Ag Sales Professional's Podcast by Greg Martinelli

 How Steve Martin and a performance review can help you close more sales “How can I close more sales?” It's the most common question I get in sales training—and not surprisingly, the most common weak spot when salespeople evaluate themselves. A recent interview with comedian Steve Martin reminded me of an employee review I once […]

When was the last time you audited your territory or sales team? Honestly, when was the last time you took a good, hard look at your territory or your sales team?  I mean looking at it like an audit would? If you're like most sales managers or business leaders, the answer is probably… never. Sure, […]

When was the last time you audited your territory or sales team? Honestly, when was the last time you took a good, hard look at your territory or your sales team?  I mean, looking at it like an audit would? If you're like most sales managers or business leaders, the answer is probably… never. Listen […]

How to stand out and stand tall with the power of speaking…. Listen in as Sara Cross and I discuss the power of speaking at high-stakes moments. Whether it's one-on-one on a sales call, speaking to a board of directors, team selling a group of customers, or speaking in front of hundreds of people, the […]

An interview with Chrissy Wozniak of North American Ag I am joined by Chrissy Wozniak, who owns and runs North American Ag and is the marketing manager for Ecorobotix in the US. We welcome her today in a discussion focused on Ag tech. In her travels, she attends all the major US farm shows as […]

Ask a closing question! Not a week goes by that I am not approached and asked one of the most common questions in sales training. Everybody wants to know, “How can I get better at closing?” It's the skill that everybody, every salesperson, and every sales manager wants to know. To help, I have a […]

Developing your salespeople even when budgets are tight Last week's blog and podcast were focused on selling to farmers during a recession.  If you haven't read or listened to it, please do so and then come back for this week's discussion.  It will make more sense.  Selling to Farmers in a Recession Today, we are […]

3 M's on how to sell when it's worse than just tough times! Over the past decade, considerable attention has been devoted to the topic of selling during challenging economic times.  I've focused my topics and training on selling in Ag and to farmers during those tough times.  However, today's market is different than those […]

3 M's on how to sell when it's worse than just tough times! Over the past decade, considerable attention has been devoted to the topic of selling during challenging economic times.  I've focused my topics and training on selling in Ag and to farmers during those tough times.  However, today's market is different than those […]

Salespeople fulfill the critical role as the quarterback of their company During sales training workshops, I like to bring new and unique views of our role as salespeople.  One view that really brings a unique perspective is the concept of the quarterback on a football team.  The approach used to explain this concept is better […]

How to overcome the biggest challenge to selling biologicals After reading through a recent survey conducted by Crop Life Magazine on selling biologicals, I think it's important to understand a key element from that survey.  While the survey focuses on crop producers, you could easily adapt this to selling certain livestock products as well.  Animal […]

Storytelling skills for selling and the job interview Dustin Toberman from Omni Ag Consulting joins me in a discussion about storytelling skills and how they help during the job interview process. Dustin spent the last 25 years in the grain business as an originator, merchant, and leader. He now runs Omni Ag Consulting, which is […]

“Can you send me an email and tell me what you did last week?” is not a bad question Preface:  This is not a political commentary despite using a political reference.  This is all about accountability and improving your sales results. “If you are working as hard as you possibly can toward growing your sales […]

Which is better to focus on, a producer's needs or their wants? The short answer is Both! As farm profitability tightens up, so does the farmer's wallet.  Their first reaction will be to reduce spending across the board. Your company's reaction: Your company feels the brunt of this as your P&L statement begins to take […]

One with your top 5 and one with your manager After working with agribusiness sales teams from East to West Coast and from Texas to Alberta, I can tell you that every salesperson will benefit from having these two conversations right now.  The outcome will help you focus your selling efforts on the two most […]

A needed selling skill when selling through tough economic times on the farm Last week, we went over the fact that farmers shop harder during tough times.  This week, I want to also remind salespeople that in tough times producers will reduce all expenses with their vendors.  You are going to experience more “No” responses […]

That's both good news and bad news for the Ag sales professional If you haven't guessed the theme for the last two months of my articles, it's “Selling to farmers in tough economic times”. The focus has been and will continue to be about why this is a good time to be in sales.  I […]

And the 1 message you must hear as an Ag Salesperson At this moment, our industry has become a noisy world of negative ag stories. Some are warranted, and some are not.  In 2024, we had tough Ag economics and we are one week away from a president inauguration, which could add more stress to […]

The Ag Sales Professional's Guide to better discovery methods Selling can be viewed as a Q & A exchange (questions and answers).  We go to the farm, ask questions to find a need, and then sell a product that hopefully meets that need.  The struggle occurs when we do a poor job of truly identifying […]

When to pull the trigger on grain sales This is not just for grain buyers or merchants. Your farmers pay for your products with the money they earn from grain sales. If you sell to farmers or your customers sell to farmers, listen to or watch this interview with Susan Stroud. It just might help […]

Sales mirror, sales mirror on the wall, who's the greatest salesperson of all? Well, it's the end of the year and the new year is almost upon us.  How did you do?  In the next 30-60 days, that conversation will go on all over agribusiness as salespeople sit down with their managers to reflect on […]

Or is it all about price? The idea for today's article occurred many years ago as I tried to differentiate myself from all the other salespeople calling on my customers.  I sold in the B2B (business to business) industry of selling to farmers and feed dealers.  You might think that in business-to-business selling, it would […]

Says every farmer in today's economy If you call on farmers or livestock producers, then you hear that quote far too many times on your sales calls.  So often that you believe it's true.  So often that you hang your head and struggle to make sales calls on current customers, let alone cold call on […]

Ever been asked to complete a SWOT Analysis? Ever wonder why?  Or what you should do with it? SWOT stands for: To complete one, you first pick a subject.  This could be a product, a competitor, or most often, yourself.  Then, in a four-box diagram, you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your […]

3 ways to help stubborn customers Farming is tough business.  And it just got a lot tougher in the last 12 months.  This means selling to farmers is also tough! Many times when selling to a farmer, we are asking them to change the way they farm.  We are often introducing new products, services, or technology […]

Selling to farmers in tough times. Farming is always challenging, but right now it's tougher than usual, with profitability under serious pressure for farmers. This means those selling to farmers are feeling the strain too. Recently, I had the privilege of collaborating with Margy Eckelkamp from Farm Journal. Together, we outlined seven actionable steps that […]

And what is your role as their salesperson when they do? Your farmer customers are struggling to stay afloat right now, more than probably ever in their farming history.  Unless they farmed through the 1980's, right now is their most difficult time. Your role as their salesperson or more importantly, their trusted advisor has never […]

How many of them are you? Good luck and let me know how it goes

Segmenting your way to Sales Success Are you calling on the right prospects in the right places? Are your salespeople calling on the right prospects in the right places? You might want to double check with them as I find far too many of us in agribusiness are “Fishing in Swimming Pools” Lots of activity […]

Dairy Boots and getting “Robbed” Every customer has a customer!  This is so important for salespeople to understand that I want to repeat it.  Every customer has a customer!  If you sell to an agribusiness like a feed mill, grain elevator or Ag retailer, then that is obvious.  However, you might be thinking that since […]

Do this fun and easy exercise to build one of your most important selling skills A critical component to building connections with prospects and customers is the skill of empathy.  You might be wondering why I called empathy a skill and not some built in talent or ability.  That's because I think you can develop […]

How to outsell your competition without the lowest prices, the best technology, or biggest marketing budget In the 1975, Van McCoy released a hit song and dance called “Do the Hustle”.  The lyrics are very simple and so is today's message.  The lyrics were literally, “Do the hustle”.  The irony is that it's also the […]

Channel the power of DISC styles Bad news…down markets…increased costs…It's all over the agribusiness headlines.  Every day, the outlook for farmer profitability is reported as dismal and getting worse.  When it comes to agribusiness company news, it doesn't get any better.  Sales and profits are down, generating work force reductions, mergers or location closures. This […]

How healthy is your prospect funnel? Prospecting and cold calling are some of the more difficult selling skills for salespeople to master.  I am often asked to help salespeople improve them.  My first question to them is always, “Tell me about your prospect funnel?”  And guess what?  Many do not have one.  That becomes problem […]

How dysfunctional is your sales anatomy? Last week, we covered the proper functional Anatomy of a Sale.  Podcast version. Go back and read or listen to it first to gain a better understanding for this article.  Listen in as we discuss the 5 Systems that make up a healthy sales anatomy and the symptoms of […]

Let's study the healthy anatomy first Listen in as we discuss the healthy anatomy of a sale. We will cover the Purpose and Key components of the 5 Systems that make up a healthy sales anatomy:

And the mental minefield you must navigate to use these truths Sure, selling skills are great and necessary to succeed.  Asking good questions, how to present your products, closing, and dealing with objections.  However, I see more people who fail in their time management skills than in their selling skills.  2. Confidence:  To convince customers […]

Have these discussions immediately, even if you think you know the answers The answers to these seven questions are critical for your success as you join any organization.  Originally, I titled this “7 questions every new salesperson should ask their manager”.  But then I realized, the answers are critical to every new hire.  No matter […]

How to capture 2/3rds more sales in the same amount of time and effort The strategy to grow my territory was always an exciting concept to work on.  Over the years, I spent countless times trying to decide who, how, where, and when I would focus my most valuable resource: my time! One of those […]

The 1 question you need to ask every farmer you sell to during an inflation Remember that childhood challenge from the local bully?  The one that sounded something like, “Yeah?  So, what are you going to do about it?” Well, it might just be a great solution to the current environments you are running into […]

3 areas to differentiate yourself as a salesperson When your customers interact with you and your company, do they say, “Wo! Or WoW?” Wo means, their experience is so bad, they exclaim, “Wo! That was bad.” WoW means, their experience is so good, that they exclaim, “Wow, that was fast, easy, great!” Listen in as […]

Use the Buddy Shirt Method to develop teamwork Everyone knows or should know that we can all accomplish more through teamwork.  And most of us in business actually practice fairly good teamwork behavior.  The Problem: However, there is a group of employees in our business that historically struggles with teamwork.  This group can sometimes even […]

Listen better, gain more understanding of what your customer needs, and sell better Every customer or prospect you meet is seeking one common goal.  Do you know what it is?  Is it money, bigger yields, lower input costs, or increased ROI?  Maybe.  But the one thing every one of them wants from you as their […]

People buy from people they Trust There is a well-known phrase in selling, “People buy from people they know and trust”.  The struggle that most of us face in selling is, “How do I build trust?”.  If you are a new salesperson and don't have established relationships, this can be difficult.  Listen in as Greg […]

You Selling You to You Your first customer is you and the first product you sell is YOU!  Might be a tongue twister, but it is true. This is not your standard run of the mill, “Fake it till you make it” message.  I want you to understand that in the beginning and maybe even […]

How to develop your own “Pain Relief” as an Ag Sales Professional Ever thought about your daily selling struggles as pain?  When you decide to go see that difficult customer or collect from that past due account, do you think of it as pain?  If so, then we can jump right into pain relief.  If […]

Useful or useless?  Make your selling data work for you Sitting in my first official sales training session, one of our company's top salespeople was giving all of us new salespeople a short training presentation.  One of his opening comments struck me as odd.  Meaning, I didn't think it was right, but I was too […]

A Salesperson's guide to teamwork in a dysfunctional culture Salespeople need to build internal teamwork even when other departments don't want to. It's March and most of the agribusiness trade shows are winding down. Now, it's time to get out into the market and follow up.  In other words, deliver on all those promises. Before […]

See if you or your sales team can answer them When preparing to do a sales training program, I always interview several people on the team. During each of those interviews, I have a short window of time to discover as much as I can about them, their specific strengths/weaknesses, their specific market, and what […]

2 requirements to win sales and influence customers with an aggressive approach The best salespeople I know are very aggressive.  I didn't say they were pushy, salesy, or annoying to their customers. Quite the opposite.  Their customers love them for their aggressive style.  Often, when I am brought in to work with a sales team, […]

Quit talking and let them test drive your products The picture enclosed is what I drew up as the order of learning.  As someone who runs training programs every week, I needed some way to explain to my audiences the importance of putting their customers in the driver's seat of their products.  Your customers are […]