From the photographs that show a lifestyle that is sometimes only an appearance, through those content creators who choose narratives of entertainment, business, personal development, etc. and even professional profiles, sometimes pretentious, where the value of people seems to be measured in the organizational position, achievements or specialty studies completed.
If we go through the networks where we are subscribed, infallible people, well presented, with great ability to position concepts, is the constant. What is interesting about this reflection is to ask ourselves: when was the last time we showed some outline or probability of failure? And getting into the matter, wouldn’t it be a good idea to show the vulnerability of our industry from time to time?
humanization of error
“No one sells cold bread” goes the saying, because in order to win the preference of our market, we need to create stories that convince our potential customers, showing the best of our portfolio of products and services, however, talking about what that it is not feasible to offer, is a way to show our value proposition.
And I am not referring to service exclusions but to avoid overpromising and even sharing experiences where results are not achieved. In the case of agriculture, perceptions are constantly confronted with the data that appears in a well-kept work log in the hands of farmers, in other words, vulnerability is a value understood in agricultural work and here I share three elements that humanize this industry.
The uncontrollable: Given the multiple factors over which there is no control such as pests, diseases, the international price of grains, the weather, insecurity, etc., the farmer, instead of crying, understands something that sometimes the big organizations do not : everything could go wrong. Sharing these experiences from generation to generation, puts aside the belief that failure is a sign of weakness and, on the contrary, tries to reduce the risk coming from these external elements in favor of those who will inherit the agricultural businesses.
Strengths under construction: If you could make a farmer’s resume, you would have to include resilience and results orientation as part of the main attributes and far from seeing a professional profile that says “great risk taker” or “strategic planner” in a presumptuous way, in In reality, the Mexican farmer can hardly stop to suffer the impact of his decisions because he must spend his time constantly readjusting. There is no rest.
Probability: Rotating crops, changing products, obtaining information from different sources, are just some of the actions that take place in agriculture so that probability plays in favor of our clients. What I want to tell you is that it not only assumes that misfortune or the lack of good results is part of the industry, but also incorporates factors that reduce the impact of the probable decisions that are about to be made. That is the declaration that experience will always play in favor of those who recognize that to err is human.
SOWING REFLECTION
Agricultural marketing not only has the opportunity to make these kinds of stories visible, but also to fully fulfill its role as translator between the needs of the market and that of the company and support the research and sales teams to decode these behaviors. Although agricultural producers have a very well placed ego within this equation, they will always be looking for ways to put learning in the hands of those who need this knowledge acquired through the years.
A pleasure to meet you here and so be it next week.