Market Development Agronomist

The Market Development Agronomist (MDA) is the local agronomy expert that coaches, influences, and creates opportunities with key owners and sellers. They drive demand of products, innovation, services, and connections to new markets using their technical expertise in agronomy/seed skills and advanced understanding of the services platform. Conducting customer agronomy training, communicating technical subject matter, and supporting business transformation around total acre solutions.  The Account Plans will be used to determine the specific owners, sellers, and Sales Development Managers (SDMs) that the MDA will work with.

This is a remote role that will be working with customers in Western Ohio and Southern Michigan.

The ideal candidate will be located in this geography.

Job Responsibilities

Customer Facing: Advanced Acre Execution and Coaching w/Retail Sellers

• Serves as the technical specialist in leveraging the Advanced Acre strategy to differentiate our system.
• Enables the creation of new markets by combining products, data insights and services to drive revenue growth and capture new markets.
• Coaches the Advanced Acre solutions strategy to assigned retail sellers and designated growers in conjunction with internal sales team as determined from Account Plans.
• Partners with the Sales Development Manager on targeted sales activities, providing technical expertise and knowledge during sales calls and visits with customers.
• Conduct technical training opportunities to include CPP & Seed products, services platform for identified retail locations, and Answer Plots in collaboration with SDMs
• Facilitate virtual services, agronomic and product delivery through videos, etc. identified video and digital platforms.
• Provides Innovation/Insight trials direction and execution to identified owners and internal staff

Non-Customer Facing: Partner with WinField United Product Managers

• Help inform and drive product pipeline by providing feedback and representation from local market.
• Create local insights and differentiated product positioning to aide in the seed and cpp selling story for the retail selling base in specified geography.
• Assist Product Managers to do internal trainings with Business Unit sales teams.

Other Activities

• Actively engage in enhancing skill sets through the Center of Excellence (COE), internal training meetings, etc.
• Collaboration with key regional influencers (ex: basic partner agronomists)
• Attend regional/national meetings through business planning and creation of training plans, materials, and pre-call preparation.

Responsible for the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):

• Meeting or exceeding defined region, BU sales and financial targets.
• Training activity based on Salesforce entries.
• Strategic imperatives
• Managing expenses within budget

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture or business-related field plus 5 years of industry experience; or an equivalent of 10 years of successful work experience in agronomy and recommend 1-2 years of people leadership experience
• Advanced degree including MS or PhD in agronomy or closely related field is preferred but not required
• Experience coaching, training, and executing technical agronomic decisions and developing and educating others on products, services, and programs
• Ability to create working relationships internally and externally
• Demonstrated success in interacting with key stakeholders and more senior leadership
• Experience diagnosing customer expectations and needs and responds promptly
• Proactive communicator with exceptional written, verbal, and formal presentation skills
• Trustworthy with a strong level of personal commitment
• Ability to make sound decisions and complete tasks in a fast-paced work environment
• Proven ability to coordinate and collaborate with multiple stakeholders and to influence at all levels
• Ability to work independently and manage productivity
• Experience demonstrating agility and leading/adapting quickly to change
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); virtual collaboration tools (Teams, Zoom); and CRM software (Salesforce)
• Must have current and valid state driver’s license

Essential Functions/Work Environment:

• Ability to travel up to 50% (daily, extended hours and some overnight stays) to customers within an assigned sales area.

Competencies:

This is a sales role that is compensated with a target mix of base salary plus commission. Base salary: 90,000 - 130,000.  Commission is driven by individual performance.

Land O’Lakes, Inc offers a competitive salary. Nothing in this job description restricts the management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. Applicants must successfully pass a pre-employment (post offer) background check.

EOE M/F/Vets/Disabled. Land O’Lakes, Inc. enforces a policy of maintaining a drug-free workforce.