Focusing on FOMs: How Farm Onboarding Managers Set the Foundations for Farm Success
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we get an overview about the Farm onboarding process with Chris, a member of our Barn2Door Farm Onboarding Manager team. We discuss the role Farm Onboarding Managers (FOMs) play in setting up farmers for success and providing them with tools and resources for their future account management.
www.barn2door.com/resources
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Garrett Arnold - B2D: Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. I'm Garrett, your host for today's episode. We've got a great conversation for you today with one of our Barn2Door Farm Onboarding Managers, Chris Norris. Welcome Chris.
Chris Norris - B2D: Hey, thanks Garrett. Thanks for having me.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: All right. So tell me about your role at Barn2Door and how you work with farmers.
Chris Norris - B2D: All right. As a Farm Onboarding Manager, I'm one of those first people that people are gonna meet with, to get their store set up. So I'm gonna work with them to get their inventory items built out, get their fulfillment options built out, and basically get everything set to get their store [00:01:00] live.
So we'll work with them on training in the system, once we do have those items built out for them, as well as giving them the social media best practices moving forward to make sure they're set up for success on our platform.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: And so what do you end up doing on a day to day basis?
Chris Norris - B2D: So day to day is pretty, pretty busy. So typically I'll have anywhere between 8 and 10 farms a day. Everyone's at different points throughout the day, so I'll have some farms I'm meeting with the first time, some farms I'm meeting with, my final call, five calls in, but day to day, just working on different aspects of that, whether it's getting their inventory loaded or getting fulfillments loaded. Whether it's announcing their store or, training them on the system, showing 'em pick-pack lists, giving them social media, best practices, reviewing MailChimp. Just depends on where they're at in the process. So day to day, every call is different depending on where they're at and we're just moving them forward so they can get over to their Account Manager.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Yeah, that's great. So the process from start to finish when you're first meeting a farmer, what is that like?[00:02:00]
Chris Norris - B2D: So typically our orientation call, the first call I have with a farmer just kind of listening, we have great notes from our sales team when they signed up, just to see where they're at, just in general. But it's just basically a conversation with them to see what they're envisioning as far as getting set up, what I need to do to build stuff out for them. And basically just getting an overall feel for what I need to do to make sure they're set up for success. So that initial call, we'll just talk about what they wanna sell, what they're thinking of selling.
And I'll take what they're doing and give them those best practices along the way, give them advice on what they're doing, and then get everything set up and create a game plan to get their store live and get them trained on the system so we can get them selling on their site as soon as possible.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So you're pretty much that very first official contact with a farmer that's starting with Barn2Door. Why do you think it's so important to have Onboarding Managers here for farmers to use?
Chris Norris - B2D: The whole online thing can be really intimidating for a lot of people. So obviously there's people that are tech [00:03:00] savvy and then there's people that barely can log into a computer. So we're here to kind of help the people across the gamut there. So having that one on one contact to be able to get set up and be able to talk to a person to share best practices, to help them out and answer any questions, it's just huge compared to a lot of companies where you might sign up for something and then they're just, giving you an email saying, "hey, here's how to do that."
So having that one on one conversation, building a relationship with those people you're working with, is really key to their success and setting them up for success rather than them basically just, having to do it on their own there.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So you've definitely worked with a lot of farmers. How long have you been working with Barn2Door?
Chris Norris - B2D: I've been here almost a year and a half now. Been a Farm Onboarding Manager that whole time and seen the progress and all the changes that have gone along in that year and a half too.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So in that time that you've been here, what are some of the primary challenges you think farmers face when they're transitioning online and specifically [00:04:00] with Barn2Door?
Chris Norris - B2D: I mean, a lot of people that I work with haven't sold online before. So they might be doing things by word of mouth or trying to sell on Facebook. They haven't had experience selling online, or they might have signed up with another site that doesn't offer that one on one help to kinda get set up and they just get frustrated with that or it's overwhelming to them.
So I think, in most cases people are coming to us for that e-commerce experience, or they were at a previous solution that just wasn't working for them and they're wanting something, you know, having that extra help to streamline things and really make their farm successful moving forward.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So for farmers, we often recommend that they get their web store live before a website. Why is that the case?
Chris Norris - B2D: A website without a web store, you're basically sending someone to a dead end. So if you have a website without a link to a store there, you're not making money there. So people can go read about your history, read about your products, but you know, there's no button to link them to a store to be able to purchase those products.
So [00:05:00] first off, if you're doing that, where you're having a website that doesn't have. A link to the store on there, the likelihood of them returning to that website later down the road and hoping that's up there is a lot slimmer.
So we get that web store set up first, because that's where you're gonna make the money on the platform. That's where people are gonna go to make those purchases, get those set up. There's a lot of stuff we can do during onboarding to get stuff ready for the website, as far as forwarding their domain to the web store and things like that without having the full website available yet.
We wanna focus on making them money first and showing them those results and getting that, and then focusing on getting that website built out for them afterwards.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Right, right. That's very important. I mean, that's ultimately why farmers are here. They're here to make more money.
Chris Norris - B2D: Exactly, so we want them to see those results come through and that starts with the web store and not the website. So there's a lot of things people can do if through social media, before they have a website too. So there's a lot of different ways with the store to share items [00:06:00] out, once you have stuff live and be active on social media too, without having that full website up yet to still make that money.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: What should farmers expect when their store first goes live?
Chris Norris - B2D: That kind of depends on, the farmers. So there's some Farms that have a huge following, as far as that goes. There's some Farms that are starting, from scratch. So once you have your items live and everything's ready to go in your store, we'll show you how to post items live.
A lot of that, comes down to, once having that live is how you're sharing out that store link with people. So if you're just starting off, don't have a Facebook following or have Instagram or any social media, and you're not starting with any customers that might be a case where obviously you're on the internet there.
So anyone can kind of search on Barn2Door, find the farm, and make a purchase, but you're not driving those directly to your store site. So a lot of what we do in onboarding is to set up those foundations to make sure you have a Facebook business page, have a shop button added on that.
If you have Instagram, make sure we get a Linktree added with the store [00:07:00] link there so you can share out to those followers on those sites, that your store's active. Another big part of onboarding is the email collection. So even if they're starting small, if they just have family and friends as emails, we get those folks loaded as customers.
So they have someone that they can start emailing to let them know that the store's active there too. So it really depends on where the farm's at, whether they're just starting, they might not see a ton of traffic right away, but that's where, you know, your Account Manager's gonna come in to help you start growing that customer base organically versus an established Farm that, you know, we've had some farms where they put up a shop now button. I had one farm a few weeks ago down in Texas where they created a promo code, announced their store one night, and he emailed me the next morning and they already had $400 in orders sitting
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Wow. Wow.
Chris Norris - B2D: it just it depends on where the Farm's at currently and how they're marketing and who they can market to at the time.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: That note about emails was really interesting for me. I didn't know about that.[00:08:00]
Chris Norris - B2D: Yeah. As far as e-commerce goes, email collection is the name of the game. So that's what we always try to target for folks is just letting them know that, try to target for a hundred emails to start. So our most successful Farms on our platform all have at least a hundred emails in their customer list that they're able to message at least on a weekly basis to send an order reminder to you to send a weekly newsletter too. So a lot of the stuff in onboarding, especially with MailChimp, is just setting up that foundation to give them tools to help collect emails. So that'll go into creating some sign up forms for them, a popup on their Barn2Door site, and then creating some mail templates for them that their Account Manager can then work with them on sending out and automating.
So they can start messaging to those people. But, the email collection is the main goal to push those drivers and push those sales to the website.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Awesome. That is a great feature and one of the many key features I think, leads to [00:09:00] success. And on that note, when we're talking about success, what do you think are some of the best practices that farmers can implement during their onboarding?
Chris Norris - B2D: You know, a lot of it is just gonna be showing up for meetings and just kind of learning the system on your own and clicking through. So, you know, depending on how people learn, I'm one of those people that like to just click through everything, take a look at everything and go along there.
So, you know, we definitely try to do a lot of the heavy lifting and onboarding as far as getting stuff built out. But, in the end the farmers are gonna be the ones managing the ins and outs of the page. So we wanna make sure that we're there to help them along the way, but that they're actually learning and involved in the process as well.
So we wanna make sure they know how to, you know, update their schedules, add drop locations, update farmer's market dates, add new items. We wanna make sure they know how to do all of that. Cuz they'll be managing that on their own. So just setting them up, showing them the way and then having them kind of be interactive in those meetings. Everything is [00:10:00] through Google Meet, so we'll have them share their screen kind of moving forward and click them through, have them make updates themselves.
And then there's always a little homework between calls too. So we'll always have a few things that they can cover between calls to stay on pace and on time to meet that four to five week range moving forward. So just a little bit of interaction and they'll have to lean in a little bit, but again, we try to do a lot of the heavy lifting for them to make it as easy as possible.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Yeah, one of the great things that I like about this entire process is that there's so much adaptability, at least on our end, to be able to meet the farmer's needs. Cuz obviously we've got so many different Farms, so many different farmers and they all have something unique to work on and I think it's great that you guys are able to do that for them.
Chris Norris - B2D: Absolutely. I mean, that's one thing never working with farmers before I worked here is just seeing the work ethic they have and, you know, like their schedules can be crazy. So, you know, adapting to be able to work with them. I have people probably, [00:11:00] maybe a fifth of my calls each week that we have to cancel or reschedule just cuz stuff is happening on the Farms, between Farm stuff and life stuff, rescheduling becomes a huge part of that too.
So just being flexible to help them out through the journey is definitely a must in this industry.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So we talked to one of our Farm Account Managers in one of our previous podcasts, what do you think are the biggest distinctions between a Farm Onboarding Manager and a Farm Account Manager?
Chris Norris - B2D: So your Farm Onboarding Manager, we're basically there to set up those foundations to success for you guys. So we're there to get everything set up initially. We don't have to have the full store set up. So we wanna focus on what your main selling items are, what's gonna make you most successful to get that store up and running right away. So getting those items built out, your most successful and most popular fulfillment items, getting those up and running so you have something to sell immediately, right? We can always go back in and add other things to the store as you go.
But your Onboarding Manager is there to [00:12:00] get that store set up as quickly as you can. Get you trained on the system, share some best practices with you and get those foundations built out. So you can move over to your Account Manager and really fine tune things and really focus in on making sure you're successful in the platform and growing your customer base.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Is there a set amount of time that a farmer will be working with an Onboarding Manager or is it really how long it takes for them to get acclimated to the system?
Chris Norris - B2D: So I mean, that always depends, you know, farmers are busy, so after the orientation meeting, set up a weekly time to meet with them. Most farms I work with, we're getting through those weekly calls and giving them over to their Account Manager within four to five weeks. So, you know, One call per week, depending on schedules people might be able to do two meetings a week, things like that.
So some people move faster than others. But on average, I work with people for about a month. Just a weekly meeting for those four to five weeks to get everything covered and get them scheduled to meet with their Account Manager.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: So [00:13:00] we talked a little bit ago about how Onboarding Managers provide the tools for success. What does some of that success look like?
Chris Norris - B2D: Oh, wow. Depending on the scale of the farm, you have people that are starting out that, I've had a guy who's like, "I bought chickens three weeks ago." He's like, "I'm gonna start selling chickens." Never done it before, didn't have any clue how to do it. We got him set up and everything.
So, you know, Some people might see success as selling one chicken online and just getting that start. So I've seen people starting off small and just getting that first order through seeing that, it is possible to sell stuff online, how easy that is for them to have that all in one spot instead of fielding emails and Facebook messages, word of mouth, having that all in that platform, that can be a success just getting one order through. We've had other larger farms that are already established and have customers. Success to them might be doubling sales or tripling sales or selling out their CSA pre-orders, things like that.
So it really just [00:14:00] depends on the farm, you know, what success looks like, but obviously getting those orders through and seeing things work for them in the system is gonna be the biggest motivator for that success.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Awesome, yeah, yeah. Talking about the relationship again with the Onboarding Managers and the Account Managers, do you both work closely with one another, as far as that trade off. Do you give them information about the farm before they end up going to the Account Manager so that they're able to continue that success?
Chris Norris - B2D: Yeah. So well, on my last call with the farm, once we get them scheduled with their Account Manager, I'll go through in our system and kind of set up a note for the Account Manager moving forward. If there's any pending items that the farm is still waiting on getting done, we'll note that for the Account Manager. Otherwise I'm, giving them next steps. So if we have all those foundations built out and their goal is to announce their new CSA in a month, I'll make sure to put those notes for the Account Manager in there, so [00:15:00] they'll be able to kinda research that before their first meeting with the farmer and can hit the ground running with the farmer there and keep working on their goals towards there.
So a lot of communication goes into that directly with the Account Manager before they even talk to the farm for the first time.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: That's great to hear. It's good to know that despite having different job titles here, everyone is really one cohesive unit when it comes to helping farmers succeed during their time here with Barn2Door.
Chris Norris - B2D: For sure. Yeah. It's definitely a team effort through the company there. So I mean, sales leaves me great notes when they sign up a farm so I have an idea of what I'm getting into when I talk to them for the first time. And then we just try to continue that pattern, leave notes for the Account Manager moving forward and keep that communication going.
So the farmer's not having to repeat themselves on any things and we can keep that momentum going for them.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Yeah, I'm glad that you brought up sales because I wanted to ask a little bit about that. So obviously the first point of contact is with sales and then eventually sales brings that farmer to [00:16:00] you guys. So what is that process like?
Chris Norris - B2D: So basically when they're closing the deal and they have the okay from the Farm that they're signing up, they're gonna schedule a meeting on my calendar for an orientation call. So sales will schedule something with them and I'll usually have either a half hour or 45 minute call booked on my calendar with the farm there.
They're gonna go get the account created for the Farm and everything. Both the farmer's account and like an internal admin account on our end. And then they'll basically leave me notes based off of their conversations off sales volume, what they're looking to sell, what their priority items and fulfillments are, so I can go into that conversation with them already with a good base of knowledge off their operation. So again we're saving them a little bit of time where they're not having to repeat every little aspect of that moving forward. Just basically, a general kind of overall summary of what they've talked about so I can know what to base my conversation off of when I start working with them.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Yeah, that's great. In your time here, how have you seen [00:17:00] your team change and improve to better serve farmers?
Chris Norris - B2D: Oh man. That's the joy of working, you know, with a startup is things are just constantly evolving, you know, just in the tech world and especially with startups, right? We wanna service, you know, farmers and make things easier for them and help them. So it's just a constant learning experience.
So, just in the year and a half I've been here thinking about how we were onboarding Farms a year and a half ago versus now, a lot of things are just streamlining things and kind of automating things and making things easier for the farmers and for ourselves. We still like offering that personal service, obviously. So I don't think we're ever gonna lose that. So just constantly evolving and changing with things as they change is the name of the game working here to make sure that we're always able to service the farmers moving forward.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: It's good to see that growth over time. It's good to see that we're always trying to improve and we're always trying to deliver the best experience possible for people that are coming on board.
Chris Norris - B2D: For sure. We've had a lot of additional resources as well. So when I started, we had our Learn [00:18:00] Center and a few other things, and then we started our Connect program where they can connect with a lead here at Barn2Door, as well as other Barn2Door farmers.
We have our Academy, so there's a lot of resources that we've really built out and seen grow, you know, across the year and a half I've been here and they're going to continue to keep growing from there as well, too. So super exciting stuff as far as that goes.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: Absolutely. Now, do you have any success stories from some Farms that you've personally onboarded?
Chris Norris - B2D: Oh, I mean, plenty. So it's crazy like the variety of Farms you work with too. But it's especially just starting off, I've had folks do poultry farms in Arizona, I've had fiber farms, people do an alpaca fiber. I basically, as far as the territory, have the Western half of the country here.
So I've worked with beef and pork producers in Texas and Oklahoma, bison ranches in Utah and Montana, and flower farms in Alaska kind of run the gamut of stuff. And I think that's the funnest [00:19:00] part about onboarding is getting their store set up and trying to push for that first order to get that through and be like, "hey look, what we've set up is working."
You have an order in, show 'em how to process that order, and see that. I can think of a lot of success stories, between farmers that haven't sold before that start selling stuff, or farmers that are just looking for a solution to streamline things. So we've had plenty of examples of farms that are already running CSAs, but they're doing everything manually on spreadsheets, on Excel.
And then we create those for them and we've had a couple Farms that are thousands of dollars of pre-sold out, you know, their CSAs for summer and fall already. So I think that those are kind of the most exciting things to see, where it's working for them so well that they're already sold out for the year. Things like that.
So that's like the, my favorite part of this job, seeing and that success and just knowing that they have that income in there and that they're in a good spot moving forward too.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: That's great. That's so great. Well, Chris, do you have any [00:20:00] closing thoughts or advice to give to farmers, just about the onboarding process and going on from there?
Chris Norris - B2D: Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, In onboarding, we're obviously here to help you. There'd be a little work on your end, but you know, our favorite part as Onboarding Managers and our team is hearing your story, see what's gonna work for you and guiding you, giving you those best practices moving forward.
So maybe the way you're doing stuff, we can set stuff up to make you succeed even more or give you those best practices to kinda change what you're doing. So I think part of it is having a little bit of an open mind, cuz obviously I've onboarded, hundreds of Farms.
We've worked with thousands of Farms across our platform. So we know what works. So you know, having a little bit of an open mind, obviously we want you to succeed, you know, as well too. So, having that open mind and then just putting that little bit of work in to be able to get rolling there are the two most important things. And then, we're gonna work the best we can to get you set up and get set for success there.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: [00:21:00] Chris, thank you so much for speaking with me today. It's so important to hear about Onboarding Managers and how you help farmers succeed and best of luck to you in the future.
Chris Norris - B2D: Awesome. Thanks, Garrett. Thanks for having me.
Garrett Arnold - B2D: I wanna extend my thanks to Chris for joining us on this week's podcast episode. Here at Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of Farms across the country who implement sustainable agricultural practices and support their local communities.
To learn more about Barn2Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices for your farm. Go to www.barn2door.com/resources.
Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next week.
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