SEPTEMBER 2018 SEEDWORLD.COM / 25 WE’VE LEARNED THAT those outside a business can give incredible insight on how to improve the company. We hold multiple operational and strategic planning sessions each year to review our business, which has been criti- cal to our success. We’ve challenged our assumptions and brainstormed creative ideas that have allowed us to continu- ously improve. Historically, these conversations had all been conducted within the company. Overtime, we recognized that if we have the same people and groups talking about the same issues or situations, our creativity wasn’t going to keep pace with the speed of industry change. To keep our company innovative and ahead of our competition, we started enlisting the perspective of people out- side our company and even outside of agriculture. In doing this, we learned some important lessons. The Seed Business Isn’t Unique. It’s commonplace to think that your busi- ness or industry is unique. This thinking, however, limits the solutions you are likely to consider and can lead to tunnel vision. Your business is unique just like everyone else’s. How to differentiate your brand, respond to challenges from disrupt- ers, adopt new technologies, organize and recruit labor, react to pressure from consumers and balance the push and pull between price and value are not unique to selling seed. Learning how compa- nies and individuals in other industries approach challenges will give you an edge on your competition. An Organizational Commitment to Change is Critical. Soliciting ideas and perspectives from outside sources is the easy part. Putting those ideas into practice requires a com- plete company commitment to embrace Your Business is Unique, Just Like Everyone Else’s JIM SCHWEIGERT GRO ALLIANCE PRESIDENT @jim_schweigert • jim.schweigert@groalliance.com • GroAlliance.com change and be comfortable with new approaches. If your company leadership, managers and other key employees don’t embrace new ideas, implementation is not possible. Leadership must communi- cate the “how and why” and be consist- ent in supporting new approaches. Any Business Can Do it! Gaining outside perspective is within any company’s reach. Start slowly with your current contacts in other industries. The most success will come from having a formal and deliberate process. Evaluate which challenges are best suited for out- side perspectives. Then enlist a dedicated firm or set of individuals to rely on to deliver the best results. There is a lot of incredible insight to be gained by getting an outside perspective on your business. The earlier you start, the earlier you will see the benefits! NO ONE LIKES being told “no,” espe- cially salespeople. In fact, fear of rejection is the top reason why salespeople hate to prospect for new business. They hate the thought of being turned down because they believe it’s a personal attack on their character. If they understood the value of being told “no,” they’d actually look forward to hearing it. Here’s why. Kirby Puckett was a professional base- ball player who played his entire 12-year career for the Minnesota Twins. He was their all-time leader in hits, runs, doubles and total bases, while establishing a life- time batting average of .318. That sounds really good until you realize that in order to hit .318, Kirby struck out two of every three times at bat. That doesn’t sound good, does it? But in baseball, those num- bers were league-leading. Striking out or being told “no” is also good in sales. For example, imagine you receive $100 every time you get a sale and your closing rate is 25 percent, which means you sell one out of every four prospects you call on. Let’s say you call on your first prospect and he turns you down. How much do you get paid for being told “no”? That’s right, $25. You call on your second prospect and get turned down again. How much have you earned now? Another $25 for a total of $50. You call on your third pros- pect and again get turned down. You now have $75. You call on your fourth prospect and that prospect buys. You’ve earned all $100. Since your closing percentage was 25 percent you had to be turned down three times before getting an order. If How to Get Paid for Being Told No ROD OSTHUS R.C. THOMAS COMPANY PRESIDENT @RodOsthus • rod@rcthomas.com • rcthomas.com your closing rate had been 50 percent, you would have been paid $50 for every no. Getting a “no” is a positive thing because it takes you one step closer to an order and your reward. You have to get a “no” to get to that “yes.” Show your salespeople how pros- pecting makes them money. Show them how getting told “no” is an essential part of the process of getting an order and not something to take personally. When field sellers understand the value of being told “no,” two things happen. First, sales increase because they spend more time prospecting and, second, their closing percentage increases, paying them more for every “no.” Getting told “no” is a good thing because it pays.