The following list of questions is adapted from the Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual, published by Washington Sea Grant, edited by Terry Johnson of the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program.
- Am I good at bookkeeping and paperwork?
- How do I feel about being a salesman, either on the phone or in person?
- Do I enjoy meeting and talking to people?
- Am I good at taking care of details?
- Do I need to be paid immediately or can I wait to collect my money?
- How demanding or persuasive can I be at making people pay what they owe me, or otherwise do what they have agreed to do?
- Can I stick with one task, week after week, year after year, or do I quickly become bored and need frequent change?
- Am I willing and physically able to do the extra work and commit the additional time to run a direct marketing operation? Or do I prefer to put the boat away and forget about fish at the end of the day or the season?
- Is my family supportive of this change, and can they make any necessary adjustments so that I can spend the additional time and money on the business?
- Do you have the equipment and a boat big enough to properly handle the product?
- Do you have, or have access to, ice or chilling machinery?
- Is there regular, reliable, affordable transportation from your point of landing to the location of your potential customers?
- Is the timing and volume of your catch conducive to taking the time out to handle and transport fish and to meeting the volume and delivery frequency demands of your customers?
- Is the species mix and intrinsic quality of your catch appropriate to the market? (see intrinsic vs. extrinsic quality explanation in the Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual)
- Do you have a plan for the roe (if your product is salmon) and for fish that your customers don’t want because of species, size, condition or other factors?
- Do you have customers already lined up, or do you have a plan for selling your product?
- Do you have available cash for up-front operating expenses and to cover cash flow in case some customers don’t pay or if, for some other reason, the operation is not immediately profitable?
- Do you have a good credit score, in order to get credit terms with vendors?
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