All crops on one platform

Our colleagues in Poland, KWS’ fifth-largest market, have successfully migrated to Customer Centricity. However, our sales employees had their misgivings about making the change, expressing their uncertainty about whether they knew enough about all the types of crops. The persons in charge took these concerns seriously and initiated training courses and a compilation of documents on agronomic knowledge.

All countries will benefit in the future from these insights of our Polish colleagues. After all, their experiences were one of the reasons behind the decision to launch the Your Seed Partner Academy. “The idea is to pool knowledge about agriculture, products and sales on an online platform and make it available in the form of training and sales support materials,” says Sarah Sahl, Lead Sales Enablement.

This means that not only content is stored there. Everyone also has an individual training plan, in which recommended courses are available, in the Your Seed Partner Academy. “Our sales force already has a very high level of agronomic knowledge and often many years of experience. With the platform, we help them to not only be experts in their current crop, but also to get to know all our varieties and services very well and be able to offer consulting on them – always geared to the particular stage of the growing season, so that they now obtain the knowledge they need to give advice in the weeks ahead.” The aim is to make using the Your Seed Partner Academy platform as easy as possible. It is therefore available directly via the familiar CRM system Salesforce. This means that, in addition to the training courses, all materials are on hand quickly and easily when needed.

Online and in the field

Whether new sales employees are joining KWS or existing colleagues want to improve their knowledge of crops in which they have not provided consulting before, they can all find the support they want on the platform. Specifically, the Your Seed Partner Academy contains various materials and training courses on each crop, tailored to each market – and all of it in the language of the user’s own country. Notification is sent when new documents such as cultivation guides or seasonal updates are uploaded. There are also videos, text-based units and online meetings, the recordings of which can also be accessed afterwards. However, Sarah feels it is important to mention that there will still be training directly in the field.

One difference to previous training is that the focus with Customer Centricity will be in step with the annual cycle: “We’ll offer more training during the growing season in order to support our sales colleagues,” explains Sarah. “Instead of two or three large training courses, we need the knowledge we require to suit the stages in the vegetation period and sales activities: What is specifically happening in the fields, what questions might farmers ask, and how do we place our varieties on the market or in sales?”

The training is to be held during employees’ working hours. To enable that, there is close dialogue between the markets in order to draw up training plans. “We also have to block dates for the longer term so that sales employees know when which training course is held,” states Sarah.

The content for the Your Seed Partner Academy is adapted regionally with the local Product Management/Agro Service and is coordinated with the Heads of Sales and the international Product Management/Agro Service. “They have the specialist knowledge for the material to be learned and they have an overview of the sales strategy,” says Sarah, explaining why close cooperation is necessary. This is why the platform is not being rolled out everywhere simultaneously, but in the various countries over a period of two years. “We currently have two pilot countries with which we are collecting and reviewing existing material and setting up new training courses.” The Your Seed Partner Academy will then go live in each country once the content and training have been tailored and integrated.

Launch in Germany and Italy

Germany and Italy will be the first countries where sales employees start using the Your Seed Partner Academy. “The platform will be a firm part of our training plan,” says Wiebke Lühr, Head of Product Management, to describe how the Your Seed Partner Academy will be used in Germany. “At the same time, we’re setting store by different formats, both digital and in-person, in order to address the needs of all types of learners as best possible. We are currently working on a variety podcast and are planning spring meetings in the field to impart knowledge about the crops in the best possible way in all stages of their growing season.” |