Effective Interrogation Techniques Lead to Growth

In a world centered on communication devices and connectivity, one thing is missing. The question. Too often we get wrapped up in telling people what we want them to hear, rather than asking them a question. Blaine Rodgers, Show Livestock Business Development & Field Support, shared with the store dealers at the recent Dealer Retreat that the average 4-year-old asks 390 questions a day! That’s a question every 2.5 minutes that toddler is awake, but the youngster is curious, constantly learning new things and has no fear.

“How amazing would it be to have the courage to ask questions of your customers and potential end-users without being limited by fear?” Rodgers asked. “As adults we are afraid of asking stupid questions or questions that make us vulnerable.”

Rodgers offered six tips to effective interrogation that will help build relationships and grow your business.

Questions create connections. When you ask a question, it shows genuine concern or interest in the customer, it’s animal or other interests creating a connection.

Questions drive solutions. Asking a question of your customer helps them connect to real solutions. Asking questions won’t necessarily provide a ready answer but will help get them headed toward a solution.

Questions open doors of possibility.  If we ask a question, it allows us to not make assumptions. And, asking questions opens doors of opportunity that we might not even knew existed. Perhaps you have a customer who picks up Sure Champ® for his or her kids’ 4-H projects. Have you ever asked if they own other livestock? You might be missing an opportunity to sell another great product because you have never asked.

Questions lead to asking other questions. Often when we give a statement, that is final. There is no more conversation; however, asking a question could lead to another, which could lead to even more product sales or solutions for your customer.

Questions build bridges. Typically, in tough times, questions are needed more than statements. Although a statement like, “I’m thinking of you” or “Things will work out,” might be easier to say, questions will mean more in the long-term. “How can I help you over come your challenges?” “Is there something specific I can do for you?” Anytime a person is going through rough time – think the spring we’ve had – asking questions is going to help you appear more genuine, shows you care and helps build a stronger bond.

Questions inspire action. Action is after all, the desired end-result, and questions put us in a proactive state. The brain does not like to leave any question unanswered. Think about a question that will close the conversation you’ve had, such as, “Which product would you like to leave here with today?” “How do you feel about putting extra calves on the ground next spring with increased conception rates?” These are questions that inspire action and will help your sales grow.

Effective interrogation – or question asking – can be an powerful tool for growing your business and building relationships. Take time to ask your customers the right questions that show genuine concern and can offer a solution. Questions will inspire action, and action is the tool we need to grow.

How to Provide Successful Customer Service

What does a seedstock operation who’s core business goal of selling commercial bulls have in common with an animal nutrition company? More than you would think. 44 Farms located in Cameron, Texas, is one of BioZyme®’s Partners in Performance and markets approximately 1,200 bulls each year through its four sales and private treaty. What started as a ranch with the goal to have its own branded-beef business has grown to be one of the premier Angus operations in the country, and the one that Wal-Mart has chosen to supply a high-quality, consistent product to its meat cases.

“44 Farms and BioZyme are both entrepreneurial-minded companies at heart with an emphasis on teamwork, quality and a culture of the customer first. One of the things I have observed is a sense of family that starts with the sense of leadership with Bob and Lisa (Norton),” 44 Farms COO Doug Slattery told the attendees at the sixth BioZyme Dealer Retreat during an industry update.

A BioZyme customer who understands the importance of good nutrition and health, 44 Farms includes Amaferm® into many of their rations. When 44 Farms started their own branded-beef business, they were processing 30 head a week. Now, the highly successful 44 Steaks program processes 300 head a week, all calves that are part of their customer buy-back program.

As someone who works in customer service every day, Slattery said there are five key traits that exceptional customer service requires.

Communication. If you are going to create a new customer or retain a current customer, you must communicate with them. Reach out and see how they are doing with their product(s) they purchased. Often times the follow-up is just as important as the sale. It shows the customer that you care. Making a phone call or stopping by for face-to-face communication is worth a lot to a customer.

Personal, customized service. Just like selling bulls, selling a nutrition program, isn’t one-size-fits-all. While you are communicating with them, ask them what their needs are and offer a solution that will best help them. Perhaps, they are new to the business and need management advice to get them started in addition to a nutrition plan.

Think outside the box to meet their needs. Maybe the potential customer you’re talking to needs a fresh idea. He or she might be running their stock on limited land or they are trying to feed them for niche market like all-natural. Be sure to ask questions to find the best solution for them, even if it is a little on the non-traditional side.

Listen to what they really want and need. It all circles back to communication and asking the right the question. If they are trying to stay in an all-natural marketing program, make sure you are recommending products and practices that will keep them in that program.

Attention to detail. A satisfied customer will become a repeat customer. Pay attention to details and keep track of their information for them. If you know it’s been a while since they ordered product, reach out to them and remind them they are probably running low. Or if it is time to switch to a VitaFerm® HEAT® mineral, remind them of that when they order. Customers will appreciate that you have kept track of these important details when the busyness of their lives hasn’t allowed for it.

Customer service is often as important as the goods or products you
are selling. Selling a great product is the easy part but making sure the customer is satisfied and had a rewarding customer service is the key to repeat customers.

“A happy customer is your best salesman, and that starts with successful, exceptional customer service,” Slattery said.

June/July 2019 – Letters from Lisa

This past month was our 6th annual dealer retreat. This event brings together our top volume dealers to challenge all of us on how we can be the best versions of ourselves in our day to day business. This year’s theme was Decode the Mystery of Growth.

Mystery is defined as something that is difficult or impossible to understand.

This recent article in Feedstuffs is a mystery to me. How can I include chocolate as 30% of my diet without affecting my carcass composition?  Seems if I just include it at .000003 percent it significantly impacts my carcass. Now that is a mystery.

The “love of gain” is human nature. So, a desire or even a need for growth is not mysterious. It’s how to create it that’s mysterious.

We must work every day to solve that mystery using a variety of ways including:

  1. Investing in human capital
  2. Committing to learning
  3. Standing out
  4. Setting bold goals
  5. Making big changes

The common point to all of these is ACTION – Nike says Just Do It.  If “just do it” was enough, we’d have already just done it by now.  So, if all we need to do is “just do it,” why do we go through one year after the other without “just doing” the things we know we need to do to grow?

Because successful growth isn’t about just doing, it’s about:

  • Identifying the need for change
  • Creating that change
  • Preparing for the challenges that will present themselves along the way of change
  • Grabbing a hold of an “all in” belief so you don’t just give up

If you skip any of those steps, whatever you “just do,” won’t be sustained long enough, repeated often enough, or executed well enough to create the action needed to grow.

Once you know what actions you need to take each day; you’ll find that “just do it” is the effective warning it was intended to be.

Gain Smart Positioning Tools

Need help positioning Gain Smart? We have you covered. VitaFerm Gain Smart is a line of vitamin and mineral supplements for beef cattle with the Amaferm advantage that promotes economically produced pounds by maximizing the natural energy and protein available in forage.
Selling tools:
Share with your customers:

July PromoBoxx Campaigns

This month on Promoboxx we are excited to announce our launch of three new campaigns for Vitalize, Sure Champ and VitaFerm
For Vitalize: Help your customers ride more and worry less knowing Vitalize has them covered. With a landing page featuring product information, testimonials and statistics this campaign will show why Vitalize will give your customer’s horse a good gut feeling.
For Sure Champ: Let us help you sell Sure Champ with our Tips and Testimonials campaign. This campaign features helpful blogs just in time for the summer stressors and testimonials on why our products are perfect for your customer’s show animals.
For VitaFerm: Don’t take our word for it, show your customers how VitaFerm has helped other producers battle the heat and keep cows bred with our new testimonial-driven VitaFerm campaign. This campaign features testimonials on VitaFerm HEAT and our Gain Smart Program as well as some product focused posts.
If you have the automation feature set up on Promoboxx, a new post will go up weekly for each campaign. Visit www.biozymedealermktg.com to get started.

Dealer Spotlight: Field Farms

BioZyme® dealer Mitch Field at Field Farms shares his own personal success stories with the products to gain the trust and business of potential customers. He and his family had positive experiences with the VitaFerm® products on their Angus operation in Erhard, Minn., but the closest dealer to him was 100 miles away, so Field decided to become a dealer. He started sharing his success stories, has conducted producer meetings and has taken his message to social media, all while watching his business grow during the past two years.

“The biggest challenge for me has been getting people on a strict mineral program. But I’m working to get them feeding it all year, so it is better for their cows too, and some of them are starting to come around,” Field said.

In an area where farming is the dominant profession and most producers have less than 50 head, Field said getting them on a year-round program has been a battle. However, when they see the benefits of the Amaferm advantage, they are starting to realize the importance of providing excellent nutrition to their herd all year.

Field said he promotes the mineral program by seasons and production cycle. When he and his family only had to treat one sick calf out of 150 at weaning after using Vita Charge® Drench and Stress Tubs, that definitely grew his customer base. He has his producer meetings in the fall just prior to weaning to sell the benefits of the Vita Charge program. He also notes with the humidity and the number of lakes they have in their area, the VitaFerm HEAT® mineral has been easy to sell.

“With where we live in Minnesota, we run into a lot of fly issues in the summer, so I tell people about the HEAT mineral. Once they try it, they really like it, and they don’t have to worry about pinkeye issues either,” Field said.

Though his own experiences have helped him educate producers in his area about the benefits of a high-quality mineral program, he’s also gone a step further, and shares some of his experiences on social media. He shares his personal experiences on Twitter and said that he’s had a few other cattle producers reach out to him about mineral programs. He was able to refer them to BioZyme dealers in their area, and at least one purchased product.

“I always have people ask certain things. Since I’ve had good luck with the product, I share personal experiences with my followers,” Field said.

Educating others on the value of the mineral program is key; however, the biggest benefit to becoming a dealer is the personal network that Field has made. He said he has made connections with people in his own area he didn’t even know raised livestock and made valuable friendships with other BioZyme dealers and staff that he looks forward to talking with on a regular basis.

“I’ve made some good friends along the way. I talk to Keith Micke (Dealer in Wyoming) about once a month and Rowdy Pope (ASM in Florida) about once a week.”

For Field, it’s more than a mineral program. Being a dealer has allowed him to share his experiences, help others help their herds and cultivate friendships and connections along the way. That’s care that comes full circle.

QUARTER 2 MAILERS ARE HERE!

Quarter 2 mailers are here. If you have a current customer or prospect mailing list on file with us, be sure to check your email TODAY to opt-in for this Q2 mailer to your customers.

This program is open to any dealer that has a customer/prospect mailing list on file with us. We will use the most current list we have on file. If you’d like to update yours, please send those updates to your ASM and we will get that list updated for the next quarter’s mailing.

Opt-in date ends May 31st so don’t wait!

MAY PROMOBOXX CAMPAIGNS

This month on Promoboxx we are excited to announce our launch of three new campaigns for VitaFerm, Vitalize and Sure Champ!

The Vitalize campaign focuses on how Vitalize helps elevate horses health at all ages and stages of their life.

Summer Prep with Sure Champ is a campaign that features helpful tips and testimonials.

See the Difference with VitaFerm is a campaign to highlight the difference VitaFerm and Vita Charge can make in your customer’s cow herd with these testimonials and videos.

If you have the automation feature set up on Promoboxx, a new post will go up weekly for each campaign. Visit www.biozymedealermktg.com to get started.

Producer Meetings are an Ideal Venue to Promote the Program

Producer meetings are a great way to gather a group of like-minded people to talk about the BioZyme® products, exchange ideas and see your customers and potential customers all in one setting. Depending on your location, it’s probably best to host these meetings in the fall or spring, when producers are not swamped with field work or busy with calving, weaning or breeding.

One of the best topics that can be discussed at a producer meeting is the overall benefit of the Amaferm® advantage that animals receive through all BioZyme products, according to Jake Warntjes, National Sales Director and Area Sales Manager for Kansas, Western Oklahoma and Northwest Texas.

“First, educating producers on the benefits of Amaferm provides a common thread and basis of understanding of the ingredient in all BioZyme products. From there, selling the value of Amaferm and how its metabolic impacts on the animal will increase the bottom line will help position value over cost.,” Warntjes said.

Once they know about the benefits of Amaferm, producers need to understand the benefits of a year-round mineral program, the second topic you will want to address at your producer meeting. Some producers want to use a mineral at breeding or calving; however, to receive the maximum benefits, a year-round program is essential.

Educating the producer on a program, not only helps their herd, it also will help your bottom line (see charts below).

“You have to help them understand it is something you can’t do just part of the year like right before breeding or right at weaning. It is something you need through all production phases to see the full value of using it for a full year,” Warntjes said. “You have to keep Amaferm in them year-round whether you keep them on Concept•Aid® or Cattlemen’s Blend™. They have to realize the importance of keeping them on Amaferm all year.”

The best way to help your producers establish a nutrition program is to visit with them about their goals. Determine what they want to establish in terms of increased conception rates, heavier weaning weights, healthier cattle or how they might want to market their calves on a value-added program using the VitaFerm® or Gain Smart® mineral programs.

It’s more than a mineral. It’s a program. Not only does that program help your customers have higher-performing, healthier animals, according to the numbers below, your sales and income will grow too. Producer meetings are a great way to share that “program” message with your producers. Start with educating them on the benefits of the Amaferm advantage and watch your business grow.