The Business Millennials Podcast

[Guest Expert] Market Strategy & Farmer Markets - Sarah Dylan Jensen, The Market Maven

• Ashley Dreager & Safa Harris • Season 1 • Episode 14

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This episode of the Business Millennials Podcast features an in-depth conversation with Safa Harris and Ashley Dreager, founders of Scale and Thrive Co., and special guest Sarah, a local business owner and farmers market manager. They dive into how farmers markets can serve as a powerful business incubator, offering direct consumer interaction, community impact, and opportunities for significant return on investment (ROI) for small businesses. The discussion highlights the importance of showing up consistently, engaging directly with customers, and using farmers markets as a marketing channel to expand brand awareness, test product desirability, and grow other revenue streams. The conversation also touches on the value of listening to customers for refining business and marketing strategies and how farmers markets can drive business growth beyond just seasonal sales.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Farmers markets can serve as valuable business incubators, providing opportunities for small businesses to test products, build customer relationships, and grow their brands.
  2. Consistency and commitment are key factors in a vendor's success at a farmers market, as it takes time to establish trust and loyalty with customers.
  3. Engaging with customers, sharing the unique story behind a business or product, and creating an exceptional customer experience can help vendors stand out in a competitive market environment.
  4. Vendors should view their participation in farmers markets as part of a broader marketing strategy, leveraging the exposure and connections gained to grow their businesses beyond the market.
  5. Market managers can support vendors by providing tools and resources, such as online directories and marketing support, to help them maximize their success both during and outside of the market season.

Timestamps:
03:43 The Evolution of Farmers Markets: Strategies for Growth
07:58 Building Brand and Sales Through Unique Value Propositions
13:05 The Farmer's Market as a Marketing Goldmine
20:15 From Market Booths to Business Growth: Real Stories of Success
28:44 The Farmer's Market: A Community Impact and Business Incubator
30:30 Challenges and Expectations for Vendors
31:37 The Importance of Vendor Presence and Interaction
34:26 Maximizing Opportunities at the Market
38:10 Consistency and Commitment for Success
40:03 Leveraging Market Participation for Business Growth

Connect with Sarah
https://www.facebook.com/themarketmaven

https://www.instagram.com/yourmarketmaven

https://www.yourmarketmaven.com/

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Welcome to the business millennials podcast. This show brings you strategic insights through raw and unfiltered real world advice to accelerate your business growth for longterm success. I'm Safa Harris, and I'm Ashley Drager. We're the founders of scale and thrive co a full service marketing and business development firm, helping visionary companies scale sustainably. Expect us to have the uncomfortable conversations that no one else is having. We'll break down what it really takes to grow and scale your business beyond six So, um, I'm going to be talking about how to create a business model that is focused on a number of different aspects, including marketing, product development, sales, and So, let's jump into this week's episode. Let's jump into this week's episode. I'm going to be talking about how to create a business model that is focused on a number of different aspects, including marketing, product development, sales, and more. Be a fly on the wall as we conduct strategy sessions with business owners experiencing issues such as plateaued income, burnout, and generally dropping the ball, giving you the tools and resources to break through your own roadblocks, but also personal development methods to grow you as a balanced conscious leader amidst business growth. Let's jump into this week's episode.

Ashley Dreager:

Okay, so I guess we'll just kind of, we'll jump into it. Sarah, Safa, introductions. Because you guys haven't formally met. I know Sarah. She's local to me here. In the Lake Stevens area.

Safa Harris:

And I'm guessing you might know who I am. I'm Ashley's business partner. We have a resource shop, an agency together, we met. In a very weird way through, a book club and all of that and since it's taken off, we were both in business independently for a while. I was, you know, in the online space doing more operation stuff, business growth stuff, revenue streams and things like that. And then I have a business with my husband doing transportation and trucking. So, you know, this, this online stuff is more my creative jam. Wow. Yeah, exactly. And then, um, so then eventually me and Ashley were like, Twin powers unite and built all this other stuff. Um, I've heard bits and pieces of how you and Ashley have worked together and what you kind of have going on. So I'd love to hear your intro.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Okay. I am Sarah and I met Ashley through a networking group that we have here, local to like Snohomish County, Lake Stevens area, but also, wanted her on my podcast because I actually started my whole business doing social media for small businesses. And then that morphed into running farmer's markets locally. One turned into two, two turned into three. I had four at one point in time. Now to three. Um, and so I'm working with small businesses all the time, which is what I love, but not so much doing like the marketing side of individual small businesses anymore. And, I just thought it would be great to have her on the podcast to talk about What that's like. And then also maybe give some free kind of tips on how vendors who maybe listened to my podcast, hopefully, um, can better their business by way of, you know, social media marketing. It's a whole lot to be in person at the market. Obviously, that's the key, but also building up for markets, which is what I still do. I still do the social media for all of my markets and it's a lot, but, yeah, I love, I love just helping small businesses. So that's kind of my passion.

Safa Harris:

So I already have questions just from your introduction. Okay, so question one is, so how did you kind of transition from doing social media for small businesses and to being like, oh, farmers markets are what they're missing? Like how'd that transition happen? And then I guess kind of the structure of your farmer markets, your involvement of like bringing them in as vendors and all of that kind of stuff.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Sure. So it happened quite organically. So I was doing this social media for small businesses, um, specifically in like the Snohomish area. Cause there's a lot of tiny little businesses down there, you know, brick and mortar stores that were having a hard time keeping up with technology kind of advancing. This is, you know, 12 years ago. So Facebook for business was kind of a new thing. now it's morphed into something that I don't even like very much, but. just was getting involved with businesses. I was going to the chamber of commerce meetings, like trying to grow my business and then also doing some help with event coordination, special events. Um, if you've seen like wine walks in your downtown regions, those types of things. And so just connecting with those people and through the chamber and through connecting with some of those people, the farmer's market was looking for a new manager. And one of my connections said, Hey, the market's looking for a new manager. I know you're still trying to grow your business. Like Why don't you give that a try? And I was like, I've never done anything like that. Like what like, great, but you're passionate about small businesses and what better way to help grow small businesses than at the farmer's market. So I put my name in the hat and I may have been the only one that put my name in the hat. I'm not really sure, but they interviewed me at a random like Mexican restaurant and, uh, told me to step outside for like five minutes and then brought me back in like you're hired. And so then it just created this like learning. Mountain that I had to dive in and figure out the heck am I doing? Um, that was 10 years ago. Tomorrow is opening day of my 10th season with that specific market. And it has grown exponentially. Um, the way it was being run before actually similar to how it's being run now, but they just had very limiting beliefs on what they could do. And like, you'll never get more than X number of vendors in here. You know, this is the kind of vendors we're looking for. And I was like, no, this could be so much bigger. So for context, when I started, they were getting about 35 to 40 ish vendors every single Thursday. We're opening tomorrow with 115. So

Ashley Dreager:

Wow.

Safa Harris:

wow. So what, what was

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

over the years.

Safa Harris:

That's, that's so amazing. So what would you say is the strategy change that you went into other than just like, yeah, there's more potential here. What strategy did you bring in or add on that really flipped that switch and really allowed for that potential growth to happen for the farmer's market?

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I think that I didn't just it in for the day of like, yeah, markets happening. Great. Like we just do this every week for 21 weeks. It was spending the off season, going to other events, going to other markets, looking at what they were doing, looking at how they were doing it. And also realizing that. exclusivity specifically in a farmer's market or even like a downtown shopping district. You can't just have one person doing one thing. And that's the only one doing that thing. A farmer's market thrives because you have many farmers and you have lots of options for customers to choose from. There's kind of like a little secret formula that I don't quite know even still in this time, where that lies. So, you know, As we grow, you can add more in each category, and it doesn't seem like so saturated, but it also gives customers options. One person might like candles that are made in upcycled wine bottles. Another person might like them in mason jars for like a very like rustic, Shabby chic type of feel. One person might want organic. One person might not care, or they want the Eastern Washington produce that comes in way earlier than what we get over here. So it's just been kind of like finding that mixture of what works. And then as we go, we add and as we go, it's kind of organically happened as well, where the level of vendors has just elevated, you know, the artisans and crafters that I've seen. Um, over the last 10 years, they have like had a serious glow up in their businesses. And I think COVID changed that too. You know, a lot of people they were really not happy doing what they were doing in a corporate world and they were really creative. So they took that energy and just put it into a business, which is now, you know, thriving through different events and markets.

Safa Harris:

Oh, that's amazing because two things stood out for me from what you were saying One being like just not phoning it in for day of And I think that is something a lot of businesses owners don't realize that you can't do an event or i'll Event activation or any kind of launch of product series literally anything without the build up in it and I think Like Ashley speaks about this a lot about, especially now in the way marketing is happening, the business climate, everything like that launch timelines take so much longer than it does to ramp up and be able to bring all of that to it. And I think that gets missed out. And that could easily be a low hanging fruit for people. It's like, Hey, don't just do this two weeks ahead and put it together. Like spend the time and build up on it. And then. In that same vein, it's like spending that time on doing the brand awareness and the launch awareness and spending that time for the build up, but also on the idea of, oh, this is oversaturated, there's competition, there's someone that does the same exact XYZ as I do, but just like you said, no, it doesn't, that they have these different distinctions and a different ideal and target audience. audience and client that they're looking for that's very specific to exactly what they do and spending that time differentiating their brand and creating that brand awareness and bringing in that unique value proposition there. Um, is those are like the two like businessy terms for what I heard from what you said. Um, and I think those are definitely things people miss out on that they're not taking advantage of to have that said, glow up?

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. And another thing I see sometimes is when a vendor will be like, well, I can't believe that you brought in another vendor that's doing honey or jam or insert whatever the thing is. And I'm like, if you focus on yours and why yours is better, whether it's better or not, but why you feel yours is better than that's your sales game. And like, get the. Customer to try it. Maybe they like the other one better. That's okay. They may not have ever come to your booth regardless of if you know, the other vendor was here or not. But I try to always encourage them to like spend your energy not thinking about I'm so upset that there's this other vendor that does the same thing as me. Think about how you make yourself different. There's thousands of real estate agents just in our region. way they get business is when they click with somebody. And so trying to remind the vendors of that mentality is really what I, what I do along with everything else.

Safa Harris:

No, I love, I would love to hear your thoughts. And I feel like Ashley has something to say, but like your thoughts on the, the, um, the correlation between like brand building and then sales.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

In what context?

Safa Harris:

So you just said that, like, focus on what you think makes you better and really hone in on that for your sales. So kind of in that of how they are digging into that unique value that they're Providing and how that's going to be the thing and that's going to be Building their brand around that and that's what's going to help them make the sales In particular in the pharma markets like one on ones Scenario, but I think that like speaks to sales and brand building at large

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah, definitely. Um, I try to encourage everybody to kind of their story. You know, a customer doesn't know just looking at a bottle or a candle or Anything, what goes into it? And that's, I mean, that's a huge thing. That's even at a mall. People don't know what goes into the design process of clothing. I used to work in fashion design, so I get it. But having to explain, having that small window of opportunity when they do come up to a booth to tell that story, but then also translating that into their buildup of sales and marketing is In their social media or in their email lists, you know, telling little blips of their story really, I think helps create that connection to the customer. And again, it's not that it's better than the next person's story, but it's their story. And you never know that person that's about to make a purchase or thinking of making a purchase. If that story is going to resonate with them, if you say this rhubarb came from my grandma's plants that I've now transported into my farm, or we took over her farm and that's what goes into our jam, somebody may have just lost their grandmother. And that's going to like really speak to their heart, like that emotional connection. And I think that's where farmers markets really thrive. Because you're not an online store, not that there's anything wrong with those, but you get that opportunity to be with that person, that potential customer and tell that story.

Ashley Dreager:

It's more personalized, more intimate, that kind of thing. Yeah. I was going to ask if you find that people. Or those that try to get into farmers markets see farmers markets as more of the easy way out for marketing. Like they don't have to do as much of the building, digging into the messaging and the written marketing and you know, the differentiating value, all of those pieces that typically we would put together to separate one from the rest of the competition. If it's sometimes seen as the Kind of shortcut to sales, to getting in front of people and making those conversions.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

So yes and no. Yes, I can. I am prepping myself mentally for, because you know, market season starts tomorrow for me. Um, we get so many people that come up to the market info booth, like, Hey, how do I set up a booth here? And I'm kind of like just how they phrased the question. I'm like, it is more than just setting up a booth. You know, I think that you, you nailed it on the head and I've never actually been able to like cultivate why it bothers me so much because they think that we just like. Set up a market every Thursday and that's it. And. I will kind of like raise my eyebrow and be like, do you understand that they've been here already? By the time market opens, they've been here for 4 hours and that doesn't include packing up their car driving to the market. Plus all the things that they had to do, either growing, picking. Cultivating making products. Those I'm just like, there's so much more to it than just the 45 we charge a week. So generally when I start to talk to people about what it takes, like I never hear from them again, but on the flip side, I have some vendors that maybe don't sell a ton during the market day. Like our coffee vendor is a great example. They do. roasted coffee, they roast their own beans. So they get the beans from fair trade organizations, then they roast it and they serve that coffee at the market, but not espresso, which everybody wants espresso. So they'll do hotter iced coffee, but then that opens up the door for the conversation about how they roast the coffee. And. I'll see their sales numbers at the end of the day and I'll be like, ah, sorry, not a great day. And the owner, the co owner, he'll say, it was a great day. I got to talk to so many people about what I do. He said, it's the best 45 I've ever spent for marketing ever. He's like, it's the easiest, not easiest, but it's the easiest 45 because print advertising isn't going to get me this media isn't going to get me quite this conversation, but I can offer them a sample of coffee. They can try it. And where we make money is home delivery, you know, in the off season. So I think it works both ways. I think there's an expectation that it's just going to be like, I set up a booth and I sell out every week, or it's, this is the best 45 I can spend marketing for my business.

Ashley Dreager:

I think that really speaks to the mindset and how in tune the business owner is with their marketing strategy and what role that plays in the overall strategy in the business strategy in that long term vision. And that's something that I feel like I preach all the time with strategy. It's not this big complicated term. It's just what is your plan to make every action that you're taking intentional for that bigger vision for that goal? It's not that every, every action and every piece of content and everything that you're doing needs to immediately turn into a sale. has to move the needle in some way and knowing how it's going to move the needle or having an intention or a plan for. What type of movement that's going to be to move the business along to push things further.

Safa Harris:

Yeah, I think this speaks a lot to what you were saying about like this investment into coming to this farmer's market is yeah, there's the financial investment of the 45 plus the investment of the product development and whatever they needed to put in to create that, but also the time investment that goes into showing up and doing all of that. And this is essentially a marketing tactic, right? It's a marketing tactic you're showing up and doing. It's a direct, uh, Sale marketing situation where you're one on one and the return on investment of that money and that time and those years of blood, sweat and tears of doing that product development is like it may not be sales today, but it is going to pull people into this brand. That's just very direct to the owner and their story and their family and things like that. And the sales might not be on that day, but like Ashley was saying, it's moving the business forward in a direction of creating those loyal customers and people really getting your word out there and doing that brand awareness that will eventually convert into sales. And I'm sure. I am sure there's some very data savvy person you have out there that is tracking who came from the farmer's market and how, what their average life, uh, customer value is, lifetime value and what that conversion rate is. Like, I would love to see that.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I

Safa Harris:

sure like there's someone out there that has that.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

somebody I can tell you it's not me. Um, I track sales. I get their sales each week and we kind of evaluate the whole season. I just don't necessarily look at individual sales over time. I hear their stories where they say, you know, I

Safa Harris:

Yeah.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

come back after like, kind of being a looky Lou for a long time and made, you know, a 300 sale or something like that. But, um, I don't. I just don't have the bandwidth to track that, especially across three markets, but I'm sure somebody could make a million dollars doing that. Cause we're all just, sometimes we're all like market day. Like it can be a nice day. It could be middle of the summer. Everything can be like ready to buy berries, you know, fruits, veggies, all that kind of stuff. And it's just slow. And we're like, what?

Safa Harris:

Mhm.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

week it's like slightly cloudy and a chance of rain and it's like hopping. And I'm like, I don't know what the science is customer behavior, but I know we're just going to keep doing everything we can to get people in. You know, we have some strategy behind when we released some marketing things or, you know, a final push for the end of the season because everybody's like at that time they're all like sick of berries and they're sick of like the same stuff that they've been seeing. And they're just like, man, I don't need any more berries. I don't need any more fruits and veggies. And then of course, the last week of the market season, they're just like, Oh my God, what am I going to do without you all winter? You guys should be around. And I'm like, no, we absolutely should not be because you won't come here on a sunny day in June. You're damn sure not coming on a grainy day in November.

Safa Harris:

We just kind of talked about how these farmer markets could actually be like a huge revenue, ROI for these smaller businesses. and how it's a very calculated part of. A strategy and how it fits in and does all these great things. So what have you noticed with the people that see the most success, long term that are participants in the farmer's market and is there anybody that like, this is like where they focus all their effort, this is really all they have going on marketing wise, or I guess what's the spread of this is just once part of their marketing strategy.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I think that I've seen the gamut. I've obviously seen businesses fail. There's some red flags that happen along the way of like, they're just not putting in the effort. They're phoning it in and then we have farmers who obviously market season is kind of their height. You know, it's when they can get direct access to consumers. But with that, some of them have gone on to either get grant funding or other outsourced funding for it. Increasing their availability in the off season. So maybe putting in the greenhouse tunnels or a full on greenhouse so they can have kind of the basics, especially when we're in a localized, you know, downtown location where we've got shops and restaurants. I see so many restaurant owners coming through the market, right. As we open and getting their stuff for menu, fresh sheets, then that helps them build relationships with the farmers. And then they can start to have conversations where we're going to need this in the winter. How do we make that happen? And the farmer has to think. What is the investment that I need to make to sustain this business year round where they don't have to go back to like a nine to five job in the wintertime? You know, I think that that's one of the best things about being a farmer's market is the fact that it's a business incubator. It can go lots of different directions. Um, and some, some artisans and crafters, some farmers, some, um, Craft beverage makers have opened shops. We have, I think my record right now is that nine people that have gone on to open a brick and mortar shop. they didn't necessarily set out with that intention of coming to the market to like gauge interest, to update their menus, that kind of stuff. But that's what gradually happened over time. One started with cupcakes. You know, gluten free vegan, dairy free cupcakes. And now she has a shop on the corner of our farmer's market and still pays that 45 every week to have a booth at the market because business wise for her, it makes sense to not have her staff overrun at the bakery. She can have somebody like doing orders and stuff over at the market and still have staff available baking at the bakery and not be so like overwhelmed. I think that's been the coolest thing is to see how they. Play it. And then some just, they do markets. That's what they do. It's either a secondary job or it's something that they're trying to grow. And markets allow them to be in place having the overhead expense of a brick and mortar, but it also gives them exposure to other event organizers for them to do holiday markets or winter markets or other markets, um, around the region.

Ashley Dreager:

I think that there is so much value for as a business owner. just, as you guys are talking, there's so many questions and ideas and tips going through my mind of, Oh, if I was working with a vendor that utilizes markets, I'd want them to do this and I'd want them to do that. but generally speaking, you know, one of my. One of my mentors, uh, Mia Fileman, I've talked to her or talked about her a little bit on my Instagram. She runs the got marketing podcast, um, with campaign Delmar. And she says that, marketing is just really good listening. And I love that phrase because it is so true. I mean, you think about, know, how, how we develop our messaging and the phrases that we're using, you know, we have to be listening to our customers and what better way than if you're having a face to face conversation. With the people who are most interested in what you have offer what you're, you know, the people that are buying from you, it's, survey forms and comments and the DMS. Those are, you know, those are really great. And I would always encourage business owners to utilize those as well of. You know, pay attention when somebody is sending you a message. How are they talking? How are they phrasing things? But when someone is face to face with you, you have instant access to them to immediately ask a follow up question. And they're probably not just going to walk away from you without saying anything, right? They wouldn't just leave. They can't just leave you on read the same way. Um, And so that's just, I know it's an extra step and it can take up brain space and, you know, it's more work, but is just a goldmine of information for the business owner of, you know, what flavors should you incorporate? What, why are people buying berries this week? Is it an uptick in making or people just snacking differently or? You know, those are all things that you can use.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Mhm.

Safa Harris:

And Sarah, as you were talking, like what stood out to me, it's like, yeah, we started this conversation talking about marketing and marketing strategy and how this is a marketing tactic, but we can see how these marketing actions are directly related to their business strategy and their business growth. So they're having these one, they're. Networking, which a network is going to be a game changer for any business owner. One, not only for sales and referrals and things like that, but connections you're making. So as you were saying, Oh, like they could potentially find other sales revenue sources. That they need to invest into and to expand to get them through a slower season, but they're also going to find the vendors that are going to help them make those investments and do those things. And they're going to be having those direct conversations like Ashley was saying with the people that are buying their product, which will allow them to innovate in their business. To one, add additional revenue sources, growth activity, make adjustments to their current revenue sources, growth activity to keep it fresh and innovative at what people actually want to buy. And then from there, they can incrementally continue to grow their business because that's the one thing that I've seen, that happens with small business owners. They'll be like, this is what I do. This is all I do. And this is all I ever want to do. And I never want to change anything. And I don't want to do it because I like this as happy, but people can consumers change, preferences change, and your business has to grow and adapt with that, and if you're unwilling to kind of do that, that's kind of when you start, like you're either going to be okay. Yeah. Like that. I did my goal. I did what I wanted to do. Like, that's good. Like people just don't want this anymore. Fine. But if this is something that you're looking to, like you said, not go back to a nine to five during the winter, going through the slow season, you're going to see everything as an opportunity to do more in your business. You're To keep it going in that way. And this just like Ashley said, sounds like a gold mine to get those ideas and to understand exactly what it is and start kind of incrementally putting that work in and making those changes to continue to grow your business, to make it more than just. Oh, I, I got through, I got through the summer season. I got through the spring season. I have enough money, but now let me go like do some door dash during the winter to keep it going.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. And I mean, there's, it should be said that there's nothing wrong with that.

Safa Harris:

Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

at the same time, I think that entrepreneurs that participate in something like a farmer's market or a special event, I think they have that mindset of, I don't want to go back to X, Y, Z that I was doing before. That's at least the stories that I've heard the most is that it's brutal, but it's less brutal than working for somebody else.

Ashley Dreager:

Yeah, I was going to say with how much time it takes just to set up one week, I would ask why you wouldn't want this to grow into something that's more sustainable and has more of that passive element to it that doesn't have the hustle and grind all the time every year. Week after week, you know,

Safa Harris:

I think Ashley and I talk about this all the time, especially about going back to a nine to five when we're in tough moments of business, we're like, yeah, this sucks, but like, it would suck so much more to have a commute or have a boss or do whatever. Like I would rather suffer through this moment. And get through it, then, um, deal with that, but, I don't know, like you said, I love the idea that this is actually a business incubator.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. Anytime I'm pitching a farmer's market, or just talking about it. It's kind of the three points that I hit on is that we're community impact. You know, we're driving revenue and sales to not just our market, but everything around us. That's why it's so important for a farmer's market to be in like a downtown corridor, to be part of a main street organization, because all of those businesses around better on market day because of the success of the market. It's food access. That's, you know, our biggest and. huge goal is to provide food access to educate people about why agriculture rich areas are so important in our communities and why they should stay that instead of like high density housing or anything. You know, there is a place for high density housing, but not taking farmland away from that. And then lastly, it is that business incubator aspect is that we're just growing potential new tenants for these businesses in. in that town, in a regional area, you know, and customers love seeing that story develop.

Ashley Dreager:

I love the small business aspect whenever it's farmer season and I'm going, I don't know, this is going to sound weird. I don't know that I've ever said this out loud, but I always wish that I was a millionaire. So I could just go support every single one of the businesses there. Cause it's just, it's so inspiring. I love the stories and the work and the dedication and the resilience that comes with it. Cause you can, you find really unique, creative. Small businesses at farmers markets. It's not like walking through a mall where everything's very corporate and cut and dry. It's, it's

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah,

Ashley Dreager:

very unique.

Safa Harris:

You never know when there's going to be an investor walking through and they come to your booth.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

that is absolutely true.

Safa Harris:

Yeah.

Ashley Dreager:

So what would you say is either the biggest challenge that you see vendors facing? into market season, or what would you like to see different from the vendors who utilize season as part of their business model?

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I just, I get frustrated when a vendor does kind of just phone it in and phone it in literally and figuratively when they just sit at the back of their booth and they're on their phone and they're not engaging. We don't allow like, I guess it's called cat calling or like barking, like hustling outside of your booth. But like, there's a fine line with that. We have a salsa guy who just like kind of holds up a little sample cup and he's like, yummy, yummy. And your tummy, like that kind of thing, which is really cute. Not like

Safa Harris:

Hmm.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

by my salsa, but it's just like, it makes people stop and, you know, engage with him. And I think that the vendors that sit at the back or they don't engage, you know, some, sometimes these creative folks are introverts. And so it is very difficult for them to like get out of their shell, but just standing in front of the table, you know, we just. Created a workshop for vendors, um, that Ashley presented in where we had Rachel with sales coaching too, but just like being on the other side of that visible barrier, talking about things, not asking yes or no questions, you know, engaging. I see so many that just are in the back and all you see is the top of their head and it's frustrating. And I get it's a long day, especially when it's 95 degrees. We've been doing this for 17 weeks and we're all just like done with humanity, but you still, I mean, Is that better than working for somebody at a nine to five or commuting to Seattle, any of those types of things. So getting them to remember why they're there, why are they're showing up? other thing, you know, aside from phones is that they're talking to their neighbors because they're friends, they become friends. I love that. I love that connection that happens, but sometimes I'm like, I might have to separate you two. If like, you know, if you're not going to engage with the customers, because somebody else wants to be in this booth spot, especially in Snohomish, I have a waiting list. You know, and somebody else would kill to be in this spot to get this exposure. So don't just phone it in, don't just show up and, you know, some days everybody gets a graceful, you know, period of time if something's happened in their family or just, they just aren't feeling it. There's days I'm not feeling it either. yeah. I put on that smile. I say hello to people. You know, I'm not even selling anything. We're just selling the service of the farmer's market. When we're helping people, I make sure the people that come up with their food stamp cards looking for information, don't feel like we're treating them any differently than anybody else. I get off my phone, I set it down, or I have somebody in my booth that is going to talk with them. If it's not me and I'm taking care of some like social media nightmare that's blowing up on Facebook.

Ashley Dreager:

I think that there's a lot of value in what you just said, because it, it applies to any business across the board, whether it's, um, in person, local, small business, online business, there's a level of sacrifice that comes along with it. I mean, there's always going to be things that we don't want to do, and there's always aspects of running a business that are outside of our wheelhouse, right? Like when Rachel was talking at the presentation, you know, it's, I know that not everybody is a natural born salesperson. Not everybody loves sales. Not everybody loves engaging in conversation and keeping that going, trying to get it out of the small talk of, Oh, how's the weather? It's really great that it's not raining, you know, like that kind of thing. But this just part of what needs to happen to the business, you know, not even just not even wanting to grow the business, but just maintaining where you're at maintaining that level of customer service and the customer experience that you want to be delivering and the other piece that I really wanted to pull out is, yeah, we may not be feeling it that day. Or, you know, it may be. the end of the market and you're really tired and it's been really hot, that may be the one time that someone brand new walks across your booth and the one opportunity that you had to capture them,

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Mhm.

Ashley Dreager:

right? It may not pushing for a sale, but just giving them a good experience to want to engage with your brand or your business. The next week, you know, someone is the, the, it's the first exposure and they see you and you're. Grumpy and you don't have a good smile, you know, uh, an approachable look or smile on your face. They may not care to give you a 2nd chance and that's really harsh to say, but it's, I think it's the reality, you know, it's the 1st impression and with so much competition these days, how much noise there is. You've really got to capture it when you have the opportunity.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. Or they've come across your booth and you're in the back talking with your neighbor about how so and so said something, you know, and gossiping. It just looks bad and it feels bad. And I

Safa Harris:

Hmm.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

a mall situation, if I walk into a store and the workers are like, they look put out by me, I'm not going back for quite some time. You know, I'm not spending my money there. That's for sure. And you never know if that one person was coming to get custom engraved necklaces for their bridesmaids, and that's going to be a 400 order. Like you just never know. You can't judge a book by its cover. You can't judge a customer by like, Oh, she just looks like she doesn't even look like somebody that would buy my stuff. You don't know. You really don't.

Ashley Dreager:

Oh, you don't know. I used to work for Pandora, the charm bracelets in the mall. I know how rough is, right? Like that, that Tuesday shift that was closing. So I'd be there from two to nine. Yeah. It's dead. No one wants to buy charm bracelets, fine jewelry on a Tuesday, right? And how hard it is to just keep that upbeat personality and the excitement every time somebody comes in. When it's that one person that hasn't come in and there's been nobody for the last like hour and a half. And you're just like, I want to just go home. Feels like a waste of time. Like I get it. I understand how hard it is to maintain that. And on the flip side as a consumer, I also wouldn't walk into that exact same store that I've worked at. If everybody was behind the counter and seemed like I was going to be the inconvenience, even knowing what that exact opposite situation is like.

Safa Harris:

I think this speaks to how, one, we've talked about the benefits of how this is directly to the consumer. You're directly in their face, you're having the direct. Communication and how advantageous that is and how it can lead to greater and bigger opportunities. But on the flip side, you have to, uh, Put that effort in to be more excited all the time and be on more to reap those benefits Versus if you're just doing social media content It's going you can create that content when you're in the mood when you're happy You've had a couple of energy drinks. You've been able to like work yourself up to get more of that while That's going to be a harder sell, a harder connection, it's going to take longer. But if you can like muster that energy in person in that moment, the payoff is going to be much greater than only doing it online when you're in those, in the mood to do it essentially.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah, I just think that there's so much that goes into it and I don't want to discredit the hard work that goes into being at a farmer's market or vending at a farmer's market. work that goes into that is intense and I even have a hard time sometimes showing up in the best possible way. But when we keep talking about like when, when the 50th vendor to load in comes in is like, Oh, it's raining. And I'm like, cause I haven't heard that before, you know, like for the last hour. And I can't do anything about it. So I think

Ashley Dreager:

Yeah.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

types of things, like, You know, with your neighbor before it opens, like, Oh, I'm so bummed. It's raining, blah, blah, blah. But then getting yourself in that positive mindset, like some of my best sales have happened on a rainy day. the diehards are the ones coming on a rainy day. You know, they're the ones that are coming here to spend money for that specific purpose because it's raining and nobody wants to be out in the rain. You know, we're Pacific Northwesterners. That's not what we do, even though we should at this point. So, um, just. I've been trying to reinstill that in vendors of just reframe your mindset of a positive, you know, it's raining, but isn't that so great that the plants are getting watered. You know, I don't have to water my garden this morning. Like those types of things.

Safa Harris:

No, it's the exact, it's the concept of like the return on investment. You are putting more energy investment in this moment, you're putting in more time energy investment in the moment, and the return will be greater if you can just muster it up and put that hard work in. And yeah, it's exhausting and that's part of business, but if you're coming here to have a result, it is going to return to you in some way or form. It's about framing and remembering that in the moment to muster that up and keep going. Oh.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

something that keeps coming up in my mind. Um, one of the things we go over with our vendors in our all member meetings, which they're required to attend just so they can ask the questions, you know, get the, the jitters out is don't pack up early. Like it could be, Yes, if it's pouring and raining and like, we all just want to go home, five minutes is really not that big of a deal, but I have had vendors that make three or four or 500 sales in the last 15 minutes of market. That's insane. Huge. And anytime I say that, like people's eyes get big in the zoom meeting and I'm like, yeah. So if you're packing up and you're already like shut down in your mind and you act like it's a hassle to help that person in the last 15 minutes, again, you don't know who that person is. They might be wanting to buy half of a cow for their family. They might be wanting to buy a huge art piece. I just heard an instance of a market that happened, I think last weekend or the weekend before it's called the odd mall. It's a completely strange and weird market. It's Fun though. It's super fun to go to. They had a huge Sasquatch statue. One of their booths was just like wood carvings, but all they had on display is this huge Sasquatch thing. People were like paying five bucks to take pictures with it. It was 15, 000 and it sold in the last 15 minutes of that market.

Ashley Dreager:

Wow.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

You just never know. Right? Like, somebody asked me, do I think you're going to sell a 15, 000 Sasquatch statue in the last 15 minutes of an eight hour market, I would be like, I would put all of my money on no. And then it happened. So even I'm wrong,

Safa Harris:

Something that you've said throughout this conversation is like, I don't know what the special ingredient is or the special sauce or like the thing or the scientific thing for XYZ result, but the common theme here is like, if you keep doing the effort and stick it out and keep showing up and doing all the things, eventually something of this is going to. Pan out and you're gonna get that back and it's going to work out You just got to keep going and keep trying and doing all of the things in an intentional way To eventually at some point maybe get these really big results Look at the idea is just like keep going keep doing all the things and make sure it's intentional So it's all the effort is going in that same direction. Just keep doing it.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

just keep swimming.

Safa Harris:

Yes. Just keep swimming

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

And I know that's probably a hard message for business owners. I mean, I don't want to hear like, just keep doing all the things. But I think Ashley, like when we talked on my podcast, we talked about like, find the thing that you can put the effort into. Like, that the really good effort and do that thing. You don't have to do TikTok blah, blah, blah, like all of the things and start a podcast and, and, and you can just do the few things that you know you're going to consistently show up for and do those well. And then if you have the opportunity, like at a farmer's market to be in person, then you amplify all of those things by being in person and being authentic, but also taking a step out of that comfort zone and like stepping into the sales role.

Ashley Dreager:

Yeah, exactly. I, um, have lived by the phrase action brings clarity. Ever since I started my freelance business, um, and I think that. It's just so true. Anytime you take an action, if you're open to analyzing and assessing and receiving the feedback that you're getting from that action, because it's not always going to be very clear of, Hey, you did this. This was the exact result. Like you have to go looking for the information, but as long as you're open receiving it and you're open to constructive criticism and just being objective, which I know can be really, really tricky As a business owner, because it's personal to us, we're so close to it, but there's so much change and adjustments and refinement that can happen in that feedback. I mean, it doesn't take this big grand idea that's, you know, takes months of planning to be the most successful. Sometimes it's that spontaneous decision that you make of whatever feedback you've been getting. That gets you the biggest results that gets, that propels you so much further than you would have imagined because you didn't put a ton of planning and thought into it as just, you know, Hey, this is what I've been seeing. Why don't we just try this

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Absolutely.

Ashley Dreager:

stuff? And you know exactly what I'm talking about too.

Safa Harris:

I know exactly what you're talking about because a lot of things that we've started have been, like, on a whim. It's like, oh, let's try it out. Let's, like, see what it is. And, like, see it to fruition. Don't just be like, oh, let me just throw something at it and see what happens. It's like, yeah, you can start something on a whim and try it out, but you need to Go in there with the intention of like this is something that could potentially work that might be the ticket and I don't know Let me put this effort in so if someone's saying hey I want to join a farm and work it on a whim see what happens like go in with the energy you need don't just try and do something wait if you're not going if you're just gonna phone it in and That might be the ticket. You don't know and still having You That mindset of trying and doing it and yeah, you don't have to do all of those things, but do the things you're doing well,

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

That brings up a great additional point is when people do say, I want to try it out. You know, they come once or twice to the market as a brand new business. So either, you know, they've never participated in our market before, or they're brand new, fresh out at like fresh new tent, fresh new tables, all that kind of stuff. They come once or twice. They don't make sales. Maybe they don't even make their booth fee, which 45. And they're like, yep, didn't work for me. And I'm like, It's kind of like being the new, the new kid at a high school. Like all of those other students are going to kind of like test you out, feel you out. They probably are going to walk by your booth a couple of times and not really like engage with you. Cause they're still checking it out. Market customers are some of the weirdest people that I've ever experienced in my life, simply because they don't have a science behind them. They're very loyal. They get excited about new vendors. If it's like, Malasadas, like the filled doughnuts of food is like something that excites them and they will dive in a hundred percent like the first week. But if you make wind chimes or if you are a new farmer, they're going to feel you out. And I'll try to tell vendors, I'm like, you've got to give it more time, like at least come once a month so that you have a schedule that they know you're going to be there. Cause if you show up twice and then you ghost, then I promise you they're never going to try and find you. I've never had somebody reach out to me and be like, I'm trying to find that vendor that was there one time. And I really wanted to buy something. I just didn't have the cashflow that week. I've never had that. It's the one that's consistent. I know she's only there once a month, but I really want to get in touch with her for this special order I want to do. I just try to instill that in vendors and I've actually kind of created like some form language when people are like, yeah, I just want to try it out once. And I'm like, that's one, not going to work for us. And two, not going to work for you. So you're going to have to kind of open up your, your mindset a little bit and take a bigger risk.

Safa Harris:

I think for and we recommend this to a lot to our clients is like every marketing tactic you tried there's a Timeline that you need to put in For before you're gonna be able to see results of how much you need to do and some of those timelines It's like you need to do this for a year Before you're going to see anything that you're looking for, and it has to be at this volume to do it, um, do you kind of have that recommendation of like, if you're doing this in person thing, if you're doing a market, like, this is how much time you need to give it at full effort. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

narrative over the last couple of years. Um, simply because at first I was just trying to grow it. So I'm like, yeah, come try it once. But what I've seen now that I have 10 years to see is that it doesn't go well for anybody. It doesn't go well when they come once it doesn't go well for them. It doesn't go well for customers or me just like trying to squeeze them in once and figure out like a good location for them, displacing somebody else that maybe is there every other week or every week. Um, the other thing is the incentives that we put in is. You're not going to be invited to our harvest or holiday markets. If you're just kind of showing up once or twice, you have to be an active participant and a good standing member of this community in order for you to participate and take up space at this highly coveted event. I mean, it was 187 vendors, I think at our holiday market inside the high school last November. And. People were driving over from Eastern Washington that morning to Venn. So I'm like, yeah, you're not going to get a space at that if you're not showing up and have a desirable product. And I don't know if your product is desirable at this point in time because you've only tried once.

Ashley Dreager:

Yeah, that's a really good point because from two perspectives as a consumer and as a marketing strategist, both emphasize the dependability and the predictability that would come along with that. And that's something that I've personally, uh, experience as a consumer at the Lake Stevens market going, walking around, but I can't stay very long because I've got two young kids, you know, it's right around dinner time. So I have to leave, I can't stop and have, you know, this really long in depth conversation with a vendor, but I'm planning to go back that next week. And then they're not there. And then they're not the week after that or the week after that. And I'm like, well, I couldn't grab their business card. I remember where they were. I remember what they sold. But if I Google, you know, winemaker Lake Stevens, is it, there anything that's going to come up? I don't know. Uh, but there is so much to be said about that consistency. Over and over and over. And just being somewhere that is dependable and predictable. And then if you are that same brand showing up, then a few months later at the holiday market, even better, even better as a consumer. For me, I see the markets very much as an experience, right? Like I may not go there to spend, you know, hundreds and hundreds of dollars, but speaking to the food vendors. You know, it's because it's an experience for me. It's so easy for me to grab that cookie or that, you know, that cupcake or, you know, that bottle of wine. It's like, Oh, this is, you know, it's a fun day. We're being out. The sun is shining. You know, We can really like live into that, but for everyone else that doesn't necessarily have that experience element to it over and over and over the consistency, getting in front of those, that group is going to really play off in the long run for you.

Safa Harris:

It's the concept of compounding efforts, just like, Oh, building up. And then something that you said that spoke like, I think to Ashley and I, our experience of, Oh, you've changed your messaging over time. Like, Oh yeah. If you want to try it out, it's fine. Whatever it is, you're looking to grow and build and it like never worked out. We've also, I feel like every business owner's gone through this, like, Oh, I'm just going to take whatever money's going to come to me cause I need to make money. I need to grow. I need to do whatever. And it's always a learning lesson. So, yeah, there's like a. spot for it when you're trying to figure things out and do that and see what it is. But like, the common story is, is, yeah, if it's not a good fit, it's not going to be a good fit.

Ashley Dreager:

Yeah.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. And we've had vendors that have shown up consistently and it just hasn't been a good fit. And so I either have to have a difficult conversation or wait for them to make that business decision of like not reapplying the next year. Um, but Ashley, you spoke to something as a market director. My job is to make sure a a consumer or a customer has all of the information needed to, um, Kind of help mitigate that situation where you had to leave early and you don't know who it was because you didn't have time to grab a card. We've implemented software to where there's a market map every single week and it turns into a market directory. So if you like have a general idea where they're at, you can go to the market map, drag down to that day that you were there and be like, okay, it was kind of over in this area. And then it pops up with who was there. Like I want to do everything. Everything I can for my vendors to make sure that there's no obstacles. It shouldn't be a customer emailing me and being like, there was this vendor. I'm like, Hey, cool. I know who you're talking about, but also just want to make sure, like, go to check out the vendor directory and that lives there for all year. So at

Ashley Dreager:

Oh, wow.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

the customers can go and say like, Oh, I wonder. What this vendor was, I really wanted to place that order. They can go back to the date that they were there at the market or just scroll through the directory and be like, Oh, farmers that offer, you know, CSA boxes in the fall. Great. I'm going to get in touch with them. We've seen such an increase in for businesses outside of our regular market season that it's really exciting. It's so, I'm so thankful that we have this software that we're using.

Ashley Dreager:

That would be so handy to have it to see. I'm going to have to look for that this year.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

It was

Safa Harris:

That's,

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

director and then he went on to create this software and I was like, no more paper applications, like sign me up. I don't care how much it costs. And now I'm like one of his, biggest users. So, and he's actually a

Ashley Dreager:

Oh, that's

Safa Harris:

that's really cool. That's a really great value add that you're giving these vendors because that's just like, oh, that's perpetual continued marketing after the day of, um,

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

And I

Safa Harris:

them to continue to have that exposure.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I try to, um, encourage vendors because they have control of what shows up in that directory. Like as the season goes on, update your picture, like use it as a business listing on a website. You control it. You can do your pictures, you can update what you're bringing. And then as the season winds down, you can say, here's how to get in touch with us. Here's what we offer in the off season. Like if you're interested, like we have turkeys that you can reserve for Thanksgiving, those types of things. I try so hard to like drill it into them, that there are more platforms that like are very little effort for you guys to just at the customer base. That's looking at our website.

Safa Harris:

No, that's really great.

Ashley Dreager:

channels, the SEO, the

Safa Harris:

That's what I was thinking. I was like, I wonder what the black backlinks are from that.

Ashley Dreager:

yeah.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I don't

Safa Harris:

The SEO. And

Ashley Dreager:

uh, just as a, I guess for any, anyone that's listening, who is a vendor, you share that resource to your community, to your audience.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

I try.

Safa Harris:

I think what you said about that, I think, and we've talked about it throughout, that yes, this is a marketing tactic. It's one channel. It's all of these things. And we've talked about like how it's growth and everything like that. But what you just said that it, This one directory is allowing people to reconnect with you for your other channels of revenue. And it really is a launch pad. Like one spot that you're putting investment in that could 10x what your business is doing because it's providing all these different avenues of opportunity to really just, like, put your effort here and you can make, it is what you make of it. If you're taking advantage of all of this, you can really, really 10x what the effort you're putting in, um, to just this one channel.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Absolutely.

Ashley Dreager:

I know we are, uh, right up on time. So I want to be respectful of your schedule. Is there any last minute thoughts or anything that you want to add for? where people can stay connected with you, or if they want to reach out to inquire about markets,

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

Yeah. So, um, my overarching business is the market Maven and my website is your market maven. com and you can find links to the markets that I manage on there as well as, information about my podcast. My podcast is the market Maven podcast. And just go into some of the stories behind the, 10 by 10, 10. So that's my little tagline. Um, but also telling the stories of some of my vendors and then what it's like to be a market director, which today's episode is a little heavy just because it's a lot. Um, but yeah, that's, that's how people can get in touch with me.

Ashley Dreager:

I love it. We'll make sure to link those in the show notes for everyone so they can reach out.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

then I think just, you know, visit your local farmer's market, whether it's one of mine or one in your area. Those people work very, very hard to make that pop up every single week. And it's the best way to get to know local growers and local artisans and find something really special.

Ashley Dreager:

I love that. We'll make sure to do that. And we'll I'll tag you, uh, when I'm visiting this season. All right. We'll talk to you later.

Sarah Dylan Jensen:

All right. Thank you.

Safa Harris:

Bye.

And that wraps up another episode of the business millennials podcast. We hope you found this conversation, thought provoking, inspirational, and helps you make a larger impact with your business. Growth is not just about profits or revenue. It's a journey of personal development, contribution, and bettering ourselves in society. Our challenge for you take at least one key lesson from our time together today that you can apply not just to your business. But your relationships, creative expression, wellbeing, and personal evolution to, we appreciate you tuning in. If you enjoyed this show, we invite you to pay it forward, share it with an entrepreneur, creative student, or community leader who needs an infusion of insight or inspiration right now. And make sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. So you never miss a single episode. And if you like what you heard, leave us a five star review. See you next week.