SEPTEMBER 2017 GERMINATION.CA 39 DREAMING IS A KEY component of being human. Creativity solves the most complex problems that we face in this world. However, many dreams are just that, because they’re not realistic. Worse yet, sometimes we become financially and emotionally committed to these dreams and end up getting ourselves in hot water. A DREAM IS NOT A PLAN. Planning is the other side of the coin that we have to take seriously if our dreams are to become reality. Planning is the practical process that helps us attain our end goal and keeps us accountable. I help clients with facility and strategic planning for their current and future agricultural facilities. This might sound simple, but it’s not. People in agriculture often con- fuse dreaming with planning. A couple good years, some cash in the pocket, and they spend. Clients continue to motor along until the day comes when they realize — usually through a hit to their pocketbook — that they failed to properly plan for the future. There are three questions to ask yourself to come up with a good plan for future facility and equipment needs. PROCESSING EQUIPMENT DREAMING VERSUS PLANNING: DON’T CONFUSE THE TWO Chance Barkley Alberta Sales, CanSeed Equipment @chancebarkley • cbarkley@canseedequip.com • canseedequip.com •  Where is your overall business at now? Figure out what niche you fit into and what niches you may fill in the future. You need to know where you really are and where you’re going (a plan) versus where you think you are and where you believe you’re headed (a dream). •  What’s the status of your product/service and what will demand be in the future? •  What’s your current capacity and operational efficiency, and how will you need to modify it for the future? Capacity dictates how much you can earn based on total facility volume, but operational efficiency is the key as it drives margins. Knowing the answers to these questions will help you and your equipment provider come up with a technical assessment to help meet your needs, but in a realistic way that can be executed on. A dream plus a plan equals success. Ensure you’re fac- toring in both parts of the equation, and you’re on your way to making your agricultural processing business into what it has the potential to be. EVERY COMPANY IS looking for a top salesperson. Why? Because they believe the sales rep is their No. 1 point of differentiation in the marketplace. People buy from people, right? True, but there is a lot more to it. As important as top sales reps are, they’re no longer the primary differentiator in the 21st century ag marketplace. Even the most seasoned sales veterans are struggling to stay on farms, maintain margins and grow sales territories. The biggest reason seed sellers are having such a hard time is they have no way of delivering a real “buyer expe- rience.” Sales reps sell products, technologies, programs and price, so how are they supposed to be different? Today, successful selling is more than that. The buyer experience has become the greatest differentiator in the ag business. The total buyer experience is the sum of all inter- actions the farmer has with the company. For most companies, the buyer experience simply involves the interactions a buyer has with his sales rep, but that is not enough. That’s why even some of the best sales reps are SALES COACHING THE NEW DIFFERENTIATOR FOR AG COMPANIES Rod Osthus RC Thomas President @RodOsthus • rod@rcthomas.com • rcthomas.com having trouble keeping customers. It’s everyone’s job in the company to create that buyer experience. So what can companies do to create the kind of buyer experience that is so great that it becomes their No. 1 point of differentiation? Think about these factors: • How do you prepare buyers to buy from you? •  What kinds of orientation programs do you offer to excite them about what they’re going to be experienc- ing once they work with you? •  Have you taught your sales reps to stop trying to sell to a farmer on the first call and, instead, take him to look at his fields to discuss his yield goals and how he plans to achieve them? •  Are your field sellers trained to give them a new experi- ence by getting them out of the Ag Cycle — getting them to buy when you want them to, order what you want them to order, and pay what you want them to pay? Stop boring farmers and teach your salespeople how to deliver a real buyer experience. Both you and your sales team will have a great experience with those cus- tomers and create more business.