By Grant McMillan
NAICC President
At times, being a consultant in the ag industry can be frustrating. One of the challenges we face in our industry is the perception of value and the battle between where we value our services and where our clients value our services. Often times, we assign a value that’s too low. No time is this more evident than when I see posted rates for mechanic shops. I walked into a shop last week that listed its rate as $150 per hour.
I find this frustrating when I think of the years of education and experience that members of our industry hold. I hear it’s a struggle to charge half or three-quarters of the value we perceive that we offer because of fear that clients won’t pay and we will have no work or because we are too humble to reasonably value our services.
I spoke with a local crop consultant who mentioned that he has one client who he sits down with each winter and reviews the performance of his blueberry fields. He said they rank each field on yield performance and other factors such as drainage and soil type. They discuss the impact of what’s actually working within the field efficiently. Then, the grower decides whether to keep the lower ranked fields for another season or sell off a property to start fresh with a new one. Oftentimes, a “for sale” sign goes up on the property. He said that this grower’s philosophy allows him to get rid of the problem properties, focus his energies on the better performing fields and not strain his labor and equipment resources.
This same consultant recently told me that he is now implementing this same philosophy with his business as he approaches retirement. He has started to drop farmer-clients who give him the most headaches. In turn, he is able to better serve clientele he has retained, provide more time to them, work less and charge more. He said he wishes he would have done this years ago!
As we exit the field season and move into the fall and winter months, now is the time to reflect on the value you bring to the table and think through where the past season’s hardships have come and have impacted your standards. By doing this, you may find that you’re undercutting yourself and that a change may be in order to get back to where you need to be.
