Sales Representative: Food, Seed, Feed, Fuel
Sales representatives for food, seed, feed and fuel companies are responsible for selling products to different companies within the agriculture sector including suppliers, dealers and producers. They focus on selling these products to certain geographical areas by creating growth objectives and sales goals. Furthermore, they build and develop the trust and confidence of clients through knowledge of products, persuasive presentations and overcoming objections.
Future Job Market
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Fair
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Good
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Excellent
Typical Employers:
Sales representatives are typically employed by commodity supply companies, seed production companies, chemical distributors, animal processing companies, animal health companies and equipment dealerships. There are also some opportunities to be self-employed.
Suggested Professional Organizations and Associations:
- National Agri-Marketing Association
- Agriculture & Applied Economics Association
- Women in Agribusiness
- Agriculture Council of America
- Agricultural Retailers Association
Salary:
$68,000?
SAE Connections:
FFA Connections:
What Responsibilities Will I Have?
- Maintain and grow sales with regional clients
- Outline and achieve distribution and growth objectives
- Reach out to customer leads through cold calling, email and visits
- Introduce new products to new and potential customers
- Promote improved distribution of products
- Develop sales goals, objectives and sales targets
- Conduct cost-benefit and needs analysis of existing and potential customers to meet their needs
- Recommend programs for brand building and line expansion of existing brands
- Stay aware of industry trends and changes
- Analyze sales, trends and status reports
- Develop key relationships with clients
- Recognize new opportunities within each account
- Keep a record of the distribution of products and points of contact with potential and current clients
- Provide educational training to accounts through seminars and trade events
- Build and develop the trust and confidence of the retailers and clients
- Conduct sales meetings for area distributors
Recommended High School Courses:
- agricultural education
- business
- personal finance
- mathematics
- economics
- biology
- chemistry
- plant science
Education/Training Required:
A bachelor’s degree in agricultural business or an agricultural major that relates to the product being represented (e.g., agronomy, animal science, horticulture, etc.) is required to be a sales representative.
