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The Key to a Successful Farm Business - Customer Retention
861 Plays3 years ago
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we're joined by Will and Amy Campbell from Old Rich Valley Farm. This week, they're discussing how they have retained and grown their customer base over the past few years, despite market uncertainty and increasing costs.
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Transcript
Introduction to Direct Farm Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Direct Farm podcast, the go-to resource for farms across the US looking to grow and manage their business. Tune in weekly to hear tips and tactics from our most successful farmers on how to increase sales, access more customers, and save time and money. We'll also speak with industry experts, business leaders, and partners to share the latest farm business trends selling direct to market.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to the Direct Farm podcast.
Meet the Host and Guests
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm Rory, your host for today's episode. We've got a great conversation for you today with some of our farm advisors, Amy and Will Campbell from Old Rich Valley Farm located in Virginia. Welcome, Will and Amy. It's great to have you guys back on the podcast. It's been a little while since you've been on. I think last time we were talking about subscriptions, right? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here.
Overview of Old Rich Valley Farm
00:00:51
Speaker
Um, for folks that maybe haven't heard you guys on here before, could you tell us a little bit about your farm, where it's at, what you guys raise kind of all the basics? Sure. We are, um, in Southwest Virginia and Will grew up on a farm just raising beef cattle. And so we got married, I guess about 10 years ago. And so I moved out to the farm and we raised, uh, well, when we first started, he was just farming beef cattle.
00:01:18
Speaker
And so we switched to selling directly. So now we sell finished beef and pork and chicken and it's all pasture raised. We use non-GMO feed and we're just raising a bunch of animals and kids out here on the farm. And so how long has the farm been in operation now?
Transition to Direct Selling
00:01:39
Speaker
We've been selling directly for about six years now.
00:01:44
Speaker
And so, yeah, you mentioned, and Will, when you were doing beef cattle, was that mostly kind of bulk beef to go into sale barns and things like that? It was, yep. Yeah, I grew up on a beef cattle farm and we had mama cows and we would wean them and put tractor trailer loads together. And so that's what Amy and I started doing. We had a cow herd and
00:02:04
Speaker
And so whenever we jumped in to the cow-calf stuff, the beef prices were at all-time highs. And so it was good. And the next thing you know, they dropped back off. And so we go from selling a sear for $1,800 to half that, $800 or $900.
00:02:19
Speaker
But our cost of producing next year stayed the same. And so it was one of those things where we're trying to make a living, you know, farming and the commodity market is just impacted by so many variables that are outside of our control. And we were like, we're going to try to raise a family. We need to try to, we can't ride this roller coaster forever. And so we.
00:02:38
Speaker
I decided just for the margins reasons or controlling our margins I mean there are lots of reasons for the transition and the diversifier farm and we just believe in the local model so yeah it's just been a transition of a work in progress that for a while we were sending you know tractor trailer loads of cattle and then whatever we switched to selling a couple pounds of ground beef and selling it one piece at a time it was a
00:03:01
Speaker
Which we knew that was going to be a big transition, but it was a lot more complicated than we thought. We're still learning. I guess the beauty of direct-to-consumer is that we can't control our margins.
Challenges in Pricing and Demand
00:03:15
Speaker
Our prices don't have to fluctuate with whatever international trade policies or the drought in the Midwest or the price of corn. We can set our own prices. But while we can control our margins, we can't control our market.
00:03:29
Speaker
force people to value what we produce and so there's risk in anything you do but we're I guess it's a trade-off and so we're trying to control our margins but hoping that there are people that value what we produce. Yeah yeah definitely and like you're saying too it is nice being able to control those prices when you're doing like commodity beef and
00:03:49
Speaker
prices for feed and everything else goes up but the price for beef goes down, you can't control that. So right now I would assume it's probably nice to be able to, as I know fuel prices and feed costs go up, you can raise your prices if need be.
Building a Direct-to-Consumer Business
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah we do and that's tricky too because we, you know obviously the cost of producing everything is going up right now, speed goes up and fuel goes up and so we're you know having to adjust our prices and
00:04:17
Speaker
And we know that the people we're selling meat to, families like us that are just working families trying to raise kids. And so they're kind of feeling the rise in cost and everything when they're power bills and grocery bills. And we are trying to do our best to keep our process as affordable as we can, but we do have to make sure that we're adjusting prices to reflect the cost of producing it. So it's tricky. Yeah, certainly.
00:04:42
Speaker
I'm curious, so has Old Ridge Valley Farm always done direct to consumer or was there a time where you guys were doing anything else? So I guess when he was selling just on the commodity market with just, you know, trailer loads of cows, then we weren't Old Ridge Valley Farm and say, yeah, I was just kind of under will doing the farming and I was teaching at the time. But when we transitioned to becoming Old Ridge Valley Farm, then that is when we started selling
00:05:12
Speaker
just directly, but it definitely just started with a cow or two and let's hope we can sell it.
Establishing a Customer Base
00:05:18
Speaker
And then it's grown to being able to take beef and pork monthly. Will, you mentioned like how it was a big difference of having to start selling things by the cut and stuff. Once your online store was set up, what were sales like? What was that like kind of shifting into that new way of doing business?
00:05:39
Speaker
I guess as we started to transition to selling directly, it was yeah, it was a steep learning curve and we're not the most organized people. And so we were trying to keep up with stuff on legal pads and you know, people ordering me through text or email or a message or, you know, and we were just very, very unorganized. And so to finally get that website and the farm store up and to where we can point people to that. And it just, we love the farming part. It will be hard for us to do what we're doing without you all and, you know, putting the website in a farm store.
00:06:09
Speaker
putting all that together for us. So we really appreciate everything you all do. Yeah, no so far as keeping organized and keeping the orders where they can pick a pickup location and the dates are already in there set in advance. It just adds a whole lot more predictability and organization to
00:06:29
Speaker
our hectic, chaotic life. It's not like having that website just made it open the floodgates to where people started buying meat. We were establishing a customer base through farmer's markets and just word of mouth. But that gave us a place to point them. We can point them to the website and
00:06:51
Speaker
That helped manage and organize everything as we kept growing. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really great point. And I think you guys got to give yourselves more credit. I think for folks that the way you guys have your herd share set up is I think it's super organized and I would encourage people to go back to that episode.
00:07:08
Speaker
And I think people are always impressed when Amy breaks down
Impact of COVID-19 on Farm Operations
00:07:11
Speaker
how she has your guys's heard share program laid out in connect. And I think people are always very impressed that how you guys have that all. So you got to give yourselves more credit for your organization. Well, I'm glad it comes across that way.
00:07:25
Speaker
Well, something that has come up a few times, Amy, I know in Connect, is over the past few years, in part due to the pandemic and a lot of other things going on, just the fluctuation of the market and all these different outside forces impacting what farmers do and how they're selling. And a lot of times in those last few years, there's a lot of food uncertainty and people weren't able to get meat especially, but food in general from grocery stores.
00:07:49
Speaker
And a lot of these problems within our food system were kind of exposed during that time. But since then, you know, we've kind of returned to a little bit more of normalcy, I guess we could say. And I think sometimes we'll get farmers in Connect or we'll talk to them and they feel like customers are less inclined to continue seeking out local food. Certainly this isn't something we've seen broadly at Barn to Door, but I was curious what that experience has been like for your farm.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, obviously COVID opened people's eyes because they were looking at empty shelves. COVID definitely boosted ourselves and I guess since then, Amy and I, we kept telling ourselves that eventually
00:08:30
Speaker
That bubble was going to pop and things to get back to normal as a grocery store and everything else got back to normal too. I mean, obviously we were hoping that we would retain customers, but I guess every year we're kind of surprised that not, not surprised. We're just thankful to have the customer base that we do that has stuck with us and how we contribute that to answered prayers as much as anything.
00:08:51
Speaker
I guess I do think that during COVID, it did just open people's eyes to the uncertainty and the food system. And I don't think it's unrealistic to think that the shelves might get slim pickings again. And so that's one of the things that our customers understand is that we've been doing this for years and we are in it for the long haul. And I guess people are just more apt to put their trust in people that they know than in these big systems that they don't know or don't see or don't understand.
00:09:19
Speaker
And our food system is not known to be, I guess, that transparent. There's a lot of disconnect in food and people in general. And so one of the things that we've just done is just try to communicate what we're doing. Just try to be as transparent as possible. And yeah, I guess the more we just try to communicate our values as farmers, they are seeing the value in what we're producing, I guess.
00:09:44
Speaker
I think one thing too is I do feel like we have a pretty wide variety of customers. Where we are is very rural. We're like 30 minutes from anything. And so we do have some people that come pick up on the farm, but obviously that's not going to be the best fit for everybody.
Subscription Model Benefits
00:10:00
Speaker
And so we have deliveries to other locations. And so we have some foodies that really just love
00:10:08
Speaker
a good quality food, good quality meat. And so that's why they choose. We have people that really care about the environment and they choose. But honestly, the majority of our customers are just young families or older families or couples that just.
00:10:24
Speaker
want to know where the food is coming from and want and are glad to know that they can get meat every single month no matter what we always are going to have it um Lord willing and just like knowing who is raising their meat and so that's where the transparency comes in I think I'm always shocked at our subscriptions is kind of our one of the main revenues for us on the farm and
00:10:49
Speaker
Every year it's a one-year subscription and every year I am just hoping and praying that people renew. And for the most part, they do. We've got about, I think this year we had about 85 to 95, 90% renewal rate. And so I just think that speaks volumes of the people in this community wanting to know where their meat comes from.
00:11:11
Speaker
Yeah. And I think you both made a really great point there that I think the thing that came out of the last few years was kind of that lesson learned of the fragility of the current system and how easily and quickly it can all go down. And I don't think that's something that people forget very easily when they're in a situation where they just can't get food. So being able to turn to folks like you and rely on that for a more steady
00:11:36
Speaker
source of food, but also then to know how these animals are being raised, what practices you're using, how you're actually maintaining and improving your land. All those things kind of then just make it an even easier decision. You mentioned like you've been at this amount of your subscription base that you've been able to keep rolling back in year over year.
Customer Retention Strategies
00:11:57
Speaker
And I know that's oftentimes the biggest goal and one of the biggest battles for a lot of farms is just not necessarily the finding new customers, but just
00:12:05
Speaker
making sure that those people that are on subscriptions that are doing those recurring purchases that they're sticking around because those are everybody's favorite. What is it like maintaining that audience of your customers? What are some of the things you've done to keep them there?
00:12:21
Speaker
One of the benefits to the subscriptions in general is, is people that are having to a hard share or a year long, you know, supply of meat, they're committing to a year. And so these are committed people that are signing up to begin with instead of somebody to just come pick up a, you know, a steak or a pack of ground beef.
00:12:38
Speaker
every once in a while. And so I think just having the heart share subscription model kind of, if that's what we have and what we're offering people that sign up for that or the people that are committed, I guess. And so just offering that I think has helped us a lot. I think also just making sure we have a consistent product, you know, like if they're getting sausage every month or they're getting steaks every month.
00:13:02
Speaker
They're going to know what a really good steak and a good pack of sausage tastes like. And so if it's not the next month, then they're going to know that they're not always consistent. I'm not sure that that is what we want. So trying our best to stay consistent and then.
00:13:17
Speaker
One thing with the herd church in particular, but really just selling directly, we interact with every single customer.
Community Engagement through Events
00:13:25
Speaker
So just being able to build that relationship, I think makes a huge difference. I'm typically the one that does the majority of the deliveries. Sometimes it's will though. And so being able to connect with them because I see them when I hand over their meat at the pickups and just building those relationships, I think helps. They're more likely to stick around if they feel
00:13:47
Speaker
connected to, you know. And, and obviously she sees more people than I do, but I will make some deliveries. And that is one of the big benefits to doing what we're doing. And we've established some really great relationships through her chairs and just getting me to people. And that's one of the things that we love the most about what we do is just not just selling meat, but just building those relationships with people in our community. And this isn't like aimed at
00:14:13
Speaker
customer retention, but one of the things that Amy and I love doing is having on-farm cookouts. And last year we just did one, but usually we tried to do one in the spring and fall. And really it's just because we love cooking out and we love having, you know, people over and, but a lot of people in our herd shears or just customers like to come out just to see the farm and just to see us. And I don't know how much that contributes to our retention rate or not, but I know it's gives them an opportunity to see the farm and it gives us a good excuse to hang out.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's a successful kind of strategy for a lot of folks. And it almost feels insincere to just call it a strategy. But I know a lot of people that they like to have people out at least once or twice a year and just kind of, especially for their customers to get to see in person. It's a nice way because I know sometimes farms like to have people pick up at the farm. But that can be a big trip for folks to be doing on a consistent basis to get their orders. So, but still offering that that time to come out and enjoy a meal or something.
00:15:12
Speaker
and see the farm, see the animals and how they're raised and how you're doing things is a really cool opportunity. I was also curious too, you talked about like making sure that you have committed buyers, people that are in this for more than a one-time purchase. When you guys set up your subscriptions and your herd share, is that a one-time purchase or do you guys do rolling purchases? How do you have that set up?
00:15:33
Speaker
So basically whenever people sign up for a subscription, it's one of our herd share options. And so it's either a half a beef, quarter beef, whole hog, half hog, or a chicken herd share subscription. But basically they're committing to a year's worth of either beef, chicken or pork or any combination of those.
00:15:50
Speaker
And so if they sign up for a half a beef subscription, then that half a beef is going to be divided up over the next 12 months. And we hope that after that 12 months, they'll be happy with the beef they've gotten and will want to sign up for another half or quarter or whatever they, you know. And I do like the idea of when we first started, we set it up this way because there wasn't that continuous subscription option. And so that's, and the way ours is, it's not a monthly like 50.
00:16:18
Speaker
20 pound box, it's a half a beef. And so you're picking up a 12th of a half of a cow each month. So it makes sense for us that it does last a year, but it is fingers crossed at the end of the year of, are they gonna do that renewal? So I do think the idea of a continual subscription is
00:16:37
Speaker
is really smart. That's something that we've kind of rolled around too. We kind of keep going back and forth on just because every year our prices, our costs of producing meat has increased. And so we're having to adjust our herd share prices, but whenever people join the herd, they're signing up for, I guess whenever they sign up, they're locked in to those prices for the, for 12 months. And so I guess we're trying to figure out what that would look like on our end. If we were to do it continuous,
00:17:05
Speaker
just because we have people signing up at different times of the year and we're not going to up to price on somebody if we say that they've got 12 months at this price and then trying to figure out what that would look like. But anyway, for us right now, we'll set a price and then we can readjust every time it's time for them to renew and then they can either join or not.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that's probably another, that's another great benefit for your customers too, is not only locking into the certainty of getting the product, getting the meat every month, but also the certainty of that, that price won't fluctuate. Um, kind of the benefit of that signing on for a longer amount of time. I was just going to say one other thing too is we do offer different size subscriptions. So we do have the half a beef or the quarter beef. And so.
00:17:52
Speaker
in different hog sizes and stuff. So I think that that also helps as far as we've had a lot of people, maybe their first year they signed up for a half a beef and realized it was actually too much meat for their family. And so they've gone down to a quarter beef, but they're still a part of the herd shares. So that's another option too, is to just make sure you have a variety that there's no one size fits all that's going to fit every family, but just kind of have a variety options that
00:18:19
Speaker
Hopefully something will fit most famous. Yeah. I feel like the overall kind of lesson, I guess, that I'm taking away here is finding the balance of like flexibility for your customers.
Balancing Flexibility and Operations
00:18:32
Speaker
And, you know, cause some folks are doing a whole beef at one time, like that, that's a very specific customer that's going to want that product.
00:18:40
Speaker
and can store all that meat. So being able to offer it over the course of a year and at different sizes, but also not trying to accommodate every single little thing that ends up creating more work for you, kind of being able to figure out what amount of flexibility you can handle and that is still appealing for your customers and then operating within that. Seems like what you guys have tried to go for. Would you say that's true?
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah. And I think we definitely still, like you said, we offer the half a half cow or something at one time, because that's definitely the easiest. If somebody comes and picks up a half a cow, that's the best. But then the herd chairs are also again, bringing people back each month. And right now we definitely prioritize our herd shares over just individual sales. So, um, we do still sell at one farmer's market.
00:19:29
Speaker
And then we also just have delivery sites once a month. And so people can go on. We don't just do subscriptions. People can go on and order by the cut or order boxes and stuff. But we always fill our herd shares first. And I think that they know that. And so they feel like they are the priority.
00:19:48
Speaker
And so that's another way to just kind of, we have people say, oh, we want steaks and you're always sold out of steaks and we're like join the herd and you'll get your steaks every month. So just being able to, to communicate the importance of subscriptions and how it's a good thing both ways. It's good for us. It's good for you and communicating that as you're telling the customer about it, I guess is also a good thing. Yeah. Do you guys refer to your, your subscription or your herd share customers as the herd?
00:20:18
Speaker
Oh, yes. That's great. I'm sure they love that too. I probably feel like they're part of the fun. Yeah.
00:20:28
Speaker
That's really cool. Well, I'm also curious too. So I think we've touched on how great like things like subscriptions and being able to lock people in long-term, but on top of that, I know you guys have done a really great job of still making sure you're adding new customers
Marketing Strategies
00:20:43
Speaker
too. So I was curious, how have you done that? Especially in the past few years, when it might be a little bit harder to find those customers, when meat might be back on grocery shelves, but people are still interested in getting local food. You just might have to.
00:20:56
Speaker
do a little extra work to find them. What is that work that you guys are doing? How are you bringing in new customers? One way is just at the farmer's market, I have a sign that says like, ask me about the monthly herd shares. And so people a lot of times will say, what is this? And so get their contact and send them the email, you know. So just continually talking about it or a lot of our posts, not maybe once every two weeks, we'll say, filling herd share orders,
00:21:26
Speaker
Are you a part of the herd? Stuff like that. Just trying to encourage people to join. But also word of mouth is just, I mean, you can't put a price tag on that. If people enjoy what they're getting and they think that it's easy enough to pick up and they think it's a good product, then they're going to tell their friends. And so sometimes it's.
00:21:51
Speaker
Like, I don't know. I don't feel like we say, Hey, go tell your friends about us as much as we should. Cause it feels stealthy to do that. But we've just had a lot of people that call and say, Hey, my cousin does the subscription and I just wanted more information about it. And, and usually they'll join if it's a good fit for them and not just the subscriptions, but yeah, just individual cuts and stuff. I think word of mouth is huge.
00:22:18
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I think that's a great, people have different ways of incentivizing that. Sometimes people will do like, uh, refer a friend to type of promo code and things like that. But I think if you're able to, to just have the product speak for itself and do that, I guess it kind of depends on where you're at with your business and how aggressively you folks, but yeah, I think having a referral is the best way to market to a new person. Nobody's going to be able to advertise you better than one of their best friends or family members or something. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
00:22:47
Speaker
So I was curious too, I think getting people to the online store can be like the big challenge, I guess sometimes is just because that's where they got to go to make the purchase. What are some of the ways that you guys are making that easy for your customers to do? Whether in just getting them that link, making sure they're going and interacting with your store regularly. Like how are you guys getting folks there online and making purchases?
00:23:12
Speaker
I think about over a year ago we started committed to sending a regular weekly email and that was not easy and it's still not easy sometimes because things just.
00:23:23
Speaker
get you know it's sometimes it's very last minute but we committed that we are going to send this weekly email and we'll know the majority of like the content but that is a way that we have found people really can connect to the farm because they can see what's going on what have we done this week what are we reading what are we listening to um you know stuff that's sometimes more personal not just farm and so we try to put that but then there's also
00:23:51
Speaker
always links to products in the store or Christmas bundle or whatever is going on at the time. We always have links into the store. And so I think that's one way that definitely helps. And we do try to send that out on Friday. And so sometimes we'll get orders for the upcoming week or the farmer's market the next day and stuff like that. So I think that's huge. We're not great at
00:24:19
Speaker
bring to link our store in our social media posts, all that much. So maybe every couple of weeks, I'll actually remember to put a box or something new or something that we have a lot of, but we have, um, like if we do put something on sale, our ground beef boxes on sale or something, I will definitely put the link and it makes a huge difference, especially if it's a sale or something like that, then
00:24:42
Speaker
people are going to go to your store. And not only are they going to see, hey, I want that ground beef box, but they're going to see, oh, wow, they have all these other things for sale that I can also purchase. And so that helps. With the emails, do you feel like, you mentioned you always try and send those on Fridays. Do you feel like the consistency of doing it on a certain day? Like, do you feel like your customers are kind of used to that Friday email now, or is that something you play with and move around? Well, I started on like a Monday.
00:25:11
Speaker
And we missed that Monday once. So it went to a Tuesday and we missed the Tuesday. That's how ended up on a Friday, but we've been consistently on a Friday for like a year now. So I think so. And it's usually, hopefully before noon on Friday, not always, but we do try to, like I said, we're still working on, um, getting it. I would love to have it like.
00:25:36
Speaker
ready to go, sent out at eight o'clock on the morning, it's Friday, but usually that doesn't happen. But I do think, yeah, they know it's coming and we have a pretty decent amount, an open rate, and ours is probably, I don't know, if you look at marketing things, it always says to keep it short and Will's not good at that, he's very well done. So they are not very short, most of the time, but
00:26:02
Speaker
There's quite a few people that read them, so maybe we're onto something. I don't know. Yeah. Well, I think authenticity is always the biggest thing is if it's real, if it's from you guys, then I think that's what people always appreciate the most. We don't really, we're not really looking for any outcome. We're just trying to be transparent about who we are and what we're doing. And if people will read it fine, if they don't, that's fine. If people like it fine.
00:26:26
Speaker
That's fine too. Some people might just scroll to the bottom and see what's on sale, but that's fine too. Yeah, as long as they're going to make a purchase. One, I feel like actually, as you were saying that, I feel like the psychology of a Friday could actually kind of work because a lot of folks shop on the weekend. So you might be kind of actually hitting them right before they might be going to a grocery store and they might think, oh, actually I can get my meat from Oldridge Valley instead.
00:26:50
Speaker
and not have to worry about picking that up over the weekend or something. So you might be right on with the timing of that. I don't know. I probably wouldn't look at an email on Friday. Well, it's easier for us to reflect and recap the week on Friday, I guess. Yeah. That was kind of my next question. Amy mentioned, Will, you usually write that email. What kind of content do you usually put in there?
00:27:12
Speaker
So it's usually just like summary of some of the things that we accomplished through the week. What we do changes from season to season. And so we can just explain what we're doing with the gals, pigs, chickens on this weekend. Some of the struggles that things that went good, things that didn't, there's always expectations and expectations that are
00:27:35
Speaker
We're together a lot, but we're also working by ourselves a lot. So whenever I'm by myself on the tractor or I'm just moving pigs or chickens or whatever, I'm listening to audio books or podcasts or something. And so usually I'll just put a little blurb about whatever I've been listening to that week as well.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's all really great content. I know people are always asking, like, what do I put in these emails? So there's some great advice there in terms of things to what you're working on. And I know that does change every week. And so that's really good stuff to be able to throw in there. I always put a couple of pictures too, but we do have kids that farm with us that are with us all the time, and then just pictures of the animals. But yeah, I think the majority of people do not know
00:28:19
Speaker
what goes on on the farm. And so anything is interesting to them. Well, I'm curious, what would be your guys' advice to farmers that are maybe struggling to retain customers month over month or year over year? They just have a lot of folks that might come in and make one purchase, but then don't
Advice on Customer Retention
00:28:36
Speaker
come back. What would be your advice to help retain some of those customers and keep them around?
00:28:42
Speaker
I would say the biggest one would just be hopefully making that connection with the people. So at the farmer's market, just being friendly and trying your best to remember their names. I'm so bad at that, but trying to remember names and faces and, and remember what they like. So I have.
00:28:58
Speaker
A customer that actually was vegan for ever and ever. And she decided to eat some meat and so she bought a roast and she said it was delicious. I gave her a recipe and now she comes every week and I'm like, Oh, are you ready for your check rest? And so just remembering what they like and making those connections, I think is going to
00:29:17
Speaker
definitely bring them back and like right now we're handwriting Christmas cards and they're not even Christmas cards they're on like cardstock because Christmas cards are expensive but we're handwriting Christmas cards for every single hardchair member and so we're going to hand it out in December when they pick up their hardchairs so just little things like that that to let them know hey we really do appreciate you that we we could not be selling directly if it weren't for you
00:29:42
Speaker
And so making sure that they know how important they are in this whole we couldn't farm without the customers and trying to express that that we're not the most important people here that you are.
00:29:53
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's so cool. And I love that you guys are doing like Christmas cards and things like that. Just really personalizing that experience. And I like that that's something that you're really pushing for with those hard share customers, the people that are coming back month over month, because those are the people that are obviously helping your business the most. And so being able to thank them for that is really cool. But then also just to make that an even better experience for them so that they keep coming back. Obviously that's the goal. That's really cool.
00:30:19
Speaker
So I guess just to wrap things up, what do you guys have next on the horizon over at Old Ridge Valley Farm?
Future Plans and Expansion
00:30:25
Speaker
We're just trying to keep our head above water right now. No, right now it's winter. And so as far as sales, they do slow down a little bit in the winter. Will's busy feeding cows and still doing the day-to-day farming. But yeah, we don't really have huge aspirations of growing much larger than we are. It is just us. We don't have any help. So
00:30:44
Speaker
If we did grow larger, we would most definitely need help. And so as of now, we're just really trying to maintain and that's why just keeping those customers is so important to us right now. So we have one little cabin that we have on Airbnb and it has stayed booked a lot more than we thought it would, to be honest with you.
00:31:04
Speaker
And so we're breaking ground on another one. So we're going to try to, hopefully by spring we'll have another Airbnb rental. Wow. So we'll, we'll see if that, see, yeah, see what happens there, but that's a big winter project we have going on. Yeah. We live in a beautiful place, but we are in the middle of nowhere. So we didn't know if people would actually come out here, but they do.
00:31:24
Speaker
And it's really neat to, that's another way that we get to see other people out here. And, and a lot of times they buy meat to, to eat other at the cabin. So that's good too, but yeah, another cabin. We're really excited about it. That's awesome. Yeah. People are always trying to.
00:31:39
Speaker
get out to places where you guys live. Yeah. Yeah. And it is beautiful out here. We wake up every day thankful for this family that we're living in and glad that other people can come and get a taste of it. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That's awesome.
Conclusion and Thanks
00:31:54
Speaker
Well, I'm excited to keep tracking that on Instagram. I'm sure you guys will post about it as the project continues. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. It was really great talking with you both about how you guys have been navigating this and keeping your customers around and making
00:32:08
Speaker
their purchasing experience and working with your fund really positive experience for all those customers. So thanks for joining. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.
00:32:16
Speaker
Awesome. I want to extend my thanks to Will and Amy for joining us on this week's podcast episode. Here at Barnadore, we're humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, including Old Rich Valley Farm. If you would like to connect with Amy and other farm advisors, you can attend Barnadore Connect. You can register for those weekly sessions at barnadore.com slash connect. And for more information on Old Rich Valley Farm, you can follow them on their Instagram. Their handle is just at Old Rich Valley Farm. Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next week.
00:32:48
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in. For more free farm resources, tips, and tactics that are most successful farms use to grow and manage their business, visit barnadore.com slash resources. Also don't forget to subscribe to the Direct Farm podcast to automatically download our weekly episodes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.