JULY 2017 GERMINATION.CA 39 I RECENTLY RECEIVED a very long text message from a very valued employee. She told me she was resigning and moving to New Zealand to be with someone important to her. She assured me that she would provide several months’ notice, and said how badly she felt to leave the company after becoming a part of the Can-Seed family. My heart sank. When I got back to the office, I assured her that I respected her decision and understood, although I was very sad to see her go. What I didn’t immediately realize was that the day this all took place was April 1. It had been an April Fools’ Day joke, and after we all had a good laugh and my heart rate returned to normal, I asked myself why I’d had such a visceral emotional reaction to that text. It was because having good employees who are part of our business family is important to me, and should be for every company. In our business, customer relation- ships are crucial. When you have constant turnover, cus- tomers aren’t able to connect well with you. They get the sense that the representative they’re dealing with doesn’t really care much about the company they work with. And HOW LONG HAVE you been waiting for the opportunity to have the biggest sales increase your company has ever had? In my 40-plus years in this business, I’ve never seen a sales year like the one we’re about to enter. Three of the most opportunistic “sales moons” have aligned perfectly. First, we have a price-driven marketplace, which makes every company look just like its competition. Everyone is trying to sell their products at the cheapest price, with the belief that that’s what attracts business when all it does is bore farmers. Only value attracts customers. Second, the competition is as weak as I’ve ever seen. During the past few years, companies have discovered which of their sales reps can sell in this marketplace and which ones can’t. What most found is that very few have the social skills needed to close the sale. Third, farmers look for companies that offer real value strategies to help them increase production — not just save money. Those who offer that kind of value will attract farmers, like honey attracts bears. If you’re wondering whether your sales reps are prepared to take advantage of this opportunity, answer the following: PROCESSING EQUIPMENT MAKE YOUR EMPLOYEES PART OF YOUR INNER CIRCLE Jason MacNevin Can-Seed Equipment Owner @jason_macnevin • jmacnevin@canseedequip.com • canseedequip.com SALES COACHING GET READY TO BLOW THIS SALES YEAR WIDE OPEN! Rod Osthus RC Thomas President @RodOsthus • rod@rcthomas.com • rcthomas.com that means they probably don’t care too much about the customer. Not good for business. If you don’t have dedicated, long-term staff, you jeopardize your business. Treat your employees well and retain them whenever possible. The cost of bringing people in and training them just to have them leave is very high, in more ways than one. I bring employees — all my employees — into my inner circle. I make them part of the team and really help them understand the challenges the company faces. If the company isn’t successful, they can’t be successful, and if they’re not serious about their role, the company will suffer as a result. I make it clear that they don’t work for me — they work with me, and with one another. We’re all in this together. It’s a simple philosophy, but one that has helped me retain good staff who help make my business what it is. Follow this philosophy, and I promise you it will pay divi- dends — even if it results in the occasional April Fools’ Day joke. •  How are they going to get farmers to order before har- vest this year, if they couldn’t do it last year? •  What are they going to say when the farmer says it’s too early to order, and he doesn’t know what he’s going to do yet? •  What are they going to say when the farmer objects to the price of their products? •  How are they going to sell the varieties they need to sell and not just what the farmer wants to buy? Do you want the biggest sales increase your com- pany has ever had? Get your people trained on how to sell seed to farmers, which requires specialized training. Teach them what to say and how to say it to control the conversation and the sale. This year will be one of the easiest sales years for those who are trained. However, this year will be the greatest sales nightmare for those who aren’t. The time to choose the route you want to take is now. As Dr. Phil says, “The greatest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.” Don’t become a victim of what you know you could have prevented. Instead, blow this sales year wide open.