Articles from Auriga Magasinet No. 3, November 2005
Personal relations are crucial to sales work
The work of Cheminova’s sales organisation often takes place out in the field at farms.
Beyond having the right products in their sales portfolio, Cheminova’s North American organisation also needs to make sure that the individual farmer has the products he wants when he needs them.
The sales organisation is managed from the head office in Wayne in New Jersey. Out in the field, Cheminova has a number of regional sales reps, each typically responsible for sales in four to six states.
Sales Manager Dennis Pfeiffer reports to the head office and also acts as a go-between with overall responsibility for the regional sales managers.
“We see the sales work in the field as very important. It is important to always maintain contact with both the distributors of our products and the wholesale suppliers that stock them. Finally, we always need to follow up on sales budgets and order intake so our logistics department can make sure the products are available in the right quantities when the farmer needs them,” says Dennis Pfeiffer about the sales work in general.
He usually speaks with the regional sales managers several times a day by telephone during the peak season to keep up to date with developments and to offer advice and guidance.
“With the large distances in the USA and Canada, it is vital that logistics are tightly controlled. For example, there is about 2,000 km from our warehouse in Ennis, Texas, to customers in the large agricultural areas in Iowa, the time factor is thus an important aspect of our work,” he says.
Sales Manager Dennis Pfeiffer (left) often visits farmers such as Dave Sovereign in Mason City
in the state of Iowa. Such close personal contact is one of the reasons for Cheminova’s success.
Close contact to end-users
Tony Helmkamp is one of Cheminova’s regional sales managers. Based in Cedar Rapids just west of Chicago, he covers six states in the Midwest where maize and soya beans are grown on vast tracts of farmland.
“We usually sell our products under agreements with local distributors or wholesalers who also, of course, stock competing products. It is therefore the personal relations that have been built up over the years which often determine how sales perform. We need to advise and inform about pests and the features of our products through the many visits we make to end-users. This is Cheminova’s strategy – and it has given us a favourable market position,” says Tony Helmkamp.
He normally spends three to four days a week travelling to customers.
“Our customers are confident that Cheminova’s products are competitive and of a high quality. We must ensure that the products are available at the right time, and it takes a lot of work to set up this sort of system. For example, we have seen a significant year on year increase in sales of glyphosate since we introduced the product in the USA,” explains Tony Helmkamp.
“Cheminova’s new products also demand a lot from the sales organisation where, thanks to the long-term relations we enjoy with our customers, it is relatively easy to introduce new products,” adds Dennis Pfeiffer.
When the individual farmer spends 45-50 USD per hectare to protect his maize and soybeans, it represents a significant sum in the farmer’s overall budget.
The American farmer knows how important it is to protect his crops against pests. As a supplier, Cheminova has succeeded in winning the confidence of its customers, and we are all working hard to maintain this platform,” concludes Sales Manager Dennis Pfeiffer.
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