Managing your second season.In a recent conversation with a west coast nursery supplier, he talked with us about working with his sales team on their off-season selling activities--a time of year he called his "Second Season." This term got us thinking about how sales managers sales manager n → gerente m/f de ventas sales manager n → directeur commercial sales manager sale n → in agribusinesses could help their staff get the most out of the slower times of the year. SECOND SEASON OPPORTUNITIES Selling in the Second Season offers several opportunities that just don't don't 1. Contraction of do not. 2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not. n. A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts. exist in the busiest parts of the year. When you're you're Contraction of you are. you're you are you're be taking orders, moving product, meeting sales goals, and helping customers connect products with needs, the focus of the sales call tends to be on product issues. Of course, taking orders is appropriate anytime the customer is ready to place them, but during the peak busy season we are often in a crunch (1) To process data. See number crunching. (2) To compress data. See data compression. 1. (jargon) crunch - To process, usually in a time-consuming or complicated way. to hit sales targets. In the off-season, we have the opportunity to focus on relationship development. The pace is just a little slower. The picture looks just a little bit bigger. We've we've Contraction of we have. we've have got time to really understand the customer's values, goals, and needs, and to build credibility using a relationship-selling approach. Unfortunately, we're we're Contraction of we are. we're we are often so dog tired from our busy season that we don't give our full attention to this prime opportunity. This is where great sales managers (and salespeople sales·peo·ple pl.n. Persons who are employed to sell merchandise in a store or in a designated territory. ) set themselves apart because they understand there are four important reasons for carefully planning the Second Season with their sales staff. PLANNING WITH CUSTOMERS This is a great time to do some planning with your customers. Find out what customers are thinking about for the next buying cycle. An effort to encourage salespeople to assess customer opportunities in a thoughtful way is invaluable as a forecasting tool, and helps determine needed support resources in advance. PROBLEM SOLVING problem solving Process involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. Solving problems can be done more efficiently during the Second Season. Encourage your sales team to do some very specific customer satisfaction assessments. At this stage, customers are often in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of evaluating their most recent purchase decisions. Salespeople can address complaints and put out fires in their early stages. IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS Call effectiveness improves during the Second Season. With more time to plan and prepare for calls during this time of year, there is more time to determine what technical expertise your customers may need and more time to provide ideas to help them reach their goals. The slower pace of the Second Season leaves room in the conversation for questions about growth, for discussion of industry issues, or for communicating ideas that affect areas other than how much they plan to order. BE GENUINE Finally, the Second Season allows salespeople to demonstrate sincere interest in customers' success. This brings credibility to the relationship, because the salesperson is not directly trying to "sell" them something. If interactions with customers in the Second Season are meaningful and substantive, it can clearly communicate sincere interest. The old adage, "They don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. how much you know until they know how much you care," is still a powerful truth. COACHING THE SECOND SEASON Just as the off-season in any sport means conditioning and working on the fundamentals, managers can make the most of their Second Season by closely directing the efforts of their sales teams. Managers can get more out of the off-season if they establish a strategy for how their sales teams can most effectively utilize their time. To learn more about strategies for managing your sales team or about ways to strengthen relationships with key customers, consider attending one of our upcoming programs. Sales Management Sales Management Role and Goal Importance of sales management is critical for any commercial organization. Expanding business in not possible without increasing sales volumes, and effective sales management goal is to organize sales team work in such a manner that ensures a and Leadership, held June 5-6, 2007, will explore leadership issues related to maximizing sales force effectiveness at the field level. Precision Selling, scheduled for July 10-11, 2007, is geared for sales professionals who would like to work more deeply with targeted producer relationships. Purdue is also offering a free Webinar on May 1, 2007, that will explore the concept of the Second Season and how to best manage it. For more information or to register for any of these events, visit http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab. Upcoming Agribusiness agribusiness Agriculture operated by business; specifically, that part of a modern national economy devoted to the production, processing, and distribution of food and fibre products and byproducts. SEMINARS Sales Management and Leadership June 5-6, 2007 Precision Selling: Building Relationships with Large Farmers June 10-11, 2007 National Conference for Agribusiness November 13-14, 2007 Center for Food and Agricultural Business Dave Downey (d@wdd.wintek.com) is the executive director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business at Purdue University Purdue University (pərdy  `, -d`), main campus at West Lafayette, Ind. . Scott
Downey (downeyws@purdue.edu) is the associate director of the Center.
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