Not every buyer is your buyer.
Many smallholder teams lose time by treating every buyer lead equally. A stronger approach is to rank opportunities by product fit, timing reliability, and payment clarity before negotiation begins. Doing that work first means your team enters the conversation already knowing which terms it can accept and which ones it should walk away from.
In Lagos and Kano trade pilots, farmers who qualified leads early spent less effort on dead-end conversations and improved conversion on serious buyers. That did not require complex technology. It required clear rules and consistent follow-through — the same test applied to every lead, not only the ones that felt promising at first.
What to prioritize
- Define minimum acceptable terms before outreach begins.
- Track buyer response speed and consistency over time.
- Coordinate logistics assumptions before final price discussions.
Better access comes from better filtering, not more volume of conversations.