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When I was twelve my parents moved us to a tiny farm in Southwest Missouri. My parents wanted a return to a simpler life. Somehow, simpler definitely meant more work. We raised our own beef, pork and chicken and grew our own vegetables, had an orchard for our own fruit and we baked our own breads. To my twelve-year-old mind, baking a pie from scratch didn’t seem as simple as opening a box of Twinkies.
This simpler life my parents were longing for also meant that we wouldn’t spend as much money on things like school clothes. I liked new school clothes. And, more to the point, I didn’t like the hand-me-downs from my two older sisters. Actually, that’s not true. I didn’t mind the hand-me-downs; I minded the taste that my sisters had in clothes.
In rural Missouri, we couldn't see the houses next door. They were too far away. The folks who lived in those houses were still our neighbors. The neighbors that we had were primarily in their sixties and seventies. When we were visiting our neighbors, I noticed that everyone seemed to love blackberries, but no one seemed to pick them.
Blackberry cobbler seemed to be everyone’s favorite. I didn’t understand. The blackberries grew wild and were plentiful. I saw this as an opportunity. I saw a way for my neighbors to have their blackberries and for me to make some money to buy school clothes. All I had to do was pick some blackberries.
Simple, not easy. In Southwest Missouri it gets hot. Really hot. Hottest day that I recall was 128 degrees. But we had to wear cowboy boots, jeans, long-sleeve shirts and hats because there were thorns, chiggers and snakes. The top year that we had selling blackberries (over a six-year period) was the year that we sold 150 quarts. At a dollar a quart. My sister and I split the profits - $75 each. I counted once and it sure takes about 140 blackberries to make quart. One hundred forty times one hundred fifty quarts. Twenty-one thousand blackberries. I will never pick blackberries again.
I learned three valuable business lessons through my experience in the blackberry business.
- At a dollar a quart, I had vastly underpriced my services.
- Some blackberry patches are better than others.
- I might have been picking blackberries, but that is not what my customers were buying.
They were buying the tangy sweetness of blackberry cobbler.
They were buying the childhood memory of when their mothers made blackberry jelly.
They were buying the experience of having their grandchildren over for fresh blackberries and homemade ice cream.
And so I ask you, what is the "blackberry" of your business?
What's that delicious, delectable fruit of your business that your customers crave? It's that special experience that customers get from you and no one else. Your customers get it, want it and tell it to others. They become your advocates.
That's why blackberries are important to your business. When you have yours, and you know how to use it, your customers and contacts become your advocates. That brings you a steady stream of your best clients so you can save time, increase sales, and reduce selling costs.
Copyright © 2004 Bobbi Kahler. All Rights Reserved.
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