The Rules of the Sales Game [Academy]

Greetings Everyone, 

Albert Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game, then you have to play the game better than anyone else.”

What are the rules salespeople must follow to be successful in today’s marketplace? Many seed reps are following rules made decades ago that started out as strategies developed through trial and error. But almost all of those strategies, I mean rules, are now obsolete and detrimental to anyone using them in attempts to get and keep sales. 

A lot of damage is done when sellers try to play the game using those rules. Farmers have learned very quickly that it’s easy to get reps to stretch or even break rules to get what they want. These old rules put farmers in control leaving sellers to simply take what buyers wants to give them.

Here are 10 of the most common strategies that have turned into rules through universal adoption that virtually every sales rep blindly follows.

 

1. The best time to call on farmers to get orders is after harvest because before that they’re too busy to talk. NO, being to busy is just an excuse not a reason for delayed ordering. The no.1 factor for getting top yields is early crop planning. That means prior to harvest. 
2. Look for closing signs so you know when to ask for the order. We never close a sale anymore; we lead prospects into WANTING to do it. He closes himself.
3. Take any size order you can get, regardless how small because it means getting a foot in the door for a bigger sale next year. History has shown this strategy never works. Even if you beat his favorite company with the small amount of seed you sold him, he’ll think it was an accident and stay with his favorite company.
4. Deliver your seed to the customer’s warehouse after your competitors seed is already in his shed so you can place it in front of your competitor’s, that way he will plant yours first. You’re in dreamland if you think the farmer won’t move your seed out of the way so he can plant his favorite seed first.
5. Use early order programs to get growers to place orders earlier. These never change behavior. If you take the program away, he goes back to ordering late.
6. If the grower wants to put your seed in his test plot against competitors you should agree to it and don’t be afraid of a challenge. There are so many things wrong with using test plots, I don’t have enough time to talk about all of them. I have won so many test plots and the farmers wouldn’t buy my seed. It’s last year’s information from last year’s environment creating invalid decisions for the next year.
7. If the grower wants to do a side-by-side comparison with your seed against a competitor, agree to it. History has proven this strategy doesn’t work either. I’ve beat competitors side-by-side by 20 bushel and prospects with the side by sides still wouldn’t buy. That proves they don’t yield, they buy based on perceptions of the company they’ve been most loyal to. 
8. Dress like the farmer customer so he can better identify with you and feel you’re on equal ground. The easiest way to show you are bringing value to a conversation is by LOOKING LIKE you bring value. The better you dress, the smarter you look. Seed is the most serious purchase a farmer makes, he needs a serious professional to buy it from, not someone in blue jeans who looks like the farmer himself.
9. It’s ok to discuss the markets and weather during the conversation to create rapport. These conversations only lower attitudes and don’t solve any problems. Stay totally away from them. When a farmer asks a question about either of those just say, “I don’t know” and move on.
10. The key to getting a sale is reaching an agreement with the grower by negotiating on the price of your products and services. There is never negotiation when selling farmers their inputs. Were bringing values greatly exceeding the price the grower is paying and need to keep him focused on increasing production, not just saving money.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, NONE of those rules are relevant in today’s marketplace. So many companies still follow them yet can’t figure out why they’re struggling to grow. I hope you’re not one of them.

Happy Selling,

Rod Osthus