The Revolving Client Pool: One Solution to Value-Added Programming Challenges

Introduction

Educational support is the primary focus of my NDSU Extension Service appointment. One of my most productive tools for providing assistance is the Revolving Client Pool (RCP). I developed this concept over the years as a result of trial and error, experience, and testing in various business, industry, and university Extension programs. In sharing the RCP, it is helpful to understand the context for its use. Thus, I provide a brief description of my position and background information. The example discussed in this paper combines the RCP with the powerful technique of mentoring.

Context

The NDSU Extension's mission is to "To create learning partnerships that help adults and youth enhance their lives and communities" (NDSU Extension Mission Statement, 2000). Our charge is to be available to all clients as needed in the state throughout the year. We accomplish this in part through broad-based program planning and delivery geared to larger audiences.

My position title at North Dakota State University is Agribusiness Development Specialist, a 70% Extension/30% Research faculty appointment. This is a state specialist responsibility addressing the needs of individual producers, agribusinesses, agribusiness-related audiences, in-service Extension, and young people. The rationale is to provide education, conduct research, and facilitate the transfer of information relating to existing and newly emerging value-added enterprises.

My specialty area is strategic marketing management. I base my approach on the work of David A. Aaker (1995, 1998) and apply it to agribusiness. This approach is best defined as a whole-organization marketing approach to production. I also have 27 years of business experience.

A growing Extension audience segment is interested in agri-entrepreneurial, agri-entertainment, and other value-added businesses that pose new challenges for program planning, design, and delivery. The question becomes how does Extension provide more specialized training, education, and instruction to individual clients at critical times during the agribusiness development process? There is the additional challenge of client confidentiality arising from the competitive nature of value-added agriculture. Given this context, it seemed logical in 1997 to introduce the RCP as one vehicle to address this new programming challenge.

The Pool

I developed and used the RCP model while working in the private sector developing a marketing group during the pre-NAFTA days (1990-1993). I modified the original RCP concept to fit the value-added industry challenges in North Dakota.

In the simplest form, I choose a prospective "pool" of existing value-added agribusinesses, ideally, start-ups or individuals, to partner with. Usually, seven to nine clients per business quarter is a manageable number. I informally base my selection on input from a university, department, colleague, and statewide network. I provide specialized training, education, and information to these selected as one-on-one collaboration upon demand during that particular quarter. I make an in-state 1-800 number selectively available for them to use during this time frame. Then, depending upon a quarterly review and assessment, the clients receiving this extra attention may exit the pool.

The RCP program is based upon the "human capital" philosophy of investing resources into the "Champion" or other key person(s) driving the agribusiness development process. One could argue that clients could use this individualized help all the time, especially in a new start-up company. But I reserve this assistance for those times in the agribusiness development process where the agribusiness may be especially vulnerable to external forces such as economics, government policy, or technology.

An Example

The effectiveness of the RCP is illustrated through the following story. Dave and Peg were seasoned cattle producers. Their family had been in the business for over 100 years. They were looking to secure their financial base and were also very willing to try a whole-farm/ranch market approach to their agricultural business enterprise.

So they decided to sell their herd on the upside of the cattle cycle around 1990-92, pay off all the family debt (a growing burden), and keep the land and buildings. They began a 4-year search for marketing opportunities that would allow them to return to agriculture in a stronger business position.

Dave and Peg became interested in the market for lambs and secured a good contract at a good price. Their special need was to think through, plan, and implement this new market approach, taking advantage of the livestock business and production skills they already possessed. A well-managed systematic approach to production would allow them to meet the contract specifications to which they would agree.

The special, one-on-one mentoring and assistance I gave Dave and Peg included visiting their operation, helping them to think through the marketing opportunity, planning for the production requirement, helping them construct secure and flexible production and marketing contracts, and searching for additional alternative markets.

Important in this process was navigating the gray area between offering advice and encouraging informed decisions, and avoiding making decisions for them. Presenting different options for their consideration was one way to handle this situation. After 7 or 8 months of intensive attention, Dave called me one bright fall day in 1997. He told me they had taken the plunge and bought 225 ewes and five or six rams, and were now in the lamb business. This was 3 years ago.

Today, Dave and Peg own 600 ewes and a dozen rams. In addition, they have joined forces with a new lamb cooperative in the state that some of my Extension colleagues in livestock production and agricultural economics have been assisting. Dave was named interim CEO of the state lamb producers coop, and he recently completed a statewide equity drive to finance the growing organization. Dave and Peg called me recently to thank me again and to tell me that they had 102 new producers signed on, with a production capacity of 8,000 ewes, well over the 6,000 goal the organization had targeted.

When you ask me if the RCP concept is effective and if it works in meeting some of the new programming challenges in Extension education, I have to say, "yes, it does"--when handled and serviced properly. It's important to observe that this agribusiness development process is now in the tenth year of continuous progress for Dave and Peg, which reminds us that success is a journey not a destination.

References

Aaker, D.A. (1995). Strategic Marketing Management. 4th Ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Aaker, D.A. (1998). Strategic Marketing Management. 5th Ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The NDSU Extention Service Mission Statement. (2000)[On-line]. Available: http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extwhite.htm