I have worked as a salesperson but do not know how to plant. Can such a person sell fertilizer?

A netizen told me that he was 36 years old. He used to open a factory as the boss, but now he has closed the factory due to various reasons. If you want to sell agricultural supplies, you can be a salesperson regardless of hardship or fatigue, but you have never engaged in agriculture before. Will the manufacturer want this?

Salesperson training for an agricultural supplies manufacturer

I was more direct and just gave him these three suggestions based on my own ideas.

?1. Fertilizer manufacturers want people who can start doing business directly (with experience)

Indeed, I have also discovered that when I meet someone, I will say that my industry is not good. It's easy to work, but there are difficulties of one kind or another. Moreover, many people envy me for doing agriculture, which is a big market. Nowadays, everyone wants to rely on agriculture, as it seems to make money.

My advice to this netizen is that since you have run a factory and want to do agriculture, you should rent dozens of acres of farmland to practice first. He said that he had checked some information and heard that people who rent land now lose a lot of money, so he did not consider this. I said that in addition to planting and breeding, agriculture includes sales of agricultural inputs, agricultural tourism, ecological agriculture, and agricultural construction projects. He said he wanted to be an agricultural supplies salesman, but I thought about it and said it didn’t seem suitable. The main reason was that he had no experience in fertilizer sales and didn’t understand the planting industry. He couldn’t get started right away. Fertilizer manufacturers didn’t seem to like him.

It is common for agricultural supplies salesmen to be with farmers

In fact, the current fertilizer sales are not what some people think. Isn’t it just dealing with dealers? It’s just negotiation, who cares? They say they are good, but in fact they are not. Fertilizer manufacturers like people who have been in the agricultural supplies business before. They can fight on the battlefield. They also need to communicate with farmers. Once they communicate, they need to solve farmers' practical problems. I'm afraid they don't know anything about planting.

Agricultural supplies salespersons and farmers are together 2. Marketing is very good, and they are good at everything they do if they master the sales mechanism (understand marketing)

This netizen follows I said that I just want to train as an agricultural supplies salesperson for two years, and then do something else myself, such as fertilizer distribution. I said there are two ways to choose: 1. Modify your resume to say that you have experience in selling agricultural supplies; (this is not good) 2. You have experience in starting a factory and have enough sales experience to do marketing planning work.

I have often told my friends before that marketing is universal, and the same goes for agricultural supplies sales. As long as you understand marketing, you will also be able to master the marketing of agricultural supplies. So understanding marketing is this netizen's biggest strength, but a problem arises. I am 36 years old, a salesman, and being led by a group of 20-year-old guys seems to be unable to lose face. Come on, let's do a marketing plan, no. Industry experience doesn’t seem to be suitable either.

I have always insisted that I can do well in any industry if I have the ability, but the choice of industry really requires an opportunity.

Promoting agricultural technology in the countryside

?3. Agricultural material manufacturers like businesses that are good and can be done for a long time (loyalty)

This netizen asked I introduced him to a fertilizer factory to do business, but I refused. The reason is that he just wants to train himself in the position of fertilizer sales. Once he understands the hidden rules, he will do what he wants. This idea does not meet the selection criteria of agricultural input manufacturers.

What agricultural supplies manufacturers like most are people who have strong business capabilities and can serve the factory for a long time. Even training them feels worthwhile.

I told him that the business of agricultural input manufacturers is very fluid. If it is done by your family this year, it may not be done by someone else next year. It will also be a headache for the manufacturers. Therefore, one of the criteria for a manufacturer’s business is people who have business capabilities and high loyalty. Even if we recruit some college students, we will also choose those with high loyalty to stay and train them specifically.

I thought for a while and wondered whether the conversation with this netizen was a bit too direct. He has run a factory and has marketing and management experience. He wants to be an agricultural supplies salesman, but you still think it is inappropriate.

This is what I think. Agricultural input manufacturers require salespeople to be loyal to the manufacturer, understand marketing, and have experience. Netizens only understand marketing and have no agricultural input sales experience or plant protection technical capabilities. It will be difficult for them to integrate into fertilizer sales. It feels inappropriate to just use being a salesperson as a springboard to learn about agriculture. What do you think?

One last thing to add, selling agricultural inputs really requires you to be serious about it, and land parceling requires psychological preparation for a long-term war of resistance. If you enter agriculture blindly, it is probably very difficult to get rich in one year. Doing agriculture It’s just a slow kung fu.