Need help writing a prospection letter to find buyers (farming)

LalyUK

Hi Everyone,

I am new here, I am wonder if anyone can help me.
I am a French English translator but I have been offered an new opportunity in the farming industry.

I have been contacted by a farmer abroad who has a big plantation of Aloe Vera. This farm wants me to find them buyers in Europe and in the US.
I started a prospection to find which type of organisation would be interested to buy this product.... I contacted a few companies and was advised to send in a letter...
I have been working on a letter but I am not getting anywhere... I am not sure how to formulate this type of letter...

The letter will be to introduce the farm, which I have done... the hard part is to ask these companies if they would be interested to buy from this farm...

It is a small family own farm in Africa, they don't have the resources to hire a broker. And to be honest you don't have to be a broker to be able to contact companies and offer your products for sale.

Please any help on this would be more that welcome.
Thank you very much in advance...

LalyUK

Anyone with any ideas? Thanks

Aquamania

LalyUK wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I am new here, I am wonder if anyone can help me.
I am a French English translator but I have been offered an new opportunity in the farming industry.

I have been contacted by a farmer abroad who has a big plantation of Aloe Vera. This farm wants me to find them buyers in Europe and in the US.
I started a prospection to find which type of organisation would be interested to buy this product.... I contacted a few companies and was advised to send in a letter...
I have been working on a letter but I am not getting anywhere... I am not sure how to formulate this type of letter...

The letter will be to introduce the farm, which I have done... the hard part is to ask these companies if they would be interested to buy from this farm...

It is a small family own farm in Africa, they don't have the resources to hire a broker. And to be honest you don't have to be a broker to be able to contact companies and offer your products for sale.

Please any help on this would be more that welcome.
Thank you very much in advance...

LalyUK wrote: »

Anyone with any ideas? Thanks

If I were you, I would reply to the farmer thanking them for their interest in the services you offer, but politely explain that you specialise in translation services, particularly between French & English.

Advise that what the farmer probably requires is a marketing/sales agent which is not something you are able to do.

However, politley remind the farmer to hopefully think of you again should they need French/English Translation services either in regards to this sale or for any other purpose in the future.



However, if you were contacted by way of an unsolicited email communication, it's probably some form of spam/scam so just ignore.

LalyUK

I actually know the farmer who contacted me... and although I am not experienced in this field, I would love to challenge myself in this area as I am really interested in farming and started to learn about it.

In Africa, things works really differently than in Europe... a marketing or sales agent would cost a fortunate to a farm to this size (small).

I have a draft of a letter but I am not satisfy with it. I have a background in business as I studied business and management (BA Hons) years ago.

I am sure I can pull it off and it would be a great source of income for me if I manage to find buyers. The idea is to contact ethical companies who would be interested in buying from a small organic farm... There are no hard sell, most of these companies already buy from small farmers abroad mainly in India...

Please guys do not focus on the how and why; all I am asking is a sample letter to send to potential buyers. I could not find any online... maybe you know a website I can use.

Thank you

InsideInsurance

Are you trying to sell the farm or the produce?

If produce then what state is it in? The harvested plant material or in any way processed? What sort of volumes are being produced?

Are they truly interested in being part of any "fair trade" type scheme or do they want to maximise profits and pay the farmhands as little as possible?

I imagine your issues are going to be volumes, that if it is a small farm as you now claim that it wont be cost effective for non'african companies to have to deal with the logistics of having a hundred such farms -v- dealing with a single local company that does all that plus some processing/ grading etc

LalyUK

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Are you trying to sell the farm or the produce?

If produce then what state is it in? The harvested plant material or in any way processed? What sort of volumes are being produced?

Are they truly interested in being part of any "fair trade" type scheme or do they want to maximise profits and pay the farmhands as little as possible?

I imagine your issues are going to be volumes, that if it is a small farm as you now claim that it wont be cost effective for non'african companies to have to deal with the logistics of having a hundred such farms -v- dealing with a single local company that does all that plus some processing/ grading etc

Hi there,
Thank you very much for your reply.
These are really good questions:
1. I am trying to sell the produce in harvested plant material
2. Volume is right now 10Ha but they have 35 Ha in total
3. No they are really interested in being part of a "fair trade" scheme... this farmer actually created the 1st jobs in the village he is working in, and employ local villagers, he also created the 1st road for that village. This is why I am trying to help them as I am all for "fair trading" and supporting little businesses...
4. Logistics: I researched and lots of manufacturer/companies are already buying from several local farmers in Africa; these are the companies I am trying to reach.

I hope I answered to all your questions.
Thanks again.

Aquamania

LalyUK wrote: »

I actually know the farmer who contacted me... and although I am not experienced in this field, I would love to challenge myself in this area as I am really interested in farming and started to learn about it.

In Africa, things works really differently than in Europe... a marketing or sales agent would cost a fortunate to a farm to this size (small).

I have a draft of a letter but I am not satisfy with it. I have a background in business as I studied business and management (BA Hons) years ago.

I am sure I can pull it off and it would be a great source of income for me if I manage to find buyers. The idea is to contact ethical companies who would be interested in buying from a small organic farm... There are no hard sell, most of these companies already buy from small farmers abroad mainly in India...

Please guys do not focus on the how and why; all I am asking is a sample letter to send to potential buyers. I could not find any online... maybe you know a website I can use.

Thank you

Why not post the draft you have here? Maybe someone will critique it for you if necessary