When Steven Valencsin, CEO of GROWERS, talks to ag retailers, he hears a lot about resources stretched thin and depleted sales staff. Finding good people—and keeping them—is more difficult than ever before. Ag retailers want to deliver a quality experience to build customer relationships and loyalty, but this goal is becoming harder to reach with employee turnover. “There’s a labor shortage in the country, and ag retail is not exempt from it. When your sales staff has an open door to work at any ag retailer in the country because they’re constantly looking for employees, you better make sure you’re providing the tools they need to be successful with you, or they’re gone,” Valencsin says. “So the real question is what tools do they need to be successful, and how do you keep turnover from impacting customer relationships when you inevitably lose some employees?”
His company (based in Durham, North Carolina) offers a proven solution—GROWERS Rally sales enablement platform. Providing complete visibility into every aspect of the sales process, GROWERS Rally allows ag retailers to manage orders, products and prices in real- time and in one location.
“It’s not uncommon for a farmer to follow an agronomy salesperson to a different company due to there being no records of products, practices and rates saved anywhere,” Valencsin says. “Not only does this provide a terrible customer experience for the farmers who are loyal to the business, it puts the new hire in bad spot when trying to call on existing customers.”
Autonomy with Oversight
Along with tools that help them succeed, salespeople want freedom from micromanagement. GROWERS Rally enables that sense of freedom.
“As a sales manager, you want to give your people the autonomy to do their job successfully, but you want to know what they’re doing,” Valencsin says. “We’re providing visibility and opportunity to managers to see what’s going on when they need to. Managers don’t have to check in every day. They can have oversight but still give the salesperson a level of freedom. Autonomy is enabled by technology.”
GROWERS Rally provides autonomy to the salesperson in the field by giving them access to accurate pricing, product lists, the ability to quickly and easily create, send and revise quotes and place orders directly from a mobile device in the field.
By giving your sales staff a tool that increases efficiency and autonomy, you create an appealing environment that supports success, which can help minimize attrition. Valencsin adds, “Many of our customers say our system makes them an employer of choice and helps them serve their customers better.”
Find out how GROWERS can help you achieve your retail business goals.
Visit growers.ag or email sales@growers.ag
