 |
AgCall at CAAR Annual Convention
I attended the CAAR Annual Convention and Trade Show and was very impressed with the calibre of speakers and messages shared with the group. Retailers got real value from a number of the speakers including Don Pottinger who really hit the mark with his presentation. Some key things I jotted down that I thought were very relevant were:
1. To grow your business you must grow your people.
2. The margin difference between your best people and the bottom sales people is monstrous.
3. Measure sales people by profitability not revenue.
4. Employees want to do what they were trained to do – their opinion is respected and asked for – want appropriate communication everyday – and to know what are the expectations and goals.
5. Growers want global insights applied locally.
6. Growers want solutions to profitability problems.
The farmer panel was also very insightful and still consider the local retailer valuable although in a different way than 10 or 15 years ago. Agronomy knowledge and custom application are not a benefit to these large farmers in the west any longer (less so in the East) because they have their own equipment and agronomist on staff or rent independent agronomists. These farmers realize that unit costs of production must decline for them to be profitable because their selling costs will not increase significantly. This will be accomplished through lower costs for inputs, innovative thinking and new technology to deliver high yields. They are willing to pay for good service and suppliers who bring them innovative solutions to marketing and other problems. Retailers must continue to build trust and build relationships over time and that means keeping the same person (could say an Account Manager) to deal with them over a long time.
Perry Graham wrapped up the morning with some insightful information around grower loyalty. His take was:
1. Satisfaction does not equate to loyalty
2. Loyalty equates to a growers "willingness to recommend" - "a Promoter"
3. Social media will play a bigger part in building loyalty.
Retailers must know who their Promoters are and harness the power they have to influence others.
Kim McConnell did an outstanding job of facilitation with challenging questions and lead in.
Alvin Law - the lunch speaker was a true inspiration of what can be accomplished with limited resources - here is a Saskatchewan native who was born without arms that can do as much with his feet as others with all their limbs - including playing the piano, drums, drive a car, etc, etc.
Great conference – too bad there where not more retailers and their staff in attendance.
|
|