On the banks of the Macquarie River in New South Wales sits the Little Big Dairy farm, a family business stemming from a long, proud line of dairy farmers.
Their goal? Deliver the best-tasting, single-source milk to as many people as possible
In 2012, the family decided to take their product to market. Now, they deliver 120,000 liters of milk a week to venues and retailers across New South Wales & the ACT who believe in trusted provenance and small-scale farming.
As a vertically integrated business, from the cows in the paddock, to the cafes where their milk is stocked, it’s vital to have tools that create efficiency at each level of the supply chain.
We speak to Campbell Chesworth who oversees operations, about how Little Big has grown, and the role Ordermentum has played in supporting the business.
What makes Little Big Dairy different?
The taste of our milk is so superior. It’s single source and the milk comes straight from our family farm, and we can be super transparent about everything, down to what the cows need to eat so they’re happy and healthy - and produce the best-tasting milk.
We’ve set up a product that’s personal: on every bottle there is a little note from my sister, and our customers feel like they’re part of the family. We are little enough to have those face to face relationships, but we’re big enough to do it at a scale.
The name “Little Big” comes from the philosophy that if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.
What are the main challenges you’ve had with growing your business?
We aren’t corporate, and we don’t have a big marketing budget. Initially, brand recognition was very low and making those first sales was hard.
Why did you first start using Ordermentum?
It’s two-fold, we initially wanted a solution to the reams of paper we had everywhere, and we also used to have a full-time role just for order retrieval. We needed to free up resource - and get rid of all the paper!
Is the platform easy to use?
It’s been amazing, everyone is really really happy.
It’s really user-friendly. Our drivers love the proof-of-delivery. Our accounts team love it because it’s always live updating into MYOB (our accounting software) and has reduced our admin incredibly.
The order-retrieval role has become completely redundant because so many of our customers are on Ordermentum, and they just put their order in through the app.
How has Ordermentum helped you with sales?
It’s really easy for customers who are using Ordermentum to find us, which is a huge bonus.
The QR code (from the Sign Up Links) for a hot lead helps you convert them on the spot - and it’s easy and it’s quick. Previously, when you had those conversations you’d have to send an email with a long form for them to fill out. But the QR code means you can just do everything in a few clicks.
This makes actioning leads a lot easier, and that means our conversion rate goes up.
How does using Ordermentum make it easier for you to run a dairy?
Customers are set up on recurring orders and they have the option to amend those orders up to the day before, and it’s reflected in real time and it’s a source of truth.
That means when our night packer is in the cool room, he’s not packing anything he shouldn’t. That’s so important when it comes to a milk product, which has a relatively short shelf life compared to other beverages or coffee beans.
It’s really important that we don’t send out too little or too much, because if you send too much out or you don't send enough out, that really impacts a barista's day.
How has Ordermentum made it easier to onboard new customers?
We have a few different price levels, and the Sign Up Links make it easy to organise customers into their different levels.
For each price level or category of customer, we have a different QR code. When the leads come in, we don't have to filter through those leads to figure out who needs to go where because the QR code means they’ve already been assigned with the correct price level and the correct identifier.
What's your favourite Ordermentum feature?
Proof of delivery. It means we don’t have to worry about losing pieces of paper, and there are different options for that proof of delivery.
You can sign on glass, if someone is there to receive the order. So you can capture their signature, and then the timestamp from that signature is also saved.
Or if someone isn’t there to receive the order, you can either take a photo of the milk that's been dropped in the cool room. Or you can just capture the geo location of where you are at the time that you delivered it, which is useful as well.
How has that feature benefitted you?
The drivers really love it and it always works, which is a problem we used to have a lot of the time with our previous solution.
The drivers are just happier, and it’s one less thing they have to worry about. Not having to worry about writing things down…it’s idiot-proof.
Were there any features you didn’t expect?
We weren’t expecting the platform to be so intuitive and it was a paradigm shift.
We didn’t have to enter all these different properties in or schedules, because the platform already gets what it needs to do. It just works.
How has it been working with Ordermentum?
Our SSM’s, Arabella and Pete, are just so approachable, knowledgeable, transparent, and they always get back to us. If there are new features, they always let us know. They make such an effort.
We have a relatively complex need from Ordermentum, and we feel they’ve made a real point of understanding the business, even down to trying to understand the mess that public holidays create for us. It’s so so valuable.
How does Ordermentum compare to other platforms or solutions?
We found with our other solution, people just weren’t as reliable, and they weren’t as willing to go on a journey with us.
The app didn’t do what it was supposed to do 100% of the time, and while you don’t expect perfection 100% of the time, often the drivers would turn up and the app would be broken.
Every single day we had to open the program and we had to check invoice values because there were often mistakes in terms of data transfer, and the people behind the product weren’t able to understand it or stop it from happening.
From those failings the trust eroded. That’s why when we were dealing with Ordermentum, we felt they were really genuine. They wanted to understand our business and help us grow.
What feedback do you get from your customers using Ordermentum?
With our previous platform, we had a custom built app that the customer had to download, but it was buggy and didn’t look professional.
In contrast, the Ordermentum app looks really schmick and because you can have multiple suppliers on just one platform, so for venues, it gives the app some authority and inspires confidence in the customer.
We find our customers generally love it, they’re able to see their invoice and their orders and it makes things so much easier.
It’s been 12 months and customers often say ‘we’re so glad you’ve moved over to Ordermentum…it’s so much better.’
What would you say to anyone considering using Ordermentum?
Have the conversation and see if it aligns…and just keep the conversations going.
There’s a lot of authenticity and goodwill from Ordermentum’s side, so make the most of the opportunity.
