alright guys in today's video we're
gonna talk about five ways to pick up
new clients and keep them that's coming
up in this next video all right guys
number one way to pick up new clients is
samples the best way to showcase your
product and pick up new restaurants in
your area is you have to have a
rock-solid product that just out beats
the competition and the best way to do
that if nobody knows who you are yet is
you got to give them a sample and you
don't want to just give them a sample
that is gonna be just a little bit for
maybe like one person you want to give
them a decent amount so that they can
make a dish feature it on their menu and
really offer something awesome to their
clients that are dining in the
restaurant that night so my
recommendation would be a five pound box
something that is gonna showcase a
standard box for your operation for them
to buy let them know the price point so
that they can get a really good idea of
what they're going to be buying off of
you and you know this this brings me to
when you're starting your business the
most important thing is your product and
you need to have a good product before
you figure out your efficiencies before
you even dial in your whole business the
most important thing is having a grow
room produce a consistent product that
restaurants are going to buy so that
leads me into number two is consistency
restaurants are not going to continue to
buy from you if you don't have a
consistent product so that means now you
need to figure out how to dial in your
systems so that you have X amount of
mushrooms per week so that you can
distribute that to your clients so it's
really important that you know the
constraints of your business you got to
know that what you're able to supply and
you don't want to over promise and under
deliver you really need to figure out
what you can supply
how many restaurants that is and I'm
gonna give you guys an idea a typical
restaurant order for the mushroom
business in my area is any rate between
5 and 20 pounds of mushrooms a week now
it really depends on your clients and
how busy busy they are but you know a
whale client a big client that really is
like our top our top 20 percent of our
business is typically at between 20 and
40 pounds of mushrooms a week and then
an average client like a local kind of
fresh Bistro little coffee shop or just
a small restaurant it's usually going to
take about 5 pounds of mushrooms a week
and then I would say a standard client
is about 10 pounds of mushrooms a week
so when I started out in this business
five years ago my goal was about 50
pounds of mushrooms a week then I moved
up to a hundred and now we're about 400
pounds of mushrooms a week and we should
be even exceeding that next year so
consistency is how you're gonna keep
your clients and as and it's how you're
going to scale up and pick up new
clients it's probably one of the more
important things that you need to
realize because restaurants you you can
excite them they can be interested in
your product but if you disappoint them
they're gonna walk away quick so always
focus on consistency and only promise
what you can deliver okay number three
is value your restaurant clients or the
farmers market the local public in your
area for the farmers market they're
gonna want to have perceived value for
what they're buying so you really need
to do your market research and see what
other firms in your area what they're
selling similar product for and maybe
there's a market edge where you guys can
provide a specialty product that's not
currently on the market and make a
little bit more money for that but you
need to show value and for our business
where local inspired business so we sell
direct to restaurant direct to market so
our value is day harvested fresh to
restaurant fresh to market mushrooms and
in most cases we're offering a product
that's not even on the market so we we
focus on quality and we focus on
specialty varieties to give our clients
perceive value so that they are
happy to pay what we're what we're
charging for our box of mushrooms but
again I've done the market research in
our area and I try to do something that
is very fair and and within the lines of
our market because that's really
important because if you're going to
keep clients you have to have a price
point that they're willing to pay that
they can make money from or if it's for
the farmers market they have to be able
to afford to to buy your product and
consistently come back because you want
to have repeat customers that's how you
grow and if you guys do all those things
really well
that brings us into number four is word
of mouth now that is probably the most
powerful thing for my business
heading into year five next year is that
I don't really need to actively approach
clients clients always approach me
because we have done a really good job
in our area and we've we've peaked a lot
of interests and we've maintained some
clients coming into year five four for a
long time and you know word of mouth is
the only way you're gonna grow your
business and word of mouth can even
destroy your business so focusing on all
these things that I'm talking about is
is only is is only gonna lead to
positive word-of-mouth so that clients
are gonna approach you and you're gonna
have trouble supplying as many clients
as as there is interest in your area if
you do a good a job as I am I always
have a waiting list for potential
clients but I never over promise and
under deliver if I think I can't pick up
new clients then I put them on a list
and I tell them I'll fit them in as soon
as production elevates beyond what is
our current potential so it's really
important because chefs are always
willing to wait but I don't want to
disappoint them and I only want to pick
up new clients when we can supply that
right now in our area we do about four
hundred pounds of mushrooms a week and
that supplies anywhere between 32 and 40
restaurants a week and a farmers market
if our if our supply allows us to go to
the farmers market just to give you guys
an idea of the scale of our business
currently and finally guys number five
is social media
you really need to focus on developing
your brand and in today's Internet age
the only way to do that is through
social media platforms like YouTube
Instagram Facebook this is how you're
gonna get the word out there this is how
you're gonna show people what you're
doing in your business because let's
face it guys the mushroom industry is
not common knowledge people don't know
how to grow mushrooms and it is your job
to inspire them how this how this
process is done and it's the best way to
showcase your product and all your hard
work and get people on board and really
be soldiers for your business they want
to they want to support you and be
inspired by what you're doing and we do
that through our education program but
we also we also do that to pick up new
clients because we develop a baseline of
what we're doing every week I get chefs
contacting me all the time when I post a
new mushroom they're like oh my god
you guys got king oysters you guys got
pink oysters I want those and I can only
do that with social media and you know
it's it's so important these days if you
guys want to grow your business
and and really develop a global strategy
social media is the only way to do that
and YouTube as I'm finding out this year
is probably the most powerful social
media out there people really relate to
video and they really connect with your
ideals and your business so my number 5
guys is gonna be social media because
that is the best way to develop your
brand and that is definitely my biggest
secret is how I develop my brand is
through YouTube Instagram and Facebook
anyways guys I hope you found this
helpful my five ways to pick up new
clients and keep them it's really an
ongoing strategy for us but it's really
important to understand how important
these things are if you want to maintain
your business and be competitive in your
local marketplace anyways I'll talk to
you soon
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