Category: Business Resources

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.

September 2019 – Letters From Lisa

Strategy has been studied for years by business leaders and theorists. Yet, there is no definitive answer about what strategy really is. One reason is because people think about strategy in different ways.

For instance, some people believe that you must analyze the present carefully, anticipate changes in the market or industry, and, from this, plan how to succeed in the future. Meanwhile, others think that the future is just too difficult to predict, and they prefer to evolve their strategies from just looking inside their own walls.

A simple definition of strategy can be: “Determining how we are going to win in the period ahead.” The biggest problem with the way organizations think about strategy is they confuse strategy with plans. They aren’t the same thing.

A strategic framework must establish what the business will do to deliver value for which customers are willing to pay and how it expects to hit target revenues and profits. The strategy doesn’t answer all the questions required for implementation — that’s planning, but it clearly establishes the game you are playing and how you expect to win. It also identifies the games you aren’t playing — the things you have no intention of delivering, even if your best customer begs you.

This framework helps us make decisions about how we will play the game of business. These decisions, which occur daily throughout the organization, include everything from capital investments to operational priorities to marketing, to hiring, to sales approaches, to branding efforts, to how each individual shuffles his or her “To Do” list every single morning. Without a strategic framework to guide these decisions, the organization will run in too many different directions, accomplish little, and suffer enormous confusion that ultimately stifles any plans or goals, good or bad.

Let’s pause a minute and look at this from the reverse. When should one not build a strategic framework:

• No time
• No resources
• No commitment from leadership
• In an acute crisis or transition

Or in other words just before the doors close. If you are reading this VISION article, your doors are not closing, so it’s time you choose to build a strategic framework and then use it every day as your guide in the planning and execution of tactics.

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.

  1. 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.”
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.

August 2019 – Letters From Lisa

The companies that achieve the most growth, that create the best products, and that are consistently thought of as industry leaders, are also the companies that are the most excited about all facets of the future. They allow that excitement to permeate through everything they do, as well as share and showcase that excitement every chance they get.

So how does a company foster that excitement? Interestingly enough, as I googled the topic, I found a bunch of articles with titles that included this same phrase, “how to get excitement back into your business.” That pretty much stopped me in my tracks, as to me the words “get back” means something has been lost. Lost excitement is deadly to business. However, keeping the excitement flame alive can be difficult. There are a number of ways you can work to boost excitement inside your business. All of these ways focus on your team. People are the face of excitement and must be where all of your efforts are focused.

Rid the Rotten

To create excitement today, you might have to get rid of what was. Getting rid of old ideas and behaviors is harder than changing to new ones. Eliminate any “rotten” ideas and behaviors that may be dragging your team down, so you clear the way for a new, exciting approach. It’s hard, but doing it builds excitement. I don’t like to share my “rotten” things so I will leave this one to each of you to “just do it.”

Build Belief in Tomorrow

Explore your team’s belief in itself and discover ways to build and sustain the belief in a strong future. What are you working on today that might not pay off until years from now? Whatever it is, share it in a simplistic, passionate way. At BioZyme®, we are working with 6,000 fruit flies in Germany to teach us the precise challenges that our AO broth impacts. These fruit flies are primarily used in human research, so getting to use them for animal applications is exciting and certainly builds belief in tomorrow.

Do Something Unexpected

Doing something unexpected can boost your team’s confidence in your willingness to take the risks that are necessary for an exciting future. It’s easy to do these types of things, but for some reason most of us do not. Sending a short, hand-written note of appreciation, staying late to help the team finish a project, giving an unexpected day off or coming to work as a leprechaun (yes, I did this) creates “crazy” excitement.

Get Rid of Secrecy

Nothing is more destructive than keeping information from team members—except telling them that you’re keeping information from them. Sure, there is sensitive information in any organization that must be handled appropriately; however, think twice about what “secrecy” really does to excitement. Employees are more likely to grow a company’s productivity when they have access to the knowledge they need.

Embrace Conflict as a Good Thing

Conflict is a by-product of creating excitement – it needs to be acknowledged and dealt with to keep excitement alive. I recently read a great book by Patrick Lencioni, called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. It does a great job of teaching how to embrace conflict as the positive it really is.

When a person is excited, their emotions become more powerful, which can affect their decision-making abilities. Excited people are more likely to make decisions. Use this to your advantage as you implement these strategies in ways that cause great enthusiasm and eagerness.

Dealer Spotlight: Wilde Angus

When Wilde Angus Ranch started using VitaFerm® and Vita Charge® products on their registered Angus herd in northwest Minnesota, the partner-owners were excited about the added performance and results they saw in their herd, and knew they needed to explore the opportunity to become dealers.

“If we are going to use the product, there is an immediate benefit to becoming a dealer, but more importantly, I thought I could help people. That is the core of what we do anyway. We try to help people improve their herd health and genetics in their cow herd, so it was a natural fit for us,” said Don Abarr, Wilde Angus Ranch.

Abarr is not a high-pressure salesman, and primarily talks to his personal contacts in the livestock business. However, when he shares his own successes with the products, others listen.

“When we began using the mineral, we could tell that the cattle were immediately off to a great start. Of the 170 bulls on feed, only 6 of them did not gain at least three pounds per day. The rest were 3.80. A huge number of those calves were up over four pounds, so they just really excelled in performance,” Abarr said of his own personal experiences. “It’s one of the reasons it helps me sell the products, too. I tell them this is what it’s done for me, and they say, ‘Holy cats. Can I do that?’ Here’s how you do it!”

He already has Vita Charge Cattle Drench on hand for fall weaning, and the Drench is one of his favorite products to share with customers and potential customers. He’s had great success marketing VitaFerm Concept•Aid® and VitaFerm HEAT® mineral and said he enjoys finding out what a producer’s needs are then matching them to a product.

“We had a customer referral come in, who lives in an area low in phosphorus, but we did leg work to be sure that that Concept•Aid 5/S would be sufficient. We were able to save the customer money while providing them with a nutrition packet that isn’t overkill,” Abarr said, believing that meeting producer needs like this will help grow his business.

Wilde Angus will host its first-ever producer meeting in August at the ranch. In addition to providing education on nutritional needs and the BioZyme® products, the meeting will be in conjunction with a BQA certification.

“I’m excited to be a dealer and look forward to helping people. I don’t have all the answers, and when we don’t have the answers, we reach out to the resources at BioZyme and find them, follow up and come back with something we know to be accurate, instead of winging it and guessing,” Abarr said.

Helping others, providing service and sharing results are what makes Don Abarr an outstanding advocate for the BioZyme brands.

Dealer Spotlight: Fayette AG

Fayette AG uses Tools to Provide Care that Comes Full Circle

When it comes to decoding the mystery of growth, one progressive dealer who addressed the store dealers shared his answer at the recent Dealer Retreat. Use the tools provided, educate your customers and provide top-quality customer service.

Mike Renfroe, Fayette AG Center, Fayette, Ala., said they are a feed mill that opted to add BioZyme® products to its vast mix of mineral products, after he reconnected with an old rodeo acquaintance Rowdy Pope, now an Area Sales Manager for BioZyme. Renfroe thought if he could sell two or three tons that first year, he’d be doing well.

“Rowdy convinced us to host a producer meeting that first year. We had 85 people show up and by the end of year one, we had sold 160 tons of product,” Renfroe said.

Renfroe said after a first year with phenomenal sales and support from the BioZyme staff, he realized what set BioZyme apart from other nutrition companies besides its premium product, was the support it offered its dealers.

“BioZyme is one of the best at finding answers for its dealers and their customers,” he said. “The people are always there to help us and if they don’t know the answer right away, they will find an answer for us.”

In addition to hosting producer meetings and having a presence at some of his customer-hosted field days, Fayette AG also takes advantage of other programs available to dealers. Renfroe has worked with the BioZyme marketing team to produce radio advertisements and has also completed the Master Dealer Training Program, to help him become more knowledgeable about the products.

“The Master Dealer Program was one of the better things I did to help grow my business,” Renfroe said.

The support and care that comes full circle from the BioZyme staff has created a significant shift in the way he does business and the products he sells. Renfroe said that he started with just a small section of his warehouse with the BioZyme products, but now those products get a bulk of the space and the other supplement brands get just a corner. Much of that is due to the services provided and the communication and support he receives. He said once he places an order with the “other brands” he never hears from them again, yet with BioZyme, he has phone calls and emails and follow-up from his ASM and the Outreach Support Center, something he greatly appreciates.

And those services BioZyme provides that he can pass down to his customers like feed testing and ration balancing, speak volumes and make a difference to his end-users. Vista Farms Managers Scott and Sarah McElfresh said services like pulling forage samples and receiving complete forage analyses are some of the great services they appreciate that Fayette AG offers through BioZyme. Scott said when he took the completed analyses to his Extension service to help him determine rations, they too were impressed with the complete information, making it more efficient to determine what Vista Farms needed to add to their nutrition program.

“The customer service like that Mike and BioZyme provides is what made us go all in,” Scott said.

And that service is care that comes full circle – from the tools and customer support that the company offers Renfroe and Fayette AG and the outstanding service and products he can provide his customers so they can produce a quality product for the consumer.