I was trying to answer this question posted on LinkedIn Question. Unfortunately, it was closed. So I decided to post my thoughts on my blog. The question was: “How to sell many tons of lemons?”, posted by Susie Wyshak, who is trying to help a friend who grows lemons commercially in central California, using organic methods, to find a buyer for several hundred TONS of lemons (about 20 truckloads of 25 tons each; that’s 1,800,000 lemons) quickly, before they are too old.

People gave all different ideas: some direct contacts with potential buyers; some ideas through different channels. I like the Lemon Festival and Event idea. Here are my thoughts:

Approach 1: Full Scale Organic Lemon Festival & Event

Possible themes:

• Lemon Cooking Contest
• Lemon Drink Contest
• Lemon Concert
• Organic Lemon pick-up weekend for family

Key for this approach

• find the right event professional to plan & manage the whole event quickly
• get initial investment / sponsors

Pros of this approach:

• big enough to draw sponsors and media/PR
• has potential of making bigger money
• could even build a brand for this lemon grower for a longer term

Cons of this approach:

• it requires a lot of planning and event management resources
• it might be helpful to outsource/contract this whole event to some event planning professionals; that means there will be some investment & risk first
• it needs to find the right event planning professionals very quickly

Approach 2: Simplified Organic Lemon Festival & Event

Possible themes:

• Organic Lemon pick-up weekend for family & friends
• Organic farm learning/education tour for students & kids

Key for this approach

Generate awareness & interest through social media:

• post these events to all social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup) and related blogs
• take photos & videos of the lemon farm & share them on Youtube & Flickr

Pros of this approach:

• small enough to avoid the early investment & risk
• could build a brand for this lemon grower for a longer term

Cons of this approach:

• it requires self-planning and event management resources
• the risk is if it can generate enough buzz / awareness / interest

I hope that this lemon farmer can sell his lemons successfully. If she/he has the lemon event, I’ll go with my family and friends for sure Let me know what you think by posting your comments below!

Tags: Event planning, Event Planning and Production, food, linkedin, Organic farming