Every summer, our family has been selling naturally grown
mangoes from our farm. But it has been stopped when the Typhoon Emong hit us
with its cyclone 5 years ago. The devastation from before was horrible, of
hundred trees that stood strong from before, almost half of them are gone now.
After the cyclone and while we are still recovering from the heavy damage that
our farm had gone to, we still kept planting mango trees and clean off the farm
which practically became a forest after that deluge. It was a hard work.
But now, five years after, we are now again back in
business to sell mangoes, but not ready yet to export some of it. But still, a
good harvest means a good amount of money from selling just in front of our
house.
People in Bolinao Pangasinan, especially the ones who are
in the town or near the town know our mangoes. It is sweet and always naturally
grown. We kept it natural by keeping away insecticides and other means of
making the fruit go yellow, on which we call it “Kinalboro or kalboro” or sprayed
on to force the fruit to ripen, which is not a good idea if you want to sell
sweet mangoes and make a good impression.
Either way, I grew up selling mangoes every summer. The
usual routine will be: At the start of delivering the mangoes in the house, we
sort it out per sizes from small, medium, and large, if there are any extra
large, then there is another place for those sizes too. And when we sorted out
the sizes, we start looking for the ones who are good to be sold, which are the
ones who have yellow on some areas. And we leave it at separate crates to ripen
up a bit. And when their near to where it can be eaten without the sourness,
then we laid out a table in front of the house and we prepare to sell them. I
can give you some tips on how we sell those mangoes.
1.) Sorting for
sizes, Color and Rejects
Early in the morning, before we open up the shop, we
usually sort out the ones who are ready to be on display for selling and the
ones to be kept because they are still green and hard. When we already sorted
those out, it’s time to display the ones that have yellow coloring on them and
to keep the ones who are still unripe.
Check out for damaged mango that goes into their insides
as well. When people sees a decaying mango, they will think that the whole
table of mangoes you have are the same, so to prevent that, check out all sides
of the mangoes so that you could select them out.
If you are not sure whether the mangoes you are sorting
out is already ripe or no due to its equal coloring, smell it. If you could
smell the sweet mango by the skin, means it can be now be put on display.
2.) Bring Out the
Best Quality
People can be a little choosy. They don’t want their
mangoes to have a mark in them, or just even a little scratch on the skin of
the mangoes. But little did they know that most of the marked ones are the
sweeter ones. I know since those mangoes are eaten by us and they are so sweet.
If you want to earn, bring out the best quality, meaning, the mangoes should
have no marks, or is good to the sight and the smell is nice since most
consumers will try to smell the mangoes to see if they are sweet or not. Remember,
if you are not sure if it’s ripe, smell it.
3.) Check the
Prices in the Market
Since we only have our own stall to have and we do not
rent, we can easily drop the prices of the mangoes that we sell compared to the
ones that is on the market. But we still do check the prices in the market to
see what each size of mangoes cost. Then when we finished the rounds, we drop
the prices by five pesos to ten pesos which can be a great thing for consumers
who wants to eat mangoes in the season. That way, we can give the people an
option to select where to buy.
4.) Call Out
Ok, so you are now set to sell the mangoes that you have
and already have the price to sell it. Now, you have to get the attention of
the people passing around. Even if they can notice your table, they probably are
too shy to ask for the price so you have to get their attention. A little advertising
strategy would help. But you don’t need to have a brochure or a fancy poster to
tell the town that you have mangoes. If they pass in front of you, don’t be shy
to call them out and say, “Kuya Manga ho!
Matamis at Mura pa!” (Mister, do you want some mangoes, it’s sweet and
cheap!)
5.) Market
If people are going to look out for your mango, it’s time
to market the mango out. Tell them honestly how the mango is and how cheap it
is. Its quiet easy to market a single
item once you know the item very well. Just be honest. Build up a reputation
and the rest will follow you.
Another thing about selling fruits, once they get to like
your item, when a person buys, for example, 1 kilo of mango, you can persuade
him to buy two mangoes, like telling them, “Buy two kilos of mangoes today so
that you won’t have to get back here tomorrow and save yourself some time and
energy, but be sure to come back soon once you finish it all!” It always works.
They would come back the other day and they’ll buy even more mangoes and that
means my strategy works.
Just don’t forget to smile while marketing the mangoes.
Selling mangoes is fun and quiet easy. You just have to
prove that your mangoes are sweet and the people will spread the word about it.
Word of mouth is the cheapest and fastest way of advertising and it can either
build you up or make you go down.
So, if ever in the future that you’ll pass by in Bolinao
Pangasinan next summer, you can look around the church for the siblings that
sells mangoes and we can guarantee you sweet naturally grown mangoes as a
souvenir.
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