BACKYARD BOOST® IS KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL CHICK DAYS

Depending on your location, the ever-popular “Chick Days” will be here before we know it, and products like Backyard Boost® will help these young flocks flourish! We encourage you to work with your ASM or reach out to Shelia Grobosky, the Dealer Brand Manager, to help you promote these natural products that are designed to support the health, wellbeing and productivity of poultry.

Backyard Boost Daily Essentials

Backyard Boost Daily Essentials is a pelleted, natural protein supplement fully fortified with the precision prebiotic Amaferm®, vitamins, minerals and organic trace minerals to maximize growth and egg production and support overall flock health. Amaferm is research-proven to increase digestion and absorption of nutrients to help maximize egg production and quality. In addition, Daily Essentials contains additional protein to support growth, feather quality and egg production and calcium and other nutrients for natural improvement of eggshell and yolk quality.

  • 2.5 lb. or 10 lb. resealable bag.
  • Fed at a rate of 0.5 oz/chick/day.
  • For a 6-bird flock, 2.5 lbs. will last 2 weeks, and 10 lbs. will last 8 weeks.
  • Feed daily, either in the feeder or scattered in the pen.
  • Intended as a supplement, not a complete feed

Backyard Boost Defense

Backyard Boost Defense is a liquid supplement that promotes feed and water intake during times of stress and recovery to help support digestive health and a healthy inflammatory response. With natural products like the prebiotic Amaferm that helps combat the negative effects of stress and gets your hens back to producing eggs faster, and MOS to trap and expel unwanted disease-causing pathogens, limiting their ability to do harm, Defense promotes feed and water intake. It also contains electrolytes to support proper hydration and works with antibiotics to improve health and recovery.

  • 16 oz and a NEW 8 oz twin neck bottle with dosing chamber.
  • Added to water at the rate of 1 oz per gallon.
  • Mix daily to best freshness.
  • Designed for intermittent feeding during stress/recovery; can be fed at same time as Daily Essentials.
  • Maximizes the effectiveness of antibiotics.

SMART STRATEGIES FOR SELLING BACKYARD BOOST

Upselling and cross-selling are marketing tools that will help both you and your customer. They help your customers succeed in their feeding and production endeavors, and they help you meet your sales goals. When you combine the two and work them together, your business will experience even more growth.

Upselling is the is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one they might be originally considering. Cross-selling urges customers to buy related or complementary items. These two practices are most effective when they are used synergistically, and the end result for you, the dealer, is increased sales and hopefully a customer who sees better results.

Cross-selling is a practice that should be used in business nearly every time you make a sale. Products in the new Backyard Boost™line like Backyard Boost Daily Essentials and Backyard Boost Defense were created for cross-selling opportunities. Most people won’t immediately think of nutritional supplements for their backyard birds. However, they will think of other essentials like coops, heat lamps, bedding and feed. When they go pick out their feed or have questions about bird health, these are some ideal times for some cross-selling statements.

  • Have you thought about how you’re going to keep your chicks healthy?
  • Would you like to add a supplement to your chick feed to keep them feeling healthy and keep them happy?
  • Did you know that a product like Daily Essentials will help your chickens get the most nutrient supply from their feed?
  • How are you going to treat your chicks when they stress out and get sick? Have you thought about Defense.

Cross selling allows you to add on an essential product that will benefit the customer in his or her endeavor. Often times when you cross-sell, the customer hasn’t thought about that additional need yet, but when you mention it, it becomes an “ah-ha” moment for them, and a cross-sell suggestion often saves the customer a trip back to the store in the future, while helping you create a sale.

Upselling is a tool that should be used anytime you have a product that contains Amaferm®. With a prebiotic like Amaferm, products like Backyard Boost Daily Essentials and Defense are already more beneficial than other supplements that exist on the market. The Amaferm advantage and other natural ingredients in these supplements will:

  • Support performance and health of the birds by supporting the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
  • Reduce digestive upset, therefore improve the overall health and wellbeing of the birds.
  • Increase egg production, while improving eggshell and yolk quality.
  • Supports growth and feather quality.
  • Boosts immune response and combats negative effects of stress.

Upselling allows you to share experiences of a high-quality product with your customer and those benefits that a premium product will provide. Remember, a premium product doesn’t always have to be the one with the highest price tag; it is the one that is backed by research and has the most high-quality ingredients included in it.

Take the time to practice upselling and cross-selling across all species and products. There is always a product that will add value to another product.

New Product Alert!

Sure Champ Extreme with Clarify is available to order March 15! 

A pelleted, daily supplement with the Amaferm advantage for show cattle and pigs that can be top-dressed or mixed in the ration to promote appetite and digestive health and includes technologies designed to help support animals during extreme temperatures and to control horn, face, stable and house flies in their larval stage. 

Ready to order in Online Dealer Center: https://dealers.backofficeapps.com/products/2147

Two Minutes in Ag: March

Last month, many of the BioZyme sales and marketing staff attending the Cattle Industry Convention in Houston. It was great to talk to so many customers and potential customers about our products. While there, CattleFax presented its annual market and weather forecast, which is typically right on target. 

 According to CattleFax, even with continued challenges and uncertainty from the pandemic, cattle price and profitability trends for producers are heading in the right direction. While issues around labor and packing capacity have lingered, both are expected to improve in the year ahead. Expansions in capacity combined with strong global and domestic consumer beef demand suggests increased profitability across segments, good news for our customers. 

Kevin Good, vice president of industry relations and analysis at CattleFax, provided the following market forecast: Average 2022 fed steer price at $140/cwt., up $18/cwt. from 2021, with a range of $130-155/cwt. throughout the year. All cattle classes are expected to trade higher, and prices are expected to improve. The 800-lb steer price is expected to average $172/cwt. with a range of $158-184/cwt., and the 550-lb steer price is expected to average $205/cwt., with a range of $180-230/cwt. Finally, Good forecasted utility cows at an average of $75/cwt. with a range of $65-85/cwt. and bred cows at an average of $1,850/head with a range of $1,700-2,000 for load lots of quality, running-age cows. 

The weather forecast isn’t quite as favorable as the cattle market with La Niña staying in control of the ocean-atmosphere system. For the U.S., barring any change to the La Niña outlook or sudden warming in the Gulf of Alaska, dryness continues across the Southwest and South with warms temperatures, too. The Northern Plains and Corn Belt are expected to have wetness farther east this spring and drier conditions for this summer, with temperatures closer to normal compared to last year. 

As you know supply chain and transportation issues continue to challenge everyone in agriculture.

Look for more positive news next month, when hopefully we start to see some April showers! 

Dealer Spotlight: Simme Valley Feed Focuses on the Customer

For a young boy from Providence, Rhode Island, spending summers on his aunt and uncle’s farm in NewYork were a highlight. It is there, he first showed Simmental cattle and learned to appreciate the wide-open spaces.

Fast forward in time, Philip Paradis offered to return to Simme Valley located near Groton, New York, to help his aunt Jeanne White after his uncle passed away. At first it was just for a breeding season. Then for a little while at calving.And, now for the past nine years, Phil has become a permanent partner withJeanne, who started the Simmental operation with her late husband more than 50 years ago.

“It was quite a change for kid from the inner city. I was just going to come help with calving for 60 days, and I’m still here,” Philip said.

Those early summers showing at fairs with his aunt and uncle foreshadowed what would become a passion for Philip, as he now shows the family’s beloved Simmental cattle all through New York and along the East Coast. That is how he discovered BioZyme®-through the Sure Champ® products.

“With Sure Champ, when we are traveling and showing our cattle never go off their feed or water regimen,” he said.

Then, he discovered the same Amaferm® advantage in the VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® products. However, sourcing them wasn’t the easiest, so he decided to become a dealer, and he hasn’t looked back.

‘I’m so glad I switched to the VitaFerm mineral. Concept•Aid has shortened our calving window from 60days to 45 days on natural heats. Getting done calving in 45 days was amazing! BioZyme has created a product that sells itself,” Philip said. He uses a lot of signage and word of mouth to share his success with the products and to grow his business. He also uses social media to share what he does on the farm and what shows he will be attending. When he first started, he had three customers. Three years later, he has more than 40 customers. He is trying to diversity his offering, by finding sheep producers to try the DuraFerm® line. He said one of the most popular products he sells is the Country Vet Natural Dog Food. He said his customers appreciate the price point, the way it helps their dogs not feel gassy and how it clears up their skin.

His best advice is to make sure to know what your customers use and don’t use so you keep your inventory correct and don’t have unnecessary products.

From the city life to simpler ways, Philip Paradis has become a successful BioZyme dealer in New York, living his dream. Thanks for sharing the Amaferm advantage with so many others, Philip!

Master Dealer: Information Grows Your Passion To Sell

Knowledge is power. The more information BioZyme® can provide its dealers and distributors with about products, marketing tools and resources, the more effective salespeople they will be. That’s why in 2022, the BioZyme Master Dealer Training Program is getting a makeover – to make it more user friendly, provide more current and continuous information.

“Our goals have always been to provide our dealers with the product information they need to succeed, and in 2022, we are taking that a step further. We are creating new Master Dealer chapters that will help refresh their knowledge base to not only grow their BioZyme business, but their overall business as well,” said Jennifer Miller, BioZyme’s Outreach Sales & Support Senior Manager.

Coming Soon!
Miller said one of the most exciting changes coming to the Master Dealer program is the addition of curriculum. Starting approximately March 22, Master Dealer Chapter 3, will be launched, with a focus on the Online Dealer Center. This new session will cover pertinent user information about the ODC, which is also being revamped this spring.

Once the Master Dealer Chapter 3 is released, dealers will no longer have to wait a year to take the course work between the Master Dealer and Master Dealer 2. Dealers will be able to take all the course work in consecutive order and qualify for the Master Dealer status as long as they continuously carry four of the five product lines.

With no wait times in between courses, Miller said that dealers will remain fresher in their knowledge and be able to continue to learn as their time allows. She also said that new chapters will be released every six months to keep the content relevant and interesting to the dealers.

“They spoke and we listened. The dealers said they wanted more training tools and educational resources, so we are going to deliver these new chapters on a schedule every six months,” she said. “We are working to provide our dealers with the information they want and need to succeed in their business.”

More Changes
The new Master Dealer Chapters will be focused on one subject area and will be only four sessions long, for consistency and user ease, according to Miller. So, Chapter 3 will focus only on the tools provided in the Dealer Center and how to use those to grow sales.

Another change is that publicity won’t necessarily be sent with the completion of each chapter, but more upon completion of the first level and milestone levels.

Here to Stay
Because the BioZyme Team understand that some things are working great with the Master Dealer Program, some features are not changing. For example, dealers will still log in through the ODC for the Master Dealer portal. A dealership can also have multiple users taking the trainings.

Miller said the reward system will also stay the same, as it is important to recognize those dealers who do go above and beyond to seek extra information. Rewards are as follows:

  • Chapter 1:
    500 Action Awards Points, Master Dealer Jacket and store
    signage
    • Chapter 2:
    250 Action Awards Points, BioZyme Yeti and VitaFerm® caps
    • Chapter 3:
    250 Action Awards Points, BioZyme Sweatshirt,
    • Chapters 4 & Beyond:
    More Action Award Points and amazing prizes

Finally, because new products are launched and other changes happen, the Master Dealer on-demand courses will remain. Any time there is timely information one of these programs will become available in the on-demand curriculum until it is no longer a timely course; then it will be moved to the Master Dealer Chapter 1.

The Master Dealer Program is all online, user friendly and available to you at your time.

“I feel that in the last three days of going through all the training courses, I have learned so much that as a rancher myself, I was not aware of. I look forward to using your products as well. I appreciate the opportunity to learn all this information,” said Missy Rerich, BWI Inside Sales, Schulenburg, Texas.

Join Missy and nearly 300 other dealers who have completed the Master Dealer Program to better their business. Use the tools, learn the products and watch your business grow!

Customer Testimonials Help Sell Products

Before Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and way before MySpace, there was a form of social media that cost nothing and took very little effort. Yet, some people still haven’t used it effectively. That medium is word of mouth marketing (WOMM). In one Nielsen survey, 92% of consumers believe in recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. And according to another study, 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe word of mouth is the most
effective form of marketing.

At BioZyme, we rely heavily on WOMM or testimonials to tell our product stories and help sell the products to other producers. Experienced Area Sales Manager Chris Kyle for Arkansas, Louisiana and northeast Texas, says the value in customer testimonials is that the person reviewing or talking about the specific product or experience has nothing to gain by doing so. He or she is merely bragging about
something positive that has happened on the farm or ranch and wants everyone else to know about it.

“The people who are talking about our products have achieved some sort of success in their area first and want others to know they have that feather in their cap,” Kyle said.

Most customers are glad to give a review or testimonial. You can ask for it written, take notes as it is given orally or even use the technology that you have on hand to
record a video.

“The customers don’t hold back. I ask them how a particular product is doing, and they will start talking and telling me about all the good things they have happen with their animals’ health,” Kyle said.

The value of a spoken testimonial increases when the person speaking can be captured on video. If possible, record a testimonial video. That way others can hear the emotion in the speaker’s voice and see the excitement on their faces. With today’s social media, one testimonial can reach much further than just the local coffee shop or feed mill. It can reach from coast-to-coast, and with dealers located
across the country, that WOMM is powerful.

Customers who have achieved success are passionate about the products they are talking about. It is important to remember those success stories when you have a producer meeting or customer appreciation event. If you know of customers who have had great success with the products, ask them to share their experiences with the crowd you have gathered. Their real-world stories and experiences that
their neighbors might also encounter will definitely help make a sale.

Finally, when sharing testimonials with customers, Kyle says he drop names of big-time, successful producers in the area. If he knows someone who runs a large herd and has had good results with a product, he might mention their name to someone down the road with fewer cows that is undecided about trying a BioZyme product.
He knows the first call that will be made when he leaves is to that neighbor, whose name Kyle mentioned.

Word of mouth marketing is the original social media and one that still works for marketing today! We are always looking for great customer testimonials to share in our advertising, in promotional materials and on social media. If you have a customer with a great testimonial, please reach out to your ASM or contact Shelia Grobosky at sgrobosky@biozymeinc.com.

Discovering A Passion Will Lead To Sales

During a recent Uber ride at the Cattlemen’s Convention in Houston, some of the BioZyme® staff was shuttled around by a former marketer who was excited to learn that we too were involved in marketing and sales. He rattled off the five Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion and people and offered to come to work for us if we needed a guy in Houston. I appreciate his enthusiasm and contend that we should all be so inquisitive to discover our customers’ passion.

What made Mr. Uber driver such a good salesperson? In less than 10 minutes, he found out about our passion. He discovered that we were in town for a convention about beef cattle and we were there to promote animal nutrition products. I would challenge each person who reads this article to really focus on that fifth p of marketing: the people. Get to know the passions of your customers so you can sell the products that they are looking to buy.

Yes, it is usually easy to sell the products that BioZyme offers when you are able to talk about all the research behind them, their mode of action and share testimonials from other customers. However, to make sure you are getting the right products to your customers, take at least 10 minutes to find out what your customers are truly passionate about. Do they want more live animals on the ground? Do they want their cows to breed back faster? Do they have horses or dogs that you don’t even

know about? Or perhaps they have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews with show livestock that they want to see excel Just because you are visiting a cow-calf producer talking to them about the advantages of VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®, doesn’t mean they don’t have other interests or passions. Take this example from Justin O’Flaherty, Area Sales Manager in the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia. She was visiting a cow-calf operation to discuss the VitaFerm and Vita Charge® lines with the producer. While she was there, she also saw a barn full of his passion.

“I’m not a horse person. I went and met with an Angus breeder earlier in the week, but he had a barn full of horses. I’d much rather talk about cows, and I saw an opportunity. The more you talk about things you’re uncomfortable with, the more you become familiar. The same thing with HydraBoost®. We have so many pigs and chickens in my area. If you become more comfortable with the uncomfortable, you’ll be able to grow market share by expanding your product offering and getting out
of comfort zone,” O’Flaherty said.

And never discount the popularity of man’s best friend. Remember, dogs are family so marketing the Vitalize dog products should become second nature because if there’s a dog present, there’s someone in the household passionate about that four-legged friend!

Letters From Lisa – March 2022

Does passion make you work harder and smarter? I don’t think so. I think passion makes you want to work harder and smarter. But there is way more to working harder and smarter than passion. The real problem with this cliché is that it gets tossed around so casually as an answer to all business problems and yet, it has so little to do with how a business needs to operate.

Many people believe work balance is really the goal and so they changed the phrase to “work smarter, not harder.” What’s the difference?

Luckily someone took the challenge of finding a clear answer… UC Berkeley professor Morten Hansen looked at 200 academic papers, interviewed 120 experts, ran a pilot study on 300 subjects and built a framework which he then tested on 5,000 participants from various industries and backgrounds.

He found seven behaviors that made up 66% of the difference in how people performed. (By comparison, standard metrics like education, age and hours worked were only responsible for 10% combined.) His new book, “Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More” outlines these seven.

We’re going to look at three of my favorites so that we can get hard, smart work done — and maybe even achieve that mythical “work-life balance” unicorn everyone is always talking about.

Do Less — then Obsess
Everyone agrees we need to quit trying to accomplish 9,000 things at once. But when Hansen looked at the data, he found that this was only half the solution. Top performers focus on fewer goals — but they also obsess like crazy over them. This is a really hard one for me. I am very good at obsessing but if I am honest, I obsess over all of the hundreds of opportunities I think BioZyme has. I am going to take this advice to heart and pick three for 2022.

Use “The Learning Loop”
Deliberate practice seems straightforward in sports, music or chess. But how do you do it in the workplace? Hansen offers some clear steps:

  • Pick one and only one skill at a time to develop. It’s “do less and obsess” all over again. Trying to get better at everything at once gets you nowhere. Right now, you want to be better at social media. So, learning QuickBooks will have to wait.
  • Pick one and only one skill at a time to develop. It’s “do less and obsess” all over again. Trying to get better at everything at once gets you nowhere. Right now, you want to be better at social media. So, learning QuickBooks will have to wait.
  • Just like a baseball player might try to improve a specific element of their game (batting, fielding or running), you want to break down what goes into good social media and set a goal. “I’m going to learn Promoboxx to help with my social media
    marketing.”
  • Get feedback. After the Facebook post is made, ask people how you did and what you can do to improve it

Follow Passion & Purpose
Top performers didn’t merely “follow their passion.” They also had a sense of purpose in what they did. This combo produced huge results. It boosted energy levels and increased the amount of effort they were able to exert. Hansen found that at least 10% of people in every arena and role examined had passion and purpose.

Purpose is about creating value for others in a way that is personally meaningful to you. Like passion, this is less about the actual tasks you perform and more about how you frame them. Shoveling elephant poop does not seem terribly meaningful. And when looked at in that limited frame, it isn’t. But when you love animals, it can be deeply meaningful — as a study of zookeepers revealed. In a 2009 study of zookeepers, researchers found that some saw cleaning cages and feeding animals as a filthy, meritless job, while others saw it as a moral duty to protect and provide proper care for the animals. Same job, different feelings of purpose.

Summing It Up
If we choose to implement these three behaviors, I think we will all be able to work smarter which will naturally convert to working harder and we will do it all with passion and purpose without even knowing it. Isn’t doing something so naturally you don’t even know you are doing it the real secret to work and life? One last thought. If doing all three of these behaviors is too much for you right now; 23% of the difference Hansen found in how people performed came from one behavior – Do Less then Obsess. Here’s permission to passionately obsess!

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Changes Happening In March 2022

NEW PRODUCTS

  • BioZyme will be launching two new products featuring ClariFl
    • Sure Champ® Extreme with ClariFly® available March 15,2022,  a pelleted, daily supplement with the Amaferm® advantage for show cattle and pigs that can be top-dressed or mixed in the ration to promote appetite and digestive health. Includes technologies designed to help support animals during elevated temperatures and in control of horn, face, stable and house flies in their larval stage.
    • VitaFerm Conserve® CTC 3G with ClariFly® available March 1, 2022, an economical vitamin and mineral supplement for beef cattle that supports the health and condition of the whole herd. Includes the Amaferm® advantage to optimize nutrient digestion and absorption while the vitamin and mineral pack preserves cattle performance. Includes CTC for the control of Anaplasmosis and ClariFly to stop horn, face, stable and house flies in their larval stage.

PRODUCT UPDATES

  • To increase palatability of our DuraFerm® Sheep Concept•Aid® HEAT® we are working on a new and improved version that will be released soon.

COVID SUPPLY CHAIN UPDATES

  • Many organizations we work with today are experiencing volatility in the market. The information is built on market data from public sources and Freight quote by C.H. Robinson’s information advantage, based on our experience, data and scale. Please use these insights to stay informed, make decisions designed to mitigate your risk and avoid disruptions to your supply chain.
  • Truckload: Trucking labor and volume is changing
  • Supply
    • 8,000 more jobs in trucking, the U.S has more trucking jobs than pre-pandemic levels but driver hiring and retention remains extremely challenging for carriers
    • Decreased active capacity due to increased absenteeism from COVID-19 Omicron variant
    • Omicron capacity crunch – CH Robinson 2022 forecast has increased to a 9% higher average cost as compared to 2021 for U.S. sport market dry van  
  • Demand 
    • Freight volumes are outpacing Class 8 tractor growth, which contributes to sustained tension in the trucking market 
    • Efforts to improve inventory to sales ratios and the forecasted Q1 GDP rate of 4.5% will result in meaningful freight volumes 
  • LTL: Capacity continues to be stressed 
    • COVID-19 Omicron variant is causing elevated absenteeism at carrier terminals; expect delays into March as a result
    • Expect persistent delays in LTL carrier networks from the backlogs 
    • With capacity already constrained, multiple LTL carriers are now implementing freight embargoes at various locations across the country 
    • Rates are projected to stay 35.8% higher than the 2018 baseline – but remain level with Q4/2021 
  • Ocean and air limitations impact North American surface transportation:
    • Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York predict unprecedented labor shortages to work vessels in the coming weeks 
    • Port of Vancouver backlog continues after severe flooding and mudslides 
    • Recovery times at U.S. airports remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic conditions, but demand has softened in early 2022   
    • Keep a close eye as volumes increase post Lunar New Year, and congestion is likely to return 
  • Border crossing demand is at an all-time high:
    • As interest rates remain low; the demand for Canadian capacity has never been higher 
    • The factors that are putting the greatest pressure on border crossing capacity are as follows: 
      • COVID-19 Omicron absenteeism 
      • Vaccine mandate 
      • Freight volumes 
      • Winter weather
      • Boarder blockades