Business Topics Archives - Page 15 of 31 - BioZyme Online Dealer Center

7 Secrets to Achieving Work-Life Balance as a Business Leader/Owner

As business owners and leaders in a world of connectivity it is often challenging to have a separation between work and personal life, especially when you are involved in agriculture. Your customers are likely your friends, neighbors and maybe even your relatives. Smart phones and tablets keep you connected to everyone, starting first thing in the morning until late at night. Combine all that with the last-minute needs of many people, and it truly is hard to balance personal and professional lives.

However, everyone does need some type of a break. No one performs to their highest during a season of burnout, and if you are not performing to your best potential, your sales will show. Perhaps instead of a balance, you need to decide the best way to “give-and-take” the time you need to grow your business, while still enjoying life. For instance, a start-up, young business will probably need to work harder, putting forth more effort than a well-established, highly respected company. That is part of the give-and-take or balance of being a business owner or leader.

Megan Sullivan offers seven tips on achieving some type of balance in your work and personal lives.

Set Boundaries and Keep Them. This is critical to your personal wellbeing in many different aspects. Be sure to set a time boundary. If you are typically open from 8 – 5, daily, it is acceptable to answer the phone a little early or even make a delivery. But much later than 5:30 or so, you need to call it quitting time and put up the phone and spend time doing something you enjoy.

When it comes to space boundaries, these are just as important as time boundaries. Make sure you have a space where you can leave work behind, like an office, shed or even in your pickup. Just make sure when you get you home, you don’t bring work with you.

Take Time Off. If you say you’re taking time off or time away, mean it. This is especially true on days you are sick or have medical appointments. If you have let your customers know you are going to be out, they will respect that, and not contact you.

Keep your Social Commitments. You remember what they said about all work and no play? It made Jack a dull boy. And it will make you a dull human being too. Not only are social opportunities a good way to keep up with your friends and what is happening in your community, they are also another way to promote you and your company (remember, life is all about balance).

Take Care of Yourself. Self-care is so important to being able to function properly. Be sure you eat healthy meals and snacks and take breaks throughout the day. If you are at a desk the majority of the day, get up and stretch. Walk around and get some fresh air every few hours. If you are outside in the elements most of the day, be sure to stay hydrated and take breaks when you can.

Part of taking care of yourself is also rejuvenating away from work. Take a vacation. Maybe you can’t afford the time or money for an elaborate trip. But, take time away. Take a long weekend away with your family. Go visit family or friends. Explore some part of the state or country you’ve always wanted to visit. There are several ways to get away and not spend a great deal of money, and ultimately, you will feel better for it.

Set your Own Norms. Remember, what works for your neighbor might not work for you. For instance, you know you have church on Wednesday nights. Make that a night that is set aside for family. It might be a family policy that everyone eats together either before or after church, and no cell phones are allowed. If the other stores in town are open late one night a week, you can choose to stay open or not. It is up to you to set your schedule and what works best for you.

Ask for Help. You don’t wear a cape, and you don’t have to be a superhero. Sometimes you can be more efficient if you ask for help. Or better yet, delegate some responsibility to other employees. Asking for help and delegating are ways that you can get more time back on your calendar or accomplish a task quicker with the help of others.

Know When to Say No. We live in a society of people pleasers and saying “no” to others is hard. But sometimes it is the best thing to do for your own sanity. Weigh the pros and cons. Is it worthwhile to you, your family or your business to say yes? If not, a firm no is always better than giving the asker the false hope of a “maybe.”

Work-life balance isn’t a myth. But it isn’t easy either. It takes some planning and time to achieve, but with the advice of these tips above, you can still grow your business while having a happy, healthy personal life too.

Online source for this story: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/ productivity/12secrets-to-achieving-a-good-work-life-balance-as-a-businessowner/

Bringing Balance by Investing in Youth

Getting involved. Giving back. Sharing a passion and her knowledge. These are all actions that have helped Riley Faris, Pueblo, Colo., get her business going during her first summer as a BioZyme® dealer.

Faris, who was involved in youth livestock projects growing up, has stepped up as a volunteer the past three years at the Pueblo County Fair in Southeast Colorado. She showed at this same fair as an exhibitor, and now enjoys coming back as a volunteer, assisting the swine superintendent with the hog show including duties ranging from weighing in the pigs, to breaking classes to helping manage the show on show day.

“I’m trying to help the youth with showing and to learn how to take care of their animals. Coming from an agricultural background, it is important to instill in the youth the importance of agriculture and the role it plays in our everyday life. Plus, when I was growing up, I had a lot of people help me, so now that I’m older I want to return that to the younger kids,” Faris said.

Faris is not only helping youth understand the importance of agriculture and assisting with the annual hog show, but she is also trying to teach the young exhibitors and their parents the importance of keeping their animals healthy with the use of a good nutrition program. As a newer BioZyme dealer, she takes the opportunities of being at the Pueblo County Fair and other surrounding livestock shows to discuss the Sure Champ® line of products and the Amaferm® advantage.

At this year’s Pueblo County Fair, Faris was able to sponsor showmanship awards for the Grand and Reserve Champion showman of each species, while promoting the products that help their livestock stay on feed and water and keep healthy.

“This year because of BioZyme and all of the support they offer, I was able to get showmanship banners for hogs, sheep, goats and beef.

I am also giving each of the winners a little goodie bag with some additional fun things and added information about the Sure Champ line, specifically designed for show animals,” she said. “The kids were so excited. Typically, the grand and reserve champion animals get banners, but they have to give them to the buyers, so the kids were excited they got to bring their showmanship banners home with them.”

In addition to the awards she provided at Pueblo County, she sponsored awards for the Grand and Reserve Grand Market Animal classes at the neighboring Otero County to Fair. Both sponsorships led to product awareness, and with the county fair and state fair about a month a part in Pueblo, she said she sold some additional Sure Champ between the county fairs and the Colorado State Fair.

“The most rewarding part is watching the new kids that come up through the programs or the kids that reach out to me and watching them succeed and seeing the look on their faces when they know they have accomplished something,” Faris said.

Although Faris genuinely enjoys watching the youth grow, learn and succeed, she knows that being involved in the local shows has created awareness for her business, and helped increase her sales.

“Give a little bit of yourself and your time, and people will start supporting your business,” she said.

Finding the Balance Between Leadership and Management

When it comes to running your business, would you rather have a leader or manager in charge? Seems like a trick question until you really think about it. However, it is best to have someone who can balance both the traits of a leader and a manager and work in the business while also working on the growth of the business.

A leader guides or directs. We often think of leaders setting behind large mahogany desks in big cushy chairs. They set budgets, give inspirational talks at the company’s monthly meetings and cheer on the employees who have reached milestones. Everyone wants to be an all-powerful leader.

A manager on the other hand, sets among the employees in a not so cushy chair, and lives by the budgets set forth for them. They often oversee one team or division of the company, and make sure that tasks are assigned and completed on time, team goals are met. Managing can sound dreary and sometimes like the controlling force behind the worker bees.

However, both leaders and managers are needed in successful business settings. Are you a leader or a manager? The problem with this either-or thinking is that both are needed in a well-run enterprise.

According to a post at www.inpserity.com: “Leaders focus on high-level objectives such as inspiring and motivating the team to success, which can be exciting and powerful. Managers focus on organizing, planning and overseeing daily operations and that can sound mundane.”

You might be thinking back to Lisa’s letter, and wondering, in your position, should you be working in the business or on the business. The answer is, both.

A well-balanced supervisor, regardless of title, will have some traits of both a leader and a manager. Although a manager’s first priority is to make sure employees get their job complete in an efficient order – working in the business; it is also important to the employees to hear from their manager positive feedback on how they accomplished the task – working on the business. That is a good example of how a supervisor needs to balance the roles of both manager and leader.

Here are six questions for you to ask yourself, according to Insperity. com, to help you balance your manager-leader role to make your employees and your business more efficient.

1. Is the work getting done well without my intervention? If yes, concentrate on motivating the team to keep performing well. If not, put on your manager hat and ask the team what’s getting in the way of better performance, then help them implement changes.

2. Do you focus on results or the process (how the job got done)? If you focus on results, good for you. That’s what is most important. If you tend to focus on process more than results, challenge yourself to become more comfortable with the reality that many alternatives may exist to getting the same result.

3. Do colleagues in other parts of the organization come to you for advice? If yes, you’re probably seen as a leader. If not, look at what you can change to support and inspire others. What do you spend the most time talking about? The tasks at hand, processes and deadlines, or the big picture and strategy? Managers need to discuss both but pay attention to whether you’re leaning too hard one direction or the other.

4. What do you spend the most time talking about? The tasks at hand, processes and deadlines, or the big picture and strategy? Managers need to discuss both but pay attention to whether you’re leaning too hard one direction or the other.

5. Do you ask employees to accomplish objectives without explaining the need behind the request? Employees are more likely to go the extra mile if they understand why they’re being asked to do something.

6. Who is responsible when things go wrong? Do you blame the team or yourself? A leader understands that it’s ultimately his or her responsibility for the success or failure of a team.

Remember, there is no one right to lead or manage your team, but you will need to balance your skills so that you can encourage them to get the work done while also serving as a coach and motivator. Being a manager and a leader at the same time will allow you to work in and on the business, achieving the best results for everyone.

Information from this article from: https://www.insperity.com/blog/leadershipvs-management-strike-right-balance-business/

How Producer Meetings Can Help Build Strategy

Producer meetings are a great communications and marketing tool. However, do you know they can serve other purposes too? They can serve as an educational resource, and also as a way to help you develop your strategic plan.

Listening Post

Communications not only involves sharing information, but just as importantly it entails gathering information that can help you grow your business. Producer meetings are a great place to gather input from customers, learn what their challenges are and hear how you can help them become more efficient in caring for their animals. There are several ways you can gather this useful material during producer meetings.

Some dealers like to have small group meetings or gather people of similar backgrounds for coffee, a meal and individual conversations. This is an excellent way to find out about the concerns about a specific industry. Perhaps you are in a predominant cow-calf area but have handful of sheep or goat producers. Why not get them together to share insight on their industry. Maybe there are specie-specific concerns about health, nutrition, reproduction or hoof care. Hearing those concerns, from firsthand producers is the best way to determine how you can best assist them during the next year.

If you don’t think you have the time or will gather enough producers for a small setting, set aside an amount of time at your next producer meeting for some good candid conversation about what your business can do in the future to set your customers up for success. Having this dialogue will help you learn more about what your business needs to do, and you can write some of those steps into you next strategic plan. It also gives other producers in the room a support system, so they know they aren’t alone in their endeavors. Anything you hear, big or small, should be written down so you can follow up. If you are unsure of something you heard, contact the producer and make sure you follow up on anything you want to add to your strategic plan.

One-on-one Convos

Perhaps you are not planning a producer meeting. You can still use a conversation to discover what is weighing on your customer. Here are a few sample questions to get your conversation started.

1. What is your number one production/management concern this year?

2. When do you feel you need the most help saving money on nutrition for your herd/livestock/animals?

3. Who determines the management plans and budgets in your operation? (Good to know if you are dealing with a multi-generation operation.)

4. What if I can show you how an investment in nutrition will help your bottom line?

Producer Meetings with a Twist

One way you might consider helping your beef producers realize more value in their calves is to make sure they are BQA certified. A recent study at Colorado State University shows “significant premiums are paid on calves and feeder cattle going through video auctions when Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is mentioned in the lot description. CSU researchers found an average premium of $16.80 per head was paid when BQA was listed.”

In late August, Wilde Angus Ranch, Shevlin, Minn., hosted a producer meeting, in cooperation with the Minnesota Cattlemen’s Association, where attendees would be able to receive their BQA training. As of Aug. 6, 145 producers had already pre-registered. This is a great way to help producers stay educated on industry topics, which could lead them to premiums on their calves, all while sharing the BioZyme message with them.

Stay strategic. Use producer meetings as a two-way communications tool to help you plan your business and marketing strategy so you can help your customers succeed.

How To Plan Your Business Strategy

A business strategy is much like a roadmap. You wouldn’t leave home on a cross-country trek without your trusty atlas, or in today’s world a GPS or mapping system built into your vehicle or phone. Then why would you try to run a winning business without a roadmap or guide to tell you how to achieve success?

According to an article at www.business2community.com, there are six steps to planning an effective business strategy. Let’s look at each step that author Jamie MacDonald outlines.

1. Gather the facts. Before you know where you want to go with your business, you need to know where you are right now. Determine what the purpose of your company is, what your customers’ needs are and if you are currently profitable or in the red. One of the best tools to determine where your business currently stands is using a technique called the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis. Strengths and weaknesses should be examined internally, while external factors should be looked at when examining opportunities and threats. Always make sure that you have the right people helping with this analysis.

2. Develop a vision statement. A vision statement should describe the future direction of the business for the medium-to long-term. It describes the organization’s purpose and values. The vision and mission statements should be developed at the same time by the leadership of the company. To write a vision statement, you might want to ask, ‘Where does this company want to be in five years?’

3. Develop a mission statement. The mission statement outlines the purpose of the company and its primary objectives. The Mission focuses on what needs to be accomplished in the short-term to accomplish the long-term vision.

4. Identify strategic objectives. You should set high-level objectives for all areas of business from sales to marketing. Your objectives (or goals) should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related). They should include factors like performance indicators, resource allocation and budget requirements.

5. Create tactical plans. Think of tactical plans as the “turn-by-turn” instructions on your mapping device. These are the detailed steps that will help you achieve the goals of reaching your destination. These plans should focus on measurable results and communicating to your team on what they need to accomplish with concrete deadlines.

6. Review Performance. Just because your mapping system provides you to a detailed route to your destination, doesn’t mean that you won’t hit road construction or another detour. Performance reviews by company leadership and those doing the work are crucial to understanding if you are still heading in the right direction. Reviewing your strategy on a regular basis is crucial to know that you are accomplishing your missions and goals.

Creating a business strategy makes sense. It is an evolving business tool that grows and changes as your business grows and evolves. Take the time to make sure you and your team are on the same road map and every time you reach a milestone, don’t forget you’re closer to winning the race!

Information source: https://www.business2community. com/strategy/6-steps-create-effective-businessstrategy-01391113

3 Things to Discover When Determining Your Short-Term Strategy

Have you taken the time to determine the strategy for your business? As Lisa Norton mention’s in her letter this month, a strategy and a plan are not the same thing, but she defines strategy as, “Determining how we are going to win in the period ahead.” Winning in business is bigger than bringing home the purple banner and the trophy. In order for your business to win, you need to turn a profit while making sure your customers have what they need to succeed.

A short-term strategy will help you accomplish your goals each year, and lead to a win in your business. As we approach the last quarter of 2019, it is a great time to start planning your strategy for the year ahead. Jackie Lackey, Marketing Strategist at BioZyme, suggests asking yourself three questions and analyzing your own responses as you begin to develop a short-term strategy to ensure success in your business.

1. Do I understand my business and its needs?

This one question might need to be answered by asking a series of more questions. What do you as a business owner or manger need to do to grow your business? Do you need to put more focus on strictly large accounts? Or do you need to diversify your customer base more? Determining what your business goals is a great first step to discovering what you need and what you hope to achieve for your business.

Part of discovering your business needs might also involve realizing new ways to upsell your products. Marketing should be a big part of your business strategy and determining the best ways to position, promote and sell your many products is all part of the strategy development.

2. What do my customers need to succeed?

A business won’t win if the customer is not happy. So perhaps one of the most important questions to consider is what the customers’ needs are. Of course, your customers want to have a profitable year; that is everyone’s ultimate goal. But, how can you help them reach that goal? They need to be aware of the many options that are available to them, and how they can use those options during various stages of production or before, during and after a show or competition. Listen to your customers. Learn their needs. Plan your strategy.

3. Am I making a profit?

If you are not making a profit, you are not going to be in business long. Then, you will have to start thinking about a new strategy and set of goals! Everyone that owns a business should determine their desired profit margin as well as have an accurate list of income and expenses. Once you analyze your profit potential, you will be able to set your business strategy in a way to ensure your business is lucrative.

Once you have discovered the answers to these three simple questions, you can start planning your strategic framework. Remember, start planning for the short term, with your customer’s success in mind, and you will win by getting to watch your business grow!

Differentiating Your Business Starts with Your Why

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. Unless you are marketing a generation-old family secret anti-aging potion it’s likely you will have competition in the marketplace. In order for your business to thrive, you need to differentiate yourself from the rest to rise to the top.

But how do you do this? You know your products are great. You’ve trained your employees to know the products and provide the best customer service in a five-county area. That’s all important, but to really set your business apart, you need to start with the basics. And for that you must establish your WHY.

According to Jackie Lackey, Marketing Strategist at BioZyme® Inc., when you discover your “why” you are building your own personal brand. That brand is what will help set you apart from the rest.

“Developing a personal brand is valuable, but it is not about you. It is about delivering value to others,” she told attendees at this year’s Dealer Retreat.

There are ultimately four characteristics that make up your brand, which should reflect what you say and do. Let’s review each of those features, and while you read these, think about how they apply to your individual brand.

1. Who. Before you can start building a brand, you need a solid foundation, and that foundation begins with understanding who you are. Each person has unique, authentic, genuine traits, so take some time to reflect on those. What is your passion? What really drives you and motivates you to get out of bed each morning? Is it helping others? Selling a great product? Making a profit? What talent and interests can you share with others?

2. Why. Knowing your “why” will help you discover your purpose. Everyone has a purpose and that purpose should show through in everything you do. At BioZyme, our purpose is to “provide care that comes full circle,” and we can do that every day in multiple ways. We show care for animals by providing products to enhance their health, and therefore should help producers achieve profitability. That care also extends to the dealers and employees within the company who make sure those products are available. Determine your purpose or reason for getting out of bed each morning.

3. Values. Everyone has values and they will vary from person to person and from region to region. But if you don’t know what you believe in, who will? It is important to have a strong value system in place. If you feel strongly about your values, why not write a value statement and display it prominently in your business or home? Perhaps your values are best displayed by the way you treat others on a daily basis.

4. What. What are your future goals and objectives for your business? You obviously want to achieve growth and while doing that, help others be successful. But what other goals do you have? Remember, goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, accountable, relevant and timely), and they become more concrete if you write them down and review them often.

Once you have established your brand and you know how to differentiate yourself, it is time to start promoting and marketing to let others know about you and your brand. Here’s how BioZyme can help. Set up a meeting with your ASM and the marketing team to inform them of your why and how you would like to share your message. They can help you with unique marketing messages to target your audience and set yourself above your competition.

4 Effective Marketing Strategies to Excite your Customers

Type in “effective marketing” or “exciting marketing” into your favorite online search browser and wait for the articles to start popping up with literally hundreds of suggestions from a simple business card to creating a blimp to fly over an event with your company name and logo on it. While these and others are all good suggestions, remember that if you put your customers as your focus, creating innovative, effective and exciting marketing strategies will become more simplified.

According to an article at www.entrepreneur.com, excited and engaged customers bring in 23 percent more profits. “Excitement is an emotion that fosters engagement. Positive experiences lead to increasing connections. Sports fans, for example, are so engaged they frequently describe their beloved team as part of their personality. This is the ultimate brand engagement,” the author writes.

What can you do to make your customers excited about the products and services you offer? Ashley Fitzsimmons, BioZyme® Inc. Regional Marketing Manager shares some of the initiatives she has helped Area Sales Managers and dealers create that have been successful.

Billboards. Many might think of billboards as “old school” however, Fitzsimmons said they are an affordable way to reach a big audience. She said that currently dealers in six states have placed billboards near the state’s largest livestock auction or buying facilities. And other dealers are embracing technology with digital billboards that are easy to change the message during specific seasons.

“The dealers are putting personal messages inviting their end-users in to learn more about a specific product that is in demand for the season or production cycle,” she said.

Fitzsimmons reminds dealers that BioZyme will provide full design work for your marketing materials, including billboards. Contact your ASM to learn more.

Radio advertising. Fitzsimmons said more dealers have been requesting scripts for radio advertising on their local stations. It’s widely accepted that most of our end-user audience spends a majority of their time in a pick-up or tractor, and therefore get their news from the radio instead of reading a newspaper. She has been pleasantly surprised at the amount of dealer requests for a radio script and has had positive feedback on the return on investment from those advertising on the local radio stations as a way to drive traffic into their dealership.

Local involvement. Although BioZyme has been supporting youth at livestock shows at the national level through its Sure Champ® line and involvement in junior nationals, majors and state fairs, more and more dealers have been promoting their businesses and giving time and support to the county fairs and shows.

“It is not a new concept that our dealers are supporting the local fairs, but it has been refreshed in recent years with creating nice awards, especially for showmanship, and providing some product for the winners. This is just another way to build brand awareness while creating excitement with a young, potential customer,” Fitzsimmons said.

PromoBoxx. PromoBoxx is the social media tool available to all dealers that contains ready-made content for them to share on their social channels. The content is aligned with BioZyme’s current marketing initiatives and is simple to post and share. Fitzsimmons says participation in PromoBoxx has nearly quadrupled since the company started offering it.

Other ideas. In addition to the four ideas that Fitzsimmons shared, you might consider a social media contest to engage your followers see the engagement on Sure Champ’s judging contests. If you have a new product, you might have a giveaway for some product or samples. Whatever you choose, keep your customers’ interests top of mind.

Getting customers engaged and excited doesn’t take a big bank account, a full-time marketing employee or a personalized blimp flying over your store. It does take some planning, collaboration with your ASM and some time to decide your strategy. The BioZyme marketing team is here to help!

Find the Fun at Work

All work and no play might make Jack a dull boy, but did you know that if your employees are engaged with some friendly entertainment with their colleagues, their morale is likely to increase, which means happier employees and ultimately better service passed onto the customers?

There are a number of things that can impact the mood of your employees, and not for the better: a down-turn in the economy, employee lay-offs, closed-door meetings, uncertainty and just a lack of engagement with the leadership and other employees. That decrease in morale can leave employees performing at a minimal level and providing less-than-ideal customer service.

That is why having some fun, employee engagement activities is important to boosting employee morale and keeping positive attitudes, which transmits to the customers. Customers can tell if employees are happy, and if the business treats its employees right, it will treat its customers right too.

Let’s look at some tips to put fun back into the workplace and derail any worries that your employees might have.

Set some ground rules. Make sure that your employee engagement doesn’t offend anyone, and make sure that your people know it is voluntary. There is nothing worse than being “forced to have fun.”
Have a healthy attitude. Your employees will be able to tell if the leadership is not positive about the engagement activity. Make sure you have scheduled time for it so you can be focused and present in the moment.
Make it a team effort. Survey your employees and find out what they are interested in. They might have an original idea that you would have never thought of. Even if you aren’t totally sold on their idea of “fun,” remember this is about them, not you, so go along with them, and try something new.
Do an office makeover. A splash of color and some green plants can help brighten moods, especially in areas that employees spend a lot of time in. Or maybe you can skip the donuts one Friday and offer yogurt and granola parfait bar with fresh fruit instead. Subtle changes make a big difference.
Celebrate. Don’t overlook an employee’s birthday or work anniversary. BioZyme works hard to recognize employee’s birthdays on its internal website for the entire staff to see as well as providing a card. Little things make a big difference.
Have a contest. At BioZyme, contests are conducted throughout the year when it’s appropriate – celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day and Independence Day – you’ve never seen so much green or red, white and blue! A contest doesn’t always mean prizes, but it is fun to engage with one another in the friendly spirit of competition.
Get together after hours. Do you really know your employees? In most small companies you likely do. But do you know their families, what they like to talk about, what their hobbies are? Why not host a family-friendly company picnic or a night at the movies (if you have a conference room big enough)? Invite the families and get to know each other. Remember the ground rules though, nothing offensive, and don’t talk work.
Get involved. Perhaps you could choose one community organization to help with as a company. Maybe it’s serving at the soup kitchen one day a month or sponsoring a food drive at the holidays. At BioZyme, we made a food drive into a friendly competition of teams and had a great time providing to others in St. Joseph, and even in other communities where remote employees live and work.
Get active. Another fun group activity that some of the BioZyme employees participated in this spring is a sand volleyball tournament. Some employees played, while others cheered, and all were anxiously awaiting photos on Monday.
Change the scenery. You always have your meetings in the conference room. Perhaps it is time to move smaller group meetings to a local coffee shop, the diner or even a museum just for a change of scenery. If nothing else, the fresh air while getting to the alternate destination will be welcome.

Employee fun shouldn’t be work, and it should not distract from what your employees are doing. However, it is a great way to build morale, engage with one another and build deeper relationships with one another. Happy employees lead to happy customers, and a happy customer is hard to replace.

The Power of Customer Testimonials

There is nothing more powerful in sales and marketing than the customer testimonial. Yes, sales reps can share all the key benefits of a good or service with a potential customer, but do they know how the product in question really works? BioZyme understands the importance of these customer advocates and uses them to share their stories and target specific demographics and brands.

Sure Champ® Ring Leaders

In an effort to further support the next generation and promote the Sure Champ line of products, seven Sure Champ Ring Leaders were selected this spring. The young people who represent various regions of the U.S. and show various species received product and social media training in St. Joseph over Memorial Day Weekend.

“We really wanted to come up with an ambassador for Sure Champ, and we thought what better way than to target the demographic we want to support through the Sure Champ brand. If we can stay top of mind and create that brand loyalty with the young people who use Sure Champ, as they get older and get more involved with the livestock industry they will think of Sure Champ in a positive light and return to the Brand or start using other brands like VitaFerm® or Vita Charge®,” said Jessica Judge, Marketing Brand Manager.

The goal of the Ring Leader program is for these seven ambassadors to support the Sure Champ brand and advocate for youth education and outreach. According to Judge, the results have been beneficial. She’s tracked more organic interaction on the Sure Champ social media platforms and answered more questions from potential customers. Each Ring Leader was also given a code to share with others interested in ordering product. In the first six weeks, those codes generated more than $1,500 in additional sales.

“Our Sure Champ Ring Leaders are all very different, but they share one commonality; they share a passion for agriculture and livestock,” Judge said.

Progressive Cattlemen In an effort to recognize seedstock and commercial cattle producers who are progressive in their animal health and nutrition programs, the Marketing Team created the “Progressive Cattlemen” marketing and advertising campaign earlier this year. These producers own and operate all sizes of operations but have one thing in common – they use the VitaFerm line of products successfully. Blog posts have been written and shared on social media and sent to news sources. Several stories of Hereford and Angus breeders have been converted to one-page testimonial ads for the Hereford World and Angus Journal.

“Celebrating the success of our customers creates opportunities for shared learning through customer experiences. That is the best way we know to both recognize and educate our audience,” Judge said.

Vitalize® Ambassadors The Vitalize Ambassador program is in its second year of existence, and currently has 22 equine enthusiasts who use the product and are promoting it to their peers. The Vitalize Ambassadors represent a variety of disciplines from jumping to eventing, barrel racing, roping and ranch horse use, just to name a few. They promote the brand on social media, through product signage on trailers and at shows and through educational clinics they conduct.

There’s no doubt that customer testimonials are effective. As a dealer, you might find that having a loyal customer that is well-respected in the community will pay dividends. Consider a banner in your store that celebrates a familiar face with a testimonial or run a local radio ad to tout the product benefits from a respected customer.