How To Have A Successful Bull Selling Season
Bull selling season is shortly upon us so it pays to be prepared so you maximise what will be one of your most important days of the year.
Here are five factors that can make or break your bull sale. Have a read and think what you are doing or could be doing better. You and your bottom line could be all the better for it.
1. Before, during and after
What activities have you committed to before, during and after your bull sale?
Before your sale day have you made sure your website or other advertising collateral is up to date with all sale details like time, day and contact details? If you have a website, have you made sure there is a Google Map embedded on your Contact Us page?
During your bull sale how will you collect customer’s contact details so you can carry on the conversation afterwards? You can use Health and Safety protocols and get people to sign in when they arrive on farm as they would for any property. Make sure you get their email and phone number so you can add it to your database.
What refreshments will you have on hand? What statement can you make that might make the experience a more memorable one? What could you give them to take home as a wee reminder them of the day?
After your bull sale make sure you follow up and thank them for attending. Ask them for their feedback and advice on what you could be doing better. And then make sure you send out a bi-monthly email newsletter to keep in touch. Out of sight is out of mind and if you’re not talking to them, you can be sure another stud will be.
Don’t leave a communications vacuum for others to fill.
2. Seeing is believing
The ideal is for farmers to visit your property and buy with their own eyes. That way they can get to see the bulls in situ and the commercial conditions they have been raised in.
If your farmers can’t physically get to your sale, get your phone out and video your stock so they can see them online. Google loves video and ranks sites that feature video more highly. When you’re competing for eyeballs you need to have compelling content and farmers use their eyes more than most when they are buying bulls. Make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.
3. Give to get
Sales catalogues can get stale and often look the same. Why don’t you ask for your vet, geneticist or nutritionist to add an article of their own and give your farmer reader more value with content, ideas or insights that they wouldn’t otherwise know about.
That way your catalogue has a greater chance of hanging around the kitchen table that bit longer.
There are so many ways you can enhance your bull selling season by doing what others don’t. Going that extra mile and making that bit more investment could be the difference between a good sale and a great sale and attracting new customers vs. selling to the same ones.
It’s up to you. Like farming, what you get out what you put in.
4. Rehearsals and run sheets
Bull sale day is a big day so it pays to be prepared. Map out your day from start to finish. Allow for all scenarios including wet weather, less attendees or more, stuck cars, medical emergencies or technology break downs (so you have back up plans).
You could even start earlier back at phone or email enquiry stage. What happens next? What do you send them? Maybe you could create an email template to send to all your database 14 days and again 7 days before your event reminding them of what to expect when using an itinerary or run sheet. This is especially helpful for those that are time-poor and need to prioritise when they can come.
You want to make a professional impression so leave no stone unturned by leaving nothing to chance.
5. Carrying on the conversation
Just because sales day is over doesn’t mean you can’t communicate with your clients. All content should be focussed on quality rather than quantity.
Communicating consistently vs. haphazardly means you are building a bond of trust with your customer. Social science research shows that the more we are exposed to and become familiar with something, the more we prefer it.
And remember, newsletters only work when they are newsworthy. What could you teach or educate your client on that would be worthy of their time? Maybe you could talk about the best ways to wean or why recording gets you more results and return.
Our advice is content is king but consistency is key. Commit to creating stand-out content that your clients engage with so you can sell them more, more often.
Content provided by www.agrarian.co.nz