Grain Origination - Establish Credibility and Build your Profit

Grain Origination is a skill.  It is a learned skill.  Unfortunately, experience sometimes is your only instructor when developing origination skills. Bad habits are easily developed.

As originators, we often feel like “if we could just pay a few more cents” we could buy all the grain we want.   This is seldom true.  Producers sell grain based on many factors, price being only one. Every time you give your customer a push, you signal that your services are not worth as much as you thought. You are willing to sacrifice margin for volume.

As grain buyers, we often feel like we need to be the most up to date and informed market guru on the planet. Life becomes stressful because there is so much market news coming toward us every day.

The really skilled originators turn everyday market conversations into action.  They get the producer/farmer to accept their counsel, transforming the relationship into a meaningful win/win for both parties. They establish credibility; not by being the first to spread the daily news but by helping turn the news into successful marketing.

Most of the time, it’s more important to know the local situation than the international situation. Understanding local rents, costs, yields, and the farmer’s tendencies goes a long way toward building credibility.  When you can counsel the grower on how your contacts work with his crop insurance or produce a spreadsheet with his numbers on it, you develop credibility.

Quality grain origination programs have “built in” respect for their customers.  They respect the grain producer's time through a system that informs without wasting his day.  Professional is the motto.  There are lots of ways to communicate, but the skill is how best to communicate and how often to communicate.

The Origination Skill is structuring text, emails, blogs, and even meetings to make them worth the money, time and effort invested for both parties.  The skill is to direct the conversation so that it quickly produces a win/win.

Let me share an example.  Allison sees through her CRM program that her in house agronomist was talking with a farmer about his production cost. She touches base with him about her elevator’s marketing alternatives.  She talks in terms of profit available using the farmers production cost. She doesn’t get too personal, but he knows she has done her homework.  She is experienced; she knows how to direct the conversation so they don’t get bogged down in the latest market news.  She references her own blog she wrote last week.  She reminds him of their thoughts from the last conversation they had.  The farmer's understanding is good, and they are both on the same page.  He’s attended her small group marketing meetings.  He receives her newsletters.  She is a trusted resource.  Allison gets a target from the farmer and they agree to revisit his situation next month when he should have more time. Allison logs her call with her updated information and sets a reminder to call him in a few weeks. 

It’s our job at WCC to help develop your origination system so that it grows volume while maintaining margins.  Let us help! 

If you'd like to read more on this topic,
then please download our eBook: "5 Best Practices of Grain Origination"