Provides Nutrition Needs To Bull Customers and Others
Cattle producers are often said to be the original stewards of the land. Their genuine passion for caring for their land and livestock is in their blood. They know if they take care of their cattle and the land, the cattle will take care of them. Taking care of his cattle before and after the sale is how Mark Rohr, Proven Sres Services, Hays, Kansas, became a BioZyme® dealer in 2014.
As the owner of Lazy H Ranch, where he markets between 100-150 registered Angus and Charolais bulls each spring, he wanted to be sure that those bulls continued to receive the best nutrition possible after the sale. That’s when he became a dealer and started recommending his customers use the VitaFerm® and Vita Charge® products to keep their new bulls healthy and reproductively sound.
“I wanted to offer the best of the best for my bull customers. At least 35% of my customers have started feeding VitaFerm, and that accounts for at least 50% of my bull sales,” Rohr said.
As a VIP dealer, Rohr not only offers the best products to his customers; he also offers top-notch service. He connects with them each monthly, if not more often and makes sure they have everything they need. He answers their questions promptly and relies on his ASM and National Sales Director for answers when he doesn’t know the answers, knowing they will respond quickly.
He suggests utilizing the ASM as a lead to new customer relationships. He appreciates when the ASM makes a cold call first to explain the Amaferm® advantage and ROI of the various product lines. Then, he can follow-up and share his own unique experiences with his customers. As a user of the products, Rohr can give first-hand accounts of what the products do, how they work and the benefits he has experienced in his own herd.
Building trust is the first step in any business relationship, according to Rohr. To build trust he shares his own experiences and works potential customers using other products into the VitaFerm products gradually.
“Offer them a product we have that their company doesn’t. Something like Vita Charge to help reduce stress with vaccinations and weaning. Or if I want them to try the VitaFerm products, I tell them not to go full-bore, but to try it on half or part of their cows so they can see the difference for themselves,” he said.
Rohr hosts a customer appreciation event each summer. He also makes sure to have plenty of BioZyme and Amaferm information available at his sale so his customers can leave with the information they need about a high-quality nutrition program.
As the industry becomes somewhat more volatile, Rohr said sharing key benefits that can be looked at as opportunity costs of the products will be even more important than ever. For cattle producers those include conception rates, especially for those utilizing A.I. and embryo transfer, calf vigor at birth and cows cleaning themselves at calving. Bull fertility is also key.
“I am in partnership on another set of bulls on feed at another location, under different management but the same mineral program, using a different vet service, we had 100% semen check there, and that vet wanted to know what we do to make that happen. As far as fertility in our bulls, the VitaFerm mineral and Amaferm advantage has been awesome,” Rohr said.
With results like that, it’s easy to see how Rohr can use personal experiences to build his customer base and help his bull customers at the same time. Thanks for being a part of the dealer network, Mark!