Ag sales have always been a hard sell — quite literally.
After all, farmers are conservative spenders, and the people attracted to working in the industry, people who know farmers well (and maybe are farmers themselves), are not excited to be seen as pushy solicitors. That’s why agribusinesses have struggled to recruit and train successful sales people for decades.
The secret is, salespeople who do succeed rarely look like salespeople at all — they look like helpers and trusted advisors.
Today, hosts Sarah Mock and Trey Malone are joined by ag sales experts Dave Downey and Scott Downey to unpack the rapidly evolving ag sales world, why relationship-building eats up nearly twice as much of the sales process in ag as it does in other industries, and what AI means for the future of the ag sales call.
You’ll walk away with a better understanding of:
- How “Ready, Set, Sell” — a hands-on training model built on real sales role-play — has transformed the perception of ag sales, from a career coded as “manipulative” to one seen as positive, and increasingly, essential to farmer success.
- How top-performing salespeople and organizations use discovery calls to uncover what customers actually need (not just what they say they need) — and how they turn that into a risk management service for farmers.
- Where farmers get their most trusted product information — and how reframing the salesperson’s role in information delivery is key to staying valuable as AI reshapes what farmers can learn on their own.
Agribusiness Blueprint is brought to you by Purdue Center for Food and Agricultural Business: agribusiness.purdue.edu. To learn more, follow The Center for Food and Agribusiness on LinkedIn.
Agribusiness Blueprint is supported in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Award No. 2022-68006-36433.SDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Award No. 2022-68006-36433.
