Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 148DECEMBER 2016 SEEDWORLD.COM / 53 the industry. In fact, as recent as Nov. 21, The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto, announced the acquisition of Vital Fields — a European farm man- agement software company. In the past year, Chromatin acquired Kirkland Seed, a forage sorghum seed supplier in Vega, Texas; DLF Seeds acquired Florimond Desprez, a plant breeding and commercial alfalfa seed business in France; and Land O’Lakes signed a definitive merger agree- ment with Ceres. Those are just a few of the many announcements from 2016. Couple that with the agricultural economy, which is expected to see con- tinued low commodity prices into 2017 with farmers operating at or below break- even. And seed companies are beginning to feel the pain too as farmers search for more ways to reduce input costs. As farmers profit margins have shrunk, so are seed companies’ and they feel the need to move, to do something more to power ahead and make it to the next round. “When the market slows, companies search for economic efficiency as an alternative to growth,” says Steve Koep, partner and agribusiness practice lead for Clutch+ Performance, a business consult- ing and training firm in Minneapolis, Minn. “One of the ways to achieve growth in a slow market is to buy a competitor.” If you don’t want to be on the receiving end of one of these mergers or acquisi- tions, experts recommending honing in on four management tips and strategies to help you better compete and power ahead. Tip #1: Know Your Customer Small businesses need to focus on niche markets and go deep early and fast, says Pam Moore, CEO and founder of Marketing Nutz, explaining that you can always expand later. She advises businesses to select one to two markets that can be attacked and to seriously go after them. “While the big guys are figuring out who is on first, you can already have made a quick and early home run,” she says. “Whenever we kickoff a new client engagement and their answer to the question, ‘who is your target customer?’ is ‘everyone,’ we know we have some training to do. “Sorry, but ‘everyone’ is not your target audience. You must focus ... know your audience. Know what keeps them up at night. What problems do they have that you can help with? How can you add value to their business? How are you going to help them in a way that the big guys can’t? These are the questions you must ask and fast. You cannot possibly answer these questions for ‘everyone.’” Alan Hall, founder of Grow America, an organization dedicated to helping busi- ness builders nationwide and worldwide, agrees. “Knowing and understanding targeted customers is the overarching rule of exceptional companies,” he says. “Award-winning business builders know their customers as well as they know their own families, perhaps even more so.” Conversely, Hall says that leaders who don’t focus on their customers often fail. “A relationship with the individuals who might buy their products is essen- tial, but for some reason, many miss this absolutely critical aspect. All too often, entrepreneurs spend their energy on everything but having conversations with current and potential customers. Tip #2: Be Ready to Pivot Pivoting is the art of recognizing that the pursuit of a specific idea, direction or product — in which you’ve invested significant time, money and energy — is no longer the correct path to follow. Moore says it’s important to leverage your small size to start and stay agile. “Small businesses don’t have the red tape of big business,” she explains. “If they see they are headed in the wrong direc- tion they can make a quick pivot without negative impact much more quickly than a large brand can do.” Moore encourages companies to tap into the benefits of agility in the areas of innovation, market research, marketing execution and leverage of new and social media, for starters. “Let agility be the turbo fuel that ena- bles you to make quick yet well thought out decisions,” she says. “Develop pro- cesses that reward quick decision-mak- ing. Don’t be afraid to take risk. Learn to fail fast and learn from each success and failure along the way.” Tip #3 – Differentiate Troy Schroeder, a consultant who also does work for Clutch+ Performance, says differentiation might sound like a pipe dream in markets where product moves in railcars and is sold by the ton or bushel. But, he says, when the products are virtually the same, you need to shift your focus from selling products to connect- ing with the customer and their needs. “At the risk of tossing stones at our own industry, agribusiness has tradition- ally been guilty of digging deeply into the upstream side of the equation and spending less time connecting the dots of how these things matter to and add value for the customer,” Schroeder says. “Sustainable success in today’s market is all about the customer experience, and focusing every function of the organiza- tion toward customer-first thinking is an effective way to rally your business. Schroeder provides a few customer- “Sustainable success in today’s market is all about the customer experience, and focusing every function of the organization toward customer-first thinking is an effective way to rally your business.” — Troy Schroeder