CHANGES COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2022

AWARD-WINNING BACKYARD BOOST® BALLS LAUNCHED

In an effort to continuously expand its product lines and diversify, BioZyme® Inc., will introduce two new award-winning products in its Backyard Boost® product line this month. Chicken owners can now purchase Backyard Boost Busy Balls, a prebiotic treat to help bounce boredom. Furthermore, all bird enthusiasts will have the opportunity to buy a similar product, Backyard Boost Songbird Balls, a tidier alternative to bird feed.

The World Pet Association (WPA) recently named the Backyard Boost Busy Balls and Songbird Balls the Best New Bird Products during its New Product Showcase at Super Zoo in Las Vegas.  Super Zoo is North America’s largest pet industry marketplace with more than 1,000 companies exhibiting and is solely open to retail companies who want to do business.

SHELF LIFE EXTENDED ON SMALL PACK PRODUCTS

Upon completion of extensive shelf-life testing, the shelf life of Vitalize, Vita Charge, Sure Champ and Backyard Boost liquid and gel products as well as Vitalize Horse Treats is now being extended to 24 months from the manufacturing date of the product. This process started in July and will continue through the Fall as product inventory runs low and new inventory for each product is produced with updated labels.

If you ever do you have questions about the shelf life of a product, check the product center or contact the Outreach Support Center.

LUCKY 7 WINNERS STILL COMING FORWARD

Even though summer is turning to fall this month, our summer promotion is still taking place. We know that it takes a while for product to go through the distribution channels, but we certainly have enjoyed seeing all the Lucky 7 winners to this point. Be sure to continue to encourage you’re your customers to watch for specially marked bags of products. They might be the next winner! All prizes must be redeemed by Dec. 20, 2022.

Continue to promote the value of Amaferm year-round and care that comes full circle, the reason behind this promotion. Regardless of if your customer finds a token, they and their animals will always be a winner with the Amaferm advantage.

Specially marked bags that could contain a winning token include:  

VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S HEAT®

• VitaFerm® HEAT®

•VitaFerm Conserve® Garlic

•Gain Smart® Stocker HEAT®

•VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S with ClariFly®

•VitaFerm® HEAT® CTC 3G

•VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S HEAT® with ClariFly®

LABOR DAY HOURS

The BioZyme offices will be closed on Monday, September 5, for Labor Day. No orders will be shipped or can be picked up on Friday, September 2 or Monday, September 5. Business will continue as usual on Tuesday, September 6.

Dealer Spotlight: 5 F Feed

5 F Feed might not be the longest-time BioZyme® dealer, but they are a long-time BioZyme user who saw a good chance to share the products with others when it came available. Court and Traci Fedderson are cattle producers in the Nebraska Panhandle who had used the Vita Charge® and VitaFerm® products. When their local dealer was going out of business a few years ago, they saw that as opportunity. 

“We had used the product a long time. Once you get people to try it, it really does sell itself,” Court said. 

Located near Rushville, 5 F Feed is open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. Court said his customers know they can always come pick up products when they need them. When the Feddersons first bought the feed dealership, it was their third full-time business he and his wife, Traci, were operating, but with its growth, they have been able to phase out one of their enterprises to concentrate on their BioZyme business. They have opened a second location in Harrison, about 100 miles west, where one of their customers lives, and it is convenient for other customers to get product. 

Court believes some of the best products come from the Vita Charge line due to their quick response. He said that when the users can see them in action, they will understand how the Amaferm® works in other products.  

“We use the Drench in the fall and Neonatal in the spring. They are not that expensive, and they work fast. When you bring bawling calves and hit them with the Drench and they go to eating and drinking, you can see that change right away,” he said. 

He encourages new dealers to keep the Vita Charge products like those mentioned on hand and keep them affordable. If they do that, the rest of the products will be easier to sell. 

Another way he used the Amaferm to a customer’s advantage was through a custom product. He had a customer feeding about a 30% protein forage cube, and had a custom cake made that was 20% with Amaferm added to it. He said that customer saved about $10,000.  

Court takes advantage of multiple marketing opportunities during the year. He opts in for the quarterly dealer mailers. And last spring, he created buyer numbers for his producers with sales that had a coupon for his business on the bottom – another unique way to promote his business. 

With a unique perspective and a passion for the products, there’s no doubt that 5 F Feed is here for the long haul. Thanks for being a great BioZyme dealer!  

Meet the BioZyme Family

Team: Domestic Business Development 

Leader: Alan Lee, Director of Domestic Business Development 

Number of people on your team: 9 

Key Responsibilities: The Domestic Business Development Team is responsible to create and grow business opportunities across all brands and in all sectors of the industry in the United States. They work closely with the sales and marketing teams to collaborate on educational, marketing and sales efforts to make sure the BioZyme name and its brands reach customers in all corners. 

List of each team member and role they play at BioZyme: 

Alan Lee, Director of Domestic Business Development – Oversees the Business Development team as a whole in addition to building valuable relationships with distributor. 

John Jeffrey, Beef Business Development Manager – Works with the beef sales and marketing teams to create sales plans for the VitaFerm® and Gain Smart® product lines and to get those products into the beef sectors. Develops relationships with customers and dealers, to ensure the best outcomes for the products and works closely with other beef members of the Business Development Team to create awareness. 

John Tucker, Large Beef Accounts Specialist – Helps grows the sales of larger beef accounts through the identification large-scale seedstock and commercial cattle breeders, stocker operators and feedlots. In addition, he cultivates relationships with veterinarians, nutritionists, feed mills and other segments of the industry to promote the proactive health of beef cattle through a quality nutrition program. He will work with the sales team to help secure business in a particular geographic region when needed. 

Chris Cassady, Ph.D., Technical Beef Sales Manager – Uses his knowledge and understanding in the beef industry to educate producers and dealers about the benefits of Amaferm and how it can help the producer improve his or her bottom line. Represent BioZyme as a speaker at multiple educational functions and writes articles and creates educational materials for dealers and customers. 

Lori Lawrence, Show & Small Livestock Business Development Manager – Works with the sales and marketing teams to create sales plans for the Sure Champ®, Vita Charge®, DuraFerm® and Backyard Boost® product lines and to get those products into their respective sectors. Develops relationships with customers and dealers, to ensure the best outcomes for the products and works closely with other members of the Business Development Team to create awareness about BioZyme and the Amaferm advantage. 

Lynsey Whitacre, Ph.D., Companion Animal Business Development Manager & Sr Manager of New Product Development – Works with the sales and marketing teams to create plans for the Vitalize® horse and dog product lines and to get those products into various equine disciplines and canine lovers’ hands. Develops relationships with customers and dealers, to ensure the best outcomes for the products and works closely with other members of the Business Development Team to create awareness about BioZyme and the Amaferm advantage. 

Rod Hutcheson, Animal Health Business Development Manager – Explores one of the newest segments of the BioZyme business, the animal health industry. He works to build and cultivate relationships with veterinarians and those animal health suppliers to get the BioZyme products on their shelves to make sure all animals are afforded the care that comes full circle. In his role, he works with various other sales and marketing staff. 

Mike Wadle, Additive Territory Manager – Primary responsibilities include promoting Amaferm and other additives to use in feed mills and operations across species. Works closely with the nutritionists and others on the sales, business development and marketing teams to create a cohesive message across all species. 

Wyatt Marshall, Texas Equine Sales Specialist & Event Support – Assists with Vitalize sales in Texas and the Southwest, where a large number of horses are located. He also works closely with the equine business development and marketing staff to support equine events throughout the U.S. In his Event Support role, he works closely with all BioZyme marketing brand managers to make sure the national events run smoothly and the BioZyme presence is noted in a positive manner. 

How does your team help with “Care that comes full circle” for BioZyme customers: Our team reaches a multitude of customers and can show them that we genuinely care for the ultimate customer, the animal, by educating the distributor, the dealer and the customer about the nutritional benefits of Amaferm and all of our products. At the end of the day, if the animals we take care of are not healthy, performing and gaining, our customers aren’t successful. We want our customers to be successful. They are also a part of that care that comes full circle.   

WHAT TOOLS SHOULD YOU INVEST IN TO GROW IN 2022 AND BEYOND?

The school supply list can be both friend and foe – for some there is nothing more exciting than purchasing that brand new on-trend backpack and pack of colored pencils. Yet, in some districts, organizations actually conduct fundraisers where they will purchase your kids’ supplies for a nominal fee or donation to save you the headache.

Just like the parent investing in their students’ supplies, are you making the correct investments in your company’s technology and tools to help your growth for another year and the years after that? Are you still scratching notes on the yellow legal pad your granddaddy used in the last century due to its sentimental value, or have you updated to tablet sand smartphones to help track your customers and their orders?

Business owners – both big and small – have lots of balls to juggle. We’ve got five tech tools to help you increase efficiency and potentially help you grow your business.

Project Management Software

It’s hard to know what you’re supposed to do when you can’t find that yellow post-it note or the corner of that feed sack you wrote a reminder on, so how is the rest of your team supposed to keep track of your tasks and theirs? Project management software is a relatively in expensive investment to share and track your business’s regular tasks and special projects, see who is assigned to which task, and monitor progress and deadlines. A variety of software options exist, and most will allow use on both your computer and phone for easy tracking of projects.

E-mail Marketing

With customers seeking information at their fingertips, an e-mail newsletter is the way of the future. Yes, there is value in the printed word, but for fast, quick blasts of information to get out to your customer list, having those emails on file makes this method of marketing the next wave of great marketing.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Building relationships is key to your business success. Although you might still keep all your customer information on an index card, CRM software will help you track sales patterns, manage and track outreach and even let you see who is visiting your website or opening and reading your emails. A quality CRM program will often help you increase your customer support.

Data Backup

This is perhaps the area to be most proactive in since most of us wait to backup our data only AFTER we have lost it all and are reacting to a bad experience. It’s easy to accidentally delete or corrupt data. Software conflicts and malicious actors can cause major disruptions. SaaS (Software as a service) marketing vendors back up data at the platform level, but you can’t access that information to restore your account.

Backup software gives you full control and immediate access to your critical business data. If something happens, you can restore your data in a few clicks.

HR Management

Few small businesses can afford to hire a human resources administrator. HR management software tools take care of everything from payroll and shift scheduling to distributing important company announcements. They can be a little more expensive, and there is no mobile app because of the sensitive nature of the material.

Just as there are boxes with 12 crayons and 64 crayons, your business can invest in five or 55 technologies to help it succeed. These five are technologies that every company, regardless of size can use to help them grow.

Two Minutes in August – Doing Hard Things

By Shelia Grobosky – Marketing Brand Manager – Dealers & Public Relations 

Depending on where you are located geographically this month, your news will likely vary. If parts of the U.S., like where I live, you’re probably like me – thankful for the rainfall, but tired of dumping the rain gauge. And yet, we are praying fervently for our friends that are drought-stricken, fighting fires and wondering if they need to sell cows now, wean early and start feeding hay with hopes that rain is on its way. 

In agriculture, we are taught the value of doing hard things. I was reminded this earlier today when I had to take my parents’ 11-year-old dog to the vet to be euthanized. This was not how I envisioned using vacation time as an adult, but as he was the link to my dad, who passed last summer, I couldn’t expect my mom to take care of this blind, deaf diaper-wearing house dog who no longer had a quality of life. Thankfully, my dad had raised me to take care of animals, and do the right thing, and I knew that putting this dog out of his misery was the proper thing for him and my mom.  

So, this month, I decided instead of recapping the news, because I’m sure most of you are aware of the rising input costs, midterm elections and the basketball player who wanted to share her “agricultural” habits with our Russian friends, I would encourage you and challenge you.  

Edgar A. Guest wrote one of my favorite poems a century ago. Perhaps you had a former 4-H leader, FFA advisor or coach share this. But in today’s ag world, I thought it would be fitting to share too. Don’t worry. I’m not going to share poetry every month. But in light of the state of the world, I wanted to take two minutes this month to encourage you all with the following. Have a great month! 

Don’t Quit 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low, but the debts are high, 

And you want to smile but you have to sigh, 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit. 

Life is strange with its twists and turns, 

As every one of us sometimes learns, 

And many failures turn about 

When we might have won had we stuck it out. 

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow – 

You may succeed with another blow. 

Success is failure turned inside out – 

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, 

You can never tell how close you are, 

It may be near when it seems so far; 

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit – 

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit. 

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN: THE EVOLUTION OF THE MASTER DEALER PROGRAM

“Be a lifelong student. The more you learn, the more you earn and the moreself-confidence you will have.” – Brian Tracy

Five years ago, BioZyme®launched one of its most successful resources to date, and it just keeps getting better. The Master Dealer Training Program was started in 2017 as an online tool to better familiarize dealers with the wide variety of product lines the company offers. Since that time, the online training portal has expanded its offering to help the dealers become better BioZyme marketers and overall, more successful salespeople.

Now, with three “chapters” or levels, the Master Dealer program offers training on a variety of subject matter, all from the comfort of the dealer’s own computer. Having a slow day in in the office? Log on toMaster Dealer. Hired a new employee? Get that person new credentials in the Online Dealer Center so he or she can receive training from theMaster Dealer Program.

In addition to passing the online courses, the Master Dealer Program has a few other requirements. However, the benefits far outweigh the time and resources needed for the Master Dealer designation. Once the dealer has successfully completed coursework, he or she must also purchase three of the following product lines, before receiving certification as a Master Dealer with all the benefits. Eligible brands include:

  1. VitaFerm®
  2. .Sure Champ®
  3. DuraFerm®
  4. Gain Smart®
  5. Vita Charge®, Vitalize®, and/or Backyard Boost®

Chapter One is the most extensive online training that gives a company overview of BioZyme, as well as brief summaries of most product lines and how to position them. Once a dealer completes the requirements for Chapter One, the dealership will be designated as a“Master Dealer” on the Dealer Locator, receive signage for the store, and receive a jacket with the Master Dealer logo.

Chapter Two includes targeted courses about marketing HEAT products, using small pack to open doors and other marketing resources. Once a dealer completes Chapter Two, he or she receives a Master Dealer insulated cup and two caps.

Chapter Three was introduced in the spring of 2022with a specific focus on programs and tools for BioZyme dealers and how to make their business more successful. The dealers who complete Chapter Four receive more BioZyme wearables.

Chapter Four is coming this fall and will focus more on the sales support for BioZyme dealers. The reward for this will definitely be something for the entire family.

Just like anything that gets better with time, that is the case for the Master Dealer Program. Now, dealers can complete all courses as they wish with no waiting in between course work. Complete Chapter One today and start Chapter Two; you don’t have to wait a year in between. A dealership can allow multiple employees to complete the coursework and each employee receives the benefits.

To learn more about the Master Dealer Program, log on to the online Dealer Center and click on Training. This is the most comprehensive training you can get without leaving home!

Letters From Lisa – August 2022

In previous issues of VISION, I talked about having the right people in the right seats on the bus. In thinking about the forward movement of that bus, lifelong learning helps keeps the momentum. These folks never settle for what they currently know and always seek to improve and build upon their current knowledge. People become smarter with the power of knowledge and solve problems more easily. Who doesn’t want them on their bus?

In this busy world, it may be hard to find time to learn anything that isn’t repeatedly shoved in our face. But if we can find time to learn a bit more, it is well worth the effort. Both personal and professional development are extremely rewarding, and I encourage you to make some time to grow and expand your knowledge.

Here are some tips for including the habit of continuous learning in our busy life.

Read! Reading helps cultivate curiosity, expand imagination and develop a greater appreciation for those who are different from you.

“Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”-Albert Einstei

Think! Simply reading the wisdom of others isn’t enough; you must think through ideas yourself. Spend time journaling or contemplating over ideas you have read.

Apply! Skill-based continuous learning is useless if it isn’t used. Reading a book on a coding language isn’t the same thing as writing a program. Watching a YouTube segment on painting isn’t the same as picking up a brush. Knowledge must be put it into practice to improve those in the seats.

Taking risk by setting out to do something you don’t know how to do, whether in a personal or business environment is valuable. Forced learning in this way can be fun and challenging and make you more valuable to your teammates on the bus.

The desire to learn must come from within; few external forces are going to persuade you to do it. And sometimes it may seem a daunting task. But if you set learning goals, plan and take action to keep yourself moving, you will find yourself immersed in true learning.

When you make lifelong learning a priority it helps you enhance the depth and breadth of your knowledge, which can subsequently help provide key insights and opportunities to move business forward.

The more you know and learn, the more you will realize what there is available to know and learn. Start building momentum for greater chances of lifelong achievement and happiness.