Marketing Aquaculture Products — 1

you 25% and the distributor’s margin is 20%,
then you are missing the boat. Conversely,
new business and rapid expansions of existing
business are not necessarily good business. If
it costs you too much or your organization
cannot smoothly transition into it, it may not
be the right opportunity at this time. You need
to maintain product quality and customer
service. If you lose these attributes through an
expansion, how are you going to positively go
forward? Sometimes, saying “no” is the right
course of action. Bad business costs you money.
Focus on the point where your business is
making money for you at a comfortable level
that gives you some room for growth and time
to enjoy your labors away from the operation.
Th e key is to increased effi ciency and profi tability
and reduce risk: diversifying your client
base, keeps your work interesting and reduces
risk, as well as opens up new marketing venues.
Evaluate your communication skills. Ask yourself
some questions and have the sense-of-self
to honestly evaluate your capabilities and attributes
as a communicator. You must not only
convey the strengths of your product, but also
of you as a manager. You may not want to be
the front person interfacing with clients, if so it
may be time to hire someone at least part time,
to help you get the product out into the world.
If you decide to meet the public, then consider
your personal presentation: Are you articulate?
Do you tend to publically swear in mixed
company? If cornered, do you have an “elevator
speech” (as discussed in the previous section)
that sells your business?
Of course, your personal appearance goes a
long way toward establishing some personal
credibility. If you walked into the bank and the
manager was there in old torn jeans with his
stain-covered shirt unbuttoned and his belly
hanging out, how secure would that make you
feel out doing business with the bank? As an
aquaculture professional there is a given perception
that since you work with fi sh you are an
“outdoorsy” person; that is fi ne. Play on it by
wearing cargo pants or chinos and a nice polo
or fi eld-type outdoor shirt (like your local DNR
person). Th at will work for most meetings with
the public or your local extension professional.
For more formal meetings with seafood distributors,
bankers, etc, don’t hesitate about putting
on an oxford shirt, tie and chinos. If you look
like you are comfortable around the business
world you will be a lot more comfortable doing
business. If you regularly have people visiting
your operation, it may not be a bad idea to
consider a decent quality “uniform shirt,” polo
or fi eld shirt, embroidered with your logo or
at the least, the name of your operation. Th is
can be a relatively economical option since
most local embroidery and silk-screen operations
have fi sh images in their computers, it is
only a matter of adding the text you want to
include and picking out the shirts. If you have
a fee-fi shing option in your operation, consider
nice shirts to sell as souvenirs to clients; if you
have great clients who purchase a lot of product
from you throughout the year, consider a nice
shirt as a thank you at the end of the season.
Also, everywhere the shirt goes it is advertising
your operation.
Some producers, especially from rural areas, are
hesitant to talk about themselves. Th is is something,
for example, that really separates some
entrepreneurs from others. Successful entrepreneurs
are extremely outgoing and freely
exchange ideas and actively engage people on
almost every aspect of their business models,
successes and failures. Other entrepreneurs
tend to be careful not to off end, bore, or look
foolish in front of others. As an entrepreneur,
it is necessary to realize that who you are as the
private person sometimes has to take a backseat
to the business or sales person. Ideally, your
best personal traits can be used to create the
perfect package.
In general, when dealing with clients or contacts
there are a few good rules of thumb. First
and foremost, always be polite. Freely discuss
your product or service but be sure to intently
listen when the other person talks. Be sure to
have a business card to give to the other person,
most of us have a lot of things going on in our
lives and have trouble remembering names. It
is even better to ask the other person for a card
Marketing Aquaculture Products — 21