My Garden and Tess

I have a small garden. I’m growing tomatoes, red and purple bell peppers, cantaloupe and herbs. The season for tomatoes is almost at an end, and the peppers are coming along.

 We have a dog named Tess. She’s a small Newfoundland, she can rest her head on the kitchen table while standing on the floor and take things off the counters very easily.

 I was checking the crops and noticed that 3 of the last 4 tomatoes were gone and the red pepper was also gone. Tess has struck again. She loves vegetables, especially fresh off the vine.

 It’s my fault she takes the crops just as they are ready to pick; I did not put up the fence this year. She let the first group of tomatoes alone. I felt it was too much work to put the fence up, I really didn’t feel like it doing it, I thought she would not go after them and so on.

 What does any of this have to do with marketing? Besides telling you about one of my hobbies and my dog and building a more personal connection with you, a lot. Tess is like your and my competition and the veggies are like our customers, some ready to buy, some coming along getting ready to buy and some that still need time.

 Tess comes along, spots or smells the ripe tomatoes, sees that we are not around and grabs a tomato and eats it. Sometime 2 or 3 if she can get away with it. Just like your competition will do with your customers, grab them away when you’re not looking.

 How do you stop it from happening?  Do what I should have done, put a fence up around them. The fence in this case is keeping in contact with your customer. You can and should use email (like this), social media, post cards, personal contact; the best way is sending out a monthly printed newsletter.

So this fall when the 2nd season starts, I’ll put up the fence to keep Tess out and my vegetables safe. Are you putting up a fence?

If you need help in constructing your fence, I can help. Just give me a call at 817-282-0443 or email me at phil@theFreedmanCompany.com