Building relationships is the key to making sales, as any Business 101 class will teach you. In a time when fewer and fewer farmers are making purchasing decisions, those relationships have never been more important.

By establishing value and knowing how to communicate that to a prospect, the closing ratio goes up dramatically, but so do the margins. A sales-driven organization takes time, energy and the correct vision to have a highly competent team.

Do you know how many customers that your sales team talks to every week? For many organizations, they don’t know the answer and are leaving thousands of dollars on the table for a competitor to get.

This is the first article in a 3-part series about four key elements of professional selling and marketing: 1) relationship selling tips and strategies, 2) hiring, training and leading a sales force, 3) integrating marketing and sales teams to perform as a whole unit, and 4) tips and strategies to measure sales and marketing effectiveness and performance.

“I’ve seen more engagement of guys selling construction that would typically just stick in their little lane in ag. They’re more comfortable because they’re not having to go through the price books. When you have a quote tool, that makes it less intimidating”

Last week I was on the road traveling in western Minnesota visiting dealers, manufacturers, service providers and even an impromptu stop at Alexandria Technical & Community College to check out the diesel mechanic program. Despite the hard year that North American farmers — and thus farm equipment dealers — have been having, nearly everyone I visited with seemed upbeat and relatively positive. Harvest is going to be a race against time this year.