SeedSeller Academy

It Isn’t What You’re Doing, It’s What You Need to STOP Doing [Academy]

Greetings Everyone,

Most seed sellers are always looking for ways to improve themselves so they can make their job easier and get more sales.

They attend training sessions which focus largely on how they could be doing, what they’re already doing. But too many of those reps make little or no progress even after training. And that’s because what they’re currently doing is getting in the way of what they should be doing and that is, to STOP doing what they’re currently doing.

The best advice I have for most seed sellers is that they first need to do is STOP doing things they should not be doing before looking for ways to do what they are currently doing, better.

So what kinds of things are most seed sellers doing that they need to stop doing? The first one that comes to mind is one of the biggest and most common and that is to stop making excuses. Salespeople, especially seed sellers are full of excuses for when they don’t reach their goals, get enough new customers or simply run out of time to do the most important tasks like visiting planters or riding combines. Be at customers’ planters in the spring and riding their harvesters in the fall are two of the most important customer contacts of the year because both involve getting in the customer’s head and making sure he is focused on making your products performance to their potential, yet few seed sellers make the time to do those things. So many don’t visit planters because they think the farmer doesn’t need any help. But it’s not just about helping the farmer get the seed planted properly, it’s about getting the farmer on your side, making sure he wants you to win. So most seed sellers give me a list of REASONS why they don’t visit planters and ride combines but none of those are reasons, they are just excuses. The first thing salespeople need to do is STOP MAKING EXCUSES before they can expect to improve on what they’re currently doing. 

Another thing salespeople need to stop doing to be successful is to stop looking for the easy way out. There is no easy button when it comes to selling seed. But so many seed sellers look for short cuts so they don’t have to do the work that is essential to success. For example, instead of creating a storybook, they stand in front of a prospect or customer and just talk. That means they have no idea when the listener tunes them out because you can’t tell. The prospect could be looking you right in the eye and be thinking about something else, but that never happens when they’re following a storybook. And instead of taking time to practice and role-play the sales presentation prior to every sales call, they just wing it which means the rep isn’t prepared for certain questions or objections, the farmer takes control of the conversation and the seller never gets what he or she really wanted, a profitable sale.  

When you stop making excuses and do the work to make sure everything is in place for success, you win every time. And those are just two of the many things salespeople need to stop doing if they intend to be successful selling seed. Remember, It Isn’t What You’re Doing, It’s What You Need to Stop Doing that’s going to make you successful.

Happy Selling,

Rod 

 

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 

7 Reasons to STOP Writing Orders [Academy]

Do you know how to get farmers to order seed when YOU want them to order…

Stop Writing Orders.

When’s the last time prospects and customers in your area ordered seed from you on YOUR time schedule instead of theirs?

When’s the last time your customers called you right after planting or in early summer when the crop is growing to ask when you’re going to come and get their seed order?

When’s the last time current customers told you they needed to increase the size of their seed order for the next year, not because your varieties did so well, but because they took on more acres and needed seed for those new fields without you asking?

And when’s the last time customers told you they had the best yield in a certain field they ever had because you placed the right variety in that field based on what was on the order blank?

The answers to those questions was probably, NEVER.

Why is that?

It’s because 99% of all seed sellers are still writing orders with their customers instead of cropping plans.  Orders are nothing but a dead-end street. They put not responsibility in the customer’s hands and get not results because of it. 

Farmers aren’t waiting to order until after harvest because they want to see how the crop does first or how certain varieties perform like most salespeople think. It’s not because ordering prior to harvest is too early and they don’t know what they’re going to do yet. And it’s not because they don’t want to increase yields in every field. Those are the excuses most farmers give. The real reason farmers don’t order seed for next year before harvest is because the seed varieties they order are placed on an order blank and order blanks are really just, BLANK ORDERS. That’s right. They are BLANK ORDERS that give the grower no help in raising a better crop. They have absolutely no value to any farmer. 

Listen to some of the things orders do not do.

1. Orders don’t get any real commitment from the grower because little or no planning goes into creating an order by either the seller or the buyer.
2. Because there is no real commitment, orders are easily changed or even replaced by competitors. 
3. The wrong seed varieties are on every single order blank because none of those went through a planning process for how they fit a specific field. 
4. There is no field visit when writing orders to attach the right variety to the right field.
5. Even if certain varieties were placed on an order blank with an idea of where they will be planted, come spring, the chances of farmers remembering where they’re supposed to go by that time are slim and none.   
6. Varieties written on an order blank have little chance of performing at the top because there’s no plan on how the field the variety will be planted in will be managed.  
7. Many of the varieties written on order blanks won’t get planted but will be returned because the varieties on an order are not attached to a field so there is no commitment to a plan, it’s just an order.

In this marketplace there is no such thing as an early order or a solid order because orders themselves have no value, yet companies are still trying to get them early. Orders have value ONLY when they’re attached to a cropping plan. Just as the new sales season starts the minute planters roll, the crop planning season begins at the same moment for the grower. Planting season signals the end of the old planning season and the start of the new planning season. Every day a grower waits to begin his cropping plan for next year once planting starts, the farther behind he gets and the more bushels it costs him through decision making delays.   

So instead of trying to get farmers to order earlier, we need to get them to stop writing orders period, and start doing cropping plans. Once they understand how cropping plans are different from orders, they will see the many benefits cropping plans bring and stop worrying about ordering early or writing an order period. 

Be sure to view the “Cropping Plans Win Sales, Orders Kill Sales video in Academy 101. It will give you even more reasons to stop writing orders with growers or if you are already writing cropping plans ways to do them even better.

Happy Selling,

Rod 

 

“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems... [Academy]

Frank Wilczek said, “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems and that’s a big mistake.” I remember when my son Tom was in first grade and was involved in wrestling. Tom was so skinny you could see his heartbeat through his skin. His singlet would just hang on him, almost looking for an opportunity to fall off.

One day when I was taking Tom to wrestling practice, remember he’s just in first grade, he said dad, I do pretty good when I wrestle my friends but there are some guys in my class who are really tough and I don’t want to wrestle them in practice. He said, they’re so strong, I can’t do anything. I just keep doing the wrong things and they pin me right
away.

I said, Tom, that’s the best way to learn by taking on the tougher guys and making mistakes. You don’t learn anything by wrestling people you know you can beat because you never make mistakes or have to get yourself out of trouble. But when you wrestle the tough guys and make a mistake, you have to figure out how to get yourself out of it.

That’s what life is all about.

Figuring out how to compensate for the mistakes you make so you can still go on to achieving your goal. He reluctantly started practicing with the tougher kids and improved a lot.

It’s a lot different today as Tom is now 6’2”, solid muscle with a body fat of less than 6%. He’s in amazing shape and decided not to pursue wrestling when he was in school. I know that lesson he learned as a youngster stayed with him. And now that he’s in his 40’s and competes in Jiujitsu, he will tell me how he goes up against the toughest guys in the dojo at every practice so when it’s time for a tournament he’s better prepared.

I see this phenomenon all of the time in salespeople. They let their fears keep them from attacking hard enough problems that may cause them to make mistakes. A prime example of this is prospecting for new business. Most salespeople hate prospecting because they’re afraid they’re going to make mistakes and lose the opportunity to get a new customer. Many salespeople rely heavily on plot data, programs and giving price deals because they’re afraid they’re not competent enough to sell themselves and fear they may make mistakes.

Are you the first grader avoiding wrestling the toughest kids?

What are you afraid of doing so you don’t screw it up. The most successful people I know say the reason for
their success was the number of mistakes they made in their lifetime. But they also say, you need to make as many mistakes as possible, just learn from each one and try to never repeat them.

Do you know what I’ve learned in my 52 years in the seed business by making mistakes left and right? I learned that not only is it ok to make mistakes, but nobody else cares how many mistakes you make or when you make them. So go forth and tackle the toughest problems you face and make mistakes. Everyone else has their own problems, just make sure you attack and solves yours.

Happy Selling

“Life is Always Happening for Us and Not to Us" -Tony Robbins [Academy]

Tony Robbins says, “Life is always happening for us and not to us.”

That means regardless of what happens to us, we’re being prepared for something better ahead for us.

That’s hard to believe sometimes when we’re faced with difficult circumstances and events we had no idea were going to happen to us.

How can some of those things be happening for us you ask? 

Well, it starts as a matter of not being angry or sad when something we don’t want to happen, happens, and moving to the attitude of, ok, so what’s the next step for me?

How do I handle this and how can I make what just happened to me a benefit or next step for me in my life?

Regardless of what’s happening in your life, good or not so good, you need to take time and allow yourself to step back and analyze the good and not so good moments and appreciate them for the possibilities they bring for you. Ask yourself, why did this happen to me and how can I turn it into something that actually happened for me so I could move on and become an even better, smarter person? Almost everything that happens to us becomes a learning experience for us.

Let’s use product performance issues as one of the most common examples of something happening to you that will often make it difficult to understand how it could happen for you.

When selling a living breathing organism like seed to farmers who rely on its performance for their livelihood, a LOT of things can happen to you. Varying performance caused by environment or mismanagement by the farmer can supply plenty of things that will then happen to you as a result. The farmer may blame the variety or he may blame the weather but either way he is blaming you because you sold him the variety he is not happy with. When that happens, and it often does, how do you turn that situation into something that happened for you and actually benefited you.

In a scenario involving disappointing performance of one of your varieties, you know this happened for you because of the many lessons you will now learn from this situation. The first lesson is a reminder that it is NEVER the variety’s fault.

It’s always the fault of the thousand variables.

Too often we forget and serves as a reminder for us. Second, this situation happened for you to remind you to do a better job of reminding customers of the thousand variables and what their impact can be so they stop blaming the variety or you for the disappointing outcome. Third, problems with performance of one of your varieties on a customer’s farm happens for you to remind you to remind customers of the need to put one variety in a field and set a bushels per thousand plant goal for each field. When you do that, performance issues go away because there’s nothing to compare the variety to. And last but not least, that situation can remind you to do a better job educating customers that the goal is not to measure the performance of a particular variety in a field, but to measure the yield average of the entire farm.

In the case of a farmer telling you that your price is too high or he can buy seed cheaper somewhere else, there are many reasons for that to happen to you. You’re reminded to reassess your sales story, your sales approach, your ability to sell value and why price even comes up at all. You’re able to reassess the real values you are offering to find out if prospects aren’t seeing their benefit or if they actually have no benefit to them. When price objections happen to you, the opportunity to assess your sales approach is the for you. 

It’s true, life is always happening for us and not to us. But the goal is to make sure we know that and we are always prepared to make the best of what happens to us the best thing for us.  I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling better already. After all, everything that’s going to happen to me today is actually something I never knew was going to turn into something special for me.

Happy Selling,

Rod Osthus

Don’t Try This At Home [Academy]

Don’t Try This At Home:

Years ago, it wasn’t unusual to hear about people getting hurt or even killed when they tried to replicate stunts at home that they saw someone do on television. Then years later tv shows like Ridiculousness and movies like Jackass, made doing crazy stunts at home look fun, challenging, and romantic.

It created a major acceleration in both dangerous activities and injuries when stunts on both of those shows were done by amateurs at someone’s home.

So to keep from getting sued, companies started adding disclaimers to their programs clearly stating, “Don’t Try This At Home” or in the case of car stunts they would show a statement that said, Professional Driver, or Professional Driver on Controlled Course.

It’s only because so many people have no common sense, who are showing off or under the influence that that kind of advice needs to be given at all.

But believe it or not, seed sellers sometimes need to be given disclaimers too and reminded of things they should not be doing at home.

You’re probably asking yourself, what could seed sales reps possibly do at home that could injure them and their ability to get sales?

Well, it all starts with where the mind is located, not the body.

Did you know that 75% of all seed sales reps are hurt or severely injured mentally before they leave to make sales calls? 

That’s right.

And in the case of prospecting, that injury rate is close to 100%.

So whether prospecting or calling on current customers, too much time is spent at home, thinking about making those sales calls but doing totally different and unrelated activities at the same time. If sales reps also farm, they’re often busy cleaning the machine shed or getting machinery prepared to go to the field in a few months. While doing jobs unrelated to making sales calls may seem harmless, those reps lull themselves into believing they are preparing for the calls just by thinking about them. But by the time they force themselves to hit the road, their desire, and their ability to execute are injured to the point of making them ineffective.

They tried to prepare for sales calls while working around the farm while their minds are “at home.”

When preparing to make sales calls you can physically be at home but your mind must be out there on the road in front of prospects and customers as you practice and role play the call with a business associate, spouse or partner.

Seed sales reps can never listen to markets at home without being severely injured or handicapped when it’s time to make sales calls.

That’s because they have no way of not having those market facts stuck in their minds when they make the sales calls. Top sellers know what to say when they out on the road if a prospect or customer brings up markets so they never get hurt with that kind of conversation. But when they listen to the markets at home prior making sales calls, they are badly injured mentally and much more likely to get into a price fight or lose their enthusiasm for making calls all together.

Another thing seed sellers should never do at home is think about test plots or study their products. They are injuring their ability to think about placing the right varieties in the right fields for customers. They also get hurt by thinking about last year’s results, regardless of whether they were good or bad.

Instead, they should be using the information gathered on the combine rides they did with each customer and be focused on the goals they set based on the bushels per 1000 plant goal for each of their fields.

So many sales reps have their sales either injured or killed by doing things they should not be doing at home. 

Do you want your sales to go up?

Get your mind out of the house, off the farm and into the street where it can’t be hurt or killed. Keep your mind focused on prospects and customers who will test your skills and keep you sharp. Force yourself to wake up and see what a dangerous thing training your mind at home can be. And stop watching Ridiculousness or Jackass, it will only get you in the mood to do something stupid that could injure your mind and body permanently. 

Happy Selling, Rod      

If It Isn’t Good for the Hive, It Isn’t Good for the Bee! [Academy]

Marcus Aurelius, a Greek Stoic and philosopher who lived from 121 AD to 180 AD said, “That which isn’t good for the hive, is not good for the bee.”

He believed that every part of the Universe is interconnected and part of a larger whole. He was one of the first to say he was not just a citizen of Rome, he was a citizen of the world. The idea that you are just a bee in a hive is the same concept. If you do something that is not good for the community you live in, it probably is not good for you either.   

So what keeps a beehive healthy and strong?

It’s getting every bee to believe that whatever it does needs to be good for the hive.

As a sales rep working with farmers, what kinds of things do you do that are good for them as a whole?

We know that not every sales rep is helping the farmer hive become stronger and more health by the things they are offering farmers. In fact, over the last 20 years the farmer hive has become increasingly unhealthy leading to the loss of thousands of bees, I mean, farmers.   

Offering programs, technologies and cheap prices in lieu of helping farmers raise yields continues to destroy the farmer hive.  Farmers don’t need new varieties, new technologies, programs, or cheap prices. They need help making more money by increasing production. 

As you start the new sales year, think about what you’re going to do in 2024 to enhance your hive of customers and the entire farmer hive by changing your sales approach.

Decide what new values you can offer outside of products, technologies, programs and price that will make every farm operation healthier.

Decide what your message is going to be during seed delivery.

Are you going to be there, taking the grower to each field to review the field by variety cropping plan?

Are you going to give each grower a calendar of events that will take place with you through 2024?

Are you going to be at every customer’s planter, do post planting report card visit, ride harvesters and so on?

Stop setting goals or new year’s resolutions for 2024 and start deciding what you’re going to do to enhance the health of your entire hive of customers. What new values are you going to bring, starting with your own personal appearance, your sales approach and sales story.

As Marcus Aurelius said over 2000 years ago, you’re connected to every part of the hive and what you do affects the entire hive, In return the hive, your customers take care of you.

Happy Selling,

Rod

BIOMIMICRY: The Art of Copying Nature

 Do You Know the Quickest Way to Improve?  

In her TED talk, Janine Benyus talked about BIOMIMICRY, solving problems humans face by copying what organisms of all kinds have already developed solutions to. She says that over 30 million organisms have used the past 3.8 billion years to devise solutions to problems they faced and we need to study them and copy them. 

For example: 

Thomas and Ana Moore and Devin Gust (University of Arizona) are studying how a leaf captures energy, in hopes of making a molecular-sized solar cell. The goal is create a tiny, sun-powered battery. 

J. Herbert Waite (University of California Santa Barbara) is studying the blue mussel, which attaches itself to rocks via an adhesive that can do what our adhesives  can’t…cure and stick underwater.  

Bruce Roser (Cambridge Biostability) has developed heat-stable vaccine storage that eliminates the need for costly refrigeration. The process is based on the same natural process that enables the resurrection plant to remain in a desiccated state for years.

Joanna Aizenberg (Lucent) has mimicked the process by which the Brittle Sea Star fish self-assembles distortion-free lenses out of seawater.

Every salesperson can improve their selling skills by utilizing BIOMIMICRY, copying strategies from already successful sales reps. How many challenges do sales reps face right now that could be overcome by studying and copying what successful sellers have been doing for 50 years.  We’ve done a very poor job of passing on solutions to common challenges sellers face every day.  The marketplace continues to change, but methods for handling objections such as price, performance issues, order urgency and others haven’t changed.  Start studying and copying those who are already successful and watch your skills improve.  

Every salesperson can improve their selling skills by using BIOMIMICRY, that is, if they can find someone to copy. Happy Selling, I’m Rod Osthus

A Customer’s Attention Is a Limited Resource? [Academy]

Did you know that when talking to a prospect or customer, you have only 17 minutes of their attention before they stop focusing on what you’re saying? 

That’s right.

And one of the biggest mistakes many salespeople make is they talk too much on sales calls, far exceeding the 17-minute limit.

They often dominate the conversation by telling their listener how good their company and products are. Well, a little bit of that goes a long way and unless they’re paying attention to the listeners body language, don’t realize when their prospect is no longer listening.

One of the biggest challenges seed sellers face is getting appointments with modern day farmers because they’re tired of being subjected to salespeople who won’t shut up. Today farmers are more discerning who they give their time and attention to.  In fact, reps who have nothing new or any real value to offer farmers outside of their products have made getting their attention a limited resource.

Once a rep gets an audience with a grower they don’t need to just be able to hold their attention, they need to be able to exceed that 17-minute deadline without losing them. That means getting them involved in the conversation and wanting it to continue. That’s where the real problem comes in.

The best way to capture a farmer’s interest and not have to worry about the 17-minute limit and is by talking about them and their operation. People like to talk about themselves so the goal should be to talk about the grower and his operation.

When you combine that idea with the use of sales tools like a story book, farmers are more willing to give you the time you need and want. A well-thought-out storybook outlines how you help growers raise higher yields on their farms then asks the grower where he wants to take yields on his farm. It will not only help you get a sale but will also make the conversation a lot more fun for both you and the grower.

But sales reps can still end up staying too long which is the second biggest mistake many of them make. No matter how good your presentation is, you can’t overstay your welcome. A storybook is simply a way to guide the conversations and capture the farmer’s total attention.  

If you don’t capture a grower’s attention before 17 minutes are up, you become a pest who will not be welcomed back for a second conversation. 

Happy Selling,

Rod Osthus

Learn How to Train [Academy]

Do You Know How To Train?

High School was easy for me, in fact, I never studied much at all. I played sports, had lots of friends, and spent 6-8 weeks of the year, at home, a week at a time, helping my dad on the farm. Back in those day all you had to do was tell the principal your dad needed you to help on the farm and you were excused. I wasn’t the smartest kid in class, but I was a solid B student without ever having to apply myself. That was in High School, but college was a real wake-up call.

I enrolled at South Dakota State University, majoring in Agronomy, and quickly discovered there was no easy road in college. Professors didn’t care if I came to class or did the work. I never missed class during the day, I studied every night and had a part-time job where I worked 20-30 hours a week during whatever free time I could muster. I needed the money. 

Despite my hard work ethic, I ended up on probation after the first semester.

It’s not that I wasn’t smart enough, it was that I didn’t know how to study.

That’s right.

I had never studied in High School and didn’t know how to go about it in college. Was I supposed to learn from the textbook, listen to the lecture or take notes in class to learn the subject matter and prepare for exams?

Every professor was different. Some tested based on their lectures, some took it word for word from the textbook and others came up with ways to apply the material. I decided my only way to survive was to write down every word my professors said in class, listen closely as they answered questions and ask questions myself.

That’s how I learned and studied for tests.

It worked.

I clawed my way up to the Dean’s list.

That became a valuable lesson when I started learning how to sell seed. There were plenty of books on how to sell, but not a single one on how to sell seed. Seed is a special kind of sale no one seemed to have figured out how to do except by trial and error. I developed a system for selling seed through the experience of winning and losing. I learned to focus on what farmers really wanted and how to get it for them. My sales skyrocketed. That system was invaluable when I started the RC Thomas company and began teaching others how to sell seed.

Sales reps who attended my CAMP or Blueprint programs always commented it was the most valuable sales training session they’d ever attended. I would love to take credit for being a fantastic lecturer, but my real secret was knowing many of my students struggled to learn as I did, they didn’t know how to study. So I offered them multiple ways to grasp the concepts from lectures, to interactive exercises, to tests, to video and so on. Plus, students didn’t realize, the reason I left so many blanks in my handouts for them to complete was that it was my way of teaching them to take notes. Every student got a special notebook to take notes in at the opening of my sessions but many of those notebooks ended up with one or two lines written in them by the end of class.  That’s why I made sure my manuals served as their notebooks, forcing them to write things down. Here are a few tips how to study and learn faster.

1. Create a system for taking notes.  I have a close friend who is a seed sales rep. He carries a bound, hard-cover note book with him everywhere. He takes notes in almost every situation he’s in. He has developed a system that’s easy, compact, and the hard cover gives him something firm to write on.  
2. Value your time. If you believe your time is at least as valuable as the person lecturing, you will take notes.     
3. When given the opportunity, look over the material before coming to class. When the material is available, it’s most helpful to study and even outline it prior to the lecture.
4. Sit up front. Make sure you come early to sessions so you can get a really good seat close to the lecturer. Most students who don’t sit up front are afraid of being called on or asked questions during the session. Those who sit up front, learn more than those who don’t because they’re surrounded by others who are upfront for the same reason they are, to learn as much as possible.
5. Write down everything the lecturer writes on a board or easel. Those are most often key points and highlights of the session.  
6. Stop believing you’re there to learn what you can during the session. You’re in the session to gather as much information as possible for use later. Learn to listen and write at the same time. As long as you’re comprehending what’s going on, you can write AND listening.
7. Use your note pace to control the session pace. Some speakers talk faster than others and that’s where using abbreviations and short-cuts come in handy. But as you take notes, if you find yourself getting behind, ask the lecture to stop and repeat something. Sometimes a good note taker in the crowd slows a speaker who was talking too fast and it helps everyone in the room, not just you.
8. Watch for lists and numbers. If a lecture says there are 3 reasons for this…get ready to write down 3 numbers with a reason beside each one.
9. Never use a sentence where you can use a phrase.  Never use a phrase where you can use a word.
10. Don’t bother recording lectures.  Lectures on tape are almost impossible to use for review. Written notes can be glanced over quickly and any part of the lecture can be referred to in an instant. Tapes take too long and it’s very hard to find the sections of the tape you may be looking for when you want them.
11. Write class summaries at the end of class.

Make sure when you’re working hard to be a better seed seller, you know how to study…it will put you far ahead of those who don’t know how to study or don’t study at all.

Happy Selling, 

Rod