A week in the life of an Ag Leader Territory Manager
During my travels, I often get asked: “what do you do on a normal day?”. My typical response is something like: “Wake up, eat, travel, talk, eat, travel, eat, sleep”.
I’m lucky enough to be a part of a great team of sales professionals. Some of the best in the business actually. I’m always amazed at how similar, yet drastically different our territories are. Today, I want to take a little time and expose folks to what an average week as the West Coast Territory Manager looks like.
The week started with a 7am flight into Sacramento, CA. There I met up with Chad Swindol, the Sales Agronomist for Emerging Markets with Ag Leader. You can read all about this weatherman turned agronomist here. Chad and I spent the afternoon strategizing about the West Coast Territory and planning for the day ahead. The next day we would host dealers from across the state of California for a meeting full of Ag Leader!
We started Tuesday off around 7am while we set up for 8am start to the meeting. NA Sales Manager, Sean Ealy decided to join us (after a delayed flight the day before) for our meeting as well. Attendance was great, as we were able to gather most of the CA dealer in 1 room! We covered topics that included: The Ag Leader vision, product updates, dealer tools, and great conversation/discussion about the future of precision ag and the future of our great dealer network! Our day was filled with great conversation, and was a welcomed boost to the start of the New Year!
Chad and I left Sean in the dust early the next morning; catching a 6am flight from Sacramento to Phoenix, AZ. Once we landed in Phoenix, we grabbed a quick bite of authentic Mexican cuisine and hit the road in the rental car. We made the 3-hour drive to Yuma, AZ without any issues. Although, I’m certain I caught Chad dozing off a time or two…
Our Thursday was packed full of learning and market research with Mike from Big W Sales. Mike taught Chad and me all about agriculture in Yuma. This is a diverse area of the country and there’s a lot going on! This is one of the parts of the job that I enjoy the most. A Midwest guy has a lot to learn about vegetable crops, but I enjoy every minute of it! From the different crop rotations to lettuce, melons, and dates, there’s a lot to soak up!
We ended Thursday with a drive back to Phoenix to catch our early morning flights the next day. During our drive back, we had time to reflect on the week and try to comprehend the flood of information we received. Discussing the product applications that we found and how we can help the growers of California and the Yuma region become more efficient in their operations.
As I wrapped up my 2,700+ mile journey for the week, with 6 flights, 4 hotel nights and 1 rental car… I can’t help but think; man I’m tired, but boy did I have a blast!