Do you know who your customer is? When I ask that question most people get this vision of the end consumer in mind, and possibly the thought of a foreign trade deal tries to slide into their mind as well.
The definition of the word customer is: a person or organization that buys goods and/or services from a business. To be direct the person who writes you a check for the cattle you sold is your customer. Unless you direct market the end consumer is not your customer.
The way to offer better service to your customer is know your market. What do the buyers willing to spend the most money there want? Figure that out and give it to them. In doing this you cannot cut corners, or pull up short.
Understanding ‘reputation’
This week I saw a few big strings of reputation cattle sell. The first bunch in this example were weaned thirty plus days. They were all black, vaccinated and on a feed program. These cattle were not the market toppers that day, as one might expect. Two buyers that could have bid them up chose not to.
The problem with this bunch is the feed program they are on. It is a good program, to a point. The cattle will eat the stuff, and they will gain. If you start them on it and leave them on it the feed program is awesome.
The problem is when a customer buys them, and is trying to make money with them, that person will feed them more economically. To be direct, the two times I bought these cattle it was like my back grounding yard became rehab. Not all of them make it out of rehab.
#beef
