The Story a Wear Mark Tells…

Social distancing is a foreign concept to many in sales. Like most salespeople, I am used to shaking hands, and hopefully being warmly greeted when walking into an office or place of business. I find this lack of direct personal interaction odd and unfamiliar.

While I cannot visit a customer in person, I find myself thinking from time to time about the mechanics of an in-person sales visit. While it may be more intuitive to some, all successful salespeople observe the environment around a direct personal interaction with a client or fellow industry member. We notice pictures of family, objects that may indicate personal interests or logos that show brand allegiance.  Sometimes, even the smaller details have a story to tell. I took a break from the doldrums of the computer today and noticed wear marks on my computer mouse where the entire outer surface of the left mouse button is worn away. Even a worn mouse button has meaning; a story to share.   

Here at ALGL, our sales staff is also the agronomy staff. While this group of individuals has a very diverse range of experience and knowledge to support the customer in the use of our data, this staff is also a key part of our data quality. We aim not to turn soil analysis results the next day; the day after the soil is analyzed at ALGL the data is in the hands of our quality control department for a final review, and then in the hands of the agronomy staff for a second review. The agronomy staff is looking at the final reported data from an application perspective.

Those wear marks came from this member of the agronomy staff clicking through 100’s of reports a day. Like the rest of the agronomy staff, I am trying my best to ensure the data meets the expectations of our customers that I have the honor of getting to know personally when I fulfill the dual role of agronomist and salesperson.

Written by agronomist Jamie Bultemeier