“Some guys are really upset if you call them too late at night.”

Radio ads are a success for Granstrom, but not Hatcher. Regular newspaper ads that circulate in the areas the men market in, also work.

Then there's word-of-mouth advertising. “It's the single-most positive and detrimental thing for any business,” said Hatcher. Both businessmen stressed the importance of being honest about what and how hay is produced and, as Granstrom put it, “giving in” in a dispute. Or, as Hatcher phrased it, “The customer is always right.”

“It's repeat customers who make you the money,” said Granstrom.

His dad, he says, goes the extra mile in drumming up new customers — literally. He takes two weeks each year to travel through an area where they have customers. One year he dropped off business cards at a Kentucky barber shop. “We got a new customer from that.”

Deliver. “They want it yesterday,” said Hatcher of his urban clients' delivery demands. Most come home at 5:30 p.m. and expect a load to be waiting. “That's inconvenient for us, but we cater to it.” Customers who pick up their hay watch closely as it's rebaled, loaded and tied to their vehicles.

The Granstroms' fleet of trucks help make sure the business delivers on time. But best-laid plans don't always go smoothly.

Have a Plan B, Granstrom said. “We sold a load of hay to people in Michigan. We got it to them and it wasn't anything they wanted. So what do you do? Well, we had another customer 100 miles away who could use that kind of hay. So we put it back on the truck and unloaded it there.”

Network with other producers, clients and the community, the growers said. “If you meet people at conferences like this, you get an idea of where people live and where the customer base is,” Granstrom said. Networking with other producers can also help you identify problem customers. Talking with clients about what they need also helps you provide for that need, he said.

And get involved in your community, Hatcher said. He meets other farmers at hay conferences and Farm Bureau meetings. Granstrom belongs to the Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing Association. “You can meet a lot of people and get a lot of ideas of what to do or not do,” he said.

Collect payments — somehow. “That's a tough one,” Granstrom admitted. But it became easier when his operation started doing the hauling. “When they get to the place, our drivers pick up the check. If there is a problem, the customer or driver will call us and we'll make an adjustment. When we started delivering our own hay with our own trucks, our accounts receivable went down $70,000/month right away. Right now it's very low.”

The American Forage and Grass-land Council (AFGC) annual conference will be held June 24-26 at Penn Stater Conference Center and Hotel, State College, PA.

The first day of the program will be devoted to board meetings and the Grassland Evaluation Contest.

On June 25, the keynote speach will be: “Biofuels: Agriculture's Ticket to the Head of the Table?” by Tom Richard, Penn State University ag engineer. Neal Martin, director of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, WI, will lead off the second day with a talk entitled: “These Aren't Your Father's Forages.”

Also on June 26, Nathan Clark, Chicago Climate Exchange, will speak on carbon credits. Erin James, director of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, will talk about organic agriculture.

The event is co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council and the Northeastern Branch of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop and Soil Sciences. It will also feature scientific posters, contests, tours, exhibits and networking designed to advance the knowledge and use of forage as a prime feed resource.

Four professional tours will be held June 25. They include a forage crops tour at Penn State's Haller Farm; a tour of the mushroom industry and AccuWeather, Inc., offices; a grain crops tour highlighting research; and a tour of soils in the region.

Details and registration are available at www.afgc.org. Or, contact AFGC at 800-944-2342 for information or questions.