Re: [Alpacasite] Farm and Ranch Guide decisions

But does it cost $9.95 to ship.

"Steve Hull, TimberLake Farms. Inc" <steve@timberlakefarms.net> wrote: Kim, I hear your concern on the Farm and Ranch Guide (F&RG) mailing
fee, but consider that about 30% (or more) or the F&RGs have been
sent out to people with absolutely no intention of raising
alpacas. That guide costs a lot of money both for printing and
mailing (I think $30-40 or so). Prior to now, there has been no fee
for the guide nor a fee for the mailing cost.

Secondly, a lot of people who get (and pay for) the leads complain
that the many (majority?) of the leads are people with no acreage or
no intention of raising alpacas. The people who purchase the leads
from AOBA ask us to "qualify" the leads better. We thought we were
doing this by asking about the size of the farm, but frankly people
"say" they have 100 acres when they only have a 1/4 acre lot.

Can we really afford to send out this cost of a publication with no
qualifications whatsoever? The Marketing Committee spend many nights
and many long discussions on exactly this issue. They recommended to
the board, and the board agreed that we would send out the guide
free, but attach a small mailing fee ($9.95).

If they do not want to spend that small sum, we are still collecting
names, addresses so that we can send out other lower cost material.

Yes, we expect that the total numbers of F&RGs sent out will go down,
but we expect that the numbers of qualified leads will increase
tremendously. Let's give it try this way for a year and then we do
plan to re-evaluate.

Erin McCarthy may have additional comments as she spend many, many
nights discussing this with the marketing committee.

Steve H.

At 03:18 PM 12/08/2005, you wrote:
>Hi Janet,
>I also ask people that visit my farm how they found me. After
>reviewing the new membership levels before renewing this year, I
>contacted past clients and visitors that said they had found me in
>the F&R Guide to inquire what they thought about a fee associated
>with receiving the information packet. The ones that had sent for
>the AOBA packet said they would NOT have paid to receive it.
>I think the F&R Guide has been a valuable marketing tool for me in
>the past when there was not a charge to interested parties, and I do
>understand that things need to change financially for AOBA with
>regard to the free mailing. I believe mailings will significantly
>decrease as people won't want to pay to receive advertising, as you
>point out, and more prospective new breeders will find web sites
>useful as their source for locating existing farms. Not sure what
>changes we will see for 2007 renewals, but it would be reasonable to
>deduct that if the Guide is mailed at no cost again, the cost to
>advertise in it will go up. Should be interesting to hear what
>people think after this year and to see how the numbers of
>advertisers and Guides mailed out changed.
>Kim
>Columbine Ranch, Morrison, CO
>
>
>
>--- In Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com, "Dream Chaser Alpacas"
><hufford@d...> wrote:
> >
> > I know this has been discussed on the site previously, but I have
> > recently had a complaint from someone interested in alpacas about
>AOBA
> > requiring interested parties to "pay for AOBA's advertising".
>This
> > person has informed me that they would not ever pay to have
>someone
> > elses advertising sent to them....and the price of nearly $10 to
> > receive the advertising material is outrageous. One farm visitor
> > stated there were only 5 farms listed in their area they would be
> > visiting and if they had had to pay for the guide, they wouldn't
>be
> > visiting them unless they had learned about them another way. As
>his
> > wife said, "I wouldn't pay 2 bucks a farm just for names!"
> >
> > This is of high concern to us as a small alpaca farm. Four of the
>six
> > contacts made by us with prospective buyers this past year was
>through
> > our ad in the guide (including one from Canada) and one was from
>the
> > online farm site listing. And although we are not actively
>pursuing
> > sales currently, we have tried to show our visitors that even a
>small
> > farm venture can succeed, as we have grown from 5 to 11 alpacas in
> > just over a year, built our outbuildings, and begun agisting
>animals.
> > We try to help them understand what is entailed and what they can
> > realistically expect. Then we refer them to farms we believe
> > are "reliable" to purchase animals or research further, and we
>refer
> > them to a couple of alpaca sites to learn the "good, bad, and the
> > ugly".
> >
> > Most of our visitors are not looking for a get rich scheme, they
>are
> > researching a possible change in lifestyle for their families and
>a
> > future income - which will at least allow them to live comfortably
>and
> > as some have said, spend more time with their families.
> >
> > Since the anouncement of the changes in policy, we have also asked
>our
> > visitors if they received the guide or just accessed us on line,
>and
> > if they would have paid for it if necessary. ALL have said they
>would
> > not have paid for the guide. At least two have bought into
>alpacas,
> > one a dispersal herd. The others are continuing their research,
>three
> > of them are on this site. This is at least four people who might
>not
> > have found our farm if they had to pay for the guide.
> >
> > Since our ad in the guide is paid for by us with the intention and
> > understanding that our listing be made available to possible
>future
> > buyers and those researching alpacas as a business, we have become
> > even more concerned with AOBA charging $9.95 for the guide under
>the
> > ruse of shipping. I ship packages to Alaska, and sometimes that
> > doesn't even cost me $9.95.
> >
> > Does anyone else share these concerns? If what our farm visitors
>have
> > said are true, I don't see a reason to use the farm guide as part
>of
> > our advertising plan.
> >
> > Janet Hufford
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>List administrator - Rick Horn - All American Alpacas alpacas@alpacaweb.com
>http://aaalpacas.com
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>

Steve . . . .

TimberLake Farms, Inc.
Tom Cameron, D.V.M. & Steve Hull, Ph.D.
Edmond, Oklahoma

A Full Service Alpaca Farm Including Seminars And Consulting

www.timberlakefarms.net

e-mails: mailto:steve@timberlakefarms.net
mailto:tom@timberlakefarms.net

Farm Telephone: 405 341-8444
Farm Cell Telephone: 405 550-3023
Farm Fax: 405 330-8444

note: opinions made here are not and cannot be construed to be
specific veterinary advice, diagnosis or treatments. Both Tom and
Steve strongly suggest always checking with your own veterinarian.

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Alpacas came home 9-11-04
THE DEAR ALPACA FARM
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