Salesmanship for professionals

By Todd K. Miller, ACF

1. Remember that, like it or not, you are a salesman when making a first contact with a prospective client.
2. Be familiar with the forestland in your work area so when a prospective client tells you where their property is located, you'll have a pretty good idea of what it might look like.  This can lead to discussion of the general area of their property and other work you may have done in the area. 
3. Be prepared to answer the typical questions a prospective client might ask but remember that every landowner is unique  Understand that listening is just as, if not more, important than talking.  Answer particular questions using plain English.  You may think professional jargon is impressive, but non-foresters probably don't know--or care--what basal area is. 
   
4. Seek common ground with the landowner.  One way to gain a prospect's trust is to talk about anything they want to discuss.  For instance, talking about deer hunting may get them to open up and feel comfortable talking to you.
5. It is advantageous to have a mutual friend/acquaintance (e.g. neighbors, fellow church members, others in the community, or a previous client).
6. Make sure you get the landowner's contact information for follow up (e.g. name, address, phone number, e-mail, property description, etc.).  For more information, take a look at the "Initial Landowner Contact Checklist" in the members-only section of the ACF website.
7. Always ask for a decision to close the deal.  The timing of this comes with experience.  Describe the specific services you offer that best serve the prospect's needs and objectives, then ask if it is OK to send  a work agreement for that service (also a checklist on the website).  That way, your prospective client will have it handy when you discuss any other questions. It makes it easier for the landowner to say "yes" to YOUR services if all he/she has to do is sign a work agreement and send it back in a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
8. Lastly, truly believe in what your selling--your forestry expertise.  

Todd K. Miller, ACF, CF
Michigan Registered Forester #616
Grossman Forestry Co.
906-293-8707

www.Grossmanforestry.com

ACF Landowner Client Profile

Andrew Taylor – steward of family farm

Minority Landowner Magazine

Caswell County Landowner Andrew Taylor and County Ranger Steve Thompson discuss Forest Stewardship objectives on his property.

Andrew Taylor was like many landowners who are unsure of the best approach to take in managing their own forestland, until he discovered North Carolina’s Forest Stewardship Program.

The Forest Stewardship program is designed to encourage and help those who want to manage their forestland for its natural beauty, wildlife habitat, recreation, or productive timber. The program is also intended to help landowners protect clean water through appropriate soil conservation practices.

Taylor’s journey into stewardship began when he decided to sell timber on the 100 acres of the 320 acre family farm in Caswell County that he owns with his siblings. At the time he didn’t know the N.C. Division of Forest Resources (also known as the N.C. Forest Service) was available to help him and sought the help of a timber buyer.

Taylor and his siblings grew up on the farmland, which has been in the family since 1892. However, little work had been done on the land for a long time, a situation Mr. Taylor wished to correct by becoming a good steward of his land.

After reading about a landowner meeting in the newspaper, Taylor decided to attend and was introduced to David Halley, a consulting forester, and discovered all the benefits of working with the N.C. Forest Service and the Forest Stewardship Program. Part of the meeting involved a tour of properties that had been managed for forestry. Taylor approached the consulting forester about his own property and later the two would tour the family farm where Halley made some suggestions, including working with the N.C. Division of Forest Resources. Taylor admits that he didn’t know the services that were available to him until he met Halley.

“There is a lot of information I could’ve had before I planted, a lot of stuff I had done on my own, stuff that came naturally as an old farm boy, but I still needed help, I was just asking the wrong people,” Taylor said. “After I got involved with the [North Carolina] Forest Service things became productive.”

Steve Thompson, Caswell County Ranger, wants people to know that there are services available to landowners through the N.C. Division of Forest Resources.

“Ideally, we will write a management plan that works with the landowners objectives,” Thompson said. “Some of Mr. Taylor’s stands are not healthy enough to be productive so we’re working with him on that,” Thompson said. “Some of what they are doing includes some site prep work on areas that he wants to plant on several acres. Mr. Taylor has an interest in the land and he’s willing to do the work,” Thompson added.

Taylor’s other goals include restoring trees in harvested areas, thinning trees under the southern pine beetle program and wildlife management. A hunt club leases the property and helps him with keeping the borders well marked.

“If people’s goals change we’ll steer them in the right direction.” Thompson said.

He added that the N.C. Forest Service tries to look at all the objectives of the landowner and works together with other agencies to help them achieve the goals outlined in their stewardship plan. Any good stewardship plan will incorporate a number of public agencies working together to assist landowners by providing educational, technical, and financial assistance, according to Thompson. These resource professionals help landowners realize the benefits of being good forest stewards.

“The key to the success of the Taylor property, or any stewardship property, is to have good communications between the landowner, the consultant, the N.C. Forest Service and any other agencies that are integral to the plan,” Thompson said.

The Forest Stewardship Program recognizes landowners that promote total forest resource management and offers technical assistance in developing stewardship management plans based on the landowner’s objectives. The time schedule for completing the plan is based on the landowner’s resources and ability to conduct the work, with the recommendations focusing on practical modifications of existing conditions rather than costly investment. The program is open to any private landowner who has 10 acres or more of forestland.

Thompson says they get a lot of work through word of mouth, sometimes more than they can handle. In fact, while in the process of helping Mr. Taylor they were introduced to his neighbor who is now also receiving services from the Forest Service and engaged in Forest Stewardship activities in as well. Taylor’s family, who owns the other 220 acres of land, also has a stewardship plan in place.

Mr. Taylor wishes he had known about the opportunities the Forest Service offered earlier but says that he is pleased to be able to move ahead with their assistance in the future. His main goal is to create a healthy stewardship property for all the children and grandchildren of his family so the Taylor family legacy will continue for generations to come.

SOURCE: North Carolina’s Forest Stewardship News, Fall 2009, Vol. 21:3

Scientists race to prevent ash tree's extinction

By MELANIE S. WELTE (AP) – 10/8/2009

DES MOINES, Iowa — Mark Widrlechner is out to save a species from extinction.

It's the native ash tree, and although it provides $25 billion worth of timber and decorates backyards across North America, an unstoppable bug has slowly killed millions of trees in 13 states and could cause the species' ultimate demise — unless Widrlechner is successful.

The horticulturist for the federal Agriculture Research Service in Iowa is heading an effort to collect tens of millions of ash seeds from across the U.S. that can be frozen and ready to plant when researchers figure out how to kill or control the emerald ash borer.

The process is tedious since seeds must be hand-picked from branches only in the fall. But scientists hope to avoid what happened to the American elm, chestnut and butternut trees, which were nearly wiped out by disease.

Widrlechner said the ash borer is especially devastating because it can kill very young trees and reduce the possibility that the species develop a tolerance.

"This one to me looks like it's much more likely to lead to extinction if we don't do anything about it," predicted Widrlechner, who also is a professor at Iowa State University in Ames.

Ash trees are used commercially for baseball bats, kitchen cabinets and other products, and dominate the landscape in parts of the Midwest.

In Kansas and Nebraska, they account for 25 percent to 35 percent of trees and up to 60 percent in some North Dakota communities. In Iowa alone there are an estimated 88 million ash trees, state experts said.

The eastern U.S. produces nearly 114 million board feet of ash saw timber valued at $25 billion, according to the 2009 manual by the Department of Agriculture on the emerald ash borer. The potential impact on the urban landscape could include 30 million to 90 million trees and cause $20 billion to $60 billion in damage, the report estimated.

The insect is native to Asia and was first identified in the U.S. in 2002, when it was spotted in Michigan. It's now found in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The adult beetles are relatively harmless and nibble on leaves, but the larvae are deadly. They drill into trees, eat through the vascular tissue and stop the flow of water. An infested tree can die within a few years, and the emerging generation of beetles moves to other trees, Widrlechner said.

Federal and state agencies tried to limit the ash borer's movement through quarantines, but scientists agree that there's no way to stop the insect's spread unless new techniques are developed.

"This pest is one like we've never dealt with before," said John Bedford, pest response program manager with the Michigan Department of Agriculture. "It doesn't seem to leave much in its wake."

In parts of Michigan, "a majority of the ash trees are dead and gone," he said.

Crews have collected at least 2 million seeds from stands of green, white, black, blue and pumpkin ash — only about 10 percent of the number needed to ensure the diversity of each species is represented, Widrlechner estimates.

Noel Schneeberger, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said billions of ash trees are scattered across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The seed collection project began in New England in 2007, then expanded to Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. It also includes the Forest Service, the National Resources Conservation Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Interior Department, several state forest agencies, American Indian tribes, botanical gardens and even people with ash trees in their yards.

Ash seeds grow in clusters on branches with anywhere from a dozen to 50 seeds hanging in a group. The seeds are hand-picked in the fall and put in paper bags, then dried and sorted. Seeds shared with researchers are put in large jars and refrigerated, Widrlechner said.

Seeds in the "base collection," which will be used to replenish the ash species, are sealed in plastic and stored in a walk-in freezer. Some remain at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, and some are sent to the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colo.

A similar but smaller project by the Department of Agriculture and North Carolina State University is under way for the Eastern and North Carolina hemlocks, which are threatened by the Hemlock woolly adelgid.

Large-scale seed collections were not taken before diseases nearly wiped out Dutch elms between 1930 and the mid-1970s and American chestnut trees by the 1950s. Butternut, a hardwood native to eastern North American forests, is still affected by a canker disease.

Schneeberger hopes the ash tree will avoid a similar fate. He said the problem shows that urban areas must use a variety of trees, noting that many ash trees were largely planted to replace dying elms.

"We need to pay attention to planting the right trees for the right place in urban areas and diversify the urban canopy," Schneeberger said. "We don't plant one street full of ash, for example, we plant a variety of species."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZ5rhISJiLrXAsUN0HpUBhM_7OPAD9B6PP1G2

Thought for the day

I just picked up my lawnmower from the shop. The mechanic was efficient and competent. He has a specialized set of skills that I needed. But what he did required no college degree; no battles with ticks, topography, mosquitoes, briers, rain, heat, or cold; no decision on what to do with a natural resource with a 30 or more year economic maturity; no knowledge of soils, wildlife, entomology, plant pathology, silvics, hydrology, economics, or mensuration; and no ability to write cogent reports on complex subjects. His labor rate was $68 per hour. Think about it.

Prioritizing: If time flies, where does it go?

From Wachovia's 3rd quarter eNewsletter entitled "Getting Fiscally Fit"

The old adage: “There's so much to do and so little time” has never been truer than in today's busy world. By the time you wade through your e-mails, return phone calls and take care of life's unexpected details, the morning is gone and the rest of the day is a scramble just to get back on track.

There are ways to make the day more productive, and by taking just five minutes at the top of the day to set goals and prioritize your tasks, you'll find that you will become more effective, and efficient in no time.

Take five
“Managing our time needs to become a ritual,” says time management guru Peter Bregman, “all it takes is a little discipline.” Before you start your day, sit down with a piece of paper and make a list of goals for the day. Next, prioritize them and schedule time for them in your calendar, the most important and most difficult in the earliest slots. Once every hour, check in with your list and see where you are. If necessary, make adjustments, but stick to the plan. End the day with a five-minute review of the list, and build a new list of the top five things that need to be accomplished the next day.

Track your time for a few days
If you often get to the end of the day, and don't know where the time went, consider tracking your time diligently for 2-3 days and see where it is going. You can do this in an online calendar on your computer or with a PDA.

Give yourself some focused time
The only problem with multi-tasking is we often don't deliver our best thinking when we are working on ten things at once. If possible, schedule an hour each day during which time you focus only on one task or activity. You'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish with one scheduled hour of work time.

Block out time for answering emails & returning calls
Whenever possible, block out times in your day for returning emails and returning calls. This avoids constant interruptions that can keep you from focusing on what you need to accomplish that day.

Put technology to work
There is no end to the new technology available to help you stay on track and focused. Set the alarm on your cell phone or desktop calendar to chime hourly to remind you to check your progress throughout the day. Use applications such as Google Calendar, Backpack, Tiddlywicki, or just a stack of index cards to help you make lists and schedule your priorities. Use calendars, note-taking tools and to-do lists as organizational aides. Synchronize your iPhone or other smartphone or PDA applications with your computer to help you stay focused on your priorities.

End with tomorrow in mind
If you're feeling overwhelmed, take just a few minutes out of your day to organize, and end the day knowing what is most important for you to tackle tomorrow.