Are You Doing Things Right, or Doing the Right Things? [Academy]

Are You Doing Things Right, or Doing the Right Things?

Most people who want to be successful in business or in life focus on doing things right. Doing things right is about following certain rules and procedures that ensure things go smoothly so goals can be achieved without a lot of interference.

I grew up on a farm with a father who said there was only one way to do things and that was the right way. He would say anyone can do them wrong or hap hazardly, but when you do them right you achieve the outcome you’re looking for.   

My dad was a tactical thinker, the kind of person who focused on doing things right all of the time.

He knew if he didn’t do a task right, it would negatively impact his entire tactical plan. But he was also a strategic thinker, concerned about doing the right things so he could achieve his long-term goal. Dad also said you can do something “right,” but if it’s the wrong thing to do, all of your hard work is wasted and the outcome will not be what you wanted.

He said, if you do the “right thing,” but do it wrong, you won’t get the results you want either. My dad seems smarter to me now than when I was growing up on the farm as a teenager, working alongside him.

Funny how that works.

As seed sellers, you need to be more concerned with doing the right things than just following certain rules and procedures so you can do things right. The ag marketplace changes so fast that if you’re focused only on doing things right you can quickly find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing the wrong things right. 

For example, one day I had a sales rep tell me he had a customer who runs a very valid, replicated test plot system on his farm. He said the plot covers 40 acres, contains more than 30 varieties from a dozen different companies and goes the entire length of the field. He said each variety is planted twice in the plot and that the plot is so valid other farmers in the area look to it as a guide for what to plant and he uses it to select the varieties to plant on his farm the next year. The sales rep believes that customer has a valid test plot but it’s not. This is a prime example of not doing things right while not doing the right thing. 

First of all, doing a test plot right would mean replicating the varieties in the plot at least three times, planting that exact same plot at three different locations on the farm, the same year and planting that same plot with the same varieties three years in a row. He is not doing it right, NOR is he doing the right thing by relying on a test plot to choose varieties to plant. That’s because every year is different, affecting every variety differently because the same environment will never to be repeated from year to year. Unless all of those rules and procedures are followed, there isn’t a researcher on the planet that would validate the data that farmer is getting each year. That grower is NOT doing the right thing and what he IS doing is not being done right. 

Another example is writing orders. When you sell seed to a customer, what do you want to happen? You don’t just want the customer to plant the seed, you want the variety to perform at the top so the customer maximizes profit and wants to buy again. But it’s amazing how many seed sellers are more focused on getting and keeping an order than they are on making sure the farmer has the best performance possible from the varieties they sell. They focus on availability of their favorite variety, making sure the order will not be canceled, ensuring the seed will be delivered on time and that it will get planted and not hauled back. All of those things are done right. The problem is, that is not the right thing to do. 

If the goal is to have your variety perform at the top so the customer makes the most profit and wants to buy again, the seller needs to focus the farmer on how to raise the best crop possible, and not on the varieties he’s buying. That focus starts by doing the right thing and that is writing a cropping plan instead of an order. Writing a cropping plan instead of an order ensures every variety will be assigned to a field eliminating the need to confirm orders or worry about possible cancellations. Focusing the grower on maximizing yield also puts the grower in charge of raising that top crop instead of relying only on the variety to do it.  

Most seed sellers are focused on doing things right, not on doing the right things. To be a great leader you need to be more aware of doing the right things, rather than the procedures and processes dictated by doing things right.  

There are so many things seed sellers have learned to do right. But there is one very important thing they have not yet mastered and that is the ability to know when they need to start doing the right things. So many are stuck in the old way of doing things like using test plots, making cold calls, and getting trial size orders from first time buyers. None of those are the right things to do so no matter how hard you try you can’t do them right. 

Happy Selling,

Rod Osthus