32   SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA   SEPTEMBER 2026
PEOPLE-POWERED LEADERSHIP
A COMPANY BROUGHT us in because they had a 
sales problem. At least, that’s what they thought 
they had.
Their sales numbers were trending in the 
wrong direction. In my first hour with them, I 
heard three of their four salespeople say some 
version of: “We’ve got too much competition. 
They’re bigger than us/have more salespeople/can 
offer better incentives. We can’t compete.”
That’s exactly why I was there. The leadership 
team wanted to know what needed to change. 
Messaging? Sales process? Product positioning? 
Training? Pricing? Everyone had a theory.
But there was one interesting exception. One 
salesperson was doing exceptionally well. Same 
company. Same products. Same market. Same 
competitors. While others struggled, he kept win­
ning business. Whenever we work with a com­
pany in that situation, that’s where I look first: 
before deciding what is broken, find the thing 
that isn’t. 
So I jumped into his Chevy beside him 
because I wanted to see what happened when he 
stood across from a customer. Not what the com­
pany thought its salespeople did, but what this 
person was actually doing differently.
I found it almost as soon as we got to the first 
farmer customer’s field.
My new sales friend’s conversation with his 
customer included some talk about products, 
performance, price and availability. BUT the 
salesperson kept asking questions: What hap­
pened last year? What was changing in the cus­
tomer’s business model? Where was the customer 
uncertain, frustrated or struggling? What was he 
worried about getting wrong? Our sales star knew 
the products extremely well, but wasn’t interested 
in talking about them until he understood the 
customer’s situation.
Then something even more notable happened. 
The customer was leaning toward an option that 
would have meant a larger sale for our client. In 
two short sentences, the salesperson talked him 
out of it. He explained why another option better 
suited what the customer was trying to accom­
plish, even though it meant less revenue for his 
company. 
The customer looked at me and said, “And 
that’s why I ONLY deal with him.”
There it was. This salesperson intuitively 
understood something many of the most suc­
cessful companies I work with in the seed sector 
leverage: a competitive advantage. In his case, it 
was relationship, service and, ultimately, trust. He 
wasn’t winning because he was better at selling the 
product. He was winning because the customer 
trusted him to help make the right decision.
How many times have we seen sales people 
get put out in the field with an expensive truck, a 
cell phone and a product guide after getting some 
product training and access to a CRM (that was 
not maintained). We expect them to have a sales 
process and to follow it rigorously, but if they 
don’t have one, how will they ever succeed? 
Competitive advantage can take many forms. 
A company can win because it has unmatched 
local knowledge, a unique distribution model, 
proprietary genetics, faster access to new technol­
ogy, exceptional production capabilities or an 
ability to solve a particular problem better than 
anyone else. The important thing is knowing what 
yours is. 
A farmer buys corn seed because a farmer 
wants to grow corn. That is the reason for the 
purchase. It is not, however, the most important 
reason the farmer buys from you.
Companies routinely confuse the reason 
customers need their category with the reason cus­
tomers choose to buy from them. Seed companies 
talk about seed. Accounting firms talk about 
accuracy. Software companies talk about effi­
ciency. All of it may be true. None of it answers 
the question that matters most: Why you?
If your answer to “Why should customers 
choose us?” could be used by every competitor, 
you have a description of your industry, but you 
do not have a differentiator. 
So, stop asking: “Why do customers need 
what we sell?” The much more useful question 
is: “Once they decide to buy a product from the 
marketplace we compete in, what makes them 
specifically choose us?”
Your core offering gives customers a reason 
to enter the market. Your competitive advantage 
gives them a reason to choose you. 
Do you know yours? 
THE BIGGEST REASON CUSTOMERS BUY IS NOT 
THE REASON THEY CHOOSE YOU
By Shawn Brook, 
President, Seed World 
Group 

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