What will make your farm business different and stick in the minds of your customers and partners in opportunity? With in excess of 20 000 meat and fibre farmers in New Zealand, why would anyone in particular want to do business with you?
As discussed last month, your farm business is a reflection of you. This is great news because you also get to change it and present your business in a light that allows opportunities to flow to you. The best way to do this (after strengthening your own skills, knowledge and action taking) is to make it different.
Why? Because sharp business people like to work with other sharp business people, and they like to keep working with them if the relationship is valuable to all involved. This is what the “Continuous Value” culture is all about.
So how do you make your business different? Start from the big picture with what is most important and drill down to your Point of Difference. Here are a few vital points:
Focus your energies by defining your Mission and Vision. The Vision is the most important goal above all others. It is where you are really heading with life and business. It is how you want your life to be set up down the track. How much freedom do you desire? What about family considerations? How do you want to give back to society? (See article here). Only you can define what is most important to you. The Mission (or purpose) is the type of work you are doing along the way to the Vision, and why you are really doing it. What are you really passionate about? What deep down made you want to do what you are doing now and in the first place?
Work out what it is that you can do phenomenally well, perhaps even be the best at. The key question here is “what CAN you do phenomenally well?” It may or may not be what you are good at now. It goes beyond competence and states what you can be great at. It is crucial to discover what you are passionate about but it is not about making yourself passionate about something. Perhaps you want to be able to supply consistently high meat yielding sheep and cattle genetics to NZ hill country farmers. Maybe you feel you can convert finishing land Dry Matter (DM) to profit phenomenally well. What about supplying quality product to the New Zealand market that excites local palates like no other?
Now, define your Point of Difference. Think through how your customers and business stakeholders can connect with what you can do phenomenally well, but from their point of view. This is not about the commodity you sell. It is about the feeling and value people get from you and your products. People and businesses choose where they spend their money and they will work with you if there is value in the relationship for them. Using the above example of converting DM to profit, your point of difference might simply be “Delivering on time to agreed specification.” It sounds simple and perhaps boring but if you are confident you can deliver on it every time then back yourself! Often it is the simple things you take for granted that will be the deciding factor in leading people to your business. Each of you needs to find and use your own point of difference.
Live your Point of Difference everyday! Back up your stated parameters with action and be your point of difference. Talk with no walk won’t cut it. Walking the walk does it every time. Be consistent. Speak about it to those you deal with. Hand out your business card which contains your Point of Difference. This will sort out who is really on your team and who will bring other opportunities to you!