August 2016 - BioZyme Online Dealer Center

Introducing BioZyme’s 3-Step Gain Smart Program: 3 steps to draw stockers/backgrounders to you

The job of stocker cattle is to turn cellulose into red meat, by putting on weight in the most cost effective way – gaining smart.

The Gain Smart Stocker Program provides a 1-2-3 punch to get calves eating and staying healthy. It includes 2 products to jump start appetite and a line of vitamin and mineral supplements with the Amaferm^® advantage that promotes health and economically produces pounds by maximizing the natural energy and protein available in forage.

Feeding the Gain Smart program with the Amaferm advantage:

Makes the most of the cheapest feed available to any stocker operation: forage
Accelerates gain by stimulating the calf’s rumen to function at top efficiency
Improves health by reducing the impact of stress, the largest sucker of immunity
Pays a 2 to 1 return through more gain, more health

Exciting news!!
This program will easily draw stockers to your doorstep due to its effectiveness on gain and health. However, to add icing on the cake, we have launched an exclusive partnership with Superior Livestock Auction. Beginning October 2016, calves selling through Superior Auction will be able to add a value-added emblem (see below) if they have been fed Gain Smart for the 45 days prior to the sale or have been on a VitaFerm mineral for the 45 days prior to sale. This program will be heavily marketed to bring new business to your door.

Click Here for details on the Gain Smart Program. Call your ASM today to order Vita Charge Drench, Stress Tubs and the Gain Smart Mineral that is best for your customers.

BIOZYME/SUPERIOR REP PREFERRED PARTNER MINERAL PROGRAM
FYI :: We have developed a program for Superior Reps to be able to purchase VitaFerm and Gain Smart products at a discounted rate. Seeing is believing, and we hope to encourage any Superior Rep to try our products first-hand. If you have a relationship with a rep in your area, please make sure they are aware of this program! Contact your Area Sales Manager for assistance in filling out the required form for this program.

Introducing Feed the Future: Investing in youth by bringing Hereford breeders to your door

BioZyme^® is excited to launch the new “Feed the Future” program in partnership with the Hereford Youth Foundation of America. The program contributes $1 to HYFA for every bag/tub of eligible BioZyme supplement any American Hereford Association member buys during the year. This program will be marketed all year long by both HYFA and BioZyme. BioZyme does all tracking and contributing, you just say, “Thanks for the sale.”

Share these Feed the Future Program Details with your Hereford Breeders

Step 1. Select the correct VitaFerm supplement to maximize the potential of your cow herd. Contact Erin Creason, Inside Sales Coordinator, at 816-238-7084, visit www.vitaferm.com or speak with your dealer to learn more about these products.

Eligible VitaFerm products and product lines include: Concept•Aid®, Heat and Cattlemen’s Blend™, the Mineral Lyk Tub, 30:13 Protein Tub™, Roughage Fortifier and Sure Start® Pellet.

Step 2. Each time you purchase an eligible VitaFerm product, take a picture of your invoice with your smart phone or camera and email a copy of the invoice to hereford@biozymeinc.com or text it to the BioZyme office at 816-383-3109.

Step 3. BioZyme will donate $1 per bag or tub with the proof of purchase to the Hereford Youth Foundation of America. Donations will be made annually.

Feed the Future Program Details for the BioZyme Dealer

Identify Hereford breeders in your area and send a list to BioZyme to connect to new customers by “Feeding the Future.”

At BioZyme, we believe in the value of partnerships. This starts with the one we have with you, but will certainly be impacted by the ones we are starting with Superior and HYFA. We believe programs backed by powerful partnerships are the key to improving sales, margins and profits, to exponentially increase business success.

New Gain Smart Program

Good nutrition has come to the forefront as one of the keys to healthy, profitable cattle.

RECEIVE: Vita Charge® Drench
Administer within 48 hours post weaning

Jumpstarts feed and energy intake
Stimulates cattle’s immune system
Allows maximum effectiveness of vaccinations

START: Vita Charge® Stress Tub
Feed 14-21 days post weaning

Ignites appetite
Provides a nutritional punch
MOS helps trap bad bacteria to keep digestive upsets at bay

GROW: Gain Smart Mineral
Feed for remaining stocker period (minimum of 45 days)

Gain Smart Wheat
Ensures stockers on wheat or other small grains are accurately supplemented

Gain Smart Stocker (formerly VitaFerm® Beefmaker™)
Ensures stockers on range grasses are accurately supplemented

Gain Smart Balancer RU 1600 (formerly VitaFerm® Feedlot Medicated RU 1600™)
Ensures stockers on grains are accurately supplemented

Gain Smart POWER 37 (formerly VitaFerm® Sure Power 37™)
When protein is needed

In a field trial conducted by Tracy Leonard, Huntington AR, 110 calves were delivered, 10 doctored, and then they were put on the Gain Smart program consisting of Vita Charge Drench, Vita Charge Stress Tub and Gain Smart Mineral. Of the group, only 1 calf had to be re-doctored within the first 45 days.

“We use the products because they pay for themselves. Vita Charge helps straighten calves out and get their gut activated. We pull less calves, and any time we don’t have to pull out a bottle to treat a calf, it saves us money. Every operation is different, but everyone needs cattle to eat and Vita Charge gets them started right.” – John Terrell, Prairie Creek Cattle Co, AR

A Producer Meeting Sure to Produce Results

It makes sense to align marketing strategies with positioning products, and producer meetings are a great way to get your brand in front of customers and potential customers. Invite them to your store, showcase your products, provide them some valuable information that might add profitability to their outfit, and offer them refreshments. And, before you know it, you have just shared your brand with a group of people who need and want your services and products.

In addition to promoting specific products, producer meetings are a great way to let producers learn more about you and your business. Time is a precious commodity. Make sure your producer meetings are time-sensitive to what your customers are dealing with. Prior to breeding season you might address pre-breeding and cow nutrition; weaning is a critical time in an animal’s life, so host an informational meeting prior to weaning to showcase products that will help reduce stress and promote gain.

The Sure Start^® Program is one program that you can promote at a producer meeting. It was designed as a simple program to keep calves healthy, eating and performing. The three step program is an easy sell, but you have to get the program out in front of people in order for them to notice, then ask about and finally utilize the program.

Our statistics show that overall growth for dealers that held a producer meeting is 78.8%. By following these simple steps you can easily host a Sure Start Weaning Producer Meeting or a meeting with the topic of your choice.

Reach out to Your Area Sales Manager to Discuss the Date and Location
Our marketing team can help with invitations and posters to let your audience know about the meeting. Details about the event and who you would like to send the invite to must be received three weeks prior to your event.

Request a Sure Start Weaning Marketing Package
Call Jody Purvis, Sales Support Coordinator at 816-344-5755, and request a Sure Start Weaning Marketing Package. We’ll send you literature and signage for your store and meeting.

Hang Signage in Your Store and Create a Display Area
A display area could be as simple as putting a Vita Charge^® Counter Display next to your till or creating a pyramid of Vita Charge Stress Tubs

Send Out a Text Message Reminder
So many people communicate via text message these days. Email a list of cell phone numbers to Katie Vaz, Marketing and Communications Manager at kvaz@biozymeinc.com, and we’ll send out a reminder to all your contacts the day before the meeting.

Host the Meeting
Your ASM will give the presentation, but it is nice to have a few producers there that can give a testimonial about how well the program has worked for them.

Follow Up
Follow up is important to any good marketing effort. Make sure you have all attendees fill out a contact card at the meeting. These cards should be given to your ASM ASAP. We’ll send out a follow up card and make sure these potential customers are included in any future national marketing campaigns. Don’t forget that a personal phone call can go a long way in securing the order.

Trust and Experience Help Dealer Position Products

Personal testimonials and relationship building have been equally important in positioning BioZyme^® products to customers for one novice dealer in southeast Iowa. Cecil Reed, who became a dealer in January, says the fact that she and her family have had personal success using various BioZyme products helps her marketing strategy. The producers in her area build a stronger trust factor when they hear about her personal experiences, and that helps build relationships and sell product.

“Once the growers know that I have had success using the products on mine and my family’s operations, I find out the grower’s goals for their operation and suggest products with their goals in mind,” Reed says.

The marketing tools that BioZyme provides allow Reed to back up her testimonials with research and product facts, which help position the products. She has posters and brochures grouped by product lines in her office, and she carries literature in each vehicle so she has something to put in front of potential customers, giving them something to read and think about after she leaves. She adds that direct mail is part of her future marketing plans since so many producers in her area still rely on the written word.

“I have found it beneficial to have posters hung around my office and buildings as they strike up questions and conversations,” she says. “I also really like using the flyers to hand out to customers that want to use our products. When I am able to get something into the hands of potential customers it keeps them thinking and keeps their interest sparked.”

Reed grew up near Bloomfield, Iowa, on her family’s diversified farm that included cattle, row crops and a sheep flock that allowed her and her sisters to show competitively at the local, state and national levels. She graduated with an agronomy degree from Iowa State University in December 2014 and within the next year married and started her business, NexGen Ag Solutions. In addition to selling BioZyme, Reed also sells Pioneer seed.

“Adding value to your farm” is the tag line for NexGen Ag Solutions, and carrying value-added products for the producers in her area is important to Reed. With producers watching their expenses and questioning the prices of BioZyme products, Reed can share her personal success stories. She says her go-to message is the “Amaferm advantage” because it does increase digestibility, and in her area where forage quality isn’t superb, this message really hits home.

Another testimonial she shares is for Vita Charge^® products, especially Liquid Boost^®. She says her dad treated a freshly-weaned lamb crop that went off feed with these products, and he witnessed immediate results when they started eating again the next day. Reed said her dad was sold on the products.

“The products are simple to use, and yet cover a diverse audience,” she says. She said after attending the recent dealer retreat in June, she was impressed that the same HEAT supplement works for producers in the extreme heat of Louisiana and other Southern states. When she shared those endorsements with her own customers, they were convinced that the product would work for them, and it has.

Reed has been aggressive in sharing her vision for the products. She has a business Facebook page, where she shares information with customers and potential customers, has used radio advertising and newspaper articles to inform growers that she is a dealer and talks one-on-one with people in her area. She is sponsoring awards at the Davis County Fair – a bag of Sure Champ^® – for the grand champion overall steer, heifer, wether, ewe, barrow, gilt, buck and doe. She also plans to have a hospitality area at the fair with cold drinks for the exhibitors where she can talk about BioZyme and its products. She says in the future she would like to host producer meetings to educate producers as well as exhibitors and their parents of the benefits of various BioZyme products.

Reed plans to use the CONNECT Online store more heavily in the future. She predicts that CONNECT will benefit her Vitalize^® horse customers since many of those products have a lower feeding rate and are not reordered as often, as well as assist her with inventory control.

Cecil Reed is a true believer in the BioZyme products and the differences they make in livestock. With her winning attitude and belief in the product, she has positioned the products in the spotlight for many producers in her area. “As long as I build trust with my customers, and trust helps build relationships, it is easy to position the products,” she says.

Consistency is Key to Great Branding

Your favorite country band is coming to town and you have tickets. After months of waiting, the night of the show is finally here and you get to hear all of your favorite songs. However, that morning the band decided they didn’t like playing the same songs every night so they played two hours of pop covers instead. You leave feeling dejected and can’t understand why they wouldn’t play the music that made them great.

Though this would probably never happen with a band in real life, it does happen with brands quite often. Consistency is repetitive, and because we are the ones delivering that message day after day we sometimes feel like our message has become boring. What is actually the case is that consistency paves the way for creativity with an impact and is what moves your brand from a good one to a great one.

So, what is your brand? A brand is what sets you apart from everyone else. It can be anything – a symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, slogan, emotion, employees and more – that separates one thing from another. A brand gives your business an identity. Do you want to be just a feed salesperson, or someone everyone knows because of your consistent message and identification? The sales person who listens to your customers’ goals and offers suggestions to help achieve those goals? According to North Star Marketing, here are four advantages to being consistent with your branding message:

Consistency helps manage perceptions. By thinking carefully and deliberately about your brand, you can shape how people perceive your organization. Consistency connotes professionalism, purpose and stability.

Consistency conveys outlook and attitude. A focused effort to establish and maintain consistent branding will deliver a very specific set of impressions: Are you serious? Are you intentional? Do you follow through? Are you focused?

Consistency eliminates issues surrounding brand confusion. For many companies, their branding is actually more of a hindrance than a help. A consistent brand should instill confidence rather than confusion.

Consistency protects your investment. Without established brand standards, many organizations spend thousands of dollars crafting a logo and building a message, only to have it degraded by inconsistent, sloppy application. Build equity in your brand by being consistent.

As you position your product before customers, be sure to brand yourself or your business. Keep the message consistent in your producer meetings, brochures, Facebook posts and media interviews. If you use a tag line on the bottom of a direct mail piece, make sure that same tag line is on your web site. If you have a logo, keep it consistent on your marketing pieces – don’t change the font or color. Remember, when you need help with marketing pieces, you can contact Katie Vaz at kvaz@biozymeinc.com. She can help you work toward consistency in your positioning by adding your logo or brand slogan to any of the current marketing pieces.

Source: http://www.northstarmarketing.com/2015/05/07/the-difference-between-a-good-brand-and-a-great-brand-consistency/

Added Value Should Mean Added Profitablity

Adding value is the process of changing or transforming a product from its original state to a more valuable state; from one set of characteristics to other characteristics that are more preferred in the marketplace.

Today, the “produce-then-sell” mentality of the commodity business is being replaced by the strategy of first determining what attributes consumers want in their products and then creating or manufacturing products with those qualities. Market forces have led to greater opportunities for product differentiation and added value because of:

Increased consumer demand regarding health, nutrition and convenience;
Efforts to improve productivity; and
Technological advances that enable production of what consumers desire.

Adding value to products can be accomplished in a number of ways, but generally falls into two categories: innovation and coordination. One or both of these must do more than add value. To be sustainable, they must also increase profitability.

Innovation

Innovation focuses on improving existing processes, procedures, products and services or creating new ones.

Impact on profitability – sales revenue is a function of volume and price. Value-added products allow more emphasis to be placed on the price part of the equation, initially, but ultimately they will also impact the volume, thereby increasing sales revenue. Your company’s strategy should be to find sources of revenue where you can have both high volumes and good prices.

The relatively new HEAT product is a great example of value-added innovation. By adding Xtract 7065, garlic and Amaferm^® we have a summer mineral that adds value by:

Lowering heat stress so animals eat instead of standing in the shade or the ponds
Repelling insects
Increasing digestibility so food consumed is utilized more efficiently offsetting the negative impacts of fescue in certain areas of the country

The product is priced such that we have the profitability part of the
equation covered. In its first year, 26 tons of product was sold.
However, the added value that this product provides has impacted the volume part of the revenue equation as well; sales grew to 455 tons in 2015, and to 1,202 tons as of June 30, 2016. This value-added product has accomplished the strategy of finding a source of revenue where we can have both high volumes and good pricing for maximized sales revenue.

Coordination

Coordination focuses on arrangements among those that produce and market products. Horizontal coordination involves pooling or consolidation among individuals or companies from the same level of the food chain. An example would be hog producers combining their market hogs to make a truckload. A coordinated effort is needed to impact cost reduction.

Impact on profitability – before examining value-added processing and marketing, cost minimization must be achieved. Only efficient businesses will be able to survive and compete. Adding value cannot take the place of reaching the efficiencies attainable through technology and economies of scale.

Our mega dealers are a good example of coordination. They buy large orders and then disseminate the product out in smaller amounts at a significantly lower cost and more efficiency than an LTL company.

No matter innovation or coordination, in the end, value-added is a fairly simple concept. Create relationships with customers to encourage repeat business, improve tactics and your profits will go up.

You Can Only Pick Two

As a marketer and designer, I have always quietly laughed at this diagram that is often shared online by seemingly frustrated freelancers or business owners who are fed up with the expectation of their customers.

A simple Google search of this “good, fast, cheap diagram” will show that not only does the marketing and design industry share these feelings, but that modifications of these little circles show up everywhere in nearly every profession from construction to investment banking to the food industry.

While there may be much truth to these circles, I have learned over time that frustration diminishes quickly for both service provider and customer when you identify where you both fit within the diagram. If you occupy different circles, it simply means that maybe you don’t have to offer what your customer expects and what your customer expects is not possible based on what you can provide. But when you do exist in the same circles, the relationship can be pretty perfect.

We have taken it upon ourselves to modify a diagram for you as dealers. BioZyme dealers most definitely represent the QUALITY PRODUCTS circle as you carry the best products in the business as indicated by the ingredients and proven record of their ability to create performance that pays. There are other circles you may represent as well. Now it is up to you to identify which level of expectation your customers have and what circle(s) they fit. It’s ok that some customers might not fit perfectly. They merely need to be educated on why “quality” is important or how the service you offer directly impacts the value they place on time or having a consultant at their door to help make important decisions for their operation. Sometimes it is ok to just know that they have no interest crossing over into overlapping portions of the circle, and you don’t have to waste each other’s time or resources marketing to that type of customer.

The sooner you begin existing in the same circle(s) so that the product and service you are providing matches your customers’ expectation, the sooner you will create an environment of known expectation and synergistic goals in which everyone involved is satisfied with the end result.

Don’t Fall Victim to Weaning Woes

Many producers are currently in the midst of weaning madness. There is a plethora of information on weaning management techniques, vaccination protocols and feeding recommendations. Regardless of your operation’s weaning procedures, the most important considerations should be keeping calves healthy, on feed and gaining weight. Ensuring a seamless transition from a milk-based diet to dry feed and hay starts with proper nutrition to maximize performance potential and prevent sickness.

Prior to weaning, a calf’s diet consists of milk that is energy rich and packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. Therefore, when a calf is weaned those nutrients a calf received from milk must be replaced with high quality forages and additional supplementation. Whether you are turning calves out on grass or leaving them in a dry lot, here are some important factors to consider:

Weaning on grass: It is important to consider the quality of the forage if turning calves out on grass post weaning. During this time of year, many forages are in a declining state of nutrient content. As a result, supplemental feed may be required for calves to achieve desired
weight gains.

Weaning in a dry lot: Calves weaned in a dry lot must learn to eat from a bunk if they have not been exposed to them prior to weaning. It is important to consider bunk space (at least 12 inches per calf) and bunk height so that smaller calves can reach feed and water.

Weaning stress coincides with a time in a calf’s life when its trace mineral status is at its lowest. A calf is born with elevated levels of trace minerals (copper, zinc and selenium) acquired in utero. Unfortunately, weaning often depletes these mineral stores. This, combined with the additional protein and energy needed to accommodate the rapid growth of calves during this stage of production, means proper nutrition is crucial. BioZyme^® offers a wide variety of products to meet your operation’s nutritional needs during weaning. Here are some of the products producers have had success implementing within their weaning nutrition programs:

Vita Charge^® Stress Tub: A 50 or 200 lb. cooked molasses tub that contains Amaferm^® and MOS to support digestive health and promote feed and water intake during times of stress and/or recovery from sickness. MOS traps bad bacteria limiting their ability to do harm to the animal. The Stress Tub conveniently allows beef cattle to get their daily dose of organic trace minerals, vitamins and B vitamins without additional handling.

VitaFerm^® Sure Start^® Pellet: A highly palatable, pelleted vitamin and mineral supplement for beef cattle formulated with a high concentration of vitamins and minerals to alleviate the negative effects of stress. This product contains high levels of vitamin E, niacin and thiamine, as well as organic zinc, cooper and manganese, and a double dose of the Amaferm^® advantage. It encourages calves to come to the bunk and provides a smooth transition during the most stressful time in a calf’s life.

Gain Smart POWER 37: A pelleted, 37% natural protein, vitamin and mineral supplement that provides a cost-effective way to promote gain and general herd health. Contains a nutrient package specifically designed to balance high grain diets and supplemental protein, as well as organic copper and zinc plus added iodine for maximum bioavailability to the animal to support hoof health and immunity.

Sure Champ^®: A pelleted vitamin and mineral supplement that can be top-dressed or mixed in a ration to improve digestive health, stimulate appetite and optimize health. Typically used in show cattle, Sure Champ is a versatile product that contains 25% protein and elevated levels of highly bioavailable vitamins and minerals to achieve maximum performance potential. Sure Champ contains organic zinc, copper and manganese and the maximum allowable level of selenium. Added vitamins of A, D and E, niacin, and B-12 allow for added growth, bloom and overall health.

Implementing any of these products will take your nutrition program to the next level and ensure continued weight gain and improved immune response of newly weaned calves. For more information, contact Lindsey Grimes, BioZyme Nutrition Coordinator, at (816) 596-8779.

August 2016 – Letters from Lisa

For about six months I worked on a project we called the “messaging matrix.” Its original intent was to ensure everyone in our company was sharing the same benefits and messages about all of our products and brands. This started as a simple Excel spreadsheet, but consumed about 400 hours of my time and had so many columns I felt like a data miner. By the end of it, the project ended up being one of my most difficult, stressful and eye opening. I had never read horizontally across all of our brands and products at the same time. I had always looked at them vertically or one at a time. Sounds silly I am sure, but after much thought I realized “what a mess!” We had products that fit nowhere, branding that was going across multiple sectors within beef cattle and branding that was going across multiple species (VitaFerm^® was beef, sheep, goat and dairy).

As a person who claims to be incredibly organized and run an organized ship, I had to go into hiding for a while to save face and then ended up having to take the team on a retreat to get this fixed. The end result of this project has been amazing, and it includes:

Strengthening our message so our dealers can benefit from a more consistent message
Reorganizing our products in a way that makes more sense for our customers
Developing a new searchable product center in the Online Dealer Center for easy quick reference to all these great brands and products (remember 43% of end users expect to get product info from you – their dealer)
Building excitement of stronger branding power

brand /brand/
noun
noun: brand; plural noun: brands
1. a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a
particular name.

So let’s talk branding power. Interestingly enough the word came from our roots. More than a century ago, cattle ranchers used branding irons to mark which animals were theirs. As the cattle moved across the plains on their way to Chicago slaughter houses, brands made it easier to identify which ranches they were from.

With the introduction of packaged goods in the 19th century, producers put their mark on a widening array of products—cough drops, flour, sugar, beer — to indicate their source. For example, in the late 1880s as the Coca-Cola Company was getting started there were many soda producers in every market. Before Coca-Cola could get a customer to reach for a Coke, the company needed to be sure the customer could distinguish a Coke from all the other fizzy caramel-colored beverages out there.

In the first sense of the word, then, a brand is simply the non-generic name for a product that tells us the source of the product. A Coke is a fizzy caramel-colored soda concocted by those folks in Atlanta. For more information on brands and brand consistency see this month’s Tell Everyone article on page 8.

I will end this month with a challenge – something I wasn’t doing prior to this 400-hour venture. Are you differentiating marketing from branding? Let’s work together to create evangelists for our businesses.