b'The marketing organization involves a lot of what the overallin a different worlda different world that still serves farmers, seed business does, he says. In addition to the traditional ele- but now we must approach it a bit differently. To help our talent, ments of marketing, theres also the product side, which includeswe must listen better.product strategy and product marketing. When you think aboutFrom there, it all comes down to knowing your audience building and operating a seed business, the marketing organiza- youre working within this case, the grower customerto tion is kind of like the glue that holds everyone together.better anticipate their needs as a team.But in his new regional director role, theyre three things onThe very first step of marketing is to make sure that you Boecks mind as priorities for Syngenta in the coming year: understand farmer needsthats the very first step of devising 1.Unleashing the talent within the organization a good marketing plan, Boeck says. For me, I think thats the 2.Creating a modernized seed experience essence of Syngenta Seeds. Its not really complicated: were in 3.Creating sustainable corn and soybean growth the business of selling corn and soybean seed to farmers. If youre We have a great collection of talentsome of the indus- going to sell and service them, you must understand them.trys best talenton our team, Boeck says. We want to makeThat means taking to the field to talk and receive feedback sure each of them can contribute to farmer success at their bestfrom customers, but also from the Syngenta team, since many of and highest level, but we have to do that by having a really solidtheir talent farms as well. execution with the farmer at the farm gate. Theres nothing like hearing about farmer challenges and Especially in a post-COVID world, Boeck says investing andabout farmer needs directly from their mouth, Boeck says. putting time into employees has been incredibly important toWere surrounded by an abundance of information that keeping the business running.helps us make good decisions and strategically set up the seeds Hes found that spending more time with employees throughbusiness for the future, Boeck continues. When youve met employee roundtables have helped to show not only his visibilityone farmer, youve met one farmermeaning every farmer is but help him engage more in listening and understanding theirdifferent. The reality is that if were going to be able to be a great needs. supplier and a great partner for farmers, we have to understand Things arent the same today as they were pre-COVID, hetheir needs. That way, we can help our sellers, retail partners and says. Everyones gone through that COVID fog, and now we liveseed advisors meet those needs as well.SWDECEMBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /23'