Connections - September 2009 - 19

est pain point, and the customer would probably buy the remedy. “Once they tell you what’s important to them, craft your value proposition in such a way that it’s tailored to their needs,” said Burgam. Twelve years ago the market vendors could have sold additional products while meeting customers’ needs. In turn, they could ratchet up their sales costs. For our hungry customers, businesspeople could have told them about the $5 rotisserie chicken, or they could have sold them on this week’s lunch special for $7.50 that comes complete with the chicken, fries and a medium meadow tea. “It’s unusual for a vendor to actually spend time listening and learning about what a client really wants. Vendors often say, ‘Here’s what we got, take it or leave it’,” said Burgam. If the vendors would have really listened to what our customers needed, then we could have differentiated ourselves from other stores in the area. Sometimes our customers would come in looking for chocolate chip cookies in the bakeshop. They may or may not be in stock. If our customer’s needs weren’t met they’d shuffle on over to another store. It was a classic case of the take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and our customers were leaving it. However, if the vendor learned that the customer needed something chocolate because they were heading to a picnic, then the vendor could have up sold the customer on this week’s latest special: homemade vanilla cake with chocolate icing and chocolate chips inside. The idea works for a hypothetical shed builder, too. When customers come to him, they often expect to need a concrete slab beneath the shed to give the product stability. Burgam said if the shed builder educates customers on various options such as a bed of crushed gravel as a cost-effective option, more clients would come to him in the long run because they’ll rely on his expertise. Twelve years ago at the farmers market, Mom and Pop could have taught the vendors to add value to their products by listening to the needs of the client and then educating the clients on the various options they had available to meet their needs. If our vendors had coupled listening with responsiveness, clients would become repeat customers because they’d get what they needed efficiently. “These ideas are trite, but they’re so seldom implemented,” said Burgam. Had we known Burgam’s precepts September 2009 | Connections | 19

Connections - September 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Connections - September 2009