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 […]
Gray Areas in Ag Sales “And I want full credit. I don’t care about your policy on returning treated seed. As a matter of fact, you should pay me for the time it took me to drive here. Gas isn’t free you know. I called you and told you to send me my seed. […]
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 […]
Sales Territory Organization Last week, I spoke to the importance of getting organized in your territory. I broke that organization into five categories. Those five categories of organizational skills are: Customers, Technology, Supplies/Equipment, Seasonality and Geography. See last week’s blog for the info on Customer and Technology tips on organizing your Ag Territory Supplies/Equipment – […]
The Knowing-Doing Gap The number one reason you need to coach your Ag Sales Professional is the Knowing-Doing Gap. If you are an Ag Sales Professional, the number one reason you want someone to coach you is the Knowing-Doing Gap. Unless you are brand new and haven’t been through any formal training, most sales people […]
Last time, I wrote about the number #1 quality farmers looked for in their sales person. The Purdue research polled over 1600 grain and livestock producers, large and small. That survey revealed that Honesty was the #1 quality. Sounds easy. Don’t’ lie, just be honest. However, I think it goes way beyond that. Farmers, anyone […]
Make One Last Call It’s late in the afternoon on any given day and you’ve logged a lot of miles this week. As you drive through your territory or you sort through e-mails at your desk, you gradually start to reason with yourself. “I need to take a break”. “No, I Deserve a break!”. Your […]
I know why I want to segment my customers, but How do I go about segmenting them? In our last blog, we covered why you want to segment your customers…. increased sales, increased profits, increased sales productivity, gaining clarity on who to call on and what products or services to offer them. Now comes the […]
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS