Maybe You Should Be!

Anyone who has grown up in the seed industry knows what a hybrid is and what makes it so unique.

In the early 1930s, the commercial seed business was birthed by the advent of hybrids.

This new system of corn improvement was based on combining two totally unrelated genetic backgrounds (parent lines) whose progeny gave farmers geometric gains in plant health, seed quality and productivity.

In fact, the wider the cross (or the more unrelated the parents were), the greater the performance of the resulting hybrid.

Farmers immediately adopted these new innovations and instantly more than tripled their yields.

Even today, no other system for genetic improvement has equaled hybridization as a means of changing the performance of a living organism so dramatically.

What makes hybridization even more exciting is that, as long as the parental lines are maintained constant, the exact same hybrid, along with its enhanced potential, can be recreated as many times as desired.

That makes hybrids valuable not only for their great performance, but also for the predictability of that performance.

An Even More Powerful Creation

Today, the seed industry has a brand new, even more powerful hybrid that is generating value for companies far beyond that of any of its predecessors.

It’s a hybrid sales representative who sells more than anyone else ever dreamed of selling and keeps up that pace year after year, regardless of what happens in the marketplace.

These seemingly bionic specimens aren’t just a little bit better than the average seed seller; they are light years ahead of the rest.  But what makes these hybrids most unique is their pedigree.

They are the result of combining two seemingly unrelated parental traits together:

Passion & Intelligence.

They don’t rely on product knowledge, product performance, market trends, customer whims, new technologies or agronomic prowess to get sales.

They rely on their heart and their brain.

Passion and intelligence are a rare combination because they are so difficult to maintain year in and year out and those who do become “hybridized” propel themselves to the top very quickly.

Here are a few ways to spot a real P.I. Hybrid SeedSeller:

1.  Does not engage in “confirmation bias.”

Someone once coined the phrase “confirming evidence bias” by describing an attitude in which a person seeks out only the information they need to backup or confirm their own personal biases.

But the “I” (Intelligent) parent of this hybrid doesn’t allow that attitude to exist.  P.I. sellers know they can’t always have it their way so these hybrids tend to be very open-minded and they welcome other points of view.

This attitude is really helpful in a marketplace that is changing so quickly.

2. Holds every one of their customers accountable…for helping him or her sell seed.

The “P” (Passion) parent of this cross believes that simply selling seed to a customer is not enough.

Therefore, growers who plant at least half or more of their acres to a P.I.’s products are immediately classified as “customers” and are asked to help get more business.

They are asked for three referrals each year, in addition to a testimonial on the product’s performance.  P.I. sellers believe that customers owe them this much for the kind of success they are going to get from buying their products.

As a result, customers who buy from a P.I. can be found “chatting up” their purchases to friends and neighbors year-round.

3. Bases sales goals on total customer load, not just product potentials.

Once again the “Intelligence” parent dominates and causes the seller to calculate his or her total customer load before the sales season even starts.

That is, how many customers can they handle, if each one gets a minimum of 12-20 hours of their time each season?

This is based on committing half of their total annual hours to customer contact.

4. Doesn’t “look” the part.

This is where both parents contribute equally to the progeny.  Out of all my years in this business, I have only met a few true P.I. sellers and none of them looked like the average seed sales rep.

Instead, they each looked like a professional businessman.  Their passion for turning heads was combined with the most effective way to do business — and it worked.

A P.I. is always dressed better than anyone else, is always operating by appointment, is always stopping to see customers for a special reason, is always showing leadership and is always thinking of new ways to sell value.

This marketplace has stagnated itself because field sellers have stagnated themselves.

There is a need for reps to hybridize with the two most important elements in selling: Passion & Intelligence.

You can’t have one without the other.

Passion without Intelligence is like a bird without wings.   So is it any wonder that so many sales reps have a hard time soaring?

Happy Selling,

Rod

P.S.  The best way to ensure you are a Hybrid Seed Seller is to attend our 2013 Public CAMP!

Early Bird Registration Bonus expires April 1st, click here to learn more.