Our Vitalize Equine Health Seminar will take place on April 23rd at 5 PM central featuring Lynsey Whitacre, PhD discussing The Impacts of Stress on Your Horse. This Seminar is completely FREE to attend, so be sure to sign up and invite your customers too!
Below you will find important information about BioZyme’s response to the challenge of COVID-19. To ensure you receive any important updates, please sign up for our text alerts by clicking the link in the top right corner of the Online Dealer Center.
Official Government Issued COVID-19 Information:
We encourage you to be aware of the best practices outlined by the CDC and WHO in an effort to prevent the spread of illness.
Steps to Help Prevent the Spread of COVD-19
Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Important Information for BioZyme Dealers:
We understand the growing concern surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) across our communities. From the onset of this situation, we have been listening to the experts as we work to meet the challenges of this extraordinary situation. We are closely monitoring and following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure we are doing our part to keep everyone in our circle safe, but continue to be able to feed the amazing animals that ultimately contribute to our survival.
We are actively monitoring the situation and assessing risks and are ready to implement immediate changes to ensure a high level of safety and provide the best possible experience during this time.
Our employees, customers and business partners are the heart of our company and we look forward to serving your needs wherever and however you choose to engage with our products and services.
How BioZyme is Protecting Our Employees:
BioZyme Infectious Disease Preparedness & Response Plan.
Vendor / Visitor Entrance
Vendors and visitors will not be allowed in the building unless:
Essential Employee Letter:
Employees that must come to the Stockyards or Easton facilities to ensure production of our products continues uninterrupted are being provided an essential employee letter to carry with them. Click Here to download the letter.
All employees who are able to work remotely are doing so, including the Sales Team, International Team, Outreach Support Center, Marketing Team and Office Support Staff.
DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS
SHIPPING UPDATES
PRODUCT UPDATES
Great customer service can make you or break you. High-quality products are important, but even more important are the services offered by you, the dealer, to ensure when the customer is paying for his or her product, that customer is getting more than just a product that could have likely been purchased down the road from another business. Be sure to set your company up for success by distinguishing it as the company with great products and exceptional personal service.
In an era where many things are becoming automated, don’t let your service become one of them. Customers and prospective customers still want that face-to-face interaction – a smile, handshake and acknowledgement that a human with a heart is listening to and hearing their challenges while thinking of ways to help. There are several ways that you and your employees can differentiate your business by providing the best personal service possible. Here are four we highly encourage you try out.
“Personal service” isn’t just a buzzword created to add to your already busy life. It is an important, valuable concept that can help you grow your business. Happy customers will tell their friends and peers about exceptional service; but they will tell everyone about poor service, something you don’t want to be the topic of!
Providing personal service isn’t hard. In fact, it is something most people do every day. Just remember, it can pay off by distinguishing your business and leading to growth.
Differentiation is what sets your business apart from the four other farm stores, feed dealers and on-farm supplement suppliers in the tri-county area. But how can you set yourself apart in the marketplace? Just think about what makes it on your 10 o’clock news each night – besides politics and viruses. Stories that are unique, controversial or innovative find their way in front of the viewer audiences. Companies that offer unique or innovative products and services that leave customers something to talk about will attract business and create consumer awareness.
Differentiation is to your strategic advantage. Here are three ways to distinguish your business from your competitors.
Make Your Offer Compelling
Steve Jobs said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Compelling companies are leaders. They are the talk of the town, and this buzz allows the business to gain momentum and grow sales. Now, you’re probably asking yourself what you can do in your particular industry to create buzz. That’s where your innovation and creativity get to thrive. Perhaps you offer a timely promotion for your customers once a year on a product that most everyone uses. Or, you could offer a customer appreciation incentive based on volume of business or number of new customer referrals. Providing education through a producer meeting or open house often sets your business apart, as people appreciate being kept in the know on new products, how to solve challenges in their businesses and learning of new services your business might offer.
Remember, making your business stand out starts with a good product, but also needs to be complemented with exceptional service. That’s why it is important to hire and train employees who are knowledgeable that can show their passion for what they do.
Climb the Reputation Ladder
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it,” said Benjamin Franklin.
The words spoken by Mr. Franklin could not be truer, especially in a digital world, where one wrong move is recorded and can be shared globally via text message or social media with the click of a button. Being known as a reputable company that really cares about its people – both customers and employees – is the first rung in the ladder of trust. And, building trust is the foundation to any long-term relationship. According to inc.com, “creating a good business reputation means honoring a product-returns policy; delivering on time; providing timely and friendly service; publishing accurate ingredients, as well as keeping factual records; and ensuring that goods are safe for consumption.”
Earn Big with Premium Services and Products
The problem with offering products or services similar to everyone else is that it turns your company into a commodity business. Show your customers that you’re a value-added company by explaning how your products add value. It doesn’t take many testimonials or much math to show your potential customers the ROI on a premium product like VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®. Track your customers ordering habits and remind them when they are likely low on the products that they need for the particular season they are in. Offer delivery or stay open later for “after work” pick up. All of these things might seem small, but to the customer, they add a premium and a value, making you stand out from the competition.
Distinguish your business. It’s better to stand out from the crowd, especially when you are differentiating yourself in a positive light. Be unique. Be innovative and uphold the kind of reputation that will make your customers want to come back time and time again.
Physical pain is never good. However, for people in business, trying to make a living there is another pain that needs to be addressed. Did you know that in the world of marketing, your customers experience their own pain points? Although these pain points may not cause physical pain, they can still be challenging to “diagnose.” As a business owner or leader, you can distinguish your business by discovering pain points your customers have and providing a solution.
What is a pain point?
Pain points are specific problems that your prospective customer faces or simply put, challenges. Challenges come in a variety of forms and can be as different as your potential customer list. Some challenges can be prevented or eliminated due to proper management. Other challenges, like the environment cannot always be predicted, but can still be helped. Although a multitude of pain points exist, WordStream.com groups pain points into four broad categories and describes them as follows:
• Financial Pain Points: Your prospects are spending too much money on their current provider/solution/products and want to reduce their spending, or see a better ROI.
• Productivity Pain Points: Your prospects are wasting too much time using their current provider/solution/products or want to use their time more efficiently. With our audience this could be that they want to shorten their calving window or simply find a way to increase efficiencies.
• Process Pain Points: Your prospects want to improve internal processes. For our customer base, this could mean they want to treat fewer calves or they are looking for a more stress-free way to wean their calves and get them started on feed and water.
• Support Pain Points: Your prospects aren’t receiving the support they need at critical stages of the customer journey or sales process.
Once you start thinking about pain points in these four categories, you should be able to start to plan your positioning in a way that will address each of these pain points to show that your company is the best solution to their challenges.
How to Identify the Pain Points and Find a Solution
Now that you understand the four broad categories of pain points, how do you tell which pain point your potential customer is facing? Chances are, there are at least a couple of pains points that have your potential client reeling. So be ready to address their needs to set your business apart from the competition.
The best way to identify pain points is to have a one-on-one conversation with your prospects. Ask them directly what their challenges are and how you can help solve those challenges. Really listen to what they have to say before offering a solution. Although many prospects and customers will have similar pain points, everyone will have some variation on how they plan to manage to fix or solve those challenges.
Perhaps your customer is troubled with spending a large sum of money on a consumable product like mineral. This is a great time to have a conversation about the investment that customer or prospect will be making in the nutrition and overall health of an animal. Talk about the ROI for that customer, if he or she spends money on a product like VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®, and how that investment can produce more live calves, and therefore generate more income.
If the pain point involves support, you can offer numerous solutions based on the goods and services you offer while providing outstanding customer service. The personal services that back a product are sometimes just as important to the customer as the product itself.
We don’t want to see anyone in pain – physical or otherwise. By discovering your potential customers’ pain points early in your conversation, you can set your company apart by offering solutions to their challenges and helping to ease their “pain.” This should ultimately differentiate your business, and you can watch your business grow.
Sales diversification is one of BioZyme®’s five goals for the next three years. Why? No matter how you dissect it, BioZyme is very dependent on the U.S. cattle market. It represents about 60% of every dollar of revenue we have.
You can look at that two ways. Way to go team! Or, what are all the ways we can change that will allow us to have more revenue from different things? That thought means looking at how to grow international sales, equine sales, small pack (treatment for a challenge) sales and even pet sales such as dogs and backyard chickens. (Did you know 8% of the 10 million households in the USA have chickens in their backyard?)
Why would anyone want to add all that to their plate if you can be successful just doing one thing for one species? Here’s why:
Sales can dry up, so keep investing in them
It should go without saying that businesses can’t rely on a single sales source to keep them afloat (never mind grow the company). It doesn’t matter how great your client or customer is, or how well your relationship might be working right now. Anything could happen to change that. Continually be on the lookout for new sales in order to build a solid portfolio of customers. No matter how well things might seem to be going, you can’t afford to be complacent. Set aside some time every day to capture and chase leads, even if it’s just one hour. You’ll be surprised by how much you can achieve in that time.
Competition will be tough, so make the most of your resources
The benefit of diversification is that it enables businesses to maximize their use of resources and fully realize their potential. You might only be able to diversify horizontally, by adding a new product or service to appeal to your current customer base. Or you could jump into an entirely new market segment, with a new customer base, to take advantage of high growth potential. But, either way, you will be making the most of your resources and ensuring you aim for the best return on your investment.
Finding out what your business does well (and better than your competitors) is a good way to see if your resources are being used to support these strengths. It can also help you identify where you might be wasting time, money and skills. This will allow you to see where you can potentially add value for current customers with new products or services, or how you could use your resources better to add value to an entirely new market.
It’s easy for one revenue stream to drain your energy and distract from growth
I’ve seen this happen too many times. One main revenue stream starts demanding increasing focus until it takes over everything. It might be your first cherished customer, or it could be the income source that has been the most lucrative. Regardless, it can quickly become an obstacle to success by taking up too much of your energy and resources, leaving you little for taking advantage of new opportunities. Learning to avoid this from happening up front is way better than trying to untangle yourself afterward.
It is widely acknowledged that while business diversification is appealing for a number of reasons, it is a ‘high-stakes game.’ In other words, both the rewards and the risks are potentially extraordinary. Yet one of the reasons diversification strategies can fail is because they are often undertaken when the company is under pressure and there isn’t time for well thought out options. Think about diversification of your revenue streams ahead of time, when you’re not under pressure and you can give the proper authority to make a good decision. This will allow you to more likely find success– and protect the future of your business.
With the current limitations on travel and event attendance due to the COVID-19 outbreak, getting your dose of education and industry networking can be challenging. However, we are making it easier than ever with our NEW Virtual Producer Meetings! Please share this opportunity with your customers and invite them to join us!
These meetings are completely FREE for you and your customers. We have 2 segments available for you to attend; March 30th and 31st.
You and your customers can sign up using this link: https://vitaferm.com/virtual-producer-meetings/…
Online shopping; some say it is a double-edged sword, but it is here to stay. It is an efficient way to purchase the supplies a person needs and wants without fighting crowds and pushy salespeople. Others contend that it takes away from local businesses. However, one BioZyme® dealer, who is an innovator in e-commerce, has found his niche in the online retail business while educating his consumers.
Chris Mallon, owner and manager of A to Z Vet Supply (www.atozvetsupply.com) in Dresden, Tennessee, was one of the first pet supply sellers to have an online business, back in 2003, when the internet was still the “wild, wild west.” Although the transition from a catalog to a website didn’t happen over night and not without trial and error, his company has grown, experienced some website changes; and he’s excited to launch a fresh designed, custom website in the very near future.
“We look at our business differently. I’m not a widget-seller. I’m an educator. I travel around the country and speak at conventions and educational seminars [for dog breeders]. The backbone of our business is dog breeding. We work with dog breeders to educate them on a sciencebasis just like BioZyme does, on nutrition and vaccinating and worming and all these things they need to bring healthy puppies to market and what happens beyond,” Mallon said. “Puppies grow up in a breeder’s environment and then they leave to go to a new household or go to a pet store to be sold. That’s a whole new environment and that just shuts down their system. Of course, the Amaferm® in the Vitalize® Dog Recovery Gel is a great thing to send along with that puppy to keep its system intact and even if it stresses, there’s no impact on its digestive tract and it won’t have diarrhea, etc., etc… So, we educate people on these things.”
Mallon said education is vital to what he does. Once he or his staff has educated a consumer on a product or how to use a product, the sale is secondary. When a consumer understands the product, the sale isn’t as challenging to make. And once they start using a product they trust that works, they don’t turn back. Then, they start telling their friends who tell their friends and referrals come pouring in. He said that is how he’s used the Vitalize Dog Recovery Gel and Vita Charge® Liquid Boost to grow his business during the past two years.
“I’ve got people hooked on those products. I gave a great educational seminar, so they try the products. Once they implement them, there’s no reason for them to think about it again because they keep coming back and are like, ‘wow, this really works!’”
As a pioneer in animal supply e-commerce, Mallon offers three tips to set yourself apart in online retail.
In addition to its website, A to Z Vet Supply is also found on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Mallon said he uses those tools to help draw people in to find his website. Although he uses the Promoboxx content on the Facebook page, he said his typical content is funny dog videos that people will watch, then they see his website, visit that and perhaps call him with a question. Another valuable tool he recommends is Google Analytics, a free resource to track and reports website traffic.
Yes, online shopping is here to stay. A to Z Vet Supply has proven itself an innovator in the digital information and retail space. Chris Mallon uses his skills and knowledge to educate before the sale, being a true champion of “care that comes full circle.”
Spring is around the corner, and temperatures are only going to get warmer and warmer as the days continue to get longer. Cattle aren’t gaining when they are all gathered up under a tree or standing in a pond; but they don’t really like being out in the heat of the day grazing either. That’s why it’s important to share the advantages of our full line of HEAT® products with your customers.
Share these key benefits with your customers:
Grazing bred cows in the summer heat comes with its own set of challenges, and it is hard to be profitable when cows are heat-stressed and aborting calves. Share with your customers the value of getting cows bred with VitaFerm® ️ Concept•Aid® ️and keeping them bred through the heat of summer with VitaFerm® HEAT®.
This line of vitamin and mineral supplements contains the Amaferm® advantage and Capsaicin, both research-proven to lower body temperature, which can improve conception rates by maintaining pregnancy. It also includes garlic, a natural insect repellent.
At BioZyme, we offer a variety of product testimonials from across the country, and you can share these with your customers online or in person with the click of a button. Go to vitaferm.com and click on the testimonial tab at the top for a full line of testimonials. If you prefer to share a video with your customer or on your website, click on the media tab instead. There is a line-up of video testimonials and scenes from The American Rancher HEAT episodes that will help you promote HEAT and other products.
