Business Resources Archives - Page 21 of 43 - BioZyme Online Dealer Center

Leadership Steps To Keep Your Business Top of Mind

Keeping your company relevant is about change. And to make effective change happen, you have to have strong leadership that is willing to take the necessary steps to move forward. Although staying viable in the industry you serve is all about providing goods and services to your customers and helping them with the challenges they face, you must first have a leader or leaders who embrace the following four steps.

Plan Ahead. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a crystal ball? We could see what tomorrow would hold; and even the days to follow. However, we don’t have the luxury to predict our future, so we need to lay our own groundwork to plan ahead. In agriculture, there are some variables out of our control, but we can still study history, read, talk to those heavily involved in each segment and continue to plan ahead so our business stays sustainable and we help our customers succeed.
If you haven’t already, now is a great time of year to implement a strategic plan that can help you grow. As you develop your plan, think about what is important to your customers during the different times of year, and plan to have products available when they need them instead of waiting. Plan your marketing and promotions accordingly. Finally, plan some time to engage with your customers at different times of the year to hear what is on their minds.
Communicate. Communications is a two-way street. However, we are often times guilty of doing all the talking, and not enough listening. As you plan producer meetings and open houses, set aside some time to ask your customers questions. Hear what is important to them. Do they have a common challenge among them that your business can help solve? Is there a new product that a customer could benefit from? It’s vital to listen and hear what your customers are saying. When you make sales calls or deliver product, take the time to find out what is truly on your customers’ minds.
Get Involved. For most people in our industry, this should not be a challenge. However, for some less hands-on businesses, getting involved and becoming engaged with others is a struggle. If you are in a managerial position and spend a lot of time behind a desk or on the phone, it’s time to get up and be seen. Get out in the store to see how customers are treated. Visit the warehouse to see how employee morale is, and check on the efficiencies of loading and unloading orders. Visit your customers. Talk to your employees. Chat with truck drivers to see what they have seen or heard or how your business can work to create more opportunities. A little bit of movement and a whole lot of engagement with others will help you hear and learn about things your business can do or shouldn’t be doing to stay on top of its game.
Be Responsive. All the listening, engaging and being active in your business means nothing if you don’t respond. Do you need to act on every suggestion? No, but if you hear the same suggestion more than once, maybe that deserves further research. Have you heard that there are better more efficient ways to get things done in your company? Perhaps that is worth looking into. If you rest on your laurels, and are afraid of making any changes, you will stay the same. Your competition will likely grow, and unless you are the only game in town, you could lose customers and ultimately watch your business decline.

Being complacent is not an option if you want to stay successful in the business world. If you want your business to stay relevant and grow, effective changes are needed. Don’t make those changes on a whim, but make sure they are driven by sound business practices and doing what is best for your company, employees and customers.

How Can Your Business Stay Relevant?

The business world is ever-changing, and that change can happen in the blink of an eye. Regardless if you sell animal nutrition products or the latest technology, there is likely someone in the same industry as you are working to create the “next great thing.” So, how do you keep your business pertinent in today’s fast-paced world? Author Andrew Griffiths offers seven tips to stay in the lead and keep your business relevant.

Be present. Being connected to your customers and building those relationships can’t happen if you are not present. Determine the best way to connect and communicate with them. Perhaps for a younger customer, they prefer to get their information from a text or from social media. Maybe you have customers that still like doing business face-to-face, with a handshake. Wherever your customers are, you need to be available to them. Even, if that means stopping by the livestock auction market or the local coffee shop. “As soon as we are disconnected from our audience in any way, our relevance starts to diminish,” Griffiths writes.
Select your communication method(s) wisely. With technology, there are many ways to connect with your customers and stay top of their mind. However, the challenge is staying relevant with the communication tool that your customers prefer. Just because you like to use one social media platform to promote your business, doesn’t mean that is the one the younger generation prefers. Maybe you need to use a variety of platforms to reach all audiences, and remember that personal interaction is always a good way to connect, too. You need to make yourself adaptable and be able to reach all your customers, at whatever level they feel most comfortable.
Engage your customers. It is crucial to engage with your customers and not just talk at them, having a one-sided conversation. To keep relevant in business, you need to listen to their needs and ideas. A true two-way conversation allows for real engagement with your customers and allows them to share their thoughts, ideas, needs, all especially important for sales and new product and service development to remain viable in business.
Be in the know about your competition. Just like anything in business, you need to be aware of what your competition is doing, but don’t be alarmed by their actions. By knowing what the competition offers, you can explain your competitive advantage in your products, so your customers know that you are aware that you do offer the best there is available.
Know the trends coming your way and be ready to take advantage of them. By staying current in the industry or industries you serve, you will be able to better help your customer. Read newsletters, listen to podcasts or talk to others to stay current on timely topics so you can better help your customers. For example, is another drought forecast in your region? How about suggesting an investment in the Amaferm® advantage, so producers can get more nutrients out of the resources they do have available.
Create great marketing content that solves problems. Since there are more ways than ever before to engage with customers, the content made available to them needs to remain relevant. Answer their questions, solve their problems and help them stay informed with the industry. Not every dealer has time to create this content, so the BioZyme® Marketing Team has created relevant content for you to share via Promoboxx. Log in at www. biozymedealermktg.com to share timely tips each month for various species and use the resources that are available to you.
Continually develop new products. Businesses don’t stay relevant without creating new products, and new products don’t just happen overnight. By engaging with customers and knowing their needs you can create new products that can help them succeed in their endeavors. Remember, not every new product will be an overnight success; however, your customers will appreciate the effort you put forth in trying to make something new. You might have some failures, but according to Griffiths, “Our customers will no longer crucify us for not getting things right, they will crucify us for not coming up with ‘NEW’.”

Staying relevant in business all starts with your relationships with your customers. Be aware of their needs and wants. Connect with them and help them solve their problems. As we start a new year, make plans to be here for future years, and that all starts with keeping relevant in the industry. And then, watch your business grow.

Letters From Lisa – January 2020

Today one of the greatest challenges we face in business is staying relevant. Consumers have far more distractions, cautions, choices, opportunities and ways to study and communicate than ever before.

I was recently presenting at the GMDC, a big conference where all the big box store retailers come to find new products. One of the key speakers was the head of Microsoft’s Business Innovation Department. Learning how they “track” consumers to get relevant intelligence about them was fascinating, actually a bit scary. However, the one thing he said that I found most amazing was that today, “data that is more than two weeks old is not relevant, so don’t study it.” With this new two week parameter, most of us will not be good at being relevant.

That definition of relevance is difficult to implement, but with an open mind, I think we can do it! Of course, the question is how. I think if we focus on the below and then have the open mind needed to change appropriately, we will get there. Yes, WE MIGHT HAVE to CHANGE. Yes, WE CAN DO IT!

Spend time where your customer spends time every day. To stay relevant, we need to make sure we are getting the right information about needs, wants, expectations etc. from our targeted audience. This means spending time with them face-to-face, spending time with them virtually, spending time with them however we can. As soon as we are disconnected from our customer in any way, our relevance starts to diminish.
Connect how your customer wants to connect. There are tons of ways to communicate, the challenge when it comes to staying relevant is ensuring that we are communicating in a fashion that is relevant to our customers. If they are embracing a new social media platform and we are not, clearly there are issues ahead. We need to be nimble and flexible and connect how our customers want to connect, not how it suits us or is easy for our business’s current staff.
Two way = more effective communication. If you want to be relevant, communication needs to be much more about engagement as opposed to a one-sided stream of information. We need to find a way to communicate that builds a meaningful flow of information, and that means a two-way flow. At BioZyme® we call this type of communication crosstalk. The term came to us from a 16-year-old German customer within the context of improving our social media strategies globally.
Welcome critical thinking. We all know that resisting change is deadly. A culture that embraces and encourages innovative thinking to keep the business relevant is a must. We need to be aware of the signs that might suggest our culture is not as welcoming of critical thinking as we need it to be (resistance to change, lack of creative problem solving, negativity toward anything new, etc.).
Embrace industry innovation. All too often we look for innovation within our own business or own industry. From my experience, we are far more likely to find innovative ideas that we can adapt and use in our own business from outside our industry. We need to become students of other industries and innovative communities (online and offline). With Google this is possible from your home late at night, so we have no excuse to not getting it done.

In simple terms, relevance provides meaning in our lives. Relevance is the full experience of a product, brand or cause that we can relate to; it’s an experience that not only changes minds, but, more importantly, changes behavior – and sustains that change.

Staying relevant has got to be one of the hardest tasks in business. Relevance focuses on results. Relevance is about the ultimate goal – triggering the desired behavior. People are awash in choices about where to spend their money and place their loyalty. If you aren’t relevant, they will go somewhere else. Please don’t let that happen.

Dealer Spotlight: Heritage Farm Supply

BioZyme Dealer Puts Focus on Future

With a name like Heritage Farm Supply, you’d think the business has a focus on its past, its heritage. However, just the opposite is true.

The Weaverville, N.C., farm and feed store is dedicated to helping its customers thrive and survive and ensuring there is a future in agriculture for today’s young people as well.

Store co-owner and manager Anna English said that Heritage Farm Supply first became a BioZyme® dealer because it was looking for a premium product to offer its customers. She had heard about BioZyme and its product lines, did some research, and decided their products were the right fit for her customer base. Then, once her own family started using the products, sales really started to take off.

“We use the product ourselves, so it is easy to sell the customer on a product we believe in. The biggest selling point for us is using it in our own operation, and it is easier to sell products when you use them and believe in them,” English said.

She and her family run about 100 mama cows and have started using embryo transfer and A.I. extensively. She said the VitaFerm® line has helped them achieve their goals with their cow herd, and in return, she has started reaching out to other purebred producers in the area.

English uses the assistance of her Area Sales Manager Justin O’Flaherty to help share the BioZyme message, including hosting producer meetings for cow-calf producers. She said that since the BioZyme lines are rather new to her area, the producers are willing to come learn and ask questions about them.

Another audience she is working with that will have a major impact on the future of agriculture and the future of Heritage Farm Supply is the youth in her area. English said that urban sprawl is taking over and moving toward them, away from Asheville; and it is important to continue educating youth about agriculture and its impact.

“As rocky as agriculture is right now, it is important for us to know there is a future out there, that people are getting educated in what agriculture is and what we do as an industry. If we can get kids involved, at least they will be an advocate for agriculture in the future,” she said.

Because the future is so important to English and Heritage Farm Supply, they support several youth livestock shows in the area. Since English and her family also show livestock, that was an easy outlet for them to get involved with the kids showing livestock. They are also involved in the FFA program at the local high school and do a lot with its alumni program so they can support the kids through agriculture in as many ways as possible.

Selling a premium product and supporting superior youth are both tasks that English takes to heart. She encourages new dealers and those considering selling BioZyme products not to get hung up on the price. “Don’t let the price stand in your way. It can be kind of a sticker shock, but it is a premium product and your customers will use it. The price is what sets it apart,” she said.

When you’re advocating for the future and promoting a product that helps animals succeed in life, you’re doing great things. Thanks, Anna English for displaying “care that comes full circle.”

Your Role In The Industry Matters

Too often we let our jobs define us. It is easy to do since we spend at least eight hours a day at our workplace. Many of us are guilty of introducing ourselves in an adult setting with our name, title and the place where we work. But you are more than just a worker. You are more than a salesperson, marketer, truck driver or person who works in a feed store. You are involved in agriculture, the occupation that ultimately feeds the world, and believe it or not, you are serving as a role model for others in our industry.

Young people naturally are attracted to people in their respective field. And those who are growing up on a farm or ranch or who show livestock undoubtedly interact with you on a somewhat regular basis. Believe it or not, there is somebody out there who is watching you, listening to you and maybe evening dreaming of the day they can be in your position. It is important to remember these things to set the best example possible.

You, yes you, are making an impact as a mentor and role model. Think about that. Your role and identity are much greater than just your occupation, but because of your occupation and your role in agriculture, you can impact someone else’s life. And because you are involved in the animal health and nutrition business, you have likely helped a young person or his or her parent get on the right track with a nutrition program.

Sure Champ® Ring Leader Whitney Walker from Prairie Grove, Ark., shared her positive experience with leadership opportunities on the Sure Champ blog in November.

“It’s been a really fun experience so far. I’ve had a lot more kids interact on my social media more curious than I expected about the Sure Champ line and the Sure Champ products. You’d think a lot of the times the parents make feeding decisions and what to buy, but these kids are actually invested and want to know about what their animals are eating. I’ve had a lot of them ask me what Amaferm is, and now I can actually explain to them what it is and back up how Sure Champ products work,” said the Ring Leader who is a freshman at Oklahoma State University.

No doubt that those young people got their first feeding information from those of you that this newsletter is targeted to.

And even when it doesn’t encompass livestock health and nutrition, you are still making a difference. You encourage young people to get involved with youth programs like 4-H, FFA or other junior breed associations. You support the youth by being a sports booster, buying their project animal at the fair or sponsoring awards. Sometimes it is even as simple as listening to reasons for a livestock judging team or a presentation for a national competition.

Catherine Stangl, a member of the Kingfisher FFA Chapter recalls how local businesses in her community help support the local chapter, on a regular basis, in addition to when they are preparing for big competitions.

“Our FFA chapter is very well-known, and we come from a really good community that is there for us,” Stangl said. “When we were preparing for nationals, we would go to several companies and organizations whether it was an oil company or Rotary, and we presented our skit, and they helped us make it better.”

Stangl was a member of the seven-person Ag Issues Forum team that won in Oklahoma and claimed the 2018 National Championship last October that presented a skit set to resemble a courtroom. The issue they presented was over the temporary water lines and the oil industry, an ongoing controversial topic in their home county. Stangl said she and her peers spent countless hours practicing and had wonderful community support.

“This industry is a really good industry to grow up in, and I think we all become better people toward other people, whether it’s being nice or just being there for them,” Stangl said.

Never forget your role is more than your job title. You are a role model, a supporter, a voice in the industry. You are an advocate, educator and a hero. Someone is watching you. Your job doesn’t define you, but how you treat others and serve your community does. Remember people want to know about you, your story and what you do on a daily basis, and not just your title.

Effective Action: Review Past Actions as You Plan Ahead

Everywhere you look, there are signs reminding us how many days there are until Christmas or how many days there are left of this year. To me, it seems like we were just stocking up on bottled water and cash getting ready to ring in the year 2000, Y2K, and now we’re counting down to 2020. As a business owner, you are likely using these last few weeks of 2019 to plan for the new year, finalizing budgets and prioritizing marketing plans. Do you know what those plans look like? How do you plan for the future if you don’t review what you’ve done in the past?

Hopefully, as you’ve made your plans for the year ahead, you have spent time reflecting on what actions you took this year. Were they all successful? Did some of the marketing strategies you implement work better than others? Are there some actions that were smart, but could have used some better implementation? Think back on each strategy, before you plan what you will do in the future.

March on with Successful Strategies
Perhaps you conducted a producer meeting this year that had tremendous turnout, introduced some producers to your products and captured some new customers. That is the definition of success. Think about what made that meeting successful. Was it the speaker? The topics discussed? The audience? Time of year? Whatever made that event successful this year, you will want to capitalize on for the future. As the adage goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” move forward with similar events and marketing initiatives in the new year to ensure continued growth for your business.

Fix what Needs Fixin’
As mentioned in the previous article, it is best to debrief or reflect after each event to see what worked well and what didn’t. If you conducted a marketing event during the past year that had some good things going, but didn’t really hit the target, perhaps now is a good time to review those debriefing or post-event notes to recall what didn’t work out so great so you can go back and make necessary changes. Once you review the event, make the changes and add it to your strategy for the forthcoming year, you might find it to be the biggest success of all. Sometimes a little tweak is all that needs fixed to make a good event a great event.

It’s Okay to Call it Quits
Did you conduct a marketing initiative, educational event or promotion that was an absolute flop? That is going to happen once in a while. No, it isn’t ideal, and for those of you driven business leaders, those flops hurt, but we can learn from them and move forward. Maybe it was something as simple as the timing of an event or maybe it was a promotion that just didn’t interest your customer base. Sometimes the biggest lessons come from the hardest times. Your debrief notes should indicate that this was something that your company doesn’t intend to do again. Don’t spend time dwelling on this event. Move on, learn from mistakes and don’t make them again.

Once you have reviewed what worked out well and what didn’t work out so well, you can start making some marketing plans. Try to have a rough plan in place for the next 12 months, so you can start sharing plans with your ASM and creating an outline with more concrete ideas. Remember, there are a plethora of activities and ideas listed in the back office under the Dealer Rewards Center. Or, you can always propose one of your original ideas to your ASM and the Marketing Team.

Reviewing your former marketing strategies is a great way to discover what worked, what didn’t work and what you need to continue to make work in the future.

How Reflection Can Serve as a Successful Meeting Example

Reflect, according to Dictionary.com, means to ponder, think or meditate. But according to an article on inc.com, U.S. military leaders take this definition even deeper, as they work continuously to improve everything they do. Businesses should be no different. You should want to measure performance and success, not only by sales figures, but also by marketing strategies, educational efforts, customer service and basically any action you take, or mission, as it is referred to in the military.

Military leaders use the debrief, a self-facilitated review of how the team performed on the mission, so things can improve for the next time. In other words, they gather all those involved with a project, engagement, training, promotion, and meet as soon afterward as possible to reflect, get feedback and adjust for future success. Author Gene Hammett said, “You should do a debrief when things are going well just as much as you should when things don’t go well. Using the debrief style of meeting in my work with fast-growth companies has given them a faster path to improvement and speeds a transfer of knowledge across all levels of the organization.”

Hammett offers three tips to business leaders to have a productive debrief through reflection, which should help increase sales and foster employee morale.

1. Include Everyone
Make sure at each debriefing you include every person who was involved, not just those in leadership, but also those who actively participated. They all will have input – both good and bad. As Hammett writes, “Many organizations wonder why they have experience at the top of the company yet lack it at the middle and bottom. One reason is they are not including the full team in the moments of reflection and growth.”

A sign of a good leader is being sure to include everyone. Did you recently host a producer meeting? Have a debrief to reflect on how it was received. Be sure to include those who talked to customers, took orders and even served food. They will all have feedback so you can make future events better for your customers and ultimately your business.

2. Leave Rank at the Door
When you conduct the debrief from your latest “mission” or project, be sure to treat everyone as equals. Yes, that might seem challenging, especially for leaders who like to take charge of meetings. However, it is the best way to hear everyone’s perspective that could ultimately lead to areas for new growth. When everyone is viewed as an equal it is easier to admit faults to create better solutions for the future.

Rob “Waldo” Waldman, a former Air Force Fighter pilot turned author and speaker, offers this advice on the debriefing process: “Leaders must remove their ego. When you leave your rank at the door, you allow others to be open to their mistakes.”

3. Close Effectively
There are two ways to end the meeting with purpose and clarity. First, whoever is leading the meeting should ask for questions. Questions give the opportunity to clarify any topic that wasn’t discussed and ensure that everything that was covered is understood by all. Questions also provide insight about where the leadership might want to improve to make the next project or mission clearer for the audience.

Next, conclude the meeting with a statement that outlines clear and actionable growth steps that need to be made and list who will be responsible for those duties. Once that concluding statement is made, all attendees should be on the same page, and know what to expect for the next project, and they will know their role in making improvements.

The military debriefing might just be the next best thing since Amaferm® . It is a model for you and your employees to follow to reflect and meet after a project or event, so you know how to make the next one even better. Improving your business one day and one project at a time will help you grow your customer base and will help you grow your business.

Letters From Lisa – December 2019

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, who will stick a penny in the sweet blonde’s hat (figured it was worth a try)? This time of year, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the holiday hustle and bustle and spend the entire month of December running around like a crazy Kris Kringle. Add getting all your 2020 budgets and business planning done along with December’s tasks, and one can tend to forget the real reason for the season.

In short, the Messiah’s reasons should become our motivators always, but especially in the month of December. If we listen to John the Baptist carefully, we will hear that there’s never one reason that defines Jesus’ arrival. The Good News is more than just a headline. The Good News and the God who brings this message is everything between you and the infinite.

According to Simon Sinek (whose voice carries much weight as the third most-watched Ted Talk of all time with 46 million views), “the minute we’re born, we’re players in the infinite game, and that means we get one choice in life: how we want to play. We can choose to live our lives with a finite mindset, which means trying to get richer, more powerful than all of our friends, to get more, have more – but what is the point?

“Rather, we want to live a life of service, and that’s what we write on our tombstones – what we did for others. ‘Devoted mother,’ ‘loving husband,’ ‘she inspired us.’ To live an infinite life means to live our lives so that others may benefit from the work that we do – so we will literally live on forever, because we will look at ourselves and say, ‘I am who I am today partly because I carry with me the spirit of someone who’s no longer here, and I will pass their lessons on to my children and my colleagues and my friends.’ In an infinite-minded life, just like in business, trust is better, cooperation is better, ideas are stronger and remarkably those ideals live on beyond us. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Most days, it’s too easy to stay focused on our own lives – our work, our problems, what we have to accomplish and what is stressing us out. But it’s easy to forget that everyone else in the world has just as much on their plate as we do – sometimes even more. During the holiday season especially, it’s important to remember that every person you come in contact with has his or her own story and sometimes all it takes is a simple gift – a sturdy pair of shoes, a warm winter coat, a blanket, a cherry limeade or just a hug. These things may seem small, but they may be the gift that helps to get someone else up on their feet.

This year, after you’ve opened your gifts and shared a few laughs with family and friends, think back on the true meaning of the season and what Christmas means to you. As the always wise Doogie Howser, M.D. said, “Getting is good. Giving is better. Once you understand that, it’s always Christmas.”

Merry Christmas, from all of us here at BioZyme.

Dealer Spotlight: Gillespie Farms

Nathan Gillespie was looking for a more convenient source of the BioZyme® products to use on his family’s operation, Gillespie Farms. His brother suggested that he become a dealer so the products they had relied on for their farm would be right outside their back door. With a little convincing and after visiting with his Area Sales Manager at the time, Nathan decided to become a dealer, and in the three years since, he has grown his business substantially each year. He is also teaching his 16-year-old son, Morgan, about the business. The high school sophomore helps his dad with the warehouse when he can and has learned about the products at the same time.

Although Nathan says that he doesn’t spend many advertising dollars, he attributes his growth as a dealer to two key areas – a familiarity of the products from using them on his family’s farm and using the resources that BioZyme offers him.

“We try to use everything we sell in some aspect. It helps being able to talk about the products, especially the VitaFerm® Gain Smart® lines and the Vita Charge® Stress Tubs,” Nathan said. “We’ve had some tough sales to some people around here, trying to convince them that certain products work, if you give them more than 60 days. That’s been a challenge. People feed their mineral for 60 or 90 days while they get their cows bred, and then we don’t ever see them again until the next year when it’s time to breed again. I don’t know how it works for them, but it doesn’t work for us. That’s been the biggest challenge, convincing people they need to stick the course to see the true results.”

The Gillespie family has experience with most of the product lines, except Vitalize®, as they don’t have horses. However, they run purebred Hereford cows, and Nathan’s dad backgrounds calves. Nathan and his brother feed out freezer beef. He also raises Boer goats – both show wethers and commercial does.

In addition to believing in the products, which helps him spread the word to others in the area, Nathan is an advocate for the programs and services that the company offers its dealer network. He credits his relationship with his Area Salas Manager Ty McGuire for some of his new sales growth.

“Ty has taken me into some areas where I didn’t know many people and introduced me to some new customers. We can make sales calls together, which helps. We communicate 3-4 times a week, either by text or phone call. He is always available and willing to help out,” Nathan said.

The ties to his ASM have helped him meet people, but other programs have helped Nathan build his product knowledge. He completed the Master Dealer Training Program this spring and said that has helped him learn more in-depth about each product line, and how each might help specific customers with their needs. He also conducts producer meetings to introduce other producers in the area to the products, with the goal of starting more targeted meetings, perhaps one for feeders and one more focused on the cow-calf producer.

“Take time to know your customers,” Nathan advises. “Find out what their needs are and then suggest the right products for them so they will get the biggest bang for their bucks.”

Nathan Gillespie became a dealer to fulfill his needs of having a product he relies on readily available to him. In the meantime, he’s been helping others in his area meet their needs too. With continual growth, Nathan understands thinking like his customers and using all the resources available to him.

Take Action: Creative Thinking Helps You Grow and Earn

There are several traditional methods to grow your business. However, BioZyme® offers support to its dealer network for its marketing and outreach efforts and rewards dealers enrolled in the Dealer Rewards Program for their creativity and their efforts.

Area Sales Managers, the Outreach Support Center and the Marketing Team are all available to assist dealers in their marketing and promotion efforts. Brainstorming with these groups will help you find some creative and unique ways to grow your business. You will also find resources that are readily available for your use, like online posts using Promoboxx or mailers and print advertisements.

Some of the most inventive methods of promotion are the results of creative thinking on behalf of a dealer and his or her ASM. Digital billboards, signage at local livestock auctions and targeted producer meetings focused on specific audiences are all some “out of the box” methods to help promote your business.

Year-end Planning

As the end of the year approaches, you will want to think about ways to spur end-of-the-year sales and thank your customers. This might be with a customer open house, a newsletter to talk about calving preparedness or a producer meeting to talk about products. Remember planning these in advance is always a good idea, and the BioZyme staff is available to help.

In addition to growing your business, you can also earn dealer reward points. Dealer Reward points were created to motivate and reward dealers for their participation and efforts to educate and market the BioZyme products. Points can be accumulated through the year for many of the tasks already mentioned. They can also be earned for completing the Master Dealer Training Program, going on a sales call with your ASM, after-hours dealer trainings and much more. Once you have participated in an activity, work with the staff to make sure your points get calculated.

Use the information in the Online Dealer Center to see a complete list of activities that can earn reward points. But, don’t be afraid to propose an idea that isn’t on the list. We always love to hear your original ideas and get especially excited to share them with other dealers. Those new ideas will earn you points as well.

Once you have points, you can redeem them for a variety of items, from caps and jackets representing the various product lines to gift cards, an iPad and even a show box. Points accumulate during the year and need to be redeemed by Jan. 31 the following year or they are wiped out. The rewards make great gifts for customers, employees and even nice swag to keep for yourself to wear with pride as you promote your business.

Get creative with your promotion. Brainstorm with your staff, family members and the BioZyme team that is here to help you. Take action. Earn rewards. Watch your business grow