hinfarm - 3/20/2024 06:51

Just got a notification the other day I will now be getting a new retail salesperson from a coop I do some business with. If I am not mistaken this is number 8 in about 10 years.

I have sat on all sides of the desk with ag retail. I have been in ag retail sales, custom applicator, supplier and customer as well as running my own small ag retail business.

The ag retail sales position seems like a "tour of duty" that needs to happen when people come out of college. They do their tour, and they are off to something better, and in many cases I can't blame them myself. The salesperson that's been with a company for 10+ years is not that common anymore, and that comes at a determinate to the company themselves. If I have a one off project and I am not worried about price and just want to get it done, I'd usually just call my "trusted advisor" since they earned the business by being around for more than 3 years and tell them to make it happen.

Since we struggle to ever develop these relationships because the employees don't last, I am to the point now where if my local retailers wanted to go to an APP setup like ADM has I would be fine with it. Due to the constant turnover in their sales reps, they are doing very little to add value to their commodity fertilizers. I might as well just look up on my phone how much a semi load of 32% is going to cost and be done with it since at this point that's all this weeks sales rep is doing any way. I realize seed might be a little tougher to do this since more often than not real world doesn't always match the seed guide, but again that comes with experience.

I realize this setup wouldn't be for everyone, and I think there still needs to be someone that can answer the phone if someone wants to know if they can mix this and that or what weed something is but the day of the white pickup with crank windows aimlessly driving around the countryside looking for customers is about over.