Author: sgrobosky

Know your Checkbook: Quality Customer Service can Increase your Bottom Line

Providing excellent customer service doesn’t cost your business anything. However, if even one customer has even a somewhat bad experience, it could cost you everything. Customer service is crucial to business and ultimately sales. Think about how fast news spreads, especially in a small community, and even more so with the aid of social media. People share positive experiences, and they are like endorsements. But one bad experience can make its way through the rumor mill in record speed, ruining your reputation and your sales.

A recent survey of American Express showed that 70% of customers are willing to spend 13% more on average with companies they believe provide exceptional customer service. Making a conscious effort to impress your customers creates the kind of reputation that promotes word-of-mouth referrals and upsell opportunities – ultimately increasing sales.

Another study showed that a 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. In an environment where businesses are increasingly concerned with their bottom line, companies may focus a lot more on improving customer satisfaction.

The best part of increasing your customer satisfaction levels is that customers keep coming back. These retained customers cost less than new customers. Why? Because you aren’t spending marketing dollars trying to get them in your stores – services you’re already providing are convincing them to come back.

Just what is that returning customer worth? According to an online article on Lireo.com:

  • Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase your profits up to 125%
  • Loyal customers are worth 10 times as much as their first purchase on average
  • Companies that make customer service a priority make 60% higher profits than their competitors

How to Improve Your Customers’ Experiences and Retain Them

  • Ask your customers for feedback – When you show that you care and that you’re willing to listen to your customers, they will appreciate it and want to give you their business. Really listen and try to implement their suggestions and feedback, and then show what changes you have made based on their suggestions.
  • Offer a good mix of products – Make sure you have the products that your customers use the most on-hand including seasonal items relevant to the animals’ nutritional development.
  • Keep your store easy to navigate – Keep your aisles clear, and set up a good flow. Keep like or complimentary products together so your customers don’t have to go from corner to corner to get the two products they came for.
  • Train your employees on how to handle complaints respectfully – Negative interactions spread to twice as many people as positive interactions. If an employee handles a complaint well, the chance of the dissatisfied customer spreading his or her discontentment decreases.

Customer service is something we strive to perfect each day but now that you know it can help your profits, be sure to give a little extra attention to the customers. Your customers will surely notice, and you can watch your business grow.

Effective Action: Taking Action Equals Growth

Do you remember the tale of the tortoise and the hare? To summarize, the hare had a lot of enthusiasm, but he didn’t take advantage of that enthusiasm. The tortoise, a little slower paced, knew he was at a disadvantage; however, he kept moving forward, and he WON THE RACE…Action wins.

This fable offers a valuable lesson even in the modern business world. Any action you take will help your business succeed. That is one reason BioZyme® created the Action Awards Program. We want to encourage dealers to take action – marketing, promotion, education – so their businesses will grow. Not only are dealers rewarded with their own sales growth and profits, but BioZyme also rewards them through the various items they can earn with their Action Awards points.

“We know that when dealers participate in our programs, whether it is an educational program like the Master Dealer Program or a marketing program like sending out the quarterly postcard, it helps their business grow. They are getting more information to share with their customers, and they are giving their company added recognition. Action equals growth. That is important to BioZyme,” said Jennifer Miller, Outreach Sales & Support Senior Manager.

Opportunities for Action – BioZyme offers several opportunities for dealers to take action to grow their businesses. With dedicated teams in sales, business development, outreach support and marketing, there are a multitude of ways for dealers to participate in programs that BioZyme offers. Dealers who participated in Promoboxx (an easy-to- use social media platform) grew on average 139.99%. Other marketing action opportunities include in-store displays, sending out a mailer or newsletter, print or radio advertising and helping an ASM at a trade show or educational event.

Dealers can act by gathering and submitting hay samples for a customer. They can host a producer meeting, offering a form of education and promotion about the products and their business. They can participate in the Master Dealer program, increasing their knowledge about the BioZyme brands. And they can participate in an after-hours training on any topic with a member of the Outreach Team.

Rewards for Action – By enrolling in the Action Awards Program, dealers are rewarded for their actions, not only by growing their business; but BioZyme offers points for each action taken. Once points are accumulated, they can be redeemed for items that range from promotional swag like shirts and caps to items to help grow your business further like hay probes and iPads.

Caleb Day of Cordell Farm & Ranch Store in Kaufman, Texas, said he appreciates the Action Awards points, and redeems them for wearables to give back to his customers.

“If they buy a certain number of bags of your product, they get a cap, if they buy more, they get a jacket. It incentivizes them. They might buy one more bag to get a cap or sweatshirt. And they appreciate getting something extra when they buy the product they already like,” Day said.

Miller reminds the dealers that points can be rewarded for any action. Contact her or your ASM if you do something a little different that isn’t listed, and she will make sure you are credited.

“We want your business to grow, and we want you to succeed. Take action, get your business name out there. We will gladly give you some points if you are doing the work to improve your business,” she said.

Take the action. Earn the points. Grow your business.

#MasterDealer Monday

Congratulations to these dealers who completed Chapters 3 & 4 of the Master Dealer program in October! Master Dealer is just one action to help increase your product and business knowledge and help grow your business!

Master Dealer Chapter 3

  • Ark Country Store
  • Cobleskill Agway
  • Foxfire Feed LLC
  • The Feed Box

Master Dealer Chapter 4

  • Ark Country Store
  • AX Feeds
  • Carousel Design
  • Crusty’s Feed Store
  • E-Barr Feed & Supply
  • Elk County Veterinary Services
  • Fayette Ag Services, Inc
  • L & L Farm Supply, Inc
  • Landreth Livestock Products
  • Lime Ridge Ag Supply
  • Lincoln Farmers Copperative
  • Logan Boyle
  • Maple Lane Farm Group LLC
  • Maus Angus Ranch
  • Muddy Creek Ag LLC
  • Silvercrest Ag
  • Slavik Farms
  • Southern Oregon Feed & Mineral Solutions
  • Stillwater Milling Agri Center
  • The Feed Box
  • We Feed It, LLC

Know your Customer: Listening to Customers will Build Relationships

We’ve heard it and probably said it repeatedly — the customer is always right. Listening to your customers is a great way to build relationships and create customer loyalty. The one thing we know about loyal customers is they are repeat customers who tell others about your business.  

Customers, like everyone, are busy people. When they are comfortable enough with you to share their challenges, goals and concerns, that means they are in the relationship building phase. It is important to them, and your business, to actively listen to what they have to say. 

Let’s explore five tips to actively listen to your customers. 

  1. Pay attention. 

Make sure you give your customer your full attention so you can acknowledge the concern. Make eye contact and realize that your body language speaks volumes. Try to avoid folded arms or excessive looking around and being distracted. 

  1. Show that you are listening. 

Smile and use body language, like an occasional nod, to show you are paying attention. Take notes if it is something of great detail like a ration. Make sure your posture is open and inviting, with your head up, shoulders back and your arms to your side and not crossed. Small comments like “yes” or “hmm” also note that you are listening. 

  1. Provide feedback. 

Ask questions to clarify any points of confusion or to clarify a particular point. If you need more information, ask for it when the customer is finished talking. 

  1. Defer judgment.  

Allow the customer to finish sharing his or her message with you. Interrupting will seem disrespectful and could lose a sale and a friendship 

  1. Respond appropriately. 

Treat the customer like you would want your mother treated — with respect and understanding. Be candid and honest with your response, and don’t make promises you can’t keep. If you don’t have an immediate answer, let them know. “I hear your concerns about XYZ. Let me talk to my distributor, ASM or another person, and I will get back to you within X days,” is always a good response. They should respect the time you have given them to hear your concerns and the time you are going to take to further investigate.  

Listening to customers will help build trust, strengthen relationship and create loyalty. It also provides opportunities for cross selling and upselling. Did you have a customer come into your feedstore to buy cattle mineral and hear him also talk about the goats his wife recently bought? That sounds like a great opportunity to talk about DuraFerm® Goat Mineral.  

Listening can take shape in multiple forms. Be present. Listen to your customers. Build their trust. Keep their business. 

Two Minutes in November

By Shelia Grobosky, Marketing Brand Manager – Dealers & PR

Corn and soybean harvest begins to wind down, and the leaves crunch under foot on the way to the barn each morning. Those subtle reminders combined with the need for a hoodie or light jacket are evidence that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. There are many things to be grateful for this year, including the opportunity to work with those of you who market the BioZyme® products I am passionate about, and ultimately show care that comes full circle.

Of course, there is an election this month. I hope everyone took time to go to the polls and made their voices heard. We still live in a democracy, last I checked, and the process still should thrive.

I don’t have to remind the dealers how big of a logistical nightmare that transportation is; however, just in case you tried to forget, there is a looming railway strike that could yet happen in November. In late October, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) joined more than 100 other national and state trade organizations in sending a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to work with the railroad unions and railroads to avoid a strike. The letter made clear “the overwhelming concern that a rail shutdown would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy and lead to further inflationary pressure.”

With the holiday season basically upon us, many folks are focused on the economy – both from a spending and a profit standpoint. According to Rabobank analysts’ forecast, lower real wages will negatively impact protein consumption in the remainder of 2022 and the first half of the new year.

In one article on porkbusiness.com, Glynn Tonsor, professor of Ag Economics at Kansas State University who also tracks consumers buying habits through the Meat Demand Monitor, said the country is indeed in a recession. One indicator of that can be tracked by consumer spending, including protein.

“We’re seeing some trading down within the protein complex. Think about going from a bacon product to a ham product, or from a ribeye steak to a sirloin steak. There’s a lot of examples like that,” Tonsor said.

So, while the economy and transportation issues might feel like we are in a world of gloom, remember, there is still always something to be thankful for. Count your blessings each day and remember what is most important. Faith, family, friends, good business partners and the promise a bright future.  

Danielle Johnson Joins BioZyme® Sales Team

Danielle Johnson, Dunn, North Carolina, is the new BioZyme® Inc. Area Sales Manager (ASM) in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In her role, she will work with the dealer network to promote the BioZyme product lines and brands and educate dealers and customers about high-quality nutrition.

Johnson has an extensive background and passion in agriculture and animal health, having been raised on her family’s fifth-generation row crop farm and cow-calf enterprise where they also raised thoroughbred horses. She earned an associate degree in Agribusiness Management with a double major in Livestock and Poultry Management from North Carolina State University. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Agriculture Education – Professional Service from North Carolina A&T University. Johnson has five years professional experience in the feed sales industry.

“I love this industry. I am extremely excited about my territory, and I look forward to building strong and trusting relationships with the dealers and customers,” Johnson said.

As the ASM, she will travel the three-state area and work closely with dealers to keep them informed on product offerings and help them educate their customers on the best ways to use the BioZyme products.

“Danielle brings a wealth of product knowledge and industry experience to this role. She will be able to hit the ground running with the elite products that BioZyme offers. Her passion for the agriculture industry is evident when you talk to her. I am so pleased to have Danielle join the BioZyme family in the ASM role,” said Bob Burkham, BioZyme National Manager of Supplement Sales.

Johnson enjoys being outdoors when time allows. Her hobbies include fishing and hunting.

CHANGES COMING IN NOVEMBER

EQUINE & COMPANION ANIMAL PRODUCTS NOW FEATURE NASC QUALITY SEAL

BioZyme® Inc. and Cogent Solutions Group, a BioZyme company, have proudly joined the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) and will now carry the NASC Quality Seal on products specifically designed for the equine and companion animal markets.

With the explosion of the companion animal supplement market in recent years, the NASC was developed to help consumers make informed decisions. The NASC works “to promote the health and wellbeing of companion animals and horses that are given animal health supplements by their owners and to protect and enhance the animal health supplement industry.” BioZyme and Cogent Solutions Group are proud to have met all the criteria to become an approved member of the NASC and provide superior supplements for horses, dogs and cats under the Vitalize®, Hyaluronex® and Trixsyn® brands.

Companies that are members of the NASC must go through rigorous quality assurance audits, meaning they deliver the absolute highest-quality products available on the market. Along with demonstrating quality standards and cGMP compliance, all outward facing marketing material including the BioZyme and Cogent Solutions Group websites and language were reviewed, product labels were audited and updated, and all product ingredients were reviewed by the NASC scientific advisory committee. The last step was a third-party onsite audit of the companies’ manufacturing facilities to ensure all quality standards were met or exceeded.

The NASC seal will be a rolling change as packaging inventory is exhausted. Be watching for the NASC seal soon!

VITALIZE® HORSE TREATS AVAILABLE IN HOLIDAY PACKAGING

Vitalize® Horse Treats will once again be available in limited-edition holiday packaging starting November 7. These carrot-flavored prebiotic snacks for horses make a great gift in the removable packaging in festive wrap.

SMALL PACK PRICING CHANGES COMING

Pricing for 2023 on Animal Health (small pack) products will be released this month to give everyone enough time to make necessary adjustments. Please watch for a separate email that will be coming to relay more information about this change that will affect MAP pricing. It is important to stay current on all pricing issues, and email is the quickest, most efficient communication method to reach all dealers.

CHANGES MADE TO AMAFERM® PELLET

The calcium in the Amaferm pellet now has a slight increase from 2 to 3% to fit the product in the bags more efficiently. You might notice a slight difference in the tags; however, there should be no other noticeable differences.

THANKSGIVING HOURS AND SHIPPING

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 24, the BioZyme offices will be closed Thursday, November 24-Friday, November 25. No orders will be shipped or be available for pick up Wednesday, November 23-November 25. The office will resume business as usual on Monday, November 28. We wish all dealers, their families and staff a blessed holiday and are grateful for your faith in our products.

NEW EMPLOYEE

Danielle Johnson is the new ASM for Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Dealer Spotlight: Hale Feeds LLC, South Dakota

Imagine eating lunch with a local celebrity – it’s kind of like Cheers, except nowhere near Boston. Enning, South Dakota. The local establishment is multipurpose. It is a restaurant/bar, convenience store and post office all in one building. It was a Tuesday in September, and local BioZyme® dealer Tee Hale of Hale Feeds was having lunch with his ASM Brett Tostenson and Marketing Brand Manager – Dealers Shelia Grobosky. Tee was more like a local celebrity, where nearly everyone stopped by to pat his back, shake his hand or just exchange a few good words.

Tee is a well-rounded local guy who has a lot going on. This particular day he took time from his schedule to talk to Brett and Shelia about what he likes about BioZyme, the products and how he works to market them.

As an on-farm dealer who is also a cow-calf producer and has a passion for horses, he understands the needs of his customers. And as a friend and neighbor, he wants those customers to succeed. That is one reason carrying the products with Amaferm® is so important to him. One of his friends built him a small shop on his ranch that Tee finished on the inside to carry small pack products like Vitalize® and Vita Charge® along with some horse supplies and gloves.

“We want to make a living doing what we love. That’s the best part about running cows and feeding the products. I can tell them what I’ve seen with my own eyes. You know what to expect,” he said.

In the heart of cattle country, Tee’s number one seller is VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®. However, the Vitalize products are also growing in popularity. He has formulated his own ration of horse feed that includes Vitalize Equine Free Choice mineral mixed with other ingredients like oats and beet pulp, which is popular with his customers.

Even though Tee is well known in his community, he values the marketing assistance that BioZyme provides the dealer network. He keeps current on the Master Dealer Program. His Facebook page is linked to Promoboxx, he engages with the Quarterly Dealer mailers, and he works with his ASM to provide timely promotions to his customers to promote products that will work for their operations.

With an easy-going spirit and a willingness to try new things, it is easy to see why Tee is successful in his BioZyme dealership. Thanks for showing your customers care that comes full circle, Tee!