How to improve buyer traffic?

[ZNT]

This spring, I may have the opportunity to market quite a few calves from a reputable breeder up north.  My question is what do I do to improve my traffic of buyers to compensate for this influx of calves?  We already have a website that we update often, with good quality pictures of quality calves.  We have a great location, just 20 miles from Ft. Worth, Texas, and just 10 miles off of I-35 and 2 miles off of HWY 287 going toward Amarillo.  Typically our calves sell for less money for the same quality as the big names, and the ones we do sell are very competitive, and our heifers go on to be great producers for our customer.  I also provide the service of fitting and clipping all our calves we sell for no cost, time permitting.  All that being said, we still have a very hard time getting people out to even look at our calves.  In the past, we have not advertised much in the major publications, due mainly because we are only marketing 10-20 calves a year, but this year it may double the amount we have to offer.

This winter, we do plan on having show strings at both Ft. Worth and Houston, along with heifers consigned in the Ft. Worth Maine Sale.

Some ideas I have for this spring are to: 1. Have a private treaty sale to  get people out to look at calves in an earlier and more timely fashion. 2.  Have an opening day "OPEN HOUSE" to kick off the spring sales and create some hype, with all the calves washed and clipped and a BBQ lunch, 3. Continue to keep our website up to date and put ads in the Show Circuit and Showbox the month before we are ready to start selling.  Of course options 1 and 2 would also requite the same advertising as option 3.

Any advice or comments would be great, either about how to get more traffic, or even on how our website is.  Are the pictures good, is it easy to navigate, is all the relevant information easy to find, etc?  www.zntcattle.com

 

[red]

I looked at the website. it's good but a little dark? I'm glad you don't have music blaring at me. I'd lighten it up a lighten it up a little if possible. Especially the top  pictures. Keep it up to date is the most important thing to me. I'd send out notifications to people when you add anything or update it.
I love the idea of an open house. That's a good idea.
Make sure that people that have bought Triple X semen keep in touch w/ you so you can show their calves too. People love that. Also follow up w/ buyers & maybe have a comment area for them to say how their calves are doing?
Keep in touch w/ buyers. Christmas cards, special occasions are all good. Also phone calls or e-mails.
Best of luck!!!

Red

 

[drl]

Hey, I am in the same boat as you are. We don't have a website yet but it is in the works. I guess looking at your website, I would organize it a bit better by having the home page be a little smaller with less content. If you have other pages at your disposal use them. On your front page I would have your best pictures and possibly your bull to showcase your best. On the other pages I would then have more pictures and content. When someone looks at a website, they want all the pertinent information on the first screen they see including name, address, contact info, and some winner picture or bull picture...

We have been selling our calves on a first come first served basis the last few years. It has worked well but it seems like we have to keep calves ready all fall to show to kids. It would be nice to get it all done in one weekend or at least a large percentage of it.

One thing I believe in is walking advertisements. When you go to a show or a calf from you, it really helps when they are looking good. When people can see what you have and what it can be I think their interest will grow. The last few years I have been in college so getting our sale calves clipped for fall sales is almost impossible. If they can see what that calf will look like when they hit the ring they will be more willing to buy.

 

[sawboss]

ZNT,
  I would send a flier to all the Ag. Science Departments within a 200 mile radius.  These are the people that do most of the leg work for their students.  I took three trips last year with our teachers that encompassed over 1500 miles, during these trips we bought 12 steers and two heifers for our local students to choose from.  These men and women communicate all the time about what is out there and price ranges, especially when county show dates are spread out over different dates.  I would love to stop and see your cattle as I will be traveling up to see Chambero the week after Christmas.  Good Luck

 

[shortyisqueen]

Keep it up to date is the most important thing to me. I'd send out notifications to people when you add anything or update it.

The most important thing about about a website is not only keeping it up to date, but making an impression. Image is everything. That's why people head to the 'high-roller's' farms before they head to yours, even though they could probably get a better steer cheaper at your place. Even though your cattle pics show that you are serious about showing and selling some good ones, your website doesn't say this quite as strongly.

Example: If you had to send one of these companies your money, just based on their website, which of the following would you trust to get something quality in return:
http://www.tallyhouniforms.com/ or http://www.horserentals.com/ or http://www.remax.com/. One of the three is a big company. I would hazard to guess they got there by 'looking and acting' like a big company. Investing a little more in your own brand might pay bigger dividends than you think. Maybe a re-design would be something to consider?

Getting some advertising out there will help alot. If you make all your advertising and your website look the same, you will start to form a cohesive brand. When people even catch a glimpse of it, they will recognize its you. Sawboss' suggestion of sending out flyers to the Ag. Science departments was great! Could be furthered by actually papering those campus' (where allowed), putting flyers up at sale barns, etc.,. Direct people to your website so you can direct them to the very good cattle you have pictured. The open house sounds great, if you can get people there via all these other means. Advertise in your local paper to get the local showpeople. As per Red's suggestion, send out postcards before your big sale season. They're cheap and the beauty of direct-mail is (aside from not paying for envelopes) is that people MUST look at them, even if its to throw them out - where in a magazine, people can easily skip over your $900 ad as they are not forced to look at it.

 

[knabe]

i agree with shortyisqueen with only one slight disagreement.  car companies have overbranded on some things.  like the blue oval on ford, honda grills all have that stupid H, ford taurus used to emphasize round everything, including radios and when people found out it was diffult to put in after market radios, boy howdy, dodges, everything has to have the viper grill, the dakota has to look like the big ones, everyone has to use the new little round tail lights or headlites, cars, especially american cars have little imagination.  my favorite era of the right mix of branding was the 60's.  people looked down at the running board and saw body by fisher for a quality gm product and didn't have to see it on the rear fender.

my favorite over branding was the car that had this ALL on the back fender

datsun nissan pulsar nx turbo intercooler 5speed, then add the midwest dealer locater sticker and try and wax that.  totally stupid.  and in typical human fashion, it's gone too far the other way with all the smooth bumpers that all look the same.

it's an undefinable balance, at least by me, that's why there are professionals, though from the above, they don't get either, at least to get my dollar.

as for trucks, i can't understand for the life of me why they put bumpers SOOOOOOOOOOOO close to the fenders, one little tick and your fender is smashed.  what's the point, move them out a little.  how much wind resistance could there possibly be on a rear bumper.

 

[ZNT]

Thank you for all the feedback so far.  I am already thinking of some ways to add some profesionallism to our website.  The idea of sending out flyers to all the ag teachers is a tricky one.  I've tried it before in the past with no luck.  The ag teachers here in Texas are pretty fickle.  Not to over stereotype to much, but a lot of these teachers stick to getting the calves for their FFA from theiir buddies.  I may be wrong, but it has been a hard one for me to crack into.  The fact that I am a Husker, and not an Aggie hasn't helped.  haha

More feedback is surely welcome.

Swaboss, give me a call when you are going this way.  We will be out of town a few days, but maybe we can luck out and be home when your coming through.

 

[knabe]

nothing like a winner to change these guys minds, especially if you tell them how much you hate big red.  ever visited the oldest urinal west of the missippi?  the indoor facilities at big red are incredible, including the dry sauna.  i lasted like 10 minutes in there.  it was like listening to a PETA person with your mouth closed and your ears wired open.

frisbee in the winter at big red!  by the way, if you return to lincoln, eat at the indian restaurant behind the university instead of the one by the railroad tracks if it's still there.  she trims the meat there extremely well.