Use the Buddy Shirt Method to develop teamwork Everyone knows or should know that we can all accomplish more through teamwork.  And most of us in business actually practice fairly good teamwork behavior.  The Problem: However, there is a group of employees in our business that historically struggles with teamwork.  This group can sometimes even feel like they are above the rest of us.  Feeling superior, they often practice poor teamwork skills and create resentment within the organization. By now, I’m sure you realize, I am referring to Listen in as we discuss the teamwork ..read more

Listen better, gain more understanding of what your customer needs, and sell better Every customer or prospect you meet is seeking one common goal.  Do you know what it is?  Is it money, bigger yields, lower input costs, or increased ROI?  Maybe.  But the one thing every one of them wants from you as their salesperson is to – Be understood.  Listen in to learn how “Looping” can help you be a better listener and sell better ..read more

People buy from people they Trust There is a well-known phrase in selling, “People buy from people they know and trust”.  The struggle that most of us face in selling is, “How do I build trust?”.  If you are a new salesperson and don’t have established relationships, this can be difficult.  Listen in as Greg discusses the actions and Words that build Trust with your prospects and customers ..read more

How to develop your own “Pain Relief” as an Ag Sales Professional Ever thought about your daily selling struggles as pain?  When you decide to go see that difficult customer or collect from that past due account, do you think of it as pain?  If so, then we can jump right into pain relief.  If not, then I really want you to think about your perception of these difficult selling activities.  This may sound negative or counterproductive to being happy as a salesperson Think about going out to fix a customer complaint.  Late delivery or no delivery, product quality issues ..read more

Closing rate # of cold calls to make a sale # appointments Useful or useless?  Make your selling data work for you Sitting in my first official sales training session, one of our company’s top salespeople was giving all of us new salespeople a short training presentation.  One of his opening comments struck me as odd.  Meaning, I didn’t think it was right, but I was too new and inexperienced to say anything. He opened with, “Selling is a numbers game!  If you want to grow your sales, you have to call on more customers”.  He went on to explain, “Let’s say you want to ..read more

A Salesperson’s guide to teamwork in a dysfunctional culture Salespeople need to build internal teamwork even when other departments don’t want to. It’s March and most of the agribusiness trade shows are winding down. Now, it’s time to get out into the market and follow up.  In other words, deliver on all those promises. Before you do, I want you to accomplish one more networking event.  I want you to do an authentic round of internal networking.  Too many of us that sell in agribusiness feel like we are on an island.   We are remote and seldom see our support teams:  ..read more

See if you or your sales team can answer them When preparing to do a sales training program, I always interview several people on the team. During each of those interviews, I have a short window of time to discover as much as I can about them, their specific strengths/weaknesses, their specific market, and what they want to gain from the training program I’m putting together. In that limited amount of time to interview, I found three questions to be most helpful.  They are indicators of whether or not the salesperson knows what they are doing.  Listen in to learn those three question ..read more

Quit talking and let them test drive your products The picture enclosed is what I drew up as the order of learning.  As someone who runs training programs every week, I needed some way to explain to my audiences the importance of putting their customers in the driver’s seat of their products.  Your customers are called on by an army of salespeople.  They need some way to remember you when they go to buy your products. By moving your selling process up the Ladder of Learning, you increase your chances of being selected. Listen in to hear more about how you can do this when sellin ..read more

Your personal brand is as important as your company or product brand You may not realize it but you have a brand.  Just like your company or the products you sell, your customers have an image (brand) in their minds when they think about you.  Many companies think they own their brand. We can certainly influence that brand, but never forget, the customer owns it. Listen in as we cover 7 simple ways to affect your personal brand and differentiate yourself from your competition ..read more

 “I can’t…” is often the problem Prior to any sales training workshop, I have attendees fill out a self-assessment.  On it, they rank themselves from weak to strong in many different selling skills.  Then, I interview several of those salespeople to get a better understanding of their role, their territory, and their challenges.  These skills are both working “In” their business and working “On” their business.  Working “In” their business is a list of skills on how to ask questions, prospect, overcome objections, etc.  Working “On” their business involves territo ..read more