There’s a life cycle in every career and being an Ag Sales Professional is no different. In most cases, we start out young, with little experience. If we stick with it, we move into our experienced years, where we climb to success and then move into the waning years of our career. This is the […]
If You Ever….. Many of you will remember Jeff Foxworthy and his classic comedy routine of “You might be a Redneck”. They were a series of things that you might have done in your life that indicated that you might be a redneck. Recently, I was in mixed company and was telling a […]
I Don’t Want to be too “Salesy” I can’t tell you how many times I heard that statement over the years while coaching sales people on farm calls, but it was often. I knew exactly what they meant but it always bothered me for several reasons. I would usually reply, “Yeah, nobody wants to […]
Are After Market Discounts, Returns & Free Goods killing your profits? Last week, I mentioned a pair of unsightly polyester plaid golfing pants and a pair of bright white shoes I received one year from my uncle Paul. He didn’t exactly have the best taste in clothes nor did he know me very […]
On The 12th Day of Christmas, My True Customer gave to me Well, it’s Christmas time and I thought we could use a version of this old song but with a twist for all the Ag Sales Professionals out there. By this afternoon, hopefully, we will have parked the pickup, read or deleted all the […]
5 ways to standout I hear the comment all the time “Sales is Sales. Doesn’t matter what you’re selling.” It’s true to a point. The process is the same. However, that’s kind of like saying surgery is surgery. Doesn’t matter if you are removing a skin tag or doing brain surgery. There’s a bit of […]
Overcoming the fear of loss (Seller’s Remorse & Buyer’s Remorse) Both scenarios below have the same point of resistance from the customer. The customer is afraid of missing out on a better deal. They fear seller’s/buyer’s remorse so much, they will defy the historical information that it’s time to sell grain/contract feed. Research tells […]
I’d Like a Brand-new Feed Mill for Christmas The old saying “Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it” comes to mind throughout this adventure in what was to be my second worst day at selling feed. We operated two mills in the area. One, built in the 1950’s and […]
The Day our Feed Trucks Quit I still remember the location on Highway 90 that I was driving on when I got the call from the feed mill. On a boiling, warm Tuesday morning in July, my family loaded into the minivan and headed to O’Hare for the vacation of a lifetime. Fifteen years […]
Tough times in the Ag market can lead to higher A/R and more write offs Times are tough. I should actually say times are tougher, as we tend to feel like times are always tough. As margins narrow and producers & Ag retailers operate extremely close to or below break-even, paying their bills gets […]
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