Using technology to level the playing field

1
Using technology to level the playing field

• By Rick Mason, SeedChoices.com

2
Defining difference between companies in the
future is how they manage information

• The company most responsive to the customer wins
• Want to become more responsive to customers?
• Put information in the hands of people who need it

3
Most companies process information in the form
of silos

• Headquarters, field sales and production are each
  in a separate silo
• These islands of information arent communicating

4
How many of you have an office network?

• Would you find it difficult to do without it?

5
If the office network is so valuable

• Why doesnt the sales force have access?
• What about all the contract growers?
• The systems broken when they need information

6
Create a value network

• Connect all the silos of information
• Unbroken chain of information that runs from the
  production field to the customer

7
Better information gives you

• Improved order fulfillment
• Reduced inventory
• Less waste and reduced transportation costs
• More efficient organization

8
Try stapling yourself to a customer order

• Follow the order as it moves through your company
• Interview the people that touch the order
• Are you entering the information more than once?
• Could the journey be shorter?

9
Why bother to change?

• If your company has pre-tax profits of 5.8 and a
  return on assets of 2.7
• Each dollar saved in the supply chain increases
  profits by one dollar
• You would have to increase sales by 17 to get
  the same benefit of saving a dollar in the supply
  chain

10
Research shows that 68 of all lost sales are
due to poor customer service.- Stan Leland,
Brodbeck Seed2002 Indiana Seed Trade Association
panel

• What role does information play in providing
  better customer service?

11
Customers sense when a company is more responsive

• One of the very things that gives a small company
  an advantage over a large one
• Gets lost when the company grows beyond a certain
  size

12
Large seed companies

• Envy your close relationships with customers
• Also your cost management and logistics
  capacities
• Theyve spent millions on computer systems trying
  to gain your advantage
• Now you can leapfrog ahead of them using next
  generation software

13
Seed Marketplace allows your sales force

• Order/book seed, return seed, edit existing seed
  orders, print order histories and transfer seed
• View availability, sales by customer, sales by
  product and dealer inventory
• They can sign up a new customer and even print a
  map with directions

14
Use a secure central website

• Monthly subscription fee
• Tied into your accounting software so you only
  enter orders once

15
Seed Marketplace allows managers to create
meaningful reports that speed decision making

• Every day do you know who leads in sales?
• How about your best selling and worst selling
  products?

16
Seed Marketplace lets your sales force become
customer champions

• Gives them the power to fix problems
• Theyre going to be happier and so are the
  customers

17
If a farmer has ten different companies that want
his business

• You must do something to stand out
• Little things count for a lot
• They separate you in the farmers eyes as a
  company offering greater value

18
OK sales is networked,What about production?

• Introducing MapShots Easi-Suite
• Crop records and mapping program

19
Create crop records with field maps
20
Let growers send you their field records
21
Create split planter comparison maps
22
Combine Seed Marketplace with Easi-Suite

• Youve created a value network
• Unbroken chain between the production field and
  the customer

23
The competitive battles of the 21st century will
be fought supply chain versus supply chain and
the best teams are already choosing
sides. Dr. Roger Blackwell Ohio State
University
24
Questions?

• SeedChoices.com
• 866-647-2082