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12 Ways to Test the Strength of Your Dealership!

December 13, 2011 by Rod

If there was ever a year when dealerships would be tested it was this past season.

With the amount of variable product performance across the country, a great deal of additional pressure was put on anyone with a part-time seed business.  People who have dealerships most often divide their time between selling seed and other income generating businesses.

A wide range of product performance can equate to indecision and lack of planning by producers.  They’re not sure what they want to do for next year.

Take the survey and see how well prepared you were for a Checklistseason of variable performance.  This checklist may give you some insight as to why you are having the kind of sales year you are currently experiencing.

After you have finished, take a look at the number of check marks you have and see how your dealership is preparing itself for meeting its 21st century needs. Click to continue…

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Dealerships Can No Longer Be Ignored!

October 25, 2011 by Rod

Seed dealerships have served the seed industry well for more than sixty years.  Commissioned sales people,  farmer dealers and retail sellers continue to market the majority of seed for companies in the United States.

In the past dealerships were one of the most effective selling systems around.

Whenever that part-time commissioned seller decided to go out and make sales calls, they almost always came back with orders.  But the problem has always been that most dealers don’t go out and sell often enough.

They often hold their own company hostage by selling as often as their company needs them to.

Inefficiencies involved with the dealership system are part of an age old problem.  These inefficiencies include poor candidate selection and very little (if any) sales training. Companies signed people on as dealers, not to get a new sales rep, but to get a few extra bags of business.  And since this dealership system of selling seed involved part-time reps who were paid on commission, very little time, money or training was invested to make them into professional sellers.

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My Biggest 100% Customer Is Starting to Buy Cheaper Seed From A Competitor!

February 24, 2011 by Rod

Q & A

 

Rod,

Recently, one of my dealers called me to say that his biggest customer (who has been buying all of his seed from this rep) is now getting some seed from an out of state competitor because it is so much cheaper.  The dealer said the competitor’s varieties have been performing very well and that he feels he has no choice but to drop his price in order to keep this customer.  Is this the kind of price pressure and marketplace changes you have been warning us about?  I’m worried about more of this happening.  What can I tell my dealer to do?

William – Missouri

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Categories: Dealerships, Price