Colleen Francis, CSP

This session begins by making a compelling case for why a new rulebook is needed to succeed in Agriculture sales in today’s economy, and debunks commonly held assumption about what’s needed to be a producer sales leader going forward into the future. Next, Colleen offers detailed, prescriptive advice that producers can implement right away to help their operations thrive and for the people they lead to prosper. 

1.       The Farmer buying processes have changed and continue to change every year 

·         Demographic shifts: not a single Ag marketplace anymore but many 

·         Age shifts: the younger generation of producers now sell to the older customers 

·         Technology shifts: access to people, equipment and inputs has been democratized 

·         Needs shifts: markets (producers, suppliers, and customers) now go online to meet needs 

·         Trust is out. Producers as experts are in

2.       Your current sales approach is not appropriate for the new farmer buying process 

·         It’s not about just making the sale anymore 

·         Focus now is on managing customers and the sales after the sale (and after the sale, and after the sale…) 

·         Producers can’t just show up to the marketplace face to face anymore: connecting with many people in many places in the new requirement

3.       You know more than you think 

·         Your access to continuous data allows you to complete deep research and gain new insights about prospects and market competitors, but it also requires constant updating 

·         Zeroing-in and going macro with market research like never before is mandatory for success! 

·         …And by the way, your customers know more than you think too! (So does your competition)

Today’s market presents several challenges to sales organizations: eroding margins in commodity products, increasingly complex buying decisions and greater competition than ever for every single acre. Leading businesses from manufacturers to distributors to retails are responding with innovative strategies to standout in the market and increase margins with premium products.

Using real-life examples from her work with companies including Mosaic, CPS, Cargill, Agromar Rosen’s, Trupointe and CHS, Colleen will review specific strategies proven to improve results including:

• Increasing contribution from premium versus commodity products

• Using advanced communication strategies to increase mindshare

• Using value-based selling techniques to speed deals through today’s complex buying    process

• Segmenting the customer base to target the best potentials for up and cross-sell.

Colleen will also present examples of how manufacturers, distributors, and retailers are working together on sales initiatives. By arming down-stream supply chain partners with training and selling resources, their sales teams are outperforming those businesses that continue to act alone.

Bring your pen and paper as Colleen will be discussing specific, actionable strategies that have been demonstrated to work. Colleen will also detail how sales managers can begin putting these practices into place literally the next day back in the office for immediate and lasting results. 

Putting an End to Boom and Bust Sales Cycles

How many times have you come off a great month or quarter, only to find that the pipeline is woefully empty and now everyone is struggling to keep up? Worst of all, that kind of development is considered by many to be the norm: simply accepting poor performance and the stresses of up and down results as the cost of doing business.

Why does this happen? Because of complacency, inconsistency and a far too narrow view of the role of sales. Sellers need look at their job as more than just executing the linear process of converting opportunities to sales. To create consistent results today, you must embrace a 360-degree customer-engagement model.

In this action-packed keynote, Colleen tosses out the traditional opportunity-conversion mindset and replaces it with a winning plan to develop your sales radar. Including:

• Why ubiquity is the best way to attract the best and brightest leads into your pipeline,
• How qualifying the opportunity is your responsibility as well as that of the buyer,
• That not all clients deserve the right to grow equally, and
• How your best clients should be selling to your best leads.

Standout by Selling Value – Not Negotiating Price

In today’s highly competitive marketplace, it’s no longer negotiable whether you close a sale on your terms and with balanced profits. It’s a requirement. Value—not price—must lead that conversation you’re having with your customer.

But what if your customers don’t appreciate value? What if they are only focused on buying at the lowest price? Those are beliefs: not facts.

In this keynote, Colleen unlocks the myth that clients are not interested in value by reminding sellers that the only value that matters in the value that matters to the client. It’s up to sellers to discover, communicate and position what the customers values uniquely for maximum profit.

Anyone can convert their sales pitch into customer value, using Colleen’s model. But come prepared to hear and be persuaded by provocative, unorthodox ideas that are proven to work in today’s new economy, including:

• How to close 80% of negotiations without dropping your price,
• Using a buying map to create urgency and improve margins, and
• Learn why the buyer can’t say “no need” if you’ve done your job.

Your Best Opportunity for Success is Right in Front of You

Your current accounts are your most lucrative source of additional revenue. Working more with them is the easiest way to accelerate past your sales goals. They are your biggest asset and from where you are standing right now, you are right on this money.

Sadly, these current accounts are most often a neglected profit center. All too often, companies practice Account Complacency rather than Account Management. Turning their attention, their marketing and their resources to the exciting next new deal.

My research shows that the fastest growing companies understand precisely how to manage their best accounts by focusing on customer success to profitably retain and grow their current client base. Right on the Money is rich with client examples on how leverage your best asset including cases that illustrate:

• Why clients don’t want partners, they want insiders,
• How to identify your sales prevention department and ensure they don’t get in the way of profits,
• How to sell like an insider, and
• How to develop an early-warning system to spot early defection risks and prevent them from happening

Selling More in Today’s New Economy

The rules have changed in today’s buying culture. The customers are different. How they buy is different. And even economy in which you sell to them is different.

Buyers have embraced these changes quickly and dramatically. They want more.

But far too many sales teams remain stuck in the past. They still use outdated tactics, such as cold calling (which now has a less than 1% success rate), canned pitches that are irrelevant to the customer, and manipulative closing tricks that do nothing but stagnate sales results.

Have your selling models evolved to profit from this change? If they haven’t, it’s a mistake that’s costing you money and customers every day .

The Pursuit of More takes you deep inside the mind of today’s customer. Price sensitive, yet strapped for time. Mobile powered and yet crave personal connection. They are overwhelmed by choice and dependent on trusted others for help with who they do business with. Discover how you can:

• Adopt a winning combination of frequency and market reach to improve your closing speed by 40% and your closing ratios by 30%,
• Use your secret salesforce to influence your buyers before they even hear from you,
• Nail down the fine line between persistence and stalking to give you an instant 80% increase in call-back ratios, and
• Leverage today’s best sellers—the hybrid “MarSellers”—for the benefit of selling more in less time in their territory.

The End of Accepting Failure as the Norm

The new performance culture leaves no one behind. Teams must comprise members who are top performers—no one is coasting or being artificially supported. I call this 100% by 100%.

In this new culture, measures are constant, feedback is immediate, and customers are involved in the process.

The leader’s role is to create, nurture, and leverage the success of these teams. The bar is constantly raised. The best managers succeed only when their top people are outperforming what they once achieved as team members themselves.

The new performance culture is about dominance, not keeping up.

In this dynamic keynote, Colleen will show you how the best leaders accelerate performance by:

• Adopting a 100% at 100% culture as the new performance standard,
• Involving your customers to exceed their metric of success,
• Implementing a learn by doing development model, and
• Leveraging your best to mentor the rest.