Agricultural Sales Career Development Event Dustin Metting

The Purpose Sales are an essential part of a market economy The purpose of the Ag Sales CDE is to provide an individual with the basic skills to take advantage of the career opportunities offered in the agricultural sales field Agricultural products benefit from sales skills, both for inputs for production and the marketing of products Sales are obviously an essential part of any market economy. The purpose of this CDE is to provide an individual with the basic skills necessary to take advantage of the career opportunities offered in the field of agricultural sales. Agricultural products such as fertilizers or an appliance of some sort benefit from sales skills and see increased marketability.

Event Format And here’s how the event is formatted.

Team Make-up This is a team event consisting of 3 or 4 students Official FFA dress is required for participants (10% reduction in total team score for violation) Top 3 individual scores will count toward the team total (a team may compete with less than 4) Teams consist of 3 or 4 students; all of which are required to be in official FFA dress. A 10% deduction in total team school is the penalty for failing to follow the dress code. The team takes the top 3 individual scores with an alternative score for settling tie breakers.

Individual Activities And now here’s a little about the individual activities.

Objective Test A test is administered to evaluate an individual participant’s knowledge of the basic sales skills Each participant has 45 minutes to complete the test 50 question, multiple choice 100 points possible (2 pts/question) An objective test to evaluate the knowledge and basic sales skills of the individual participant are given. The test has a time limit of 45 minutes and consists of 50 multiple choice questions worth a total of 100 possible points.

Individual Sales Activity Participants will directly sell the product(s) to one judge who will act as the customer. The judge will fit one of the customer profiles identified in the team pre-call planning 15 minutes to interact with the judge Participants will have to establish a rapport with the customer and ask probing questions to ensure they meet the customer’s needs They also participate in an individual sales activity where they have 15 minutes to directly sell the product to a judge who will act as a customer. The judge will have a customer profile given in the team’s pre-call planning. Participants will need to establish a rapport, or common ground, with the customer and ask questions ensuring that their needs are met.

Team Sales Situation And lastly there’s the team activity.

Team Sales Situation Team will work together as if they were a group of sales people working together to develop the pre- call planning for a sale 150 points possible 1-inch binder containing provided product information and any other data gathered by the participant In this sales situation, the team will work collaboratively to develop a pre-call planning in order to conduct a sale. Each participant is allow to bring a 1-inch binder containing information given and data gathered by the individual. There is 150 points possible on this section of the CDE.

Team Sales Situation They will be provided with: 20 minute time limit Product information (will be posted on Texas FFA website by Jan 15th each year) Different customer profiles Paper and writing utensils 20 minute time limit 10 minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of Q&A The participants will be provided with product information that will be posted on the Texas FFA website by January 15th every year, different customer profiles, and writing utensils and something to write on. They actually aren’t allowed to use any presentation equipment such as a laptop or dry erase boards. They have 20 minutes to prepare. Then the team must give a 10 minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of answering questions from the judges.

Scoring Here’s how the event is scored.

Scoring Objective Test (Top 3) 300 pts Individual Sales Activity (Top 3) 300 pts Team Sales Situation 150 pts TOTAL POSSIBLE SCORE 750 pts The written test is worth 300 points, the individual sales activity is worth 300 points, and the team sales situation is worth 150 points. This comes together for a grand total of 750 points possible.

Tiebreaker In the event of a tie: the highest sales situation score will be used to break the tie if it can’t be broken using sales call score, the highest written test score is used if the tie still persists, then the highest alternative score is used If there happens to be a tie, the highest sales situation score will be used to break the tie. If that doesn’t work then the highest written test score will be used. And if the competition is really that close and the tie still hasn’t been broken, the highest alternative score will come into play.

Successful Ag Sales CDE Program Ag teachers can refer to the ffa.org for the most up- to-date edition of the CDE handbook Incentives such as students earning money on a shop project sold at a stock show promote interest in developing these skills They also have numerous online lesson plans and videos to help prepare students for the event In order to have a successful Ag Sales CDE program, the teacher can refer to the National FFA website to stay current on the rules and regulations. They can also provide incentives to promote a student’s interest in developing these skills further such as earning money on a shop project. There are also numerous online lesson plans that can also help an ag teacher better prepare his or her students.

Summary In conclusion: Sales are an important part of every market economy The purpose of Ag Sales CDE is to provide an individual with the basic skills necessary to take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the field of Agricultural Sales This event not only requires individual skills and effort, it requires collaborative teamwork that give participants further experience in working with others In conclusion, sales are basically the most important part of every market economy. For this reason, there are numerous opportunities in the field of Ag Sales that individuals can take advantage of. This CDE provides the basic skills necessary to do so. Not only does it require individual effort and skill, it requires that individuals work collaboratively as a team as well.

References https://www.texasffa.org/docs/2012- 15%20CDE%20Ag%20Sales%20Rules%20UPDATED%201. 9.12%20.pdf https://www.ffa.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/cde_a gsales_teamactivity.pdf And here’s my references.