Category: Business Resources

Letters From Lisa – December 2021

Outreach is an effort by individuals in an organization to connect and assist the efforts of other organizations. Outreach can help acquire new customers, re-engage past customers, encourage repeat purchases or upsell opportunities.

It is a well-known fact that companies using outreach as a strategy grow faster since they tend to believe in changing the future using recommended actions not just hoping the future turns out for the better. It is this fact that motivates me to constantly look and see the actions we take at BioZyme® to provide this connection to the amazing organizations that support us in the goal of providing “care that comes full circle” to the animals we have the honor to support.

Looking is a physical act; seeing is a mental process of perception. Seeing involves recognizing or connecting the information the eyes take in to ensure one is creating meaning. So, when I look for outreach at BioZyme what I see that has meaning is really four-fold. It includes our marketing, our dealer center, our outreach support team’s efforts and our ASMs in all that they do in the field. How do each of these try to connect and assist you?

Marketing At BioZyme, marketing’s number one goal is to push consumers to the Dealer Locator at biozymeinc.com so they can find you. Every marketing effort we do is measured on that goal. These metrics are tracked monthly and in a yearly accumulation as you see below.

Dealer Center In a survey of 4,500 consumers via Facebook, it was found that the number one expectation of the stores they visit was knowledge of the products sold in the store. Our dealer center offers many things, but its main purpose is easy access to product education. Through our product center you can get the desired knowledge directly or in a manner you can easily share via quick product videos.

Outreach Support The Outreach Support Center has one goal, touching dealers and users of the BioZyme products to ensure they know we care and are here to help them anyway we can orders, content, access, connectivity. Calculated defined contact pays dividends when the investment goal is growth.

ASMs Our area sales managers’ job description states their job is to sell and service our existing dealer/distributor network and customer base AND to identify and cultivate new partnering and growth opportunities to grow the business of the territory (you).

I think defining outreach as a way to connect and assist is a good focus as we approach Christmas. Isn’t that exactly what God did by sending His Son. He had an earthly Son so we could connect, and He used His eternal life to provide the assistance we need for all the days long if we choose to embrace it.

Merry Christmas!

How Can Improvements Benefit your Business?

New and improved. Bigger and better. Safer and more accurate. All of these phrases might have your customers’ heads spinning when what they really want is the BioZyme products that they and their animals have come to rely on over the years at an affordable price.

As we continuously improve our products, we want to inform the customers why these improvements were made. Were we offering a second-rate product before? No. Did our product need to be improved? Maybe not. However, if we never make changes, we are never striding forward.

What do these changes mean? They mean that the products that you and your customers have come to know and rely on over the years are just getting better. Yes, they still do what they say they do – provide a good gut feeling, help improve conception rates, mitigate heat stress and more. However, the products do all of that safer and more accurately while enhancements are made to make the products more appealing to the animals.

Below are some talking points for you and your staff to keep on-hand for when your customers have questions.

  • BioZyme cares about providing safe products free of even the tiniest particles of metal and other debris and has invested its resources in a series of screens, filters and magnets to ensure that the only things in its bags are the products your animals want to eat.
  • Accuracy is important to the customer. It is important to BioZyme too. That’s why the company engages in a series of automated testing and checklists to ensure what we say is in each bag is in that bag. Our labels match the ingredients inside the bag to put your minds at ease.
  • Consistency is important. We want the bag of product you open today to be the same as you opened last week and the week before. Due to need for consistent flavor, we have worked with one of our international Amaferm ® distributors to develop proprietary flavors for each product line that will be introduced in early 2022, so each bag of product will continue to have the same appealing taste, bag after bag after bag.
  • Care that comes full circle is the heart of BioZyme. Amaferm, our precision prebiotic, is at the core of that care, but we also like to pair Amaferm with the probiotic, that we added to our Stress Tubs to make them more effective. We are always trying to make our products better for your animals.

Improvements mean one thing. We are moving upward. As long as we are making improvements, our customers can feel good about the steps we are taking to provide their animals the best products that do what we say they will do, while helping improve their bottom line.

Staying Innovative to Ensure Consistency and Palatability

If something leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you probably aren’t going back for a second bite. The same is likely true for animals of all species. That is why during a random survey of customers and sales staff we asked them to explain safe and accurate products from their perspective. Palatability was in their top three concerns. Yes, palatability, or the fact that something tastes good is important to customers and salespeople when it comes to animal products.

Therefore, BioZyme® Inc. has been working to make sure the products it sells are palatable to the animal and have the same taste with each and every bag. According to Lynsey Whitacre, Ph.D., Companion Animal Business Development Manager at BioZyme who also works on the Research and Development Team, much time and effort has been dedicated to ensuring all products will have superb palatability.

Whitacre said BioZyme has been working in cooperation with a European company that is an expert in flavorings to establish proprietary flavor profiles for each line of BioZyme products. Not only is this company a flavor expert, it is also an international distributor for Amaferm®, so this new partnership allows us to deepen our relationship.

First, a sample of all of our products was sent to Europe so the company there could get an understanding of each of our products and the current smell. Once they understood the various product lines, they could start creating a proprietary flavor for each product line. The trick is to make sure the products are not too tasty.

“We took it a further step because especially for the free-choice minerals we want it palatable enough that they will eat it, but not too palatable that it will lead to over consumption,” Whitacre said.

However, it wasn’t enough to just find the ideal flavors for the mineral products. Whitacre also said it was important to BioZyme to make sure that the liquid and gel products are palatable and pleasing to the animals.

“Even though the animals don’t get the choice to eat or take the product, in the case of Cattle Drench where it is administered, we still want the product to be palatable and enjoyable for the animal,” she said. “By developing liquid flavors that we can add into those products it highlights our commitment to palatability and making safe and accurate products that are highlighting palatability when it maybe isn’t the most important thing. I’m excited about that!”

Each line will have its own distinct flavor so when you open a bag of VitaFerm®, you will know it is VitaFerm, and when you open a bag a Vitalize, it will be different from any other product line. Flavors will be familiar flavors that people are used to and should recognize, Whitacre said.

Final samples of the flavors will be mixed into products and tested on actual animals in the next few months. Since these flavors are proprietary, they will undergo the registration process with plans of being introduced early in 2022.

You asked. We listened. Palatability is important to you and your animals. Therefore, it is important to us. Be looking for new and improved products with a proprietary flavor profile coming soon.

Producing Safe, Accurate Products Continues to be BioZyme’s Mission

In a world where things change at a rapid pace, one thing has not changed at BioZyme® Inc.; we continue to make products that do what we say they do. This promise comes from a focus on safe, accurate products, and has always been a priority to our company. However, we have moved the needle even further this past year, investing time and resources to make sure you and your customers know we want to provide the safest, most accurate products on the market.

With a motto of “care that comes full circle,” safety is always top of mind. That safety starts at the plant located in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Most dealers and customers who have toured the plant will agree that it is one of the cleanest production facilities that they have ever been to; however, that is how the plant looks 365 days a year, not just when guests arrive. According to Lisa Norton, President and COO, safety starts with cleanliness.

“Our employees take great pride to make our products under clean conditions, free of harmful, foreign substances,” Norton said.

Not only does the cleanliness of the plant lead to a safer product, but it also leads to safer working conditions for the BioZyme employees, who are part of that circle of care.

Accuracy is also of upmost importance. We want to ensure that products are labeled appropriately and truthfully, and because we want them to do what we say they will do, they are backed by testing that ensures that the tag and the contents of the bag are in alignment. A major component of accuracy lies within providing the customer a consistent product. Every. Time.

“We strive to provide a product that is consistent in color, particle size and palatability. Although we don’t taste it, the animal does, and it knows from bag to bag if it is getting the same great tasting product it received last time, and that is important to us to deliver that to each animal,” Norton said.

Another key component of producing an accurate product is ensuring that it does what we say it does and understanding why it works, so that it can be replicated day after day. That is why research is a key pillar of BioZyme and the safe, accurate products we produce.

“Research is at the core of everything we do. We won’t release a new product if it hasn’t thoroughly been researched to do what we say it does, and that is why we can pride ourselves in our research database of more than 100 published journal articles about the advantages of Amaferm,” Norton said.

Automation in equipment checklists have been implemented to help ensure accuracy from mixing product to bagging product to loading it. For example, Jamie Miller, Director of Operations Support, said that automation in the past year has allowed mixing to go from a 13 or 14-step process to a one-mouse-click process, allowing for less error, more efficiency and quicker turn around. Due to an automated metrics checklist on bagging, that system has become more efficient, allowing for one more product run each day, making the entire company more efficient and accurate.

Because we care about safety and accuracy, you can be assured as a dealer, that your customers will not be disappointed with their purchases. They will open a bag each time that meets their expectations and their animals’ expectations, and their products will arrive to them quicker and labeled accurately.

Safety and accuracy. They are just two of the many important components to care that comes full circle and they are what we have teams working on every day at BioZyme Inc.

Letters From Lisa – November 2021

Continuous improvement is defined as an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization—processes, tools, products, services, etc. Sometimes those improvements are big, often they are small. In this case, “don’t sweat the small stuff,” doesn’t apply. But what’s most important is that all are frequent. Companies that excel at continuous improvement start with the belief that success comes from:

• Innovating “how” they do what they do (big and small).

• Engaging all employees in sharing knowledge and generating improvement ideas.

• Exploring better ways to deliver to customers and respond to changes in the external environment.

Fostering a continuous improvement culture is rooted in three practices:

  1. Performance transparency starts with making goals public and cascading those goals in a way that is tailored to individuals at all levels of the organization. Progress toward goals must be transparently tracked to give all clear visibility into what is working and what needs work.
  2. Knowledge sharing is critical to scale best practices across (and up and down) organizations.
  3. Employee involvement is a necessity in continuous improvement. Frontline employees are closest to the work, and thus typically have the richest insights on how their work can be done better. Capturing their perspectives is critical.

Core to a continuous improvement mindset is the belief that a steady stream of improvements, diligently executed, will have transformational results. Transformational results are key to all business at BioZyme®. In 2020 we worked diligently through an initiative we called the Courage to Change. Change is always hard, and we had many things identified (both big and small) to work toward considering our emphasis on a continuous improvement mindset.

In order to keep us focused we chose to align our improvement initiative with our corporate goal of safe, accurate product. Throughout this month’s VISION, you will be able to read how we have defined this goal and all the things we have invested in to ensure we can deliver on our definition. Behind the scenes, millions of dollars are being spent to ensure statistical process controls are being used to ensure the initiative is alive and well in all that we do. Our equipment investment in proactively addressing (magnet drawers, feed cleaners, sifters, screens and quality inspections) safe and accurate product has been significant over the last few years, and we continue to increase all of our sampling and testing through high precision in-house analyzing with quick turnaround times so that we can ensure product homogeneity bag to bag and quarter to quarter.

Continuous improvement whether big or small is hard. Why? It involves that word we humans do not like – CHANGE. There are three main reasons people hate change — lack (or perceived lack) of reward, fear of the unknown and loss of status or visibility in the organization. Address these concerns head on so continuous improvement is ingrained in your organization.

Program Keeps Medicine Costs Down for one Producer

Nutrition and health. The two are synergistic, and one multi-generation background operation in Oklahoma has found that if they keep their calves healthier from the start with a good nutrition and vaccination program, the calves stay healthier during their time on the ranch.

“Vita Charge® has been important to us. It’s helped us be able to run more cattle faster through the system without making any major changes and without spending a lot of money,” said Steve Howard of Howard Ranches at Waurika, Oklahoma. Howard Ranches backgrounds 14,000 to 15,000 calves annually.

According to Micky Worley, sales rep for Twin Rivers Vet Supply, Howard Ranches has been a long-time customer, buying vaccines from the company for more than a dozen years. But about four years ago, the progressive operation also wanted to keep their nutrition in check too, realizing that health and nutrition typically work better together.

“We know that premium nutrition like that offered through the Vita Charge program is a direct benefit to a good vaccination program. The Vita Charge Drench helps those calves’ digestive system get to working right. It keeps them on feed, keeps them going, keeps them gaining and performing,” Worley said.

Upon arrival, the Howards, give each calf a dose of Vita Charge Cattle Drench which provides a jump start to the digestive system and protects cattle during stress. It is formulated to help cattle recover quickly and does not interfere with antibiotics that might be given simultaneously. Amaferm®, a research-proven precision prebiotic that increases intake, digestion and absorption is the key ingredient in all BioZyme products. Once the calves are processed, they are turned into pens for up to three weeks to make sure they stay healthy before they are turned out to grass. In those pens, they have Vita Charge Stress Tubs waiting for them. The tubs allow cattle to get their daily dose of Vita Charge in a convenient method. In addition to Amaferm, the Stress Tubs also contain MOS to expel the bad pathogens in the gut.

“As soon as we started using it, we saw our consumption go up. Cattle went to the bunks faster and would eat more. There in turn, I know they started gaining weight from day one, instead of setting there several days just trying to get back to pay weight. In addition, before we started using the Vita Charge Drench, we would spend at least an extra $3 per head, per load using more medicine to treat sick cattle. That first year, from the day we started using it until the end of the year, we got in about 700 head and our death loss dropped one-half of a percent. Little things make a big difference,” Steve added.

In addition to the monetary cost savings of medicine since the Howards switched to Vita Charge, Steve said they are saving time and labor from pulling and treating sick calves. Their calves are not getting set back; they are feeling good and gaining.

“The return on investment is several times over what it costs to put the Vita Charge in them. I couldn’t be happier. Their consumption is up, their performance this year is better than I can remember. At the end of the day, they are healthy, eating good, feeling good and will make more money,” Steve said.

When a program saves time, money and keeps calves healthy and performing, that is an investment worth looking into. Not only do the synergies exist between the products BioZyme offers, but good nutrition works together with good health, keeping those cattle growing and gaining the way they should with fewer treatments.

Vitalize® Program Provides “Common Ground” for Horseman

Miles Baker is a student of his horses. He spends at least 12-14 hours each day with the 10-15 horses he is currently training. And that’s just his half of the equine athletes he and his business partner have split to work with. Although Baker has been horseback and working with young horses as long as he can recall, he doesn’t want to be known solely as a horse trainer, although that is his primary profession.

“I want people to be like ‘that guy’s a horseman. He can start colts. He can ride a cutter. He can ride a reiner. He can train a rope horse.’ I just want to be known as good at anything that involves a horse,” Baker said.

Baker started riding on his dad’s southwest Oklahoma ranch and feedlot when he was just a young kid. He’d ride pens, rope and treat sick calves. Later, he rodeoed at Oklahoma State University and continued to train some horses in college, until he returned back to the family ranch, where he said training horses works really well with the cattle operation.

A critical part of his horsemanship skills is keeping his horses in good shape nutritionally. He learned about the Vitalize® equine products from a friend who uses the VitaFerm® products on his cows. He now feeds only alfalfa and a program of Vitalize products, allowing him to save money on grain.

Baker said his program consists primarily of Vitalize® Digest More® Plus and Vitalize® Alimend®. He counts on Vitalize® High Performance and Vitalize® Equine Gel when he needs some assistance.

“If I have a program, it is like a common ground, a set regimen that everything gets. And I know if I need to go up or down. That’s why my program consists of Vitalize Alimend and Digest More. On the 2-year-olds if they stay fat as a tick, they don’t get the Alimend. They only get the Digest More. Then, if I have a horse I want to do a little bit better, I can step them up with the Equine High Performance. With having the Alimend and Digest More as the common ground, it lets me know if I need to do more or if I can do less,” he said.

Although he doesn’t use the Vitalize Equine Gel daily, he said it is definitely one of his favorite products to get him out of a bind.

“We’ve had some young horses and hauled them. They get off feed and water when the get on the road. Then, we’ve got some horses in and changed their diet, and they go off feed or get a little colicky. It seems like I can give them that Equine Gel and they are back on feed and water really quick. The Vitalize Equine Gel has saved me some trips to the vet,” he said.

For Baker, the Vitalize program is an important part to his horsemanship success. He encourages others to find the Vitalize products they like and develop a program that works for them, too.

“The thing that keeps me going is you never quit learning, and that is part of the horsemanship side for me. You never stop learning about the horse, mentally, physically. Whether it’s training them, feeding them, just being around them. I take a lot of pride in the riding side of it and the feed program side of it and I’m constantly just trying to become a better horseman. You have to continue trying to do what’s best for the horse and you can’t do that without a good feed program,” he said.

Dealer Uses and Promotes the “Total Package”

Steve Groves is a self-proclaimed Amaferm® guru. His passion for the prebiotic found in the BioZyme products and understanding of the benefits of absorption is why he said it is important to him to make sure it is in his herd’s diet year-round.

Groves owns River Bend Cattle at Garland City, Arkansas. At just 300-feet elevation, in the southwest corner of the state, the cow-calf producer and BioZyme dealer said that Amaferm is one of the main reasons he switched his mineral to the BioZyme products. And he feeds the entire program.

“I can’t stress enough what Amaferm does for a cow. Increasing absorption of what you are feeding them, it is just helping them do a better job,” Groves said.

Groves has shortened his calving window to 60 days since using the VitaFerm® products. He calves in January and February, so his cows start on the VitaFerm® Concept•Aid ® 5/S in December and are on that mineral until late April or early May, when they switch to VitaFerm HEAT® . They consume HEAT until mid-October, and then eat Cattlemen’s Blend until December when they start back on the Concept•Aid 5/S.

Groves said he initially started solely using the Cattlemen’s Blend mineral, and he experienced a slight increase in his conception rates. He decided to try the VitaFerm Concept•Aid 5/S to see if he could take it up one more notch. He said it did. In addition to his commercial cow herd, Groves puts embryos in about 60 cows each year, and he knows how easy it is for those cows to lose a calf, and if they lose a calf, they are out everything.

“I will do anything I can to hold that embryo. We’ve had great results with the VitaFerm Concept•Aid,” he said.

Weaning Program Just as he’s a believer in the VitaFerm program for his cows, he’s a firm proponent for the 3-step Gain Smart® program when he weans his calves. He gives them all a dose of Vita Charge® Cattle Drench at weaning time, and then starts them on the Vita Charge Stress Tubs and Gain Smart mineral.

“Gain Smart is really economical on my calves. I have had awfully good results. No sickness. Their health is right where it should be. I don’t worry about consumption for the first 30 days. They will usually slow down,” Groves said.

If he feels his calves are over consuming their Gain Smart, he will put salt at the bottom of their feeder, so they have to eat the mineral first, then eat some salt for a few days before he refills the feeder with mineral. He always felt like different types of grass made them crave salt.

Groves will ship his calves in early July when they reach about 800 pounds. Since they are getting fleshy, he switches them to Gain Smart Stocker HEAT® around May 1. He said the cattle continue to eat well and gain well for those last two months, even at heavier weights.

Selling the Program Groves does not run eared cattle, but instead settles for a mix of Red Angus and Simmentals, but he does cull for heat tolerance since the heat and humidity do take a toll on the cattle in his climate. He said he would hate to think about running cattle – both cows and stockers without the HEAT minerals he uses.

With 47 years in the cattle business, he said it just made sense that he started selling the BioZyme products, especially when he could talk about Amaferm. Groves said there are two general audiences. One of less progressive producers who “look over the fence” at what he’s doing and then ask questions. Another group of progressive producers much like he is that once they’ve tried the products, “don’t know how they got by without them for so long.”

“I have people always asking me how I can calve in a 60-day window? To me, it is the most economical thing about raising cows is to keep the calving window short, so I can feed all my cows the same. If I have one dry cow and I have to feed her with the wet cows for four or five months, that costs money and she gets too fat,” he said.

Amaferm’s absorption benefit is the tie that binds all the BioZyme products together to deliver the whole package to Groves and his customers. From breeding to calving and weaning and beyond, he is a believer in products from VitaFerm to Vita Charge and Gain Smart. He knows his cattle are healthier and higher performing because of a program, and he’s glad to share that with those who will listen.

Letters From Lisa – October 2021

Synergistic Programs/Products

The word synergy is derived from the Greek word synergos, which means “working together.”

Most leaders feel they ought to be creating synergy inside their company. However, the pursuit of synergy pervades most companies. Meetings and retreats are held to brainstorm about ways to work together more effectively. Teams are set up to develop key customer plans, coordinate product development and share best practices. Incentives for sharing knowledge, leads and customers are built into complex compensation schemes. Processes and procedures are standardized. What emerges from all this activity????

Many times, not much that matters and certainly not synergy. However, if we take synergy over into the product side of business, it has a better chance of making a difference. Synergy happens in product sales when the collaboration of two or more stock-keeping units (SKUs) creates an outcome that is greater than their combined separate efforts. I like to make this a bit simpler and say that synergy means selling a program not a product.

A program is a set of related activities or items, managed in a coordinated fashion that allows for the delivery of outcomes and benefits allowing one to reach his or her goal.

For the past several years, BioZyme® has worked to educate our team on programs and how they can help people obtain their goals or maximize the benefits to their animal (results). No matter the brand, there is a program that optimizes the connection of daily maintenance with the occasional challenges that pop up their ugly head, no matter how hard we try to keep them at bay. This combo truly supports care that comes full circle where people and animals win!

Dealer Spotlight: Lamoure Feed & Seed

It’s not always what you know, but who you know. That held true for some North Dakota teens with a show heifer that went off feed at their county fair, but they knew the late Dorothy Orts, BioZyme® Area Sales Manager extraordinaire. Dorothy introduced a young Trevor Wendel to a product called Amaferm®, and his heifer started eating, and that is a lesson he never forgot. Years later when he returned to his family’s feed store, LaMoure Feed & Seed, he knew that Amaferm and the BioZyme products needed to be part of their offering.

“Amaferm is the one thing that sets us apart from all of the other mineral companies out there. It’s a magical powder that once our customers try, they don’t want to go without,” said Wendel, feed manager at the store, which is owned by his brothers.

Wendel relies heavily on word-of-mouth marketing for the success of the business. He looks to larger scale, successful cattle producers who take pride in their operations to try the products with the Amaferm advantage. Those producers are happy with the results and in turn share the information with friends and neighbors, who then also want to try the products as well.

The Gain Smart® mineral is by far his most popular product, although he said it isn’t always used on strictly stockers. He said many of the cow-calf operators will mix Gain Smart Balancer in to their TMRs to give their cows the vitamins, minerals and Amaferm they need through the winter months.

Another popular product is the VitaFerm Concept•Aid® 5/S. He makes a custom blend with that and rumensin for producers to use during calving season and prior to breeding.

LaMoure Feed & Seed hosts a producer meeting each fall prior to weaning time to show appreciation to its customers and educate customers on anything new. Otherwise, they take a no-frills approach to conducting business and rely on the quality of products to sell themselves. He advises newer dealers to lean on their ASMs as a resource and always find those good customers.

“Customers that have good cattle are proud of their cattle and will spread the word about the products they use. They will also pay the bills, and that is important,” he said.

Thankfully Dorothy ran across that struggling 4-H member all those years ago with her magical Amaferm! That young 4-H member remembered Amaferm and has evolved into a long-time, multi-year VIP BioZyme dealer. That is care that comes full circle!