Forums
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New resources
Latest activity
Trending Threads
Resources
Latest reviews
Search resources
FarmTV
Farm Compare
Search
Tokens/Searches
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Members
Registered members
Current visitors
New Resources
New posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Contact us
Close Menu
Forums
Farm Machinery
Machinery
John Deere reducing dealerships
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ollie989898" data-source="post: 7393524" data-attributes="member: 54866"><p>At no point have I stated that you can sell cow cake like a mobile phone salesman. I don't know if you realise this or not but ruminant nutrition is a highly technical business and not just anyone can do it merely by being a people person- the margin for error is huge and you can cost someone a lot of money very quickly if you don't grasp the science of cattle feeding. I would bet there are now very very few, if any, 'pure' salespeople selling cow cake or even fertiliser in that game now- that kind of mindset is 20 years out of date and won't last long in the business today. Farmers want (and need, in my view) value added services to help them with technical aspects of their business they might not have the skills or time to do themselves.</p><p></p><p>By way of clarification, I stated in my earlier post that I had no need for a CRM system- a company has a list of active or dormant accounts because they are the ones sending the invoices. Anyone can sit in a truck or at a desk and ring up phone numbers, explain they are the new sales person for the area in question and then make an appointment or, 'just turn up' if that is how they prefer to operate. I could drop into a salesperson's shoes tomorrow if they dropped dead today, all the phone numbers or addresses are there, you don't need an introduction from anyone else- I've seen it done and done it myself as well.</p><p></p><p>When I started out, I had scant information on who was who or where potential customers lay; I had a map with some names on it but the bulk of them were existing customers being serviced by a colleague already anyway so they were null and void. I went down a million farm drives, sometimes repeatedly, finding out who was where and who to talk to. Sometimes I wasn't even 100% sure of the farmer's name or surname, but I used this as a tool anyway to help me. The first visit down a farm drive is easy peasy- you have a reason to go there. The second and subsequent reasons are harder so you have to engineer or invent them. Once you have a reasonable relationship with people, even if you have never done so much a quids worth of business with them, they will begin to tell you about their neighbours and people they know. It's human nature to want to help people.</p><p></p><p>Having said that, it is not for everyone and can be a miserable way to earn a living as you are conscious of the fact your income is purely derived from keeping customers on the 'conveyor belt'. It is also extremely difficult to have to hear the inevitable: 'I'll call you if I want anything' line 10 million times.</p><p></p><p>There are firms out there who put people into the field, brand new at it and expect them to make sales within weeks of starting. That is nonsense in my view. In a technical field and with such long term and tight relationships I would not expect to sell as much as single 25kg bag of anything for the first 12 months. I will never forget my old boss, years ago now, telling me: 'I'm not interested in how much you might sell in the first two years, I want you to tell me how many times you have been invited to sit down at someone's kitchen table and drank coffee with them'.</p><p></p><p>Transactional sales in agriculture using the hard sell are pretty rare but certainly can be done, often very successfully over the phone, but that is not me or in my character.</p><p></p><p>It's a dying trade in many ways. One can earn a lot of money from it but I was too much of a perfectionist for my role.</p><p></p><p>The one thing I did take away from my time in technical sales was the very valuable sales training I was given and a wide appreciation on dealing with people which will serve someone well in virtually any role. There is also a lot of subtle psychology at work and I still find people fascinating to this day.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ollie989898, post: 7393524, member: 54866"] At no point have I stated that you can sell cow cake like a mobile phone salesman. I don't know if you realise this or not but ruminant nutrition is a highly technical business and not just anyone can do it merely by being a people person- the margin for error is huge and you can cost someone a lot of money very quickly if you don't grasp the science of cattle feeding. I would bet there are now very very few, if any, 'pure' salespeople selling cow cake or even fertiliser in that game now- that kind of mindset is 20 years out of date and won't last long in the business today. Farmers want (and need, in my view) value added services to help them with technical aspects of their business they might not have the skills or time to do themselves. By way of clarification, I stated in my earlier post that I had no need for a CRM system- a company has a list of active or dormant accounts because they are the ones sending the invoices. Anyone can sit in a truck or at a desk and ring up phone numbers, explain they are the new sales person for the area in question and then make an appointment or, 'just turn up' if that is how they prefer to operate. I could drop into a salesperson's shoes tomorrow if they dropped dead today, all the phone numbers or addresses are there, you don't need an introduction from anyone else- I've seen it done and done it myself as well. When I started out, I had scant information on who was who or where potential customers lay; I had a map with some names on it but the bulk of them were existing customers being serviced by a colleague already anyway so they were null and void. I went down a million farm drives, sometimes repeatedly, finding out who was where and who to talk to. Sometimes I wasn't even 100% sure of the farmer's name or surname, but I used this as a tool anyway to help me. The first visit down a farm drive is easy peasy- you have a reason to go there. The second and subsequent reasons are harder so you have to engineer or invent them. Once you have a reasonable relationship with people, even if you have never done so much a quids worth of business with them, they will begin to tell you about their neighbours and people they know. It's human nature to want to help people. Having said that, it is not for everyone and can be a miserable way to earn a living as you are conscious of the fact your income is purely derived from keeping customers on the 'conveyor belt'. It is also extremely difficult to have to hear the inevitable: 'I'll call you if I want anything' line 10 million times. There are firms out there who put people into the field, brand new at it and expect them to make sales within weeks of starting. That is nonsense in my view. In a technical field and with such long term and tight relationships I would not expect to sell as much as single 25kg bag of anything for the first 12 months. I will never forget my old boss, years ago now, telling me: 'I'm not interested in how much you might sell in the first two years, I want you to tell me how many times you have been invited to sit down at someone's kitchen table and drank coffee with them'. Transactional sales in agriculture using the hard sell are pretty rare but certainly can be done, often very successfully over the phone, but that is not me or in my character. It's a dying trade in many ways. One can earn a lot of money from it but I was too much of a perfectionist for my role. The one thing I did take away from my time in technical sales was the very valuable sales training I was given and a wide appreciation on dealing with people which will serve someone well in virtually any role. There is also a lot of subtle psychology at work and I still find people fascinating to this day. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Farm Machinery
Machinery
John Deere reducing dealerships
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top