
Are you charging enough for your farm products or services? Recently, I was on a coaching call with a farmer who ran a wedding event space on their farm. They were booked solid for over a year—yet hadn’t raised their prices in years. That’s a...
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Corinna Bench
Are you charging enough for your farm products? Many farmers are hesitant to raise their prices. In today's episode, I'm sharing five key signs that it's time to increase your price and how to do it with confidence. So whether you're selling produce or meat or flowers, or just running a farm based business like events or agritourism, this conversation is going to help you rethink your pricing strategy. Let's dive in. Hey there, this is Corinna Bench and welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast. In today's market, it's not enough to just grow your product, you've got to know how to sell it too. Welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast where we reveal online marketing strategies and tips to help farmers like you get better and more confident at marketing, learn how to find more customers and increase your sales and build a strong brand for your farm. Let's start the show well. Welcome to episode 307 of the My Digital Farmer Podcast. I'm your host, Corinna Bench, one of the farmers at Shared Legacy Farms out in Elmore, Ohio. I'm also the founder of mydigitalfarmer.com which is all about trying to help other farmers like you get more confident in your marketing and sales strategy so that you can grow a profitable business. How's everyone doing today? Welcome back to the show. If you are new to the podcast, I'm really glad you're here today. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Go check out some of my earlier episodes in the archives. There are over 300 episodes now, which is crazy to me, but I always tell people who are new to the show to check out the first 10 episodes because I did design them to be an onboarding ramp into the marketing space long ago and they're still as relevant as ever. You should also get onto my email list though, because when you do, I'm going to send you an email roughly every five days for about three months and it's basically going to be like a crash course in farm marketing. I'm going to send you kind of the key principles that you need to know. I'm going to send you off to some free trainings that I've done, resources in people you should be following, and all kinds of fun stuff like that. So you can subscribe at My Digital Farmer. Subscribe Easy to remember, Today's episode is sponsored by my friends at localline. If you're like me, winter is your downtime to plan and prep for the upcoming growing season. Set yourself up for success with localline. The best sales platform built for farms, localline is the most comprehensive software for farmers and food hubs that's out there selling direct to restaurants, schools, wholesale buyers running a CSA, and more. With features like e commerce, automated inventory management, they have subscriptions, a box builder, point of sale, and more. Localline helps you grow sales. It saves you time and streamlines your operations. In fact, on average, this is cool. Farms that use Local line grow sales by 23% and they increase their average order size by 9.5% annually. So, ready to switch to sales software that does it all. Logoline has no setup fees, no sales percentages, and your onboarding manager will migrate your storefront for free so you'll be up and running in no time. As a podcast listener, localline is also offering a free premium feature for one year with your subscription when you use my coupon code MDF2025. So to claim it, go to mydigitalfarmer.com localline and then enter that coupon code MDF2025. Don't wait. Start your season strong with Localline today. And now back to the show. All right, let's dive right into it. Today we're talking about pricing, specifically five different signs that it's time to raise your price. This is a topic that is really important to me to talk about, especially in light of what I've been through over the last year. And I think in general, I could say that farmers don't charge enough for for our product and services or we don't feel like we can. This is a question Kurt and I have discussed at length many times in our career. Why is it that we feel like we can only ask for a person to spend this amount of money for a CSA box? Or are customers only willing to spend this amount for a tomato? And there is this resistance on our part to raise prices. We're hesitant because we're afraid we're going to lose our customers or we're afraid they're going to think that we're too expensive, or we're being too expensive and we don't want to come off as elitist or we don't want to leave people out of being able to get our product because we're too expensive. I also think there's this imposter syndrome, a little bit like, I'm not good enough or worthy enough in the eyes of our culture to ask to be paid this amount. There definitely is a cultural aspect going on here, right, where the consumer around us kind of expects food to be priced At a certain level, there's. Our food is cheap in the United States. And so when we come as a producer and want to ask for more, I think there is sort of a little bit of a shock value that can happen from our customers. And sometimes I get a little upset about that. Like, who says that I can't ask you to spend this amount because these are the costs for me and I have to actually make a profit? How many times have you had this conversation with a customer where they've actually told you this is too expensive, and you've wanted to, like, pull out your spreadsheet and kind of get on your soapbox and say, can I just show you the numbers? Because right now, I'm, like, barely holding a margin because of all the expenses that are happening to me. And our customers just don't know the backstory. They don't know the true cost of producing food anyway. I just wanted to kind of point out that, at least for me, I know I have felt at times that maybe I'm not worth it and my work isn't worth it compared to another job out there in the world. And I've had to really fight that and stand my ground and say, no, what I do is important. Especially in light of my recent battle with an illness where I was healing my gut for about 12 months. I have such a new appreciation for the value of food, for my health, and how, in many ways, the reason I ended up being sick was because of the foods that I was eating, the cheap foods that I was eating, and the bad patterns that had been set and put in place that are all around us. Our culture is channeling us towards a certain way of eating, and it is not good for us. And so to stand in resistance to that and to. To say, I'm going to eat differently, it is hard. I'm standing here right now as a witness telling you it was really hard at the beginning. Even just trying to find my way to find the foods that were healthy that I could eat took work. And when I travel or when I try to go out to a restaurant with my friends, forget about it. Like, it is even more difficult to stand your ground and try to find something that you can eat on the menu. Like, it's. It's just interesting to see how the culture, the whole food industry that we are swimming in makes it difficult to eat a certain way. So I have a real appreciation for how, quote, unquote, good food is what keeps us alive and vibrant and gives us energy, and it should be priced Accordingly, I spend a whole lot more money now than I did a year ago on our food budget. And you know what? At first it was hard, but now I am all over it, and I have no problems doing so because I can see how it is just absolutely, radically changed my life, and I'm willing to pay that because I like who I am in this version of my body. Okay, I feel like I'm digressing a little bit, but I wanted to just start out, like, with a little bit of a mindset shift over pricing and why I feel like farmers are hesitant to raise our prices. We're afraid of losing customers. We're afraid of people thinking that we're too expensive. We're swimming in this culture that basically has said food should be cheap, and don't you dare try to raise it past a certain amount. So the reality check, though, is that pricing is a strategy. It's not just a number. And it should reflect demand, it should reflect the value of your product, and it should reflect profitability. We are running a business, after all, and so we do need to actually make some money, and we should not apologize for that. I recently had a coaching call with one of the members of Farm Marketing school, and he was talking to me about how his business has kind of multiple marketing angles. There's one side of his business where he has a wedding event space, and then he has, like, a you pick blueberry, and he's developing a you pick flowers kind of aspect as well. So we were talking through some strategy. I noticed, though, that he didn't even really want to talk about the wedding event space piece. He sort of casually started with that and kind of just mentioned, oh, it's doing great. Like, we're already booked out, like, you know, up to a year, and we're having no trouble finding brides and getting that particular offer sold. Like, I don't even have to try. It just automatically fills up. And then we casually just moved on to the other elements of his business that he was trying to troubleshoot and get stronger. But I brought it up to him as part of our coaching call. I was like, hey, I just want to notice that you have an element in your business that's crushing it right now that's doing really well. You're not having any trouble. There is energy there, There is excitement, there is ease, there is flow. There is a system, and you have clients. You have no trouble finding people there. And it's just interesting how we automatically look for the things that aren't working and try to make those better. But when we have things that are chugging and doing well, like it, it behooves us to kind of think about, how can I make sure that this gets even better? How can I put more resources into this thing that's thriving and that has a lot of energy? I challenged him in that moment. I said, if you're not having trouble finding customers for this wedding event space and you're booked out over a year, you're not charging enough. And there was sort of this pause, like that wasn't why he had come to the call, but it was an interesting observation for him, I think, to realize, hey, I could probably raise my price. That is actually the story that inspired today's episode. Because I think there are signs when it's time to raise your price. And I just shared one one of them with you and I thought it would be good for us to look at those and do a quick audit of our business and see do any of these situations apply and do I have the confidence to try raising my price in this circumstance? Okay, so let's get started. I have five suggestions here. Five signs that it's time to raise your price. The first one is you're selling out too quickly. This is kind of an obvious one, but sometimes we miss it. If your product or service is selling out every time, chances are you are undercharging. If you're going to the farmer's market with your bacon and it sells out in 30 minutes, you're undercharging. This is kind of a hard one to get behind. Right? Because we're like, no, that's creating demand and people. There's a crazy flurry of people. And I have a line that shows up early to get the bacon, but if it's moving that fast, then you could charge more. Would that mean that the line would go down? Yes, it would. There wouldn't be quite as many people lining up to buy it, but you would be making more money and you would still be coming out ahead. Right. So this is where you kind of have to just judge and figure out what is that perfect happy medium, that Goldilocks zone. But you ideally want to leave the farm stand or leave the farmer's market that day with like one or two bacons left. Okay. That's kind of when you know that you've got it priced just right. So here's an example. A pasture raised chicken farmer selling out in 24 hours every time pre orders open probably means you could raise your prices a bit. So try a small gradual Increase to test the demand without scaring off your customers. Okay, that's kind of my pricing tip. If this feels a little uncomfortable for you, like a little scary, like you're stepping off a ledge, it should feel that way. But this is a way to wiggle your way into a new mindset. Just try a small, gradual increase and see if anybody says anything. Okay. Today's podcast is sponsored by Farm Marketing School. All right, farmer, let me ask you something. Is marketing your farm something you actually enjoy, or does it feel like a constant struggle? If you are like most farmers that I talk to, you are wearing all the hats and marketing always seems to slip through the cracks. Can I get an amen? That's exactly why I created Farm Marketing School. It's an online membership designed to help farmers like you build a simple, repeatable marketing system that actually works. Inside, you'll get bite sized, step by step projects that make marketing easier. Each month you pick what to work on, like writing better sales emails or improving your website copy, or setting up your online store. And I walk you through exactly how you should be doing it. And you're not doing this alone. Every month we have a live Zoom meetup where you can ask me questions, meet other members of Farm Marketing School, get coaching, and hear what's working for other farmers. It's like having a farm marketing mentor in your back pocket. This isn't some long, overwhelming course. The projects are designed to be completed in under 30 days. So you're making steady progress without it taking over your life. So if you're ready to stop winging it and finally build a marketing system that brings in steady sales, come join Farm Marketing School today. Sign up for your first month and see what a difference it makes. Go to mydigitalfarmer.com fms to get started. And now back to the show. All right, number two, you are booked out far in advance. If customers are willing to wait months or even years to buy from you, your price isn't high enough. So we just had an example earlier on. Or a farm wedding venue that's booked solid for a year. Higher prices could reduce the demand slightly, but it's going to increase your revenue and your profitability. Something to think about. I remember when I first moved out here to the Toledo area and we were getting to know some of the chefs in the area and one of them, his wife worked at a Montessori school and she was telling me this is a really kind of elite, high end Montessori school. I was looking into putting our kids into Montessori. I ended up not doing it because it was like a 50 minute drive and that was just too much. But I remember finding out that this school was so popular it had a huge wait list. You couldn't just decide to send them to Montessori two months before they were supposed to start because you would, there would be no way you would get in. And I found out that you actually could pay to get put onto the wait list. And that wasn't like a deposit that got put towards your ultimately towards your tuition later. It was like a whole nother product. You just pay a certain amount a month to get on the wait list. And that was not necessarily a guarantee that you would get in that first year. I mean, I think most people did, but they turned the wait list itself into a product. I'm not saying you should do that, but it's just very interesting. I remember being like, whoa, okay, this must be like a really good school. It made me kind of want to go there even more. But it just, it was an interesting thought process, like how they were using pricing. So as you're thinking about this particular sign that you're booked out really far in advance, consider charging higher rates for peak times of the season or maybe on weekends or the times in the year in the season where the demand is very high. I'm just thinking of wedding venues, for instance. I would think that the most popular time that someone is going to want to book a wedding as a bride and mother of the bride would be in the summer months when it's beautiful outside, maybe not so many February weddings. And so you would and should have a higher booking rate for the summer weddings and less, the price would be less in those non peak times. Right. So that's kind of a way that you can wiggle into that pricing increase. But play around with that, play around with that. Okay, Number three, your costs have increased. Okay. That's kind of an obvious sign that you need to raise prices. But like if your feed or your labor or fuel or any of your inputs have gone up and your prices haven't adjusted, your profit margin is shrinking, my friends. So hopefully you know your numbers and you are keeping your finger on the pulse of those numbers. I know for us we hire six guys for H2A and I think Ohio is the highest or the second highest rate in the nation per hour. It's gone up again for 2025. And so we sort of anticipated that that was going to happen and we raised our CSA box rates accordingly and we weren't Quite sure it was going to, but it has the last few years, so we assumed it would again. And I'm so glad we raised our rates, you guys, because when we saw how much the increase was per hour, we were like, oh, my gosh, here we go. And we have to think about that stuff. You know, when people bring this up to me about the cost, I try to have a reasonable conversation with them about how we know our inputs and we have to remain profitable. I kind of tell them this is what we're paying our staff, and we're really proud of it. And here are some of the other things that go into building a great product, a great vegetable. Like, we build our soil, we spend a lot of money on soil development. People don't think about that, but that is a huge part of having a quality product. And so we need to make up that cost. Somebody out there is paying for soil depletion right now. It's the American consumer, because they're getting their food for cheap. But for farms that are investing into the soil, like, we need the consumer to help pay for that. Right. So I explained that story, and that seems to help many of them kind of get a different perspective. But pay attention to your costs. So if you're one of those vegetable farmers and your seed or your compost costs, they're up 10, 20%, but you're still charging the same for your produce as you did last year at the market or in your online store. Change that. Raise them. Raise those prices right now. So here's just kind of a little tip as you try to explain to your customer why you're doing this. Don't just say costs went up, but you can communicate the added value or the quality or the experience that your customers are getting as well. So don't just blame it on my costs went up. Focus on the benefits for the customer. Okay, number four, signs that you need to increase your price. You're attracting the wrong customers. This is a not so obvious one, but I want us to flesh this out a little bit. Low prices attract bargain hunters, and bargain hunters don't value your product as much. Now, I'm actually a bargain hunter. Sometimes I think I'm a little bit thrifty. Well, at least before I got very ill, I was. So I can kind of relate to this story. But here's an example. A CSA farmer. You notice that many of your members aren't using the veggies in their box, or they're complaining about the price, or they're wanting to drop out mid season, they're composting a lot. And if you raise the price, it could filter out those uncommitted buyers and instead attract people who are going to be all into it, who are committed to your whole concept, who want to make it work, who appreciate farm fresh produce. Okay, so sometimes higher prices can end up weeding out the people who aren't really in it for the right reason. Okay, let's move on to number five. Here's another sign that you probably need to raise your price. You haven't raised your price in over a year now. This is kind of an obvious one, but often overlooked. If it has been 12 plus months since your last price review, my friends, it's time. It's time. Prices should reflect inflation, they should reflect cost increases. They should reflect your growing expertise and your intrinsic value. So if you are a flower farmer and you are charging the same price per stem for the last three years despite getting better as a grower and offering better premium blooms now, then you need to raise your price and you are justified in doing so. And you maybe don't even need to say anything to your customers. That's another point I want to make here. Like, sometimes I feel like when we want to raise our price and we hear a podcast like this and we're like, okay, I'm going to do it, then we feel like we need to make it a big thing and we need to tell everyone why and go into a huge exposition onto, you know, this is the reason to reassure everyone or try to justify it to the world. And I just want to suggest that there might be times when you need to do that, when it's a pretty significant price increase. But you know what if it's like, if we're talking like 50 cents a dollar, I don't know if you need to say anything. Like you could also just do it. So sometimes we make a mountain out of a molehill. Like, just raise your price if it's not a huge amount. If we're talking cents, just raise the price. You don't need to write an email and explain why, just do it. And if you get a few people that say something back to you, then you can have a conversation with them in person or through an email or whatever, do a little loom video for them and try to explain to them the reason for it. But I have a feeling that this isn't going to be a huge issue for you. This brings up a memory of mine when I was doing a coaching call with one of my accelerator farmer members, shout out to Camilla and she was just asking me, hey, we're gonna need. She was doing a community supported fishery and they were gonna have to raise their prices for their fish by, I don't know, like a pound or a dollar a pound. And she asked me to review this email that she was going to send out to the customer and say, hey, how does this sound and is it too much? Does it sound empathetic, et cetera, et cetera. And I read it and I, and I kind of chuckled and I wrote back to her and we had a good conversation about it. I was like, camilla, I don't even know if you need to send this email. Like, I just like, from this perspective over here, a dollar a pound and you live in San Francisco where your customers like making probably some pretty good money. I don't think they're freaking out about a dollar a pound. And so she was sort of like, oh yeah, I think you're probably right. And yeah, so it was just a little perspective that we sometimes make a big deal about it and I don't know if we need to always write a huge email or make a huge production or an announcement. I'm now at the point with my CSA membership every year we have always raised the price. For the last three years, we raised the price at the end of the early bird promotion. We raise it and no one ever says a thing. I used to feel like I needed to explain why I was raising it $20. Now I don't even bring it up like, no, it just is what it is. Okay, so that's my list of five. I just thought of another one as I was in the middle of number four. So I want to throw in another bonus, number six into this list because I think it's a significant one. Sometimes a low price could be hurting your sales, and this one is not so obvious. The reason that you need to raise your price is because your low price is actually hurting your sales. I was recently shopping and had to choose between two brands of this particular item. And one was priced, I don't know, 20, 30% higher than the other one. And I found myself wondering why, because they looked kind of the same. I couldn't really distinguish the difference. And I was asking myself, well, is the higher priced one better somehow? And what if it is? Like, I don't wanna have one that's kind of subpar. And this moment made me actually lean toward the more expensive one because I was equating cost with quality. And that's what I want you to think. About your consumer is looking at the price tag and they're making. They're doing some interpretation, they're making some assumptions, and they are equating quality with price. So if you're a farm that's selling organic, handcrafted artisan cheese at a price that's lower than grocery store brands or even equal to grocery store brands, you are unintentionally signaling that it is less premium than it is, that it is at the same level as the stuff people can just buy anywhere when we both know that yours is way better. Right? So raising your price can actually increase the perceived value, which makes your product more desirable, and it attracts the people who have a lot of extra money to spend. So I get this because before, before I had this whole incident with my health and eating and so forth, I was a very thrifty person when it came to food. Like, I was often shopping for the cheapest types of products in a particular category. And I would get the grocery store generic kind of brand of something instead of the. The branded products because I was trying to make every dollar stretch. And I think that in those days, as a farmer, business owner, when I was pricing my products, I was assuming that everyone else was like, me too, was thrifty when it came to food. And I want to offer here that not everyone thinks that way about food. There is a subset of the population that isn't thinking through the lens of budget. They're thinking through the lens of quality or health or, or frankly, looking for the more expensive items because it makes them feel more elite or it makes them feel like they're in a certain class or that it's a better product makes them feel better about the purchase. Okay, so sometimes the sign that there's a sign that we need to raise our price and it's because our particular price is so low that it's actually keeping people from deciding to buy it. They're equating it with low quality, and that's hurting you. Okay, so are you undervaluing yourself? Could your price be keeping your customers from buying? And this is just something to test. Okay, get into the sandbox. Have a little fun with this. Explore this as a trial where you raise the price of something, maybe just one of your items, to a slightly 20, 30% higher, and just see if your prediction that sales are going to drop like crazy actually comes true. Or maybe the opposite will happen. Or maybe you'll make the same amount. You'll sell a little bit less, but you'll still make the same amount. It Won't be as much work for you. I don't know. Just see what happens. Okay. See what happens. So there you have it. Those are my kind of six signs that you should raise your price. I'm sure there are other ones, but those are some that have happened to me that I've had to deal with before I wrap up. I just want to give you a few tips for now that you know some of these things. Maybe you've noticed a couple of them are jumping out at you that are ringing true for you, that you want to explore for yourself. How do you raise prices without losing customers? So here are a few tips. First of all, I would say increase those prices gradually. If you don't want to, like, go cold turkey and, like, make this big price leap, that's cool. But what if you incrementally increase it little by little? So a 5 to 10% bump, that might feel more natural to a customer to the point that you may not even need to bring it up. You could also be strategic about when you raise those prices. So we talked a little bit earlier here in the episode about seasonal peaks, right? When there's high demand. Don't be afraid to raise the price when the product is more popular and when everybody wants it. And you could then explore if you feel like you need to drop the price, then after that, maybe you don't drop it as far as you have in the past. And so you've essentially incrementally increased the price for that season of the year. Okay. My second idea is communicate the value of the product. So instead of apologizing and feeling like you have to talk about why, focus on why your product is now worth more. Incidentally, this is another way that you could also justify to yourself increasing the price. If you add another kind of element or service to the bundle or to the product, it makes it feel easier for you as the producer, to raise the price. I'm trying to think of an example. Like with our csa, I remember the year that I was doing a lot of video content and I was creating the Shared Legacy Farms Online Academy, which is basically like video trainings for how to use the product, PDF guides for every single vegetable that we grow, trainings for how to cook, the different exit strategies, and I put all of those videos inside of the Shared Legacy Farms Academy. I actually have a lot of farmers that subscribe to that and they get access to all the resources in there and they can use that for their own CSAs. If you're interested in that. It's mydigitalfarmer.com academy, it's a monthly membership. But I remember when I first added that to our csa, I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna automatically offer this to anybody who joins the csa and I'm not gonna charge them access to it. Like, I'll charge anybody who's not in my CSA who wants to get into this, they'll pay a monthly fee, but my CSA members won't. And that kind of helped me justify our price increase that year, which was a little more significant because in my mind, I'm like, I'm giving them the gold mine. I'm giving them the toolkit to help figure out how to be successful with csa. So they're not going to waste food as much anymore. They're going to feel empowered, equipped, supported. And I could talk about that. I could talk about the added value that you're getting. You're not just getting a box of vegetables with some recipes anymore. It's now you're also getting this support system, free access to the Academy, which at the time was $19 a month, you know, and you're in that for the whole year and you don't have to pay extra for it. And you get into my CSA's private Facebook group as part of the Academy, so you can actually participate in the challenges and you can see how our groups interacting and learning from each other and like, that accelerates their growth as a customer. Right. So I just came from a space of energy because I knew this is really awesome. This resource is going to add so much, and I'm not technically going to charge them what I charge other people. And so it just felt easier then to say, this is what the CSA price tag is now. Yeah. So think about that. Is there a way that you could add something to the package that doesn't really cost you? Maybe it does a little bit in the initial outlay, but that you could sort of bundle as part of the package. That's part of just learning how to build a good offer. Okay, another tip here for how to raise prices without losing your customer offer a VIP or a loyalty perk. So give some of your past customers a heads up that this is happening. Or maybe you give your past customers a renewal rate at the lower price, warn them that the price increase is coming, and if they want to lock in for next year, here's their chance. Right. And so that becomes almost a sense of like giving them a reward for being a loyal customer or a VIP that they get access to this earlier. Price, and they can get used to the idea that, okay, this is the last time you're going to see this price. Next year, it's going to be more, and they have time to prepare, and then they feel like they've been almost like, gifted something. Okay. And then test price increases in phases. So start with one product, one service. Tell people that you're raising the price just for that and see what. What the customer response is. You might be surprised that it's not that crazy. They might not say a thing. And then you could be like, did I not go high enough? Or it might give you confidence that you could slowly do that with some of your other products. As we wrap up, I want to remind you that one of the ways that we can increase our revenue as a farm business is to increase our price. It's actually one of the four key levers that you have to pull. The other three are also super important to know. I teach about them inside of farm marketing school in our marketing metrics class. But if you can keep your eye on those four targets, you can double your revenue. So if you're looking to make more money, my friends, this is an easy way to get started in that direction. And I think the issue is often in our own minds. It is our own resistance, our own fear, our own imposter syndrome, our own myths that we're telling ourselves that are keeping us from trying it. And I want to challenge you today. Maybe one of these jumped out at you and spoke to you. I want to challenge you today to take the step of faith. And just maybe it's not a leap. Maybe it's just, like, you wiggle into it. Okay? But just try it. Test it. Test it for four weeks and just see what happens. Just see what happens. All right. Today's show notes can be found@mydigitalfarmer.com for forward slash, 307. I'm going to include the link to the podcast episode where I talk about the four ways that you can raise your revenue. One of them is price. I will make sure that I link that up in the show notes. I can't remember the name of the episode off top of my head because I just thought of it as I was doing the. The lesson here. But I'll go look it up and I'll stick it in there. Okay? Okay. It's a good episode, and it's gonna kind of blow your mind, so make sure you go listen to that one. Don't forget, if you need help implementing these farm marketing strategies that I talk about in this podcast you can go to Farm Marketing School inside fms. I teach how to price your products confidently, I teach you how to build offers, how to attract the right customers, how to build lead magnets, how to change the copy on your website, how to write emails that sell and that build connection. There's so many cool projects in there that are designed to be gone through in 30 day increments so that you build your marketing system piece by piece like a machine until one day all the parts are there and it's chugging and it works. So if you want to join, head to mydigitalfarmer.com FMS I think there's like 40 people in the community right now and I'm having a blast. We do a monthly zoom meeting as well on the third Wednesday of the month at 1:00pm Eastern Standard Time every month. So I love that as well. Connecting with everyone. So I hope to see you inside there now. If you like today's episode, please go. Leave me a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or tell someone who needs to hear today's message about the show. You can grab the link and text it to them. I would love if you would just let as many people as possible know that this podcast exists. Don't forget, if you want to get onto my email list, I have some free stuff to send your way to make your marketing better. You can go to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe thank you for joining me today. Have a wonderful week and remember, I believe in you. Bye.
My Digital Farmer Podcast: Episode 307 - Five Signs It's Time to Raise Your Farm Prices
Host: Corinna Bench
Release Date: April 9, 2025
In Episode 307 of the My Digital Farmer Podcast, host Corinna Bench delves into a critical aspect of farm business management: pricing strategies. As both a CSA farmer and a marketing specialist, Corinna provides invaluable insights into recognizing when it's time to adjust your prices and offers practical advice on implementing these changes confidently. This episode is particularly beneficial for farmers navigating the delicate balance between affordability and profitability.
Summary:
One of the most straightforward indicators that your prices might be too low is consistently selling out of your products rapidly. While high demand is a positive sign, it can also suggest that you're underpricing your offerings.
Notable Quote:
"If your product or service is selling out every time, chances are you are undercharging." (05:45)
Insights:
Corinna emphasizes the importance of finding the "Goldilocks zone" in pricing—not too high to deter customers, nor too low to undervalue your products. She suggests that leaving just a few items unsold can be an ideal balance, indicating optimal pricing.
Summary:
When your services or products have waiting lists extending months or even years, it's a clear sign that demand outpaces supply, often due to underpricing.
Notable Quote:
"If customers are willing to wait months or even years to buy from you, your price isn't high enough." (12:30)
Insights:
Corinna shares a personal anecdote about a high-demand Montessori school that monetized its waitlist, illustrating how scarcity and high demand can be leveraged through strategic pricing. She advises farmers to consider seasonal pricing adjustments, charging more during peak times to maximize revenue without overwhelming demand.
Summary:
Rising operational costs—such as feed, labor, or fuel—necessitate a reevaluation of your pricing to maintain profit margins.
Notable Quote:
"If your feed or your labor or fuel or any of your inputs have gone up and your prices haven't adjusted, your profit margin is shrinking." (18:15)
Insights:
Corinna underscores the importance of regularly reviewing costs and adjusting prices accordingly. She advises communicating the reasons for price increases to customers by highlighting the added value or quality improvements, rather than merely citing increased expenses.
Summary:
Low pricing can attract bargain hunters who may not be genuinely committed to your farm's mission or products, leading to lower customer retention and engagement.
Notable Quote:
"Low prices attract bargain hunters, and bargain hunters don't value your product as much." (25:50)
Insights:
By raising prices, farmers can filter out non-committed customers and attract those who appreciate the quality and value of their offerings. Corinna shares examples of CSA members misusing their produce, illustrating how higher prices can lead to a more dedicated customer base.
Summary:
Failing to adjust prices in line with inflation, cost increases, and growing expertise can result in stagnant or declining profitability.
Notable Quote:
"If it has been 12 plus months since your last price review, my friends, it's time." (32:10)
Insights:
Corinna recommends annual price reviews to ensure your pricing remains competitive and reflective of your farm's evolution. She shares her experience of consistently raising CSA prices and the positive reception from her customers, reinforcing that gradual increases often go unnoticed if implemented thoughtfully.
Summary:
Sometimes, pricing too low can unintentionally signal low quality, deterring potential customers who associate higher prices with better products.
Notable Quote:
"Your consumer is looking at the price tag and they're making some interpretation, they're making some assumptions, and they are equating quality with price." (40:20)
Insights:
Corinna discusses how higher prices can enhance perceived value, attracting customers who are willing to pay more for premium quality. She encourages farmers to experiment with price adjustments to observe changes in customer behavior and sales performance.
Corinna doesn't just identify the signs—it also equips listeners with actionable strategies to implement price increases smoothly:
Incremental Increases:
Gradually raise prices by 5-10% to make changes feel natural to customers.
"A 5 to 10% bump might feel more natural to a customer to the point that you may not even need to bring it up." (45:35)
Seasonal Pricing Adjustments:
Charge higher prices during peak seasons and lower during off-peak times.
"Don’t be afraid to raise the price when the product is more popular and when everybody wants it." (47:10)
Communicate Added Value:
Highlight improvements or additional services that justify the price increase.
"Focus on why your product is now worth more." (50:05)
Offer Loyalty Perks:
Reward existing customers with early access to price increases or special offers.
"Offer a VIP or a loyalty perk. Give some of your past customers a heads up that this is happening." (53:15)
Test Price Increases in Phases:
Implement price changes on select products or services to gauge customer response before a full rollout.
"Test price increases in phases. Start with one product, one service, and see what the customer response is." (55:40)
Corinna wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of recognizing and responding to these pricing signs to enhance farm profitability. She encourages farmers to adopt a mindset shift regarding pricing, emphasizing that it's a strategic business decision rather than merely a numbers game.
Final Quote:
"Maybe it's just a little, like, you wiggle into it... but just try it. Test it for four weeks and just see what happens." (59:50)
Takeaways:
For more detailed discussions on farm marketing strategies, visit mydigitalfarmer.com and consider joining the Farm Marketing School to enhance your business's profitability and sustainability.