| WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- It's getting harder for
salespeople from agricultural supply companies to roll down rural roads
and make a deal with a firm handshake and a dusty stack of order forms.
They now tote Palm Pilots and cell phones, use databases to target
individual farmer's needs and scramble to keep up with the wealth of
information farmers access through the Internet.
E-commerce has hit the agricultural industry, and learning to do
business in a virtual world was the subject Monday at the 2001 National
Conference for Agribusiness at Purdue University.
"Farmers are very rapidly moving down the tech road," said
David Downey, director of Purdue's Center for Agricultural Business.
"And they are much more adept at using technology to solve problems
and answer questions than we might think."
He said studies have shown that up to 75 percent of farmers use the
Internet regularly. This tech-savvy has created a more informed consumer
and changed the role of salespeople at companies that sell anything from
tractors to seeds.
Downey said agribusiness salespeople used to call on farmers and ask
them what they needed to buy.
"Now the farmers say, 'Don't ask me what you can do for me, tell
me what kind of ideas you have that might be able to help me,"'
Downey explained.
Scott Inks, a marketing professor from Middle Tennessee State
University, said that because farmers can place simple orders online,
salespeople need to act more as consultants, bringing new ideas to the
table.
"Salespeople cannot just be the conduit for the transaction,"
Inks said. "That conduit is going to be e-commerce."
Agribusiness companies have responded by increasing the ways they
interact with farmers. Instead of just cold calls by sales reps, companies
check in via e-mail, send out electronic brochures, make informative
CD-ROMs and set up Web sites that help farmers search for products that
fit their exact need.
Downey mentioned a California company that sends its sales staff out
with Palm Pilots rigged with global positioning software. They chart a
farmer's fields and note where a type of fertilizer is used, or where a
certain weed killer would help. The company's delivery truck will then
bring the products right to the areas where they're needed.
David Antinetti, a California-based regional salesman for Dow
Agrosciences, doesn't use anything that advanced, but said he finds
farmers are now asking more informed questions about his products.
"Farmers have access to information, where before they never would
have even heard about it," Antinetti said. "I think it's great.
They can find out about things they otherwise never would have heard of,
unless somebody told them."
Downey also noted that as larger corporate operations continue to
absorb family farms, the overall number of farmers is decreasing. That, he
said, allows companies to hone in more on the individual farmers and
tailor to their needs.
On The Net:
The Center for Agricultural Business at Purdue University: http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab/ |