Nebraska State FFA Ag Sales

Contest Overview

The purpose of the Agriculture Sales Career Development Event (CDE) is to provide an individual with the basic skills to take advantage of the career opportunities offered in the agricultural sales field. Sales are an essential part of a market economy. Agricultural products benefit from sales skills, both for inputs for production and the marketing of the products.

The Agricultural Sales CDE evaluates skills essential to careers in sales, including the following:
 

• Communication Skills
• Verbal Communication
• Written Communication
• Interactive Communication—to be able to listen and question in order to gather information
• Product Knowledge
• Features and benefits of a product
• Identifying potential customer objections
• Knowledge of proper product use
• Sales Process
• Identifying prospective customers through marketing data
• Developing an approach that introduces your product to your prospective customer
• Develop a sales call that determines and addresses customers’ needs and objections
• Attempt trial closes to confirm customer interest.

Contest Schedule

The Agricultural Sales Event is scheduled from 12:30-5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2012. It will be held on the third floor of the East Campus Union. Teams will be scheduled in flights of five schools every
40 minutes (depending on the number of schools registered for the event) in order to best manage the three activities that need to be completed by each participant.

Eligibility

Twenty-five percent of the total number of schools in a district may qualify for the state event regardless of the number of schools participating at the district event.

Required Supplies for Students

Participants must bring all supplies needed to show and/or demonstrate the product or service featured in their sales presentations/calls. All supplies needed for the sales situation/practicum and written test are provided.

State Rules and Format

The team will be composed of four students, and all four individual scores will count toward the team total.

As mentioned in the rules, the product utilized in the event and activity examples was to be announced next month. In order for you teams to have as much time to prepare, the superintendent has provided the following information about the product that will be used for the state contest:

JUG Livestock Waterers
The JUG Livestock Waterer is a method of providing clean, fresh, unfrozen water to livestock. There are three types, the seven-gallon, one bowl; the two-bowl, 16-gallon and the four-bowl, 45-gallon. Each model is available in an energy-free or energy-efficient version. The energy-free version is suited for milder climates while the energy-efficient version is used in colder climates and has a small heater.

More information can be found at the company’s website:
http://www.thejugwaterer.com

Prices are available here:
http://reineckerag.com/JUGparts.aspx

(Note: the horse waterer will not be used in the competition.)
 

Format

The event will be composed of three parts. Individual scores will be comprised of the written exam and individual sales activity. The team score will be comprised of the team activity and all individual scores.
The product(s) utilized in the event and activity examples will be announced by February in the team orientation packet and on the CDE webpage. Provided product information may include appropriate
company information and price list.

A. Individual Written Exam—100 points (400 points total)

The written exam is designed to evaluate an individual’s knowledge of sales skills. The listed resources will be used as a basic resource but the questions will be generated based on basic sales concepts. The
test will not exceed thirty (30) questions and forty-five (45) minutes. The questions will consist of multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer and essay format. Point values will be assigned to each
question based on the skill level of the question.

B. Team Activity—150 points

1. Each participant will be allowed to bring a one-inch binder to the team activity containing the provided product information and any other information gathered by the participant.

2. Team members will work together to demonstrate teamwork, group dynamics, problem solving, data analysis, decision making and oral communications.

3. The following information will be provided to the team at the event as if they were a group of salespeople working together to develop the pre-call planning prior to conducting a sales call.

a. Product information (before event)
b. Profiles of different customers

4. The team will be provided with paper and writing utensils. No presentation equipment such as laptops, flipcharts or dry erase boards will be allowed.

5. The team will then develop the strategy (for the product(s) provided prior to the event) necessary to sell the product(s) in a face-to-face sales call. This strategy should include but not be limited to:

• Determining potential customer needs and wants.
• Identify features and benefits of the product(s) that address the customer’s needs and wants.
• Identify potential customer objections and prepare to address them.
• Identify possible related/complimentary products and their suggestive selling strategies.
• Develop information gathering questions to be utilized in clarifying the customer’s needs and wants.

6. Teamwork and involvement of team members will be judged during this event. Students are expected to justify their decisions based on selling principles.

7. The team will be given twenty (20) minutes to analyze the information given and develop a presentation to provide the information listed above. During this twenty (20) minute period, the team will be judged using the team activity scorecard found in this chapter.

8. At the conclusion of the twenty (20) minutes, the team will present to the judges who are acting as the team’s immediate supervisors. The presentation will be no longer than ten (10) minutes. At the conclusion of the presentation, the judges will have ten (10) minutes to ask questions of all team members. The questions will be taken from all aspects of the team event.

C. Individual Sales Activity—150 points

Information and product(s) from team activity will be used in the individual sales activity. (Individual activity will be conducted after the team activity.) Participants will directly sell the product(s) to judge(s). The judge(s) will fit one of the customer profiles identified in the team pre-call planning activity. The judge(s) will act as a real customer which may include not buying the product. Participants will have to establish rapport with the customer and ask probing questions to ensure they meet the customer’s needs. Participants will have twenty (20) minutes to interact with the judge(s). Participants are allowed to use their one-inch product information binder during individual activity.

Tiebreakers

Individual

In the event of a tie in the individual scores, the highest individual sales activity score will break the tie. If the tie cannot be broken using the individual sales activity score, the highest written exam score will be used. If a tie still exists, the highest team activity score will be used to break the tie.

Team

In the event of a tie in the team scores, the highest team activity score will break the tie. If the tie cannot be broken using the team activity score, then the total individual sales activity scores will be used. If a tie still exists, the total written exam scores will be used to break the tie.

References and Resources

This list of references is not intended to be all-inclusive. Other sources may be utilized, and teachers are encouraged to make use of the very best instructional materials available. The following list contains
references that may prove helpful during event preparation.

1. CRISP Publications, 1200 Hamilton Court, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1427. 1-800-442-7477. FAX 650-323-5800.

• Professional Selling, Rebecca L. Morgan, ISBN 0-931961-42-4
• Sales Training Basics, Elwood N. Chapman, ISBN 1-56052-119-8
• Closing, Virden J. Thorton, ISBN 1-56052-318-2

2. Ditzenberger and Kidney, Selling-Helping Customers Buy, South-Western Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1992, 1-800-543-7972, ISBN 0538605316.

Note:   While actual participation time is about an hour, it may take longer depending on movement of participants through the three parts of the event. If you have special time considerations, please contact the contest superintendent as soon as possible.

National Rules and Format

https://www.ffa.org/Programs/Awards/CDE/AgSales/Pages/default.aspx#

2012 National Agricultural Sales CDE theme:  TBA
Below is the link to the rules and format of the National FFA Agricultural Marketing Career Development Event (CDE).

https://www.ffa.org/documents/cde_agsales.pdf 

The Nebraska State National FFA Agricultural Marketing Career Development Event (CDE) does not include the Team Sales Situation activity that is part of the CDE at the national level. The times allowed for the three sections of the contest differ from those at the national level.

Scoring Rubrics

Scoring rubrics for the sales presentation/call and three (3) types of sales situations/practicum are included with the detailed State guidelines.
 

Contest Superintendent Contact Information

Kara Heideman
(402) 472-2757
kheideman3@unl.edu

updated 2/27/12