Livestock Marketing

Walter J. TaylorAgricultural Educator

Outline• Target Markets• Making the sale• Thank you notes

Target Markets• A target market is a group people you want to

sell to.– Examples (relationship to you/family)• Family/relatives• Parent/guardian co-workers• Neighbors• Family friends• People in organizations with you• All others

Making the sale• Always use a good hand shake– Turn to the person next to you and shake there hand and state

your name.

• Meeting a potential buyer (client) is always more personal if you do this in person.

• Can be used for asking someone to come bid at the fair or to sell your other animals at home.

• A follow up letter (handwritten or typed) will happen after the first meeting.

First meeting/Conversation pieces

• (shake hands) Hi! My name is ___________ and I will be showing my _______ at the fair this year. (they say there name/something else)

• I have been raising my animals since……• We fed them…..• I have done (fitting, grooming, walking, training,

etc.) with my animals. You can bring pictures.

The Sale

• Would you consider coming to the meat sale at the fair to bid on my project? (do not talk until they say something)– Good response

• Tell them when it is and if you could pass their name along to the Meat Sale Committee for complimentary tickets.

– Bad response• Would they be interested in purchasing animals that did not make

the meat sale? Or know of anyone interested in a great product?– If yes, sell an animal on the spot, ask where they would like it processed,

you book the butcher date and ask about hauling. You will most likely have to do this for your customer. Call the processor immediately to book a date.

– Always say “Thank You” and shake their hand again.

Making Connections• Not everyone you talk to will want to purchase an animal

and that is ok

• With more and more people wanting locally produced food, selling is becoming easier.

• If you know how many animals you will have every year, feel free to sell ahead of time before you buy your fair animals.

• Make sure your buyer has the phone number and business name of the processor so that they can contact them with their order, and a date to have this done by.

How to say “Thank You” again

• Hand written thank you cards are best.• Pictures of you and animals can be a nice

thing to include but some clients also dislike this. Sometimes they do not even want to know the name of the animal.

• So what do you write?...........

What to writeDear ________________,

Thank you for purchasing my ___________. The money raised will support my education in raising future animals and my future career training. Thank you again for supporting youth like myself. I hope you enjoy the quality product I raised.

Sincerely,

John SmithPlymouth FFA member