I’ve noticed a real problem with email lately. Sometimes it’s due to those ornery spam filters. A person writes you, you answer, and you think that’s the end of it. I’ve never been a fan of unnecessary email so I didn’t follow up. So, the other day, I was stunned when someone told me that they never heard back from me. And I had responded quickly.
I have found a number of reasons. First, those pesky spam filters. The person I was answering never got it. They didn’t realize that their spam filter was eating up a lot of their mail, INCLUDING orders. Second, some people were using their lack of response as an excuse. I’ve had more than 1 web designer say they never heard from me because they wanted my client and they could point out…”look, she doesn’t answer email, and I’m a good person that does”. That’s a too common thing. And some people are just overwhelmed.
So, I’ve gotten rather clever with this. If it’s a web designer with for one of my hosting clients, after 5 days I write back to them, saying this is what I said, on such and such a day. Haven’t heard back from you, did you get it?” with a copy of this going to the client. And amazingly enough, there’s a response immediately. 
I cases of general inquiries or questions about orders, people usually never got them and are grateful you followed up.
It pays to be organized and inquire a bit. It shows you care.
Why do so many herb businesses do poorly online when people love their goods at the farm or shows? I think a great part of it is due to the website.
First, many herb businesses have limited funds and decide to do the website themselves. Or have someone in the family do it. Or a friend with little experience wants to get experience by doing it. All very poor ideas. Websites aren’t just a way of showing yourself to the general public, but they should be a means of converting a visitor to a customer or better yet, a raving fan. I’m absolutely amazed when I visit the website of an herbalist who is dynamic and well regarded in their field and there’s broken links and a mish-mash of pages. No one realizes what this does to the reputation of someone that deserves better. The next post we’ll describe some of the things that can fix this.
I often go to various herbal websites and wish some information. Could be I want to include them in The Herbal Green Pages Online, could be that I’m interested in more information about an event they’re having so that I can post it in the Calendar. And they have a form. No email address. (And this is true for non-herbal sites as well.) And I get off the site in disgust shaking my head. Yes, I know you get spam. I’ve had a website since early 1996 and we get spam. But I delete it. I don’t even have to open it and I can tell it’s spam by the subject line, lack of one, or email address. But I’d never think of removing my email address and changing to a form. I don’t care how much crap I get. Seth Godin’s blog today talked about this and I answered “AMEN” loudly.
Get rid of the forms guys and if it was the site designer’s idea, get rid of them as well. They know little about marketing.
A typical scenario….you love herbs, you make your family’s medicines, or you have dozens of dip recipes your friends beg for, or your herb garden is one everyone envies. So you think why not make money doing what you love, or are very good at?
Because loving what you so is important but understanding the nuances of being a successful business are is more important. The difference between a glorified hobby and a successful business are great. You have to have a plan. One that takes you from an excited newbie to a solid entrepreneur.
You have to study successful businesses of all types to understand what makes them different. I adore herbs. They fill my life. But the only time I look at an herb book is to work on the Herbalpedia. I get several books a month and they deal with using social media for marketing or how to optimize a landing page.
And that’s why herb businesses fail…they think that if they work on non-herbal parts of their business they are somehow being untrue to their herbal selves. When it’s these nonherbal parts that make your enterprise strong enough to support your future business.
So if you’re thinking of starting an herb business, or you feel yours is floundering, write to me and I’ll send you our Herb Business Startup Guide. We sell it for $10 as an ebook, but I’d like to help those that are trying and will make this available for free for awhile for those that find our blog. And try joining the Herb Growing and Marketing Network. Many will think they just can’t afford $95 a year for membership. But that $95 gives you not only exposure on our sites, but keeps you focused on those “boring” nonherbal details that will make your business bring in more revenue during these chaotic times.
It won’t be served on a platter, but you’ll know where to go to find the information you need to grow and your business to thrive.
For some reason people think that having an herb business is different than being in any other business. Perhaps that’s why normal business dealings are often ignored. Yes, you have to know about the industry. But when you have a welding business, for example, you usually know more about welding than the person on the street.
But it seems people with herb businesses don’t think the rules of business don’t apply to them. And that could be why most herb businesses fail. The ones that succeed….they’re the ones that act as any other business does. They plan, they look at lots of ways to promote their sales and not just the usual “herby” ones. One of the more successful herbal businesses I knew swore that “The E Myth” was their bible. And they didn’t get into it for the usual “herby” reasons…..they wanted a successful business that they could retire on….they did.
I was surfing around last night and came across a couple blogs that were talking about an herb business as a big money-maker. Wrong! It’s an old joke among long time herb companies that the only way you’ll make $100,000 selling herbs is that you spent $200,000 to do it. That’s not quite the case but it often feels like it. For example, you’re a great field grower of herbs. You’ve been at it a while. You’re doing pretty well. You get a really big order from a large wreath making company for thousands of pounds of silver king and you put in 13 acres of the crop. This should be a no-brainer: easy to grow, no pests, no diseases. But this year there’s a drought. And here’s a plant that never gets any pests and you find out the hard way that when silver king is really stressed by drought you can get scale. 
So there’s a large chunk lost.
Then you harvest what you’ve been able to save and that drought turned into two weeks of rain and high humidity and the workers just pack in all that silver king close together in your barn to dry. Wow, few weeks later when you start to pack up your crop for that big order, you find you now have mold over a large amount that didn’t have ample air circulation. A few thousand more dollars disappear.
So why does that farmer continue to grow the next year after such a big loss? Because he loves farming. And he loves working with herbs and flowers. And he did sit down and re-evaluate next year’s crop plantings. No more depending on one or two big orders.
And that’s the reason you get into an herb business, you’re passionate about not only the results but the process. Yes, I do know people that make a “fortune”. They are few and far between and even for them it varies each year because it’s a guessing game as to what will be in demand. But that’s the way it is with all businesses. Entrepreneurs enjoy the game. They enjoy dealing with a product they truly believe in. It’s what’s kept many herb businesses working from decade to decade even though no fortune has been made. But they do make a living. They love what they do. They usually wake up with a smile believing they’ll help someone with their products. And in today’s world, that’s a lot better than most people have it.
An herb business (actually any business) is always in transition. What was really hot last year, no one thinks twice about this year. Only a few short years ago everyone was growing goldenseal because it was endangered and prices were ridiculously high. Various associations around the country pushed it as the best thing to get into. Now goldenseal isn’t the fastest crop around…..takes 5-7 years for it to produce in fact. But the thought of $50-$75 a lb wholesale prices was exciting and so they planted….and planted…and planted. And when crops came ready to harvest it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that the prices had radically dropped because supply was great and the need? Well, in the meantime, many herbalists found that other herbs did pretty much the same job as goldenseal for a much better price.
What does this teach you? If everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon, it’s already past being a great idea. Be the one that finds the next big thing instead of latching on to everyone else’s coat tails. If you sign up for google alerts and read up on research, join associations and read what they send you, keep track of certain websites that report new ideas, you could be one of those that actually do make a decent profit on the next trend because you knew it was hot before everyone else did.
Just an idea to consider as you work on your herbal business.
In talking to a friend yesterday we recalled when we first got our herb businesses started. For both of us it was the early 80s. We were passionate about herbs. There were so few resources and when we found one, the high lasted for weeks. There were “names” back then in the industry: Adelma Simmons, Bertha Reppert, Madeline Hill, Jeannie Rose, Betsy Williams, Emelie Tolley, the Sasos, to name a few. Most had written books. Many had a physical location which one could make a pilgrimage to and learn at their feet. They’d occasionally speak at a gardening event and we’d travel across five states to see them. It was wonderful. It was a passion we shared with hundreds of others.
Unfortunately for herbal enthusiasts today, it’s not the same. Society has made “passions” difficult. Now “herbal odysseys” to a string of herb businesses is halted by gas prices and the fact that many herb businesses are now strictly online. Publishing changes have made successful herb books a thing of the past, so we don’t have the inspirational authors of the past. With scheduling conflicts, there are few conferences and those that attempt to schedule one find lack of support. And much as I’m addicted to the Internet for searching as anyone, I really do miss the pressing of flesh in the halls between sessions at a physical event, tromping through a weed walk with other herb folk, laughingly remembering the banquet back in 96 when we danced half the night to a great band at the conference in Albuquerque. Will we ever see that passion for our herb businesses again?
What herbnet is about is really a forum for those that are in the business of herbs….problems we face, information we need, how to sell products. In the days to come, I’ll give hints and tips on making your herbal business profitable and hope others will make contributions as well