Experts Offer Down To Earth Advice about How to Market Compost

By P.J. Heller

     Organic products producers, who want to be successful, need to educate their customers about the benefits of their products and better train their sales force in selling techniques…
That was the gist of a nearly two hour marketing seminar held as part of the U.S. Composting Council’s 19th annual conference and trade show held recently in Santa Clara, Calif. More than 1,100 composting and organics recycling professionals and 130 exhibitors attended the conference and exhibition.
     “There are a lot of competent producers who are frankly very good at producing compost,” said David Hill, head of CycleLogic Environmental Marketing and Consultation in Sarasota, Fla. “There are not so many of us who are very good at selling compost, because they’re very different disciplines.”
     Hill was one of four speakers at the marketing workshop. Others who spoke were Kathy Kellogg Johnson of Kellogg Garden Products in California, Tom Kelley of Harvest Power in Massachusetts and Ron Alexander of R. Alexander Associates in North Carolina.
     Hill’s approach was less about the actual product and more about knowing everything there is to know about the potential customer base. He described it as “customer profiling.”
     Knowing the demographics of customers “have very distinct implications in how we promote our product, how we package it, what we say about it and where we’re going with our product,” said Hill, who has more than 25 years experience in composting organic materials and in selling and using compost and compost-amended topsoils.
     “I’ve always said ‘start with the end,’” he added. “‘Figure out what your goals are and work backward to get there.’”
     Hill’s company works with firms that generate, process, use, purchase or sell recyclable materials. The primary focus, CycleLogic web site notes, is on the economical and ecological benefits inherent with the reuse of organic materials.
     Johnson, whose grandfather H. Clay Kellogg started Kellogg Garden Products in 1925, agreed that “it’s not really about the product.”
     Instead, she insisted, successful marketing involved convincing people that compost was essential for their soil.
     “If people just understood that the soil beneath their feet was in dire need of fixing and feeding, you know people are going to need your product to feed the soil,” said Johnson, the chief sustainability officer for Kellogg Garden Products headquartered in Carson, Calif.
     The best way of imparting that message, she advised, was through word of mouth. One method was for compost company sales representatives to offer ideas to nurseries and then check back with them about their level of success.
     “We feel it is Kellogg’s responsibility to be the wind beneath the wings of people that are actually selling the product to our customer,” she explained.
     Johnson also practices that philosophy through her involvement with Plant with Purpose, which helps educate impoverished and subsistence farmers in third world countries on how restoring their soil can improve their quality of life.
     She also recommended to workshop attendees that they market through third-party endorsements and utilize the latest in technology — including web and social media sites such as Facebook, My Space and YouTube, and devices such as iPhones and smart phones — to reach current and potential customers.
     “Gen X and Gen Y are where we’re going to have sales for the next 85 years,” she said, adding that when it comes to the newest technology, Gen Xers and Yers are “checking it, living it and they’re on it all the time.”
     A key component was to maintain a web site, she said.   “We do believe with all this messaging that the way to reach your consumer . . . is your web site,” she said. “They might go out on Twitter. They might go out on Facebook. They might go out and see YouTube. But they need to be able to come back to browse your content on your web site. So go after these other ways of getting your content out to people but it all comes back to your web site.”
     Kellogg markets more than 400 products to the lawn and garden industry in the western U.S.
     Kelley of Harvest Power took a different approach, insisting that the key to marketing success was product quality.
     “Marketing programs are influenced by many factors,” he noted. “However, miss product quality and you miss the key. It’s very, very simple. It’s not rocket science.
     “If you do not have product quality, you will not be able to keep your customers,” he said. “You will not retain customers. They will go somewhere else where they can get quality.”
     Although Kelley admitted that most manufacturers would agree that they offered a quality compost, he stressed that testing and dissecting the material might result in an even better product.
     “We need to raise the bar . . .” he said, adding that the public needed to know how important compost was for soil.
     “We need to make the highest quality products so we can be successful and everybody wins,” said Kelley, a 25-year veteran in the organics and horticulture industry, specializing in compost sales and marketing.
     “The value of something is that which somebody is willing to pay for,” he said. “They have to understand the value. It has to be conveyed to them, and if they do, they will want to purchase your product.”
     Alexander also talked about improvements, but his focus was not on the product but rather on the sales force. Alexander is the author of The Practical Guide to Composting Marketing and Sales.
     “Several outstanding publications have been written over the years to assist composters in the production and use of compost, and much research has been completed on these subjects,” he notes in his book. “However, little truly practical information has been available pertaining to compost marketing, especially as it pertains to actual sales . . . approaching specific market segments and training new sales staff.
     “It is important for anyone managing compost sales staff to understand that to be successful over the long-term, there is ‘a lot to learn and master,’” he says in describing his book. “A technically competent sales person must possess knowledge in diverse subject manner, as well as skill in the area of sales.”
     He stressed that approach in his talk at the compost council session, keying in on the importance of being able to deal with customers.
     “It’s all about people,” said Alexander, who has more than 25 years experience in the compost, biosolids and organic recycled product industry. “If you’re going to do a sales call, you have to be mentally and physically prepared.”
     He also stressed the importance of the sale force getting to know their buyers, nurturing and empathizing with them and showing them that they care. The sales force also needs to study and learn about the technical aspects of using the product to help buyers address their problems, he added.
     “Learning to deal with common objections is one of the most important skills a compost sales person must master,” he notes in his book. “Unfortunately, many sales people also see it as the most intimidating aspect of sales. Some of the common objections deal with why a prospect should use compost as a replacement for what they are currently using, whether it is a different producer’s compost or another soil amendment. In this scenario, it is imperative for compost salespeople to understand both their own product and their competitors so they can point out the differences.”
     “There’s going to be a wall,” he explained to conference attendees. “You say something stupid and the wall gets bigger. The mind-set is be a Marine. You’re going over it, around it, through it. You have to break down the wall. If you’re good at understanding the technical benefits and understanding how those benefits relate to them, to the end user and their money and their success, you get over that wall.
     “The goal,” he added, “is to work with the end user, psychologically, and bond with them. We want them to love us and trust us. We want to demonstrate competence in all things.
     “Come in on the white pony. Tell them how you’re going to save them . . . Remove their pain,” he advised. And, he added, “Never stop trying to improve.”

(For more information about Johnson, visit the Kellogg Garden products web site at www.kellogggarden.com. Information about Hill and CycleLogic is available at www.mycyclelogic.com. Details about Harvest Power can be found at www.harvestpower.com. More about R. Alexander Associates and the book The Practical Guide to Composting Marketing and Sales is available at www.alexassoc.net)