marketing gurus

[melvill]

Gee, crusher, thanks for the kind words. I'll get your cheque cut at noon today!

In all seriousness, though, I'm finding that farm managers, even the ones that are astute marketers, feel a little -and sometimes more than a little - overwhelmed with all the "good" market the info they have access to. Some of them find that a marketing advisor is the little nudge that helps them make decisions.

If you are considering signing up to a marketing advisory service, ask for references. In my opinion, references are the most tool in helping you decide on which one to pick.

The second thing to look for is back-up. By that I mean, what are the advisor's back-up sources of information. Is it Pro Farmer Canada or Kostal or Informa Canada or ???

[chaffmeister]

IMHO - I know Greg Kostal personally and am very familiar with his work. He is - without doubt or reservation - the best grain analyst in Western Canada.

[JohnKenneth]

ah yes, the question of who's the most right most of the time... i think we have to realize the difference between good research and bad, and respect taht there's a talented pool of mostly good guys out there writing newsletters, but none of them are right all the time on every crop in the mix. a marketing 'service' has to take it a lot further for me than just put out sensible s/d estimates.

the group i found subscribes to all those reports, digests everything they write, corroborates it with in-house opinions/analysis and supplements it with research into special crops that nobody else writes on (ex. sunflowers and dry beans)... THEN develops a firm opinion and strategy.

i haven't found this approach elsewhere. the other guys all use one opinion, and frankly there are some big ego's around that sometimes miss the big picture.

this way, it seems like i'd be getting all the different analysts' opinions at once, which saves money and a lot of reading time, in addition to i think being a 'better' opinion than just one person's. this group's in-house analysts also have a lot of commercial analyzing and trading experience with a variety of grain companies, so i don't doubt they know better than me who to listen to on which commodities.

guess that's why they're so expensive. do you guys think i'd be nuts to pay this company $13,000 per year? i totally believe i'll make it back, and quickly, and like i said in an earlier post i really want to get some help, it just seems like so much to spend compared to my old $200/yr weekly fax...

[TOM4CWB]

JK,

What kind of guarentee to they offer on satifaction?

What authority must you give them in trading... what kind of options and futures pricing do they offer... at what cost?

DO you have the opportunity to say NO on a recomendation they make... if you believe they are off base?

[JohnKenneth]

well there's no guarantee on satisfaction but after a couple of years they've only lost one client, due to factors totally outside their control, which suggests existing clients are satisfied and making more money than they would on their own. the foot-tall stack of reports they provide will show me a lot i didn't know before, and somewhere in there will be performance indicators.

they adjust the marketing strategies based on whether a farmer has and feels comfortable trading. they like clients to have brokerage accounts becuase of the flexibility and added opportunity, but they respect that some aren't comfortable with that. they track monitor all the hedges they recommend and will keep an eye on my own spec trades too if i want.

there's no power of attorney, but basically i can ask them to do as much as i trust them to do. i'm definitely going to give them my cwb pin so they can take care of all that paperwork right away. beyond that, i'm not sure right now.

obviously all the final decisions are still mine to make but they take all my inventory, cop, cash flow, storage, even management style into account in making the decisions, and help me find the best price every time we do need to sell, so i'm not sure why i wouldn't take their advice after all that and the expense of it.

suppose then i'm also free toyell at them instead of myself afterwards if it doesn't go as planned!