Jan Johnson, President, Millennium Research, was recently listening to a marketing guru share her amazing words of wisdom for increasing sales. "Facts tell, stories sell," she declared with a doe-eyed look of "Aren't I smart?!"
And stories have been used to sell a lot in the past few years. Jan was sure they've been used to sell since marketing began. But lately the stories have gotten more assertive, more brazen - more like lies - and we are supposed to be good little consumers, nod our heads, and whip out the credit cards.
You know what farmers like?
Facts.
Proof.
Evidence.
You know what keeps a farmer in business?
A good BS detector. Without this, they may as well be just babes in the woods, ripe to be taken by every salesperson who comes down the road.
So, first off, if someone recommends a story to market your product, ask if it's a true story? Does it include facts, tests, trials, and satisfied users to back up the story? Is it a story filled with hope or fear? Is it believable? Can farmers see it with their own eyes?
Because if it doesn't have those elements, you'll probably still get head nods... Farmers are polite that way.
But the wallets will stay in their pockets.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
There is a lot of practical wisdom and advice in this simple story. We at CAD do our level best to eliminate any BS because we know first-hand that what Jan is saying is the truth. How do we know this? Nearly every person on the CAD team is now or has at one time in their life been involved with farming/ranching and agriculture. That is why when we make suggestions about how to talk with farm/ranch customers it is coming from personal knowledge and many, many years of experience. The farmer/rancher is our collective customer/target audience, but you are the reason we exist! We see opportunity to provide honest value to farmers/ranchers with programs like AgPack®. That said, the primary reason we do what we do is to help you, our CAD member, sell more trucks! When you are successful, we are successful, and together we help farmers/ranchers realize an exceptional return on their truck investment!
