Don’t Fail to Recognize the Key Element to Success on the Farm? [Academy]

In John Maxwell’s book, Developing the Leaders Around You, he tells the story of Charlie Grimm who managed the Chicago Cubs back in 1960. One day Charlie got a phone call from one of his scouts who said he just signed the best pitcher he had ever seen. The scout said this pitcher struck out every man who came to the plate, 27 in a row, nobody even hit a foul ball until the 9th inning, then one guy hit a foul ball. The scout said the pitcher is right here with me, what should I do?

Charlie Grimm said, sign up the guy who got hit the foul ball, we need hitters.

Too often we as seed sellers are so attracted to the obvious, the one variety that did really well on customers’ farmers in a given year and we forget about all of the other varieties that really are the foundation for our sales success. Right away we’re attracted to the winner and we start to focus on that winner as if it’s the key to our future. 

How many times have you been distracted and even lost sales because both you and your customers became enamored by a certain variety one year and sold way to much of it to each customer, only to have that variety not at the top the next year? It happens all of the time.

Just like Charlie Grimm said, we don’t need a “lights out” pitcher, we need lots of hitters, people who can get on base. So when you have a variety that performs well enough to get all of your customers talking we believe that’s what we need to grow our business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the years too many seed companies have learned the hard way that relying on what we consider our one new hero will not grow our business. We need an entire line-up of varieties that will get “lots of men on base” hits for us every year regardless of the weather or how they’re managed. 

And even if all of your varieties don’t score at the top like that foul ball hitter, at least they need to be in the line-up providing support and guess what, one of those less known, less popular players in your line-up often becomes the hero.   

Set goals with customers based on where the grower wants to take his yield in each field. Sell one variety for each field and help the grower do everything needed to maximize yield in that field. Never put the same variety on more than one third of any grower’s acres but rely on your entire line-up to take your sales where you want them to go. Don’t rely on one or two big guns. Mother nature and grower’s themselves won’t allow you to do that when they suddenly surprise you with a bad report. Remember, you’re dealing with a living breathing organism that can do wonders for you and your customers when properly managed. And most of the management believe it or not starts with how well you sell your entire line-up across your market area.

Happy Selling, Rod