Are You In the MOOD to Sell Seed?

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In This Issue:

• Early Orders: Are You In the MOOD to Sell Seed?

• Boogeyman: How Much Can You Bench Press?

• Podcast: Why Salespeople Don’t Hit Their Sales Goals

EARLY ORDERS
Are You in the MOOD to Sell Seed?

A few years ago Purdue University released a survey that found farmers are called on an average of 220 times a year by salespeople. That’s a lot of unsolicited contact which could make any farmer grumpy. 

As a result, many farmers consider sales reps a bother and become stoic, non-responsive and too busy to talk when called on. In fact, when they see a rep driving into their yard or place of business they put themselves into what I call their “sales rep” mood.

Farmers are subject to more mood swings than any businessperson on the planet. Who else has their livelihood continuously threatened by factors out of their control such as crop damaging weather, unpredictable markets, and rising input costs? 

They need help controlling their moods to keep their minds from to getting “out of balance”, causing them to make poor decisions. They often seek guidance and assurance by gathering with friends and influencers in coffee shops, grain terminals and other places without a psychiatrist present.

But these small, seemingly harmless coffee clutches often become “pity parties’ that damage their attitudes even more and reinforce their “sales rep” mood.

Salespeople hope to catch farmers in a receptive mood when they call on them. But top sellers know it doesn’t matter what mood the farmer is in when they arrive. They follow a series of well-planned steps that helps them put farmers in the mood to have a conversation regardless of what the farmer is thinking or doing when they arrive.

They also know farmers are tired of reps who stop by with no idea of how to alter their mood.

That’s right.

Farmers want someone to lead them out of whatever unproductive, uncomfortable funk they’re in, offer solutions and excite them about the future. The more negative the selling atmosphere, the more farmers need to be contacted by a rep with a plan that puts them in the right mood so they can succeed.

Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t realize that and find themselves forever caught in whatever mood the farmer is in when they arrive.  

Here are a few tips to put farmers in the mood you want after you arrive.   

1. Create a Curious Mood: Dress-up. When a farmer sees a salesperson walk up to him dressed better than any ag rep, looking smarter and more professional, his level of curiosity skyrockets. Dressing up puts both you and the farmer in a better mood.

2. Create an Exciting Mood: Deliver a One-Line BIO.  For example, “My name is Rod, Rod Osthus, I’m a High Yield Specialist. I help farmers increase their corn yields by 10-20% the first year we work together”. I have his attention and he’s excited to listen. Saying you’re a sales rep or agronomist doesn’t excite anyone or describe what you do.

3. Create a Focused Mood: Ask Him To Re-Locate. Show him you have something important to talk about by asking him for privacy. He’s now decided to give you time in a private place which means he’s willing to focus.

4. Create a Mood of Anticipation: Present A Well-Practiced Story – Ask where he wants to take his yields next year then show him your plan that starts in his fields. His level of anticipation skyrockets as you talk about HIS business and HIS goals. Competitors only talk about their products.

5. Create A Mood of Progress: Ask to Set A Date to Come Back With a Plan for Each Field- He’s finally found a rep who cares about helping him make progress by raising a better crop. He wants to continue the conversation.

You can’t talk with a farmer, let alone sell him anything if he isn’t in the mood.  Practice the basic steps I described prior to making sales calls.

You’ll find yourself in a better mood at the end of the selling season because you helped farmers be more successful while achieving your sales goal.

BOOGEYMAN
Get Beyond the Sticking Point 

How much can you bench press?

To the non-weightlifting aficionados, the bench press is wrongly viewed as the real test of overall strength. But experienced lifters don’t focus on the amount of weight they can lift, regardless of whether they’re executing a bench press, deadlift or squat.

They concentrate on getting rid of the sticking point in every one of their lifts. It’s the point where the lifter can’t push the weight any further to finish the lift. It gets stuck, often needing a spotter to help them get past that point. Once the location of the sticking point is identified, other exercises can be incorporated to strengthen the muscles that have been preventing the lift from being completed.   

Seed sellers also have sticking points when making sales calls.

Those are points during the sales conversation when the prospect or customer resists what the seller is asking them to do, stopping the sales process. They often bring up problems, surface objections or indicate how happy they are with the products they’re currently buying. It stalls the sales conversation and many times stops any hopes of writing an order.

Here’s an example of a major sticking point in a sales conversation.

The grower says, “Your price is too high.” 

That’s a sticking point in many conversations because it can stop the sales conversation short of the goal of writing an order.

To get past that sticking point, the seller responds with, “Your goal is to lower the cost per bushel on every bushel you produce isn’t it.” 

You’re telling him you know what he wants to do, easing the sticking point. That was not a question but a buy-in statement designed to get him to  shake his head in agreement and say yes.) 

The rep continues to push through the sticking point saying, “The fastest way to lower your cost per bushel is to raise yields isn’t it.” (Again, not a question.)

The prospect says, “Yes, I suppose it is.” 

The seller continues to push through, “What’s your plan to do that?” 

The prospect will say, “I don’t have one.” 

The seller responds with the goal of completing the lift. “We have a plan; it’s called a high yield cropping plan. Have you ever done a high yield cropping plan?”

The prospect will say, “No.” The seller will then complete the lift by saying, “Well then, let’s get started.” 

The sticking point of price that stopped the entire conversation is no longer there. The sales rep worked through it by strengthening the value muscles and talking about what the farmer really wanted in the first place, to lower his cost per bushel produced.

Until the prospect was taken in this new direction, the seller was stuck with no way of pushing past the sticking point of price. Once the seller pushed through the sticking point, the rep could get the order and the grower could increase his yield and profit.

Sticking points when selling seed come from many different sources, from being Inside the Circle talking about the weather, markets, input costs etc., to not repositioning a prospect to a quiet place where they can focus on what you are saying. But all sticking points can be eliminated by training the weakest points in the sales call process.

If you find a sticking point, train on that weak area.  Don’t let any sticking point stop your selling process and keep you from achieving your goal.

Podcast
Why Salespeople Don’t Hit Their Sales Goals

Robert Brault said, “We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”

When I ask seed sellers what their primary goal is, they always say the same thing, “to reach my sales goal.”

Then I ask them what that means and they always look at me funny and say, “It means to sell more seed”, as if I don’t get it. 

To them, that is their primary goal when in fact, as Robert Brault says, it’s actually the lesser goal.

How can achieving a sales goal be a lesser goal when that’s what your company needs to have you do?  Click here or the image above to listen to this short podcast.

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