Selling Your Herb Products

Shared From MOTHER EARTH NEWS Written By: MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors

Your best prospects for selling display cards of herbs will be found among supermarkets, grocery stores, health food store. and specialty shops. Any store that sells food is a prospect for a dried herb display card. A good time to see a store manager is in the morning when he is least apt to be rushed.

In selling your herb display cards, bring these important points to the attention of the buyer: (1) Your herbs are locally grown which means they are fresh and full of flavor. (2) The housewife who tries a package will find them economical to use because they go further due to their stronger flavor. This, of course, as suits in repeat business. (3) Mention that the transparent packets attract the attention of the housewife and induce her to buy. Being stapled to a display card they are easily detached which makes them a self-service item. (4) Emphasize that you will give regular service to insure that there will always be a well-filled display card in the store. In most instances it will pay you to pick up a card that has been sold down to the point that it looks ragged. Credit the merchant with the unsold portion that remains and replace it with a fresh display card. When you go home you can remove the packages on cards you picked up and restaple them to fresh cards. There is no loss to you except for a new display cart.

Learn what you need to know about starting an herb business.

In some instances where the buyer is hard to convince, you might have to sell your cards on a guaranteed basis. This means that at the end of a certain period the merchant has the privilege of returning the unsold portion of the card for a cash refund if he decides the herbs do not sell well enough for him to stock.

There is much that the herb grower can do to help the sale of his products even after they are placed in the supermarket. Just to have the herb merchandise sit on the shelf is not enough. It must be promoted and brought to the attention of the public. This is a job that you must do, because the store owner rarely has the time to do it.

For instance, if you are specializing in herb teas a good idea would be to have the store owner cooperate by giving you a small space some Saturday, afternoon where you could give away free herb tea samples to the customers. You can use small disposable paper cups in which to pour the tea for the people. Have on display at the stand, packages of the different herb teas you produce. Be sure you can answer questions intelligently and give a convincing sales talk. As an added inducement for people to buy on the day when you are putting on the promotion, you might give away free a generous sample package of tea with each regular purchase of herb tea. The free sample would be a different variety than what they purchase. This type of promotion can be done for any kind of herb product that a store might be featuring.

A good promoter will endeavor to be in a different store at least twice a month on a Saturday afternoon in order to reach a maximum mum number of people. Choose only the large stores for these special displays. Most big supermarkets will welcome the opportunity of playing host to a promotion that is unusual and offers free samples and merchandise inducements to gain sales. All profits from the sale of herb items, whether they are made your display stand or from the regular display shelves of the store, belong to the store. All you should expect is the whole sale price of the herbs you are selling.

Along with store demonstrations, take advantage of every opportunity to speak at garden clubs, womens’ organizations, church groups, or civic gatherings. Whenever you appear at these functions, take along plenty of samples to pass out. Regardless of how good your business becomes, continue promoting and advertising. Coca Cola sells hundreds of millions of bottles a day, but the more it is sold, the more it is advertised. Eventually you should have designed a distinctive emblem that you use on your letterheads, truck, packages and even on the sign of your herb farm. It will pay you to have an experienced industrial artist to do this work for you.

To continue reading about Herbs as a Homestead Business, check out Start an Herb Business on MOTHER EARTH NEWS.