Tips For Being a Successful Farmers Market Vendor

These tips or being a successful farmers market vendor are what I learned from eight years of selling at farmers markets.

Note:
-We do not offer farm tours or accept visitors
-We do not sell from the farm
-We do not ship our farm's products
-We do not sell live animals

[nathansummers]

Just want to say hope your read this but you are the reason why I want to have my own farm and wish you would post every other day. Because I enjoy your videos so much ☺️

[isaacjcooper]

Pete you motivated me to start shopping at my local farmers market a few months ago and it has been life changing. The food and people are just awesome!

[jonathanking]

The Ithaca farmer's market should point all vendors to this video as an educational video. Every vendor could benefit from your advice.

[brentkreinop]

Before their other businesses took off and started demanding more of their time, my mom and stepfather would sell dolls at various local arts and crafts fairs. One very hot summer day, they brought my grandparents with them to the sales booth. My grandmother had some crock pots of chili that she was selling along with cans of soda. My grandfather, being a preacher turned car salesman, began hocking that chili. By the end of the day he was touting it as the best chili in three states. The sno-cone sales booth next door was consistently tossing the evil eye their direction all afternoon. Did I mention that it was a very hot summer day? They ran out of chili about three hours in, and ran out of soda twice (I made a grocery run halfway through the afternoon for them). The sno-cone booth failed to sell much at all until they ran out of chili. Every time you post a market video, that afternoon comes to mind. Only my grandfather could sell hot chili on a humid, 105F afternoon :)

[petermaguire]

Keep smiling Pete, makes my day to see you so enthused with what you and Hilary do

[brianwhitmore]

You absolutely hit the nail on the head! I'm guilty of 2 bad habits at market, I sometimes surf my phone when it gets slow and I do sit in a chair (I have a degenerating hip that needs replacement so I simply cannot stand for long periods of time). Last week I brought a small woodworking bench to market and a basic set of hand tools and started a project during the slow times. It got a few people that never were interested in my products (microgreens and heirloom produce) before to stop and begin a conversation. Once they started talking to me, most of them made a purchase. I wasn't surfing my phone, got something accomplished, and gained a few new customers. Who knew? Thank you for this video, you confirmed I was doing a few things right and got me to evaluate my shortcomings. Now I think I need to purchase a taller chair ( still have to sit more because of the hip).

[jackyeakey]

Just wanted to congratulate you you did an excellent job in in explaining salesmanship that's what I was taught to just wanted to give you a pat on the back I know you get a lot of negativity so here's something positive

[puskabeuford]

Your advice and tips transcend farming and farmer's markets, I think. Valuable tips for just being a good, quality person. 👍🦅🇺🇸

[herbhouston]

Pete, I love your videos! What you provide your customers is much more than quality meat and eggs... It's knowledge... and sensitivity... and a "realness" about you. You have a genuine quality of caring for your customers, for your products, for your farm, for yourself and family. That comes through in every video I watch. You're a man secure in who he is... and that shows in everything you do. The life you live is a perfect fit for who you are.

[MarkWYoung-kyuc]

I love your market Mr. Pete! Whoever designed it knew exactly what they were doing.

[jonathanking]

When I was a kid, local farmers had roadside stands on their property. We would go to the same farmer for sweet corn and other vegetables. It was great to talk with the farmer

[ClearlyBlissful]

Keep up the great work Pete. You’re a bright light in a crazy world. 😃

[davidhayden]

Very enjoyable video Pete. Thank you so much for taking us along for market day.

[BillTheTractorMan]

Absolutely Pete, you hit the nail on the head. It seems a lot of people in my area here really love the back story, they want to "see" and "Feel" where their items come from. Some sellers at the market here have pictures on a tack board they bring with them, another lady has a digital picture frame that rotates through pictures she has taken on her farm in the last week, her customers like to look at the pictures and see the updates. Most of the younger folks will look on Facebook or Instagram. The older folks who attend the market like to see the pictures and hear the stories in person. We have a more primarily older population than it looks like you have.

[markstelson]

Have good products, reasonable prices and be nice! That's all you need.

[jasonbice]

I enjoy when you go to market, seeing all the different people coming together like a community.

[ruthmeow]

I always wondered about having videos of the animals just living the life at the farm playing on a screen at the market.

[home-powersystems]

I love it when you walk around because I am a people watcher and you have such great crowds with lots of flair about them. Thanks for your hard work...no the vids, Hah.

[amech]

I am about to retire . Have 2 acres I’m going to try to homestead and Later AG and farm. You are my inspiration. Thanks

[davidschlecht]

Pete, this video shows the value of being honest and be able to listen to establish a bond between the customer and yourself.This will be your success.