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 We launched Maple Ridge Farms in 1979 offering only cheese and sausage packages. By the time we got into the promotional products industry in 1982, we had added smoked meats, nuts, and one chocolate item, but still 80%-90% of our sales were cheese packages. By 2005 however, cheese & sausage packages represented less than 3% of total sales. Then, in 2006, we designed new cheese labels, added butcher wrap to our summer sausage, and did new photography for our catalog. That year, cheese and sausage sales went up 40%!
 Over the last four years, cheese sales have continued to grow significantly. For 2011, we wanted to add some upscale cheese packages to our product line. While attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco last January, we were on a mission to find some upscale cheeses to add to our product line. There were dozens and dozens of cheese companies exhibiting. We came across a cheese company with a great line-up of Italian-style cheese and began speaking with their sales representative… only to realize a few moments later that they are located less than 50 miles from our factory! Small world! You’ll now find three Sartori Reserve cheeses in some of our new gift assortments: SarVecchio Parmesan, Reserve Black Pepper BellaVitano, and Reserve Extra Aged Asiago. We hope your customers enjoy them as much as we do. (If you want to learn more about the Sartori family and their company, watch this interview with Food Channel.)
To learn more about our new cheese products or any other Maple Ridge Farms item, feel free to call us at 800-477-5577 or email us.
Tom Riordan
President
800.477.5577 • 715.693.4346
Discover little known secrets to selling food gift programs by attending these 30-minute live presentations with Tom Riordan, founder of Maple Ridge Farms. Each webinar is held twice daily at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT and also 4 p.m ET/1 p.m. PT.
 August 30
Food Gift Selling 101 – Everything you need to know to professionally present food gift programs
August 31
9 Facts clients need to know before purchasing food gifts (from any source)
September 1
Food Fight! How to compete with direct-sellers like Harry & David, Hickory Farms, and Mrs. Fields
September 8
9 Best Prospects for food gift programs and how to sell to them
September 13
How to compete with “Big Box” discounters like Sam’s Club, Costco, Walmart and K-Mart
September 14
3 Critical Mistakes in presenting food gift programs… and how to avoid them
September 15
Increase your “Profit Margin” by presenting customized (non-catalog) gifts
Click Here to Register.
 When Tim Koenigs decided to try the Maple Ridge Farms One Taste program two years ago, he wasn’t new to MRF or to selling food gifts. He had successfully sold MRF food gifts for several years. But he thought the One Taste program might persuade customers who had not relied on his team for holiday gifts to give food gifts a chance. So for $100, he gave MRF the names and addresses of 20 people along with 20 business cards, and the factory sent a delicious treat to each of them.
One of Tim’s contacts was a banker. The banker put Tim in touch with his co-worker who handled holiday gifts. The buyer wanted “something different” as a holiday gift for the bank’s mortgage holders. The “something different” turned out to be a $18,000 order for Pecan Turtles & English Toffee in the wooden collector’ box.
Last year, Tim again showed this client something different: a cheese and sausage gift, presented on a heavy-duty bamboo chopping board. The bank loved the idea of its logo firebranded on the chopping board. “We made the gift even more meaningful by adding some locally manufactured sausage to the gift,” explained Tim. “So far, the $5 mailing sent to this bank has led to $41,000 in sales.”
Click Here to Learn About Our Custom Capabilities.
From The Internet & Marketing Report, May 7 2010
Social media does pay, and it generates leads at a third of the price.
Companies that actively use Twitter or blogs are averaging twice as many leads each month as companies that don’t use these social media tools.
The ROI is impressive, too. Leads generated using inbound marketing techniques cost a third as much as those from outbound techniques, such as direct mail, finds a study by Hubspot. Its findings may provide ammunition if you’re arguing for more resource for:
Twitter.com: More than 50% of businesses using Twitter genereated double the number of monthly leads as non-Twitter users. How many followers do you need? Aim for between 100 to 500 to get the reach needed to increase leads.
Blogging: Companies that blogged got twice as many leads as those that didn’t. To get this boost, aim for 24 to 51 posts to start. Try to add at least three blog posts a week. Here’s why: Every 50-100 pages indexed by Google double the number of leads.
For more information, read Small Biz Lead Gen Surges with Social. |
