Leading the Way
How leadership works on the ranch.
contributed article by B. Lynn Gordon Leader Consulting
leaderconsulting.biz
THE CULTURE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE
Bull sale season is in full swing, especially across the Central and Northern Plains. Yet, no matter what month you select to have your bull sale or a production sale there is one component that should be part of your business all year – customer service.
genetic supplier, annually selling registered bulls and females into registered and commercial beef herds.
When we are in the customer role, we expect professional, helpful, high-quality service, so why would we expect our customers, who aid in providing our livelihood, to have any lower expectations? Each year, bull buyers are looking for the right bull to match their cowherd. Whether they are looking for a bull with specific genetic bloodlines, have certain EPD numbers in mind or want the bull to tip the scale carrying lots of meat and muscle, delivering customer service along with your product will set you apart from others. Great customer service and respect for your customers demonstrates your foresight as a leader.
For simplicity sake, I will refer to my friend as “Lisa”. A couple years ago, at Lisa’s annual bull sale, the top-selling bull sold to a brand-new customer. The customer was slightly familiar with
March 2019
I will share a story I heard from a beef producer who along with her husband and family is a
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A Little Step Made a Big Difference
Lisa’s breeding program, seeing a few heifers sell at a consignment sale the year prior but conducted further research online and studied their catalog before deciding to purchase a bull. Lisa and her family were excited to add a new customer to their portfolio. However, this new buyer lived more than 700 miles away, so an afternoon drive to deliver the bull or have a short visit was not feasible. To get to know this new customer, it was going to take extra time and devotion. As summer rolled around, Lisa
realized she would be traveling near this new customer’s ranch. She made it a priority to fit in a visit. She toured the 200 head commercial cowherd and was interested to see how the bull had progressed over the past four months. Later, over a steak supper and lots of cattle business talk, Lisa was shocked when the bull customer stated, ‘how thankful he and his wife were that Lisa took time away from her family and her ranch, to show such interest in their program.’ He went on to say, “we have been in the cattle business for more than 20 years, and you are the very first person we have ever bought a bull from that has ever come to visit us, to see our cattle, and follow up on our purchase.” Lisa was shocked. She could hardly believe it. She herself has raised beef cattle for more than 30 years and could not imagine having someone not show interest in her family’s ranching program, especially after the purchase of cattle — how disheartening she
“Grea t customer service and respec t for your customers demonstra tes your foresight as a leader.” stockmanmag.com | THE STOCKMAN