Last Thursday, the Women In Agriculture and Small Business Conference was hosted in Edmond, Oklahoma. At the conference, Dr. Courtney Bir talked about Business Management and Strategic Planning. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter, had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Bir about understanding the value of a small business, the needs, and desires of customers, what to consider when calculating your worth, and more.
“Taking time out to plan strategically how you are going to market things, who your customers are, how you’re adding value to them, those sorts of things,” Bir said. “It’s not everyone’s favorite, but it’s really important if your goal is profitability.”
Bir described that oftentimes it is easy to get caught up in the mechanical parts of the business, like getting seed in the ground or animals fed. However, strategically planning the purpose of your business and how to market it is just as crucial to the success and profitability of a small business.
“A lot of lenders require a business plan,” Bir said. “What we talked about today was more about strategic decision planning. So it’s more of an internal look at what your business is and what you want to be and where you want it to go.”
Bir said that lenders require a business plan, and while it is not a one size fits all model, it is important to think about.
“I think it’s important to remember that you cannot be everything to everyone,” Bir said. “So, realizing where your strengths are as a business and then identifying your customer base.”
According to Bir, important things to focus on when making a business plan are understanding what your business brings to the market and identifying what your customer is looking for. She said having the lowest price isn’t always feasible, but understanding that you’re adding a story, providing a local aspect, doing your practice a certain way, and more all add value to your products and services.
“if you are a successful business, it happens where you have a lot of demand all of a sudden, and so there may not be enough hours in the day,” Bir said. “Letting go of some of that, and having clear plans in terms of the roles of employees.”
Growing pains are natural for any successful small business, Bir said, and having enough hours in the day, too much demand, feeling like only you can do a job right, not knowing how to utilize employees, and more are all-natural struggles that businesses have to overcome. However, she added, letting go of some of those worries and having a clear plan can optimize a business.
“Talking to consumers and understanding why they’re even interested in your product is a good first start,” Bir said. “So your goal is to help solve pains that your customers have and create gains for them.”
Understanding your customer market is something that Bir highlighted at the conference. She said it all starts with understanding why your customer is interested and how exactly your product is helping them.
“It can be uncomfortable, but talking to your clients is really the first step,” Bir said.
Whether it’s an informal conversation or a formal survey, Bir recommends getting to the bottom of those uncomfortable questions.
“The first step to profitability is knowing your costs,” Bir said. “You really have to make sure that you’re accounting for all the work that you’re putting into your product.”
Too often, Bir said she has seen costs calculated incorrectly. Understanding that your own labor is worth something is the biggest fault she said she finds.
“We got into a conversation about kind of the ‘warm fuzzies,’ and I understand, especially when you’re selling a food product, you may feel like you need to have the lowest price because you want people in your community to be able to afford your product,” Bir said. “I think in ag, we tend to undervalue what we’re providing to people.”
Bir said many times the “feel goods” of providing for your small community can make it hard to make difficult financial and pricing decisions. Bir said it’s important to understand your community can’t support you if you’re out of business, so profitability has to take precedence too.
