusing to me as a, as it like, what are those or what do those look like?
sav: Yeah, so a cut flower workshop can take place on the farm or off the farm, right? So for our folks who don't necessarily want to open up their farm to customer foot traffic, they can still host a cut flower workshop in um another place, whether that be ah an extension office.
sav: um One of the cut flower workshops we surveyed i was actually hosted at the Kentucky Flower Market.
Jessica : Thank
sav: um So it is a opportunity for customers to attend. It can be um floral arrangement, wreath making, drying florals, starting seeds, things like that. um So all activities where customers are kind of getting involved and and doing things with their hands, right? Hands on kind of learning. And they take away from that the experience they have during the event.
sav: um And ideally they will have a positive experience and ideally they will continue to have a relationship with the farmer because they they cultivated a really cool experience there.
Jessica : Thank
sav: But these um these experience experiences, whether they are on-farm or off-farm workshops, along with UPICS, they're all ways that customers can get more involved in the on-farm aspect it.
sav: And that is really, you know, even even maybe a little bit before COVID, but especially since COVID has increased on the consumer side. A lot of our our consumers are wanting to go out and experience things on the farm um that they might not, you know, experience in their in their everyday lives. So...
sav: um We looked at a custom or cut flower workshop specifically because of the growth in the cut flower industry, right?
sav: So thinking about our census numbers from 2017 to 2022, the number of farms reporting sales in the census of ag increased like 60% from 7,000 farms to a little over farms.
Jessica : Thank you.
sav: And in the census, there was cut flower production captured in every state, which was really cool. And then thinking about, you know, dialing into Kentucky, um our, a number of cut flower farms has increased, um,
sav: exponentially as well. So, you know, the Center for Crop Diversification, we have that cut flower directory. So from 2020, that number rose from 35 growers to about 159, I think.
sav: So we're seeing a lot of expansion in the industry.
Jessica : Wow.
sav: um And we have growers who are interested in selling, ah you know, our commodity flowers, right? The product is going to be their their commodity, but also selling this experience. um So that was kind of why we got into this to to look at, you know, growers that are are wanting to participate in both aspects of that. Yes.
Alexis : Sav, do you, would you say that most or like, do you have a feel for how many of like Kentucky growers are doing some sort of workshop experience? Oh, you know, is it half? Is it most of them? Kind of what what's that look like? do you have any idea?
sav: Um, I would have might be a little high. And so I would, so I will back up for a minute and say, I surveyed couple of workshops in the late summer and fall of 2024.
sav: Um, it's now like April of 2026.
Alexis : Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
sav: Um, so back then there's probably not as many as are being offered now. Right. And so, and our couple of workshops, aren't going to be, you know, one every month or, or
Jessica : you
sav: super frequent. um Some cut flower growers are only hosting maybe four a season or two a season. They could host as many as as eight if they have the interest and capacity to do so.
sav: And eight is still a figure. But um yeah, I think an experience is ah a really great way to connect with our customers and foster a ah consumer lifetime value with them.
sav: So thinking.
Plant People: That's just what I was going to ask Savannah was, ah did you dive into the motivating factors of why they were doing that in the first place?
Jessica : it
Plant People: Was it to introduce people to the concept or was it to market their products or did you gain any insight there specifically as far as motivating factors?
sav: Yeah. Yeah, so um we did a three-part survey. The first part was to was before the workshop to capture you know why they were there um and a their patron characteristics and and different things that kind of led up to their decision to attend the workshop.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
sav: So in my thesis, I created a ah workshop experience map, right? And so it has four sections. The first section is our um our decision, pre-decision variables, which is going to be our patron characteristics, which includes demographics, um if they have attended a workshop before, if they had heard of the host farm before, things like that. Also price, location, um and location being on or off the farm, and travel distance. And then they move from their
sav: uh, decision to the yes or no decision. We didn't look at anyone who obviously was not, who said no. Uh, so everyone said yes. But, um, then we have our second piece of the map, which is the, um, actual workshop experience. And we asked our survey respondents, um, you know, have they, uh, did they enjoy the workshop?
sav: Um, Did they, you know, what was included in their importance level of those things that were included? And then we looked at some post-workshop experience behavior. So that's the last piece of the map, which is how they interacted with the farm after the workshop took place. And that was a four week follow-up.
sav: And I will say three surveys is a lot, but it was it was really helpful to the information
Alexis : you sir So what did, I'm sorry, go ahead.
sav: the the information from our from those customers right before they attend before they experienced the workshop initially after they experienced it and then four weeks um post experience um but we i think i might answer your question so what was your question uh well so what we found
Alexis : Yeah. I was going to say, yeah
sav: Yes. um Some really interesting stuff. All of this stuff, if you want to read all 152 pages, you can't.
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: Some good stuff, okay?
sav: No. um So we we worked with nine flower growers um in Kentucky and in North Carolina. ah to facilitate this survey. um And that kind of gave us a really good indicator of both urban, rural, and a touristy attraction.
sav: um So that will come into play when we think about location.
Jessica : Thank
sav: But we ah found that um in regards to age, ah so when we think about other studies that have been done right in in customer purchasing habits of just flowers in general, um most often it's it's going to be people that are a little older that have a more disposable income.
sav: Often it is women buying flowers for other women um or women buying things as as gifts for holidays and things like that. um
brett: Queen supporting queens.
sav: Yes, you could say that.
Plant People: Take note, guys. Take note.
sav: Or there is, there was a category, um there was a category in one of the the surveys that I, the research studies that I was reading that apology gifts are, were included in there.
Plant People: yeah
brett: Hell yeah. Ray, I'll buy you flowers, babe.
Alexis : Do better.
Plant People: Thank you, man. Just hit me up with that.
Plant People: Oh, oh, now the drama ensues.
sav: So holidays and apologies, y'all.
brett: Was there any...
Plant People: Okay, okay.
brett: Was there any...
sav: Yeah.
brett: Did you find support or rejection of the Bruno Mars hypothesis? That one, in fact, should buy one's cell flowers?
sav: You could. People do that. People do that.
Plant People: You should. You totally should.
Alexis : Wasn't that Miley Cyrus who said she was going to buy herself flowers?
Jessica : yeah
brett: I can buy myself flowers.
Alexis : Bruno said, I should have bought you flowers.
Plant People: Yeah.
sav: Oh, I think you're confusing it. who He should have.
brett: is it is I can buy myself flowers?
Jessica : yeah he should have bought somebody of flowers
Alexis : I, yeah.
sav: You're, yeah, that's Miley, baby.
brett: Shoot.
Alexis : Yeah.
brett: Miley Cyrus, sorry.
Jessica : i am I am like fitting this mold, everything you're describing though so far, because i am one of those, one of those people.
Alexis : good
Plant People: bees bread
brett: I was going to ask.
Jessica : i have purchased the experience for somebody to go do the flowers as a gift, you know, and now they purchase from that farm. Right.
Plant People: yeah then
brett: Oh, you're ah you're the you're the hookup.
sav: Yeah.
Jessica : So it's like, yeah.
brett: You give them a little little taste and get them.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: yeah It seems like there is a there was a rise of that.
brett: First one's free.
Plant People: ah When did that come about? I started first started hearing that term 18 years ago, or maybe I first started paying attention to it, that kind of experience-based gift giving. There was definitely a rise of that at some point when it was not a thing back in antiquity in the 1900s.
Jessica : Because people don't need more stuff.
Plant People: I can never remember that.
Jessica : They need experiences.
Plant People: There you go. Yes. And that's exactly how I first was introduced to that. So that seems like, Savannah, that kind of ties right into some of the the information it seems like you were dealing with.
sav: Yeah, yeah. So, um you know, there's a lot of background information on on people wanting to experience, you know, things outside of their normal life itself, right? So, you know, participating in a UPIC or going to spend some time on a farm, but also just that any any kind of experience um in other aspects of of entertainment or life, right?
sav: So i when I think about You know, I would rather go to a show and, and, you know, have ah a memory of ah a show and and see something cool like that, then maybe get a new shirt for, you know, my birthday or something.
Plant People: But when you go to the show, Savannah, I know you're getting the new shirt, so don't say that.
Alexis : you're
sav: I could also get the new shirt.
Alexis : getting the shirt about the show
Plant People: The concert shirt, yeah.
sav: I could have I can eat it too.
Plant People: Yeah, but experience-based stuff, yeah.
sav: um
brett: can i can we Can we conduct a follow-up, a little focus group on this group of five people? ah And I'm curious, or do you all identify as consumers who would engage in the workshop-based activity?
Jessica : Thank you.
brett: Like that that would be valuable to you?
Plant People: Hmm.
brett: Do it? And i because i have and in the answer if the answer is no, that's okay, too.
Plant People: It depends on if I was the one initiating it or someone purchased it for me. I would be more motivated to not waste an experience that someone else purchased for me. i would probably be more likely to do that. So the situation would be important for me.
Plant People: Like I would maybe not ah be as motivated to step outside on my own to get myself something like that. So... But yeah, I mean, I love a good experience. Heck yeah.
brett: I mean, I wonder if there's a little bit of bias here as people who run workshops all the time. The last thing we want to do off time is to go and be in not even in control of one.
Plant People: Attend a workshop.
sav: Thank you.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : I think that's what sometimes, because where we come from this kind of world, we take for granted like, oh, going out like that. People think that's fun, right?
Plant People: but ah you say You say it in a certain way, Jessica.
Jessica : I don't mean to just sound that way, but you don't know, no, no.
Plant People: Some people say it's fun.
Jessica : You know what I mean?
brett: Oh, so you think that's fun.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Oh, is that fun to you?
Jessica : but Like, you know, if you're cutting hundreds of flowers all day long and it's 90 degrees and, you know, all of this stuff versus like, like I said, I did this for a friend last year for her birthday and she was just blown away by by that, you know?
Plant People: oh yeah.
brett: Yes.
Plant People: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Jessica : And um so I think that's the difference when you're, it depends on who you're asking about, like, and but I would agree with like,
brett: Yeah.
Alexis : it took me a second yeah it took me a second because I was like what what workshop would like what what's the thing I'm interested in that I can't really teach myself and like I'd be
Jessica : You're going to go to a pasta making class. That's what you're going to get to.
Alexis : Right. Like that's a work. Yeah. Workshop. I was thinking stained glass, like making something stained glass as a workshop.
Plant People: Yeah. Specialized. Yeah.
Alexis : So like i had to reframe it my brain there for a second, but yeah, yeah.
sav: Thank
Alexis : I think workshops, an an experience specifically like a workshop would be something that I would buy for myself.
Plant People: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
brett: Savannah, what about you? Well, you said sort of, yeah, already that you go to the show or whatever, but is that carry over to the workshop? Not necessarily cut flower, but other things too?
sav: Yeah, I think if i'm if I'm looking for something to gain a new skill on, right? that's I'm a hands-on learner. I do know that about myself. That's a great way to to learn. So I would.
Alexis : Ooh, Savannah and I made cutting boards that one time. That was basically a workshop.
sav: We did.
Plant People: Nice.
sav: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: So I am pretty aggressively and defiantly not a workshop person.
Plant People: Yep.
Plant People: Hmm.
sav: Is it the people or?
Plant People: Surprising a little bit, Brett.
Alexis : Shocked.
brett: And i think the reason that I say that is that we may have some people listening who have a business and they don't think people would come to their workshops.
sav: There are detractors.
brett: And they think that because they themselves are not workshop people. And yeah it's something I've said a million times, said it a lot recently, actually, for whatever reason is that you may not be your customer. You may not have the same interests your customer.
Alexis : Mm-hmm. Facts.
brett: And I think that that's why research like Savannah's is really important is because it gives you insight into people like a broader customer base it is in fact interested in this stuff.
Plant People: Yeah, something beyond an opinion. Yeah.
brett: Cause if I was building my business for just to serve me, that would be a terrible business because I'm a, I'm a bit of an odd duck in many ways.
sav: Thank you.
brett: And it's much, much better to think about asking and and doing a little informal, you know, Zoom call, focus group, grab some drinks, you know, buy a round of drinks for people, you know, who kind of are different from you.
brett: They, they maybe have kids if you don't, or they don't have kids if you do, or they to tend to frequent, you know, different types of ah businesses besides what you're doing.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
brett: Cause it like the target, do you, do you have a sense of, and you may have touched on this a little bit already, but the sense of like who the target demos are for some of these workshops have?
sav: Yeah. um So speaking just on the respondents to my survey, and thank you all, if you're ever listening, that completed my three-part survey.
Alexis : She now has a master's degree, thanks to you.
sav: um
Plant People: All three surveys.
sav: Yes. um yeah so um our age our age was a little more evenly distributed, right? um But our population, and we had 88 people who completed the the first the first survey, but it was overwhelmingly overwhelmingly ah a group of white women with over half their income in in the bracket of $100,000 and above.
sav: um which was actually, i was surprised by it at first, right? Just because um it was it was interesting and it and it is different.
brett: that's That's household income?
sav: Household income, yeah.
brett: Household income. So it could could be two or you know two people two.
Plant People: Yeah.
sav: Yes, yes. It it can be you know more than just one one person yeah that it what that was household income. We did ask the number of dependents um that were in the household. we We did never link those two together, but I mean, could if Simodidi was actually interested in that. um But it is quite ah you know contrast to the state census in both Kentucky and North Carolina. So that was really interesting. And I think like it could also, um it could also lead our, you know, growers to think about that, you know, our our customer income demographic and how much they're pricing a workshop.
sav: um We had workshops in a variety of price ranges, 75% the surveys of the survey respondents paid somewhere between 25 and $99 for their workshop.
Alexis : Hmm. Hmm.
sav: However, because of the customer base, a grower could charge more. And some growers definitely did. There were workshops that, there were a couple workshops I attended and and surveyed that were over $200.
Plant People: And all of these workshops, it's not like they were just coming to learn about things. They were actually taking a something away with them. Is that correct?
sav: Correct, yes.
Plant People: Okay. Okay.
sav: um And it it, you know, workshops vary in in regard to, you know, the presenter and the way that they like carry themselves and and work through the audience and things like that.
sav: And in in the way that things happened, um you know, for example, at one farm, we might've like heard about the farm, done a little farm tour, and then put our arrangement together.
sav: you know, at ah another workshop, we might have not been on the farm and, you know, still heard about the farm and then just put our materials together.
Jessica : Thank
sav: So they do range in, in like activity, what you might be able to do. But yes, everyone was able to take home their product, which was important to people. Some workshops offered like drinks and snacks. Some workshops offered alcohol.
sav: Interestingly enough, um that was not important to people. So we did ask, you know, the, which, yeah you know, that's fair. ah
Plant People: It's good to know.
Alexis : that's no that's good to know though like don't waste money on food and drinks if it's not that important
Plant People: that That's very good to know.
sav: it
Plant People: Yeah, exactly.
sav: it is It is good to know.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: That's a very good thing to know. Yeah.
sav: Yeah. um So I think we we looked at the things that were included in the workshop that also included like photos, whether that was, you know, the grower taking some and posting them or sending an email out, you know, um But and they rated their importance.
sav: So we kind of was were able to identify, right, alcohol wasn't very important. While a few people appreciated it, you know, you a grower might not want to spend the money on it or go about the, um you know, rules and regulations that that may come with that um food.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: wasn't super important either. So while it might be like a hospitality thing, um ah go if the grower didn't want to stress about that, they you know they might not have to.
sav: So that was interesting to take away. Some of our our survey respondents liked the photos, and um we can probably correlate those with with some younger people who like to post things on online.
sav: But also, you know that would be a great way to um market the workshop, right?
Alexis : Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
sav: So a lot of our experienced goods are communicated through a word of mouth recommendation, whether that's you hearing about that experience from someone else, you can also hear about that experience you know online through digital social media platforms.
sav: um But overarchingly, our customers heard about the workshop through someone else. And that is all like marketing that the grower doesn't necessarily have to do, right? Because they're relying on other people to spread like the good word.
sav: um So that was a a big key that we pulled out there. um So, you know, growers... should create like a, an experience that is, is worth our recommendation and and to talk about because a lot of our survey respondents, and we were able to capture this in the third survey where we asked people if they had recommended the workshop. And we looked at the numbers that said yes. ah But, you know, while they may not have ah shared, um,
sav: like the social media platforms of the farms or post that the grower has made, they did recommend the workshop to a friend. We were not able to track, you know, whether that friend, um,
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: bought a workshop ticket or you know, if they did anything with that information. But it was really cool to see that, um you know, they they were sharing that knowledge with and their experience with a friend because like the best way to market as an experience, an experience that is through conversation with other people.
sav: and through someone else's lived experience. While it can be biased, I mean, we should note that. Like my experience is not, you know, Alexis or Jessica's experience. Everyone's experiences are inherently different. um But, you know, that that is, ah you know, how how experienced goods are marketed though.
Alexis : Do you have a sense of whether people prefer to have something like on farm versus not like, is it worth having something farm?
Plant People: Yeah, i was wondering about them. Hmm.
Alexis : Or do you, you know, really need to try to have it on farm? Like, do you have it feel for that?
sav: Yeah, so we actually, this was surprising to me. We were not able to make a clear consensus of that.
Alexis : Hmm.
sav: we asked We asked consumers how important it was for the workshop to be held on the farm, right? Because there are some people who who would prefer to have their workshop at an off-farm location, um but we were not able to pull any full any meaningful data out of of yes or no.
sav: And I don't know if that is is because ah a majority of our workshops did take place on the farm. We had we had two workshops that did not, but we still weren't able to to pull anything from that.
Jessica : you
sav: So i I don't have a clear yes or no. um But on the other hand, if if a grower didn't want to did not want to host something on the farm, it is possible for them to succeed, you know, without being on the farm because there wasn't like 75% said this was important to me or else I'll not come, you know.
Plant People: So maybe that wasn't like a defining part of the experience.
brett: Good night.
Alexis : Yeah.
brett: Good night.
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: Can I riff on that? So one of the things you said earlier to me comes to mind. So I'd imagine if you're going to have an off farm thing, you're probably going to have some sort of additional cost source associated with the facility, unless you sort of have a relationship with the local business who's trying to bring people in alongside your workshop, which could be something that could be cool.
Alexis : Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
brett: But if you you said most of the respondents are in that 100,000 household income and up, ah and those as they are across the country, across Kentucky, those are...
brett: they're clumped. They're not all evenly distributed everywhere. And so it could be one of the part of your decision matrix is how much was it going to cost to have it off farm compared to, am I going to get closer and more convenient for some of those ah Richie's, Richie riches? um and I looked it up real quick and that i think a hundred thousand income is like roughly the top 25 that's the cutoff for the top 25 percentile of Kentucky.
brett: So the top quarter of incomes starts at a hundred grand. So, you know, it's, it's one in four, it's not, you know, one in a thousand as far as, you know, incomes in Kentucky, but it's, you know, in Kentucky, the median income is lower than it is in other parts of the United States.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
brett: So that, that to me, you know, it's an interesting finding of like, we're not really sure if the on-farm, off-farm thing, and that doesn't necessarily surprise me for some reason.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
brett: um Because I think, know, I think it's like a very particular person who wants a like authentic on farm experience, as opposed to the experience of making a bouquet or learning the skill or the connection with you.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Almost like a subset of a subset.
brett: Yeah. I just, I think that people, people want a taste of agriculture. They don't necessarily want a whole helping in some cases.
Plant People: They don't want the mosquitoes with it or whatever.
brett: So that's really, and that's really, that's an really interesting set of, of finding in combination.
Plant People: yeah
sav: Yeah, I mean, because you you could you could offset that with with your distance traveled. you know Distance can be a barrier for some people to attend.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: um So thinking about hosting in a ah more urban location could offset the cost.
brett: Yeah. and it's
Jessica : Yeah, you think about all the other like liability stuff too, like of having it at a venue versus on farm.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
Jessica : like Thinking of just like events so like we have at the extension office, like of where you want to host you know host different things, changes, like you said, their audience, but just that's something else that goes into it too, of like...
Jessica : Are people going to stay where they're supposed to stay are they going to venture off somewhere else, you know, versus if they're in a building that you rented, you know, and you're demoing something.
Alexis : fish
sav: yeah
Alexis : Right.
sav: Yeah.
Jessica : So literally control the environment.
sav: Yeah. Or even like, yeah, or even like access to like bathrooms or seating.
Alexis : Yeah.
Jessica : Right.
sav: There was one workshop I went to where we didn't, we, so we stood.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
sav: um and to me, for me, that was okay. ah For some people, they did not, they did make a note that like, They would have preferred to sit.
Plant People: Yeah.
sav: And considering the the age of our, you know, survey respondents, that's not crazy.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: um
Plant People: Yeah.
sav: So that's another thing to think about, you know, ah a venue or ah a location that has some of that stuff included. You wouldn't have to have people, you know, entering your house using your personal bathroom or, you know, renting a port-a-potty or things like that.
Plant People: lot of farms just aren't set up to entertain and host these kind of workshops I've found.
Alexis : Yeah, they're they're set up to farm. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, they're set up to farm and they may not have ADA accessible bathrooms or flat services or seating. But you started mentioning some things that kind of surprised you, I guess, along the conversation that we've had here today so far, Savannah. But anything else that really stood out about all the work that you did um on this project that kind of was surprising to you?
Plant People: I mean...
sav: Yeah, I think um some big, big takeaways, I would say would be um for growers to really utilize the word of mouth.
sav: um You know, encourage your customers to promote your workshop and and maybe leave recommendations, things like that. That's going to be key to helping others make that decision to attend a workshop. um I also...
Jessica : I'll that.
sav: we looked at we looked at likelihood of um recommendation. So there's there's a net promoter score that that we've all probably participated in you know and in once in our life.
sav: And it it usually goes something like, you know on a scale of one to 10, how likely are you to recommend XYZ to a friend, right? Whether it's an airline, Kroger, you know whoever it is that we just bought something from.
sav: um But they they will...
brett: Big two Airline and Kroger.
sav: I mean, you gotta cover all your bases.
Alexis : Sav's got a trip on her mind and she's got to go get groceries beforehand.
Plant People: Somebody's gone someplace.
brett: And it first starts at the grocery store.
sav: yeah
Alexis : but
Plant People: It's called road snacks, Brad, and road snacks.
sav: yeah I gotta get my, my snack cheetos. Um, so yeah.
Plant People: and Quest chips.
sav: Um, yeah um But you know our our net promoter score can be a really good way to identify how satisfied people were with our product or service.
sav: However, you know that's that's all intentional behavior. It is not their actual behavior. So we we were going to use the net promoter score.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
sav: and And so when people fill out the net promoter score, it's on a scale of one to 10. There are detractors, so people who will not recommend, you know, they didn't have a good experience. um There are passive people somewhere between seven and eight who who may or may not recommend.
sav: And then you have your promoters.
Jessica : Thank
sav: These are going to be the key people that will generate additional, you know, ticket sales or revenue for your business. um And everyone, for the most part, was a promoter.
sav: So they answered eight or higher on, you know, how likely are you to recommend a a specialty cut flower workshop to a friend in their intended behavior.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: So that was captured, you know, right after the survey when, you know, their post-workshop endorphins could be high. um When we surveyed the same respondents,
sav: their actual behavior was not as high. um That's not scary. That happens. um it It happens all the time, right?
brett: Yeah.
sav: our Our intent versus actual behavior is never going to be the same.
Plant People: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
sav: We see that, you know, in in experience related agriculture things and and in regular everyday life stuff.
Alexis : Mm-hmm.
sav: So that was interesting to to kind of see for myself in first person. So I you know i did i did go out and and attend all of these workshops, and which was really fun, ah but and and collect this data. So that that was interesting to see for myself firsthand how the intended intended versus actual behavior played out. um I would say that a net promoter score or something similar It can be a good gauge to see where your customer base lies, but I would consider using other tools as well to gauge how engaged they are. Yeah.
brett: And to engage the engaged.
sav: yeah
brett: Wow. Well, thank, I really appreciate you joining us, Sav. Before Alexis takes us out, I do want to just clear the air and iss issue an apology to the Smilers and the Hooligans. Those are the fans of Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars.
Plant People: Brett, I cannot believe
sav: Oh.
brett: Earlier, I made a big snafu. I, I came in like a wrecking ball and I Uptown funked it up and,
Plant People: you mixed.
Alexis : he's been He's been looking all this up this entire time.
Plant People: ah You worked on that.
sav: Have you been working on this for the last 30 minutes?
Plant People: You worked on that.
Alexis : He's not paid any attention to you, Savannah.
brett: i
sav: yeah
Alexis : He has been doing
brett: I feel like I had a very strong insight about Savannah's location of the workshops earlier.
Plant People: He was locked in early, locked in early.
sav: He read my abstract.
brett: But um it's been really cool to to see you, Savannah, work through this process, design the instrument, get to know the cut flower community. And now, I mean, I think you are one of the people in the extension system that people come to for questions about, especially, you know, about marketing cut flowers. And you've you've recently done a couple of different workshops for growers and for agents.
brett: about ah setting up irrigation stuff, but also some visual merchandising, how to put bouquets out. And it's just been really, really cool to watch your growth through the experience of doing this work and collecting this research and looking forward to being able to, to do a lot more together.
brett: And because as you pointed out with those 2017 to 2022 numbers, the growth has been staggering and um it's just been really cool to feel like Kentucky's really out ahead on supporting those small cut flower growers.
brett: So.
Plant People: A real quick question.
sav: Yeah.
Plant People: Is this going to be available like publicly at some point in the future as far as
sav: It is my thesis is already published on UK knowledge.
Jessica : you.
Plant People: Gotcha. UK knowledge. So readership report will grow.
sav: Yes, thank you.
Plant People: Awesome. Awesome.
sav: I'll be watching my Science Direct link or whatever it's called.
Plant People: Yes, it is always fun when you look at all the, all the work you've done over your career, just the numbers pop, pop, pop. Awesome. So people have access to this and how would, how would they look it up if someone wanted to ah find this Savannah? What would be the best keyword search or. Yeah.
sav: Um, I do have some keywords written in.
Plant People: and
sav: me scroll down.
Alexis : We could probably post a link to it, yeah.
sav: Yeah, it has it has a direct, um, it has a direct link, but my keywords were couple of workshops, experienced goods, net promoter score, consumer lifetime value, panel data, and agritourism.
Plant People: yeah Oh, it does have a direct link. Awesome.
brett: Yeah, I usually will just search like Savannah Columbia UKY thesis and usually it comes usually comes up.
Plant People: Comes up.
sav: Yeah, or that would work.
Alexis : Google it.
Plant People: Yeah. And as Alexis said, if there's a direct link available, we'll definitely put that in the show notes.
Alexis : He's looked it up a few times.
Plant People: So thanks for all encounters.
brett: Floral encounters examining the role of experienced goods and next line. Promoters in specialty cut flower workshops by Savannah Columbia.
Plant People: Awesome.
brett: Heck yeah.
Alexis : thesis titles they're always the longest thing ever because you're like I'm very specific
Plant People: Very good.
Plant People: But it allows discovery. It allows discovery to be much easier. so
brett: Floral Encounters sounds so flirty.
Plant People: Third encounters of close encounters of the third.
sav: Yeah.
Alexis : It's whimsy. I love it.
Plant People: Yeah. Love it.
Alexis : Well, if you have any questions on marketing flowers, you can find Savannah on the Center for Crop Diversification website under people, and you can email her and find her there.
brett: craig Craigslist category.
Alexis : And I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help you and and walk through some stuff. um We recently had the question on doing some marketing for seasonal weddings. So shout out to Becky.
Alexis : I know you listen. Yeah. So we're happy to help you out with ah any of that.
sav: yeah
Alexis : But you can also follow us at Hort Culture Podcast on Instagram. You can shoot us an email. You can find that in the show notes as well. If you've got questions or ideas for new topics for the podcast, we want to talk about what are interested in.
Alexis : So tell us what you want to know, because we know that, you know, we're probably nailing it. But, you know, just just in case, just in case we're open to the people, right? We're not too high up in there. But we appreciate you all being with us today.
Alexis : And we hope you'll join us next time. Have a great one.
