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Southwest Missouri | Ok, now that I have insulted you, let me explain. :)
When I started practicing law in 1983, the whole culture of lawyers was changing. It was changing from a profession to a business, at least in my little corner of the world.
Two partners hired me. One was 70 and the other was in his 40's. The older gentleman never advertised in his life. His father before him did not either. He felt that you got clients the old fashioned way, word of mouth. He did not believe that anyone would respond to advertising.
The younger partner was willing to be more creative or aggressive in getting clients. He was held back by the older attorney who had very strong opinions on the subject.
I was the young pup and was willing to go out and compete for clients. But, there were limits as to what I was allowed to do. Mass advertising was definitely out of the question.
A lot of our differences were due to our status in life. The older guy had plenty of good paying work. I did not. The guy in the middle was ok, but always looked for better work to do.
Different clients had different needs and there were different ways to contact them. The older attorney had a mostly office practice with established businesses. Those clients were not impressed with any possible advertising campaign. They were reached by word of mouth, just as the attorney thought.
One of the most lucrative types of practice back then was personal injury. The widow of a man killed by the semi truck that crossed the center line and hit her husband head on needed a lawyer. There would be a good chance that she never used a lawyer or even knew a lawyer. She would look at the yellow pages or would see the guy who advertised on TV. That is the person she would go see, even if he or she was not a very good lawyer because the widow had no way of knowing.
At any rate, that was then and this is now. Now, almost everyone has a large ad in the phone book. Many have gone to one or two page color ads.
What has this got to do with farming?? Well... I think quite a bit. There is not one size that fits all.
The guys who have all the ground they can handle have a different viewpoint from the guy just starting out.
There are different landlords the same as there are different clients. Some are little old ladies who want the farm to look just like their late husbands were still farming it. Others want the maximum dollar, right now. Some hire managers or bank trust officers to select the farmer. You need to try a little of all the suggestions above to reach prospective landlords. I think all the sggestions are good. But times change, whether or not we want them to do so. We must be able to adapt.
I certainly agree that you must be a good farmer. If you are the last guy to finish planting, spraying, or harvesting, your chances to expand are slim.
Edited by Greg Stremel 4/16/2009 22:01
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Land Rental Ethics-How do you guys add acres?
