Category: Business Topics

How to Empower your Sales Staff to Ask for the Sale

Developing relationships and providing top-notch customer service are two of the keys to a successful business. However, if you want your business to generate profit, you need to grow your sales. Perhaps one of the most challenging things about business, once you’ve developed those relationships is making the actual sale.

“A lot of good conversations take place when we build relationships, but did we flat out ask for the sale? Even the most experienced sales staff feel comfortable talking about products and having rapport, but they are scared of being told ‘no,’ so they might avoid the ask,” said Trent Gabler, BioZyme® Inc. Sales Coach and former ASM.

The fear of rejection is a natural reaction; however, until the question is asked, the answer is always ‘no,’ and when you do get a positive yes, it makes you and your business’ bottom line and outlook a little brighter.

Gabler offers three methods to empower your staff to feel more comfortable in closing the sale.

1. Summary close. Once you have discussed a particular product’s benefits or the Amaferm® advantage, have one or two summary statements and then simply ask when the customer would like to try the product or place an order. You could summarize with the three main selling points of improving intake, digestibility and absorption each time. Just keep your closing statement simple with an impact. For example, you might say, “Concept•Aid offers the benefits of increased reproductive success. When would you like to give it a try?”

“I think the summary close is the best. It highlights the benefits and reconfirms why the producer should invest in your product. How can a producer afford not to use it? Then, suggest how and when to order,” Gabler said.

2. Now-or-Never. One way you can ask for the sale without really applying sales pressure is during a promotion or sale. If you are a dealer that offers a good deal during or directly after a producer meeting or during a particular season of the year, this is a particularly effective pitch, according to Gabler. People like to save money, so if they know they have to buy “now” or they will “never” save money, they are more likely to buy on the spot. With the now-or-never approach, you might say, “This promotion ends tomorrow. If you don’t place your order now, you will miss out on this incredible savings.”

3. Direct Ask. If you aren’t afraid of hearing no or maybe, then try asking directly, “Would you like to place your order today?” If you don’t ask immediately after your conversation, and your potential customer says they need a little time to think, make sure you follow up with him or her within two to three days of your original discussion. That allows enough time for the person to think about the products and do any research they might want to do, and yet keeps you and the products fresh in their minds. Never assume they will get back to you; that is why it is imperative that you reach back out to them.

Training your employees to have product knowledge, customer service skills and build relationships are all important. Those skills will lead to empower them to make the ask and close the sale. Making sales and hearing “yes” will further empower and elevate your employees’ self-esteem. Make the ask, make the sale and watch your business grow!

Grow Your Business by Engaging and Empowering Your Staff

Good help is hard to find. But once you’ve found a good and loyal employee or several of them, you want to make sure they stay with your company. Turnover and hiring are costly in both money and time, and let’s face it, if you’ve found someone that meshes with your company values, mission and culture, isn’t it worth it to keep them as part of your team?

In a recent Inc.com 1 article, author Maria Matarelli suggests the best way to empower and grow your business is to empower and engage your employees. She quotes,

“According to a Gallup poll, only 37% of employees who feel they are engaged in their job would leave for a raise of 20% or less. That’s a big indicator of just how important engagement and empowerment are. Employees are willing to turn down more money if it means less empowerment.”

Employees need to feel like they are being treated as an unique individual, not just a robot following a set of rigid rules to accomplish a task. Yes, policies and guidelines are imperative to workplace productivity and safety, but happy employees are the key to a job well-done.

Matarelli reminds readers, “A machine can’t surprise you. A machine can’t be creative. A machine can’t innovate or contribute to the culture of your workplace.” Once you have hired someone provide them with the company vision and let them work. You might just be surprised at the type of contribution they make to improve a process, create a new product or provide other valuable input to help your company.

Follow these three simple steps to empower your employees and watch them succeed and help your company succeed simultaneously.

1. Listen. This might seem simple; however, often times employees have great ideas but have no one to share them with. People want to know that they have a voice and their opinion matters. As their supervisor, you don’t have to say yes, but you might just hear the next great idea for your company to soar.

2. Provide Safety. People like to feel a sense of security in the workplace. This can shape up in different ways. First, your employees will want to know they do have job security. No one works to their potential when rumors of firing or downsizing are circulating. If your company is experiencing hard times, be open with your team so they know what to expect. The second way you can make your employees feel safe, is by letting them voice their opinions, ideas, or thoughts on what works well and what could be improved on.

“The problem with leadership roles is that leaders are rarely the ones who interact directly with the customers. It’s important to hear from your employees that do, because they have valuable insight to offer. But they won’t share their thoughts if they don’t feel safe doing it,” Matarelli writes.

3. Mistakes Happen. Nobody likes to make mistakes. But, if you turn a mistake into a learning opportunity, it might be one of the best things to help boost your company’s growth. Being in the animal nutrition business, we conduct research trials with our products continuously. During those trials and experiments, we know that there will be mistakes, and that is often when we can learn both what doesn’t and what does work. Amaferm® , the product featured this month, might not even exist if Mr. Kistner hadn’t observed the growth effects of his livestock when he threw out some bad experiments and noticed how much more efficient his animals became. Allow your employees to try new ideas and let them feel safe with the idea that they might make a mistake.

Empowering your employees is a great way to help your company grow. Happy, engaged workers who feel a true connection to the business will flourish, work harder and smarter and help your business achieve its goals. Customers don’t want to do business with a robot, so make sure that you treat your employees like people, and keep them a part of your team.

– Source: https://www.inc.com/maria-matarelli/so-you-want-higher-performance-in-yourbusiness-empower-your-people.html?cid=search

Why Growth Depends on Todays Actions

Dictionary.com defines “take action” as “start doing something.” For your business to succeed today, tomorrow and in the future, you must take action now. That seems pretty simple; however, as a business owner, manager and employee, you need to take initiative and know which action to take.

According to the best-selling author and Inc.com columnist Jeff Haden, “motivation comes from taking action and finding success, not the other way around. So, if you need motivation, then you are not doing it right.”

In business there are so many actions that can be taken, it is often hard to prioritize which step to take first. The key is to be sure to take a step and keep the action moving forward. An Inc.com article¹ outlines three truths to help you prioritize your action steps and keep growing your business.

1. Connect Team Objectives to the Organizational Mission. Your key objectives are the foundation for taking proper action. Make sure they are aligned with your company mission. This helps everyone get on the same page. If the alignment between objectives (goals) and mission is off, nothing will make sense. The more clearly linked the team’s goals are to the group’s mission, the more likely the proper actions will take place.

Every business, regardless of size, needs to have a mission. At BioZyme®, a summary of our mission is to create and produce the highest-quality animal care products that will in turn help our customers achieve greater profit. We don’t accomplish that mission by standing still, but by establishing regular goals that are in-line with our mission. For some teams, those goals might be established and measured monthly, others quarterly and some annually. Whatever your mission is, make sure it is clearly written so every employee has access to it. That way they know if their goals for action are connected.

2. Weed out Non-essential Actions. Although taking action is critical to growth, moving backward does not grow a business. Sometimes we try to do too much, and those actions are not essential to growth. As the article on Inc.com states, “Weeding out mediocre opportunities allows you to spend time with the winners.”

3. Create Authentic Relationships that will Drive you to Take Better Actions. Action in business is about different parties making connections. In today’s world it is easier to make those connections if you are authentic – being your true self – instead of being the person you think somebody else wants you to be. Remember, “taking action is so much easier when everything you do is natural, is real, and is in congruence with who you are. Deciding on the correct action is not hard when you know who you are and do not try to hide it.”

With proper action comes growth. Set your objectives to make sure they align with your mission. Don’t waste time on non-essential actions or people. And, be true to your true self, and the actions will flow much easier.

 

¹ – Article Source: https://www.inc.com/mareo-mccracken/dont-wait-for-motivation-why-your-companys-growth-depends-on-todays-action.html?cid=search

 

6 Steps to Hosting an Effective Producer Meeting

Producer meetings are a great way to share your business story, bring together people of common interests, renew enthusiasm in loyal customers and gain new customers all in one setting. However, effective producer meetings don’t just happen with a phone call or text to your Area Sales Manager (ASM); they require some advanced planning in order to become more than just another social event.

“It’s evolved. The first time I had one as a new dealer, I didn’t even have product on hand and the next day I sold a semi-load of product. Now after some meetings I sell up to eight semi-loads or more within a couple weeks after the meeting,” said Keith Micke, Triangle K Feed at Glendo, Wyo.

Micke hosts two large producer meetings each year, spreading them out over his sales territory. He shared some of his what he’s learned over the years that helps make his meetings successful.

1. Schedule in Advance. It is a good idea to get dates on a calendar as early as you can. That way you can start working with your ASM and the marketing team to get invitations designed and mailed, reserve space at a restaurant or other venue of your choice, and make sure the BioZyme® staff you want to speak are available on your dates.

2. Plan your Invitation List. Micke said he likes to invite a mix of both his regular customers and potential customers to the meetings. He will ask his long-time customers to share their success stories during the meeting, and it is always good to have a well-respected, prominent rancher in attendance, because he said often a new customer will try the products because he or she wants to be like the neighbor.

“That’s really solid. They are getting the information from someone besides a salesman, how the products work and what it’s done for them,” Micke said.

Micke said he will send around 80 invitations each fall for his two meetings, where he usually has around 30-35 people at each one. And since ranching is a family business, he also includes the wives and children, as he knows many young families don’t always have access to a sitter.

3. Focus on a Topic. Although there are a lot of subjects a dealer could cover, Micke said he typically picks one topic to cover at each meeting, and then follows the topic by explaining all the products and highlighting any new products or changes. Narrowed down topic subjects might include how Amaferm works or the importance of protein.

4. Educate with Fresh Faces. Micke likes to include outside experts at each meeting.

“I get a lot of benefit having my sales manager and a nutritionist there. Then they can learn about the research, and the ranchers know there’s more than just a dealer out there. They bring in a fresh face, a different look,” he said.

5. Be Flexible. Micke said he is always up for trying new things. He originally had two fall meetings and two spring meetings each year. Then he discovered that the ranchers were busy calving in the spring, so he quit having those. He has had some smaller dinner meetings with four or five customers with similar interests. And, at his larger producer meetings, he has even seen ranchers eating at the same restaurant who weren’t invited to his meeting. He pulled them into the meeting, bought their dinner and turned them into customers.

6. Follow Up. At the meeting, you will want to keep track of everyone who attends, either by way of a sign-in card or sheet. Make sure you have their phone number, email or address so you can follow up with them. It is said it takes seven touch points to make an impression. You’ve likely already made a few with the invitation and the interaction at the meeting. Be sure to give them a day or two, follow up, answer any questions and see what products they would like to buy from you.

“It’s become a social event for a lot of guys now because they get to see the other ranchers there, and they really enjoy it,” Micke said.

Yes, your producer meeting can be effective AND enjoyable at the same time. Remember a worth-while producer meeting is a way to increase your customer base, show appreciation to your existing customers, and be a great educational forum.

As you make plans for your next effective producer meeting, be sure to reach out to your ASM.

Growth Starts with a Plan

Set your goals. Increase your sales. Grow your business. These are all great thoughts; however, do you have a plan on how to accomplish these tasks? A business without an action plan doesn’t really have a plan at all. And although creating an action plan might seem like just another thing to add to your growing “to do” list, the steps of creating an action plan are a healthy way to gain another perspective of what your company is doing and hopes to accomplish.

According to an online resource, Community Tool Box, there are five reasons a company, business or organization should create an action plan:

1. To lend credibility. An action plan shows members of the community (and your employees, board members) that your business is well ordered and dedicated to getting things done.
2. To be sure you don’t overlook any of the details.
3. To understand what is and isn’t possible for your organization to do.
4. For efficiency: to save time, energy and resources in the long run.
5. For accountability: to increase the chances that people will do what needs to be done.

It is wise to start creating an action plan as soon as your business is formed, but an action plan is an evolving document that will change and grow over time. Remember, once it is created, use it. Don’t just stash it away in a folder, never to be seen again.

Action plans can be grueling to create. They aren’t going to be generated overnight, and they are going to make you think about the priorities in your company. However, once you have the plan created and have shared it with everyone who works for you, your employees should be more efficient, and will spend more time working on the actions rather than doing tasks that don’t lead to growth or success.

Let’s review some key components of an effective action plan.

First, outline the clear goals you plan to accomplish with your action plan. When making a goal, make sure it is “SMART,” specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Next, assign the person, people or team to complete each particular goal. Yes, it might involve others along the way, but these people or teams should be the primary action-takers. Then, list the action steps to be taken to attain that goal and give deadlines for each step.

There is some other key information you will need to consider for your plan. What will you need to do to start your action? What are some obstacles that you might face? How will you overcome those? What resources will you need? Do you need sales coach help? If so, who will you reach out to? And finally, list the milestones you will reach along the way.

It is vital to have a plan to accomplish your goals. An action plan helps you to stay on task, make sure what you are working on is pertinent to the company and lets everyone know who is responsible for given deadlines. You may even find as you are creating an action plan that a goal you had in mind was actually a task to help you accomplish a greater goal, or it wasn’t part of the company’s overlying mission or vision, so there isn’t a need to spend time on it.

As the new year gets started, we challenge you to think about the goals that will drive your success in 2019 and create an action plan to help you get there. We can’t wait to watch your business grow this year!

Host a Holiday Open House

It’s the time of year for holiday parties, Christmas cookies and egg nog. Sounds like a great reason to host an open house at your business. An open house doesn’t need to be extravagant, costly or time consuming. However, it is a great way to open your doors to the community, your customers and spread some extra cheer during the winter.

If you have an actual store, especially in town or on the edge of town, perhaps hosting an open house makes a lot of sense. It is a chance to promote your business and share in the spirit of the holidays. Often, smaller towns will have a holiday parade, dedicate one night a week when they are open later for shopping or have a community bazaar. These are ideal times to hang a little garland, turn on the coffee pot and host your open house.

If you are an on-farm dealer, you can still host an open house; it might just take a little more planning and preparation. You might put more effort into promoting your event and issuing invitations. You can tidy up the shop or barn where you store product, and still put on the coffee and show your appreciation for your customers – your community.

First, you need to establish a date when you will host your open house. Find out when other events are happening and if it makes sense, plan your open house with those. If there are not a lot of other community holiday events, plan your event during a time when there are not other local community events like a basketball game or concert. Promote your event through local advertising, your store sign, a poster on your door and your social media channels. You might even want to make some phone calls to key customers or potential customers.

Next, plan what will make your open house special from regular store hours. Will you offer food and beverage? What will that involve? Are you thinking sugar cookies and punch? Meat balls in the crock pot with cheese and crackers? Or something more substantial like sandwiches and chips? Whatever you do plan, make sure you have plenty to offer. Nothing is worse than having an event and running out of food.

Provide a learning opportunity. Especially if you are a storefront, maybe not everyone in the community knows what products or services you offer. Make yourself available to share your story or have some type of game or entertainment to showcase the products. Think a store scavenger hunt or BioZyme® Bingo.

Give back to the community. Perhaps you can have a toy drive for local kids or a pet supply drive for the local animal shelter. Make it interactive – bring in a toy or purchase a bag of dog food to leave for the pet shelter and get a $5 off coupon toward your next purchase. There are a variety of ways to give to others this time of year.

If you are an on-farm dealer, your open house might resemble that an open house where you get together with friends, neighbors and customers. People are always looking for a good reason to slow down for bowl of soup and good conversation. And remember, you can also take part in community opportunities and spread the cheer.

For more ideas on hosting a holiday open house, contact Ashley Fitzsimmons at afitzsimmons@biozymeinc.com or (307) 575-1082.

Community Support Comes in all Sizes

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

This quote by Helen Keller epitomizes the spirit of community, especially at this “most wonderful time of the year.” It is often hard to think about those less fortunate in our communities and how we’d like to help them, especially with the agricultural economy in its up and down cycle. We are busy paying our own bills and trying to provide a nice holiday for our families. However, if we come together with our coworkers, friends, a church group, or another organization we can make a difference without breaking the bank.

One thing that BioZyme® did during November is gather food for community food banks. That’s right; employees across many locations including St. Joseph, Mo., Haskell, Texas, and Area Sales Managers and other remote workers gathered nonperishable food items for local food banks. Between the St. Joseph and the off-site workers, employees had the potential to donate to 30 banks in 16 different states from Pennsylvania to Texas to Montana to Missouri.

One employee visited a local grocery store where she purchased two cases of canned vegetables, four cans of chicken, a large tub of peanut butter (think non-perishable protein), a box of crackers, a jar of meaty spaghetti sauce and a box of pasta for less than $25. If each person gives similarly, that can feed several people for several meals. And in that employee’s mind, that is two trips through a fast-food drive through for her family or roughly four “foo-foo” coffees for when she gets to the big city – not a major sacrifice for others that are truly in need.

Perhaps your town has a local soup kitchen. Those places are always looking for volunteers to make and serve a meal. Would it really hurt business to shut down to a skeleton crew for a few hours one day to go and serve the community? Perhaps leave a few employees at the store to serve your customers but take the rest to the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter to help prepare and/or serve a meal. The gratitude levels do vary, but your personal satisfaction in knowing you made a difference will soar.

Several organizations typically have an opportunity to “adopt a family” by providing gifts and holiday meals for families that might not otherwise have a nice holiday. Adopting a family as a company might seem daunting or not in the budget, but if your company and its employees work together to adopt a family it can be a little easier on everyone’s checkbooks and make a lasting impact on a family. I remember when I worked at another company, we adopted a family with four or five kids one year, and they all needed winter coats and wanted bicycles. Well, we worked with the local Wal-Mart and K-Marts in town to get bikes at reduced rates when we told them what we were doing. Several of my male co-workers who didn’t really want to “shop” all pitched in a set amount – probably around $20 – and we made sure that family had bikes and warm coats. I signed up to help with the delivery that year. And even though we contacted the mom to see if she wanted to have the bikes be from “Santa” she refused. She wanted her kids to know that kind people gifted her kids those bikes. I’ve never seen 7 and 8-year-olds cry tears of joy for coats and bikes, and it was truly one of the best Christmases I’ve ever experienced.

Giving back. It is more fun to do as a group and the impact is often greater. It doesn’t have to put a big hit on one person or company’s checkbook if we all work together to make a few sacrifices to give to those less fortunate. And together, we can do so much more.

Get Involved in the Community

For business people there is no better way to receive recognition within your community than to become involved in the community where your business is located. That is especially true if you are a smaller or specialized business that not everyone might have a purpose to support on a regular basis (like a feed mill or feed and farm store.)

Taking an active role in your community is important for a number of reasons. Here are 5 ways we encourage you to get involved in your community, year-round; not just during the holidays. You might just meet some new customers while you’re at it.

Community Boards. Most communities have a plethora of boards that are always looking for people to serve on them. These can include school boards, hospital boards, extension boards, 4-H boards, FFA alumni boards, cattlemen’s boards and the list goes on and on. Remember, pick organizations that you are truly passionate about helping, and don’t spread yourself too thin. A volunteer that has too many irons in the fire is often not as helpful as one would like.

If you have never used the hospital and you are a normally healthy person who doesn’t think you’ll ever be in the hospital, perhaps that board isn’t for you. However, if you are a cow-calf producer, trying to educate consumers on the benefits of eating healthy, lean red meat, then perhaps a role on the county cattlemen’s board would be ideal.

Volunteer. Volunteering shows that you are willing to give your time – one of your most valuable assets. You might volunteer with the local ag groups like 4-H and FFA to help them with educating youth or running a judging contest or clinic. Or you might volunteer to coach youth wrestling, teach Sunday night youth group or help with a cause like Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Whatever you volunteer for, make sure it is something you are passionate about doing and have time to make a priority. No one appreciates a volunteer that is always “too busy” to meet their commitments.

Build partnerships. If you are getting involved with your community, building partnerships would seem logical. Perhaps you are building a partnership with a local feedlot to run a mineral trial. Or maybe you find a way to build a partnership with a local high school ag class. The opportunity for agricultural businesses to partner, share promotions and advertising budgets and even costs for producer meetings are endless.

Offer internships. Young labor is typically inexpensive and hardy. Are you looking for someone to help in the store after school and on weekends? What about one of these young “techno-kids” that could help you with your social media presence. Young people are always looking for “real-world” experiences, and often are willing to work for little money or the experience they can list on their resumes.

Host & participate in events. As livestock nutrition suppliers, it would make sense that you would host and participate in events, like judging clinics, livestock shows, barrel racings and ropings. However, you chose to participate in these events, be sure to get your company name exposed as much as possible so others in the area know who the title sponsor is.

Getting involved in the community – it’s probably something you do anyway. Take the time to make a difference in someone’s life and the future of your community. You might just meet a new customer along the way.

Marketing Will Wow Your Customers

Chances are you wouldn’t be selling the products you offer if you didn’t believe in them. In fact, the 2017 Dealer Survey results show that 82 percent of BioZyme® dealers already use the products they sell. So, that personal experience is one way to share your story and tell how the products work in your operation or on your companion animals.

However, a plethora of animal nutrition products exist on the market. And even though we know that our BioZyme supplements are unique due to the Amaferm® advantage, sometimes the best way to WOW your customers is by focusing on your service attitude versus constantly talking about your products.

“My best advice to produce the most effective results is to advertise to your customers where they are, when they are there,” said Ashley Fitzsimmons, Regional & Partners in Performance Marketing Manager for BioZyme Inc. “Fall is a busy time with weaning, harvest and this year’s weather! So, meeting customers where they are whether that is taking out meals to farmers, being present for conversations at your local cattlemen’s meeting, the sale barn on a busy day, your state/county fairs, etc. really is the most effective tactic.”

Being present where your customers are is just one way of providing service marketing. If they are harvesting, they probably haven’t taken time to think about their cow herd’s nutrition prior to calving or even thought about placing a mineral order. But, you probably have. Reach out to them with a sack lunch or an afternoon drink while they are harvesting with a gentle reminder of how many days are left in this year and a list of the mineral they purchased from you last year at this time – making their lives simplified, and potentially making a sale for you!

Another service you can provide is to simply listen. This is a great time of year to host producer meetings. However, the interaction shouldn’t always be about the dealer talking about new products or special promotions. Take time for an open discussion. Hear what is on the minds of the producers and end-users of the products and see how you can provide a service you haven’t already thought of.

“No one knows your customers and your community better than you do, which is what makes local dealers so incredibly vital and important to our company. If anyone ever wants to bounce ideas back and forth or see what tactics have worked best in a community like theirs I’m always available via email,” Fitzsimmons reminds the dealers.

Providing a service and listening to your customers – you have just turned two traditional customer service tactics into marketing plans to help you reach your customers in a way that will WOW them. Everyone likes to have a service provided to them, especially when it is unexpected. And, when a customer is listened to, it makes them feel more like a part of your team. Use these two marketing tools to wow your customers this fall and see your sales grow!

Make an Impact on Others

As the calendar year-end draws closer, many individuals and businesses look for charitable causes to give to. With the holidays near, it is in our hearts and on our minds to give to those who might not have the same advantages we have. But have you thought how you can best make an impact on others?

First, you need to select just a few worthy causes to donate to. Your dollars will make the biggest impact if you don’t spread your gifts too thin over too many charitable organizations. Determine how much you want to spend, and then decide if you want to give all of that to one group or split it two or three ways.

Next, determine how your funds will be used. Does your donation really go toward helping others or will it go to administrative and further fundraising fees? Ask the organization outright. You might be surprised to learn that only 25-percent of your donation goes to the cause. If that is the case, determine if that is a cause worth supporting or is there another charity or individual you can give to? If you are unsure, visit www.give.org and search for your organization, to learn more about the cause and their spending.

Then, choose a cause or organization that is near and dear to your heart. Does someone in your family suffer from a disease that you are passionate about? There is most certainly a group that is raising money for research for a cure to that ailment. Do you care about helping kids whose only meals are what they get at school? Perhaps you’ll want to learn more or donate to Snack Pak 4 Kids™. Maybe you were once involved in 4-H or FFA, Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, or another local youth organization in your town. It’s always nice to give back to an organization that made a personal impact on your life.

Perhaps you are new to your area, and don’t know where to donate, but want to keep your gift local. Talk to local clergy, someone at the bank or even local law enforcement officers. They are likely to know of local programs like “adopt a family” programs, “shop with a cop”, shelters or food pantries that always appreciate extra financial help around the holidays.

It doesn’t take a big check to make a big impact. If each person donates what he or she is comfortable with, those donations do add up. Pick the organization or groups you would like to help this holiday season and share your joy with others. Make sure the cause you are supporting uses your funds for its programs, and give with a glad heart.