Having returned from the fourth Precision Farming Dealer Summit last week in Indianapolis, I’ve had an opportunity to reflect on a few of the highlights.

The sold-out conference drew more than 170 attendees including representatives from 69 dealerships throughout 26 states, along with Australia and Canada. With a theme of Building Business Value with Recurring Revenue, the event featured conversations on how to incorporate agronomic offerings for profit, reinforcing the return on investment approach to selling services and leveraging long-term trust of customers for recurring revenue.

One of the most talked-about sessions looked at creating a culture of advancement and growth within a precision dealership. Skip Klinefelter, owner of Linco-Precision in El Paso, Ill., noted during his opening general session that success and survival of precision dealers will require continuous collaboration and internal problem-solving — both of which are cornerstones of stability.

“In our company, everyone is invited to bring anything to the table they want. We have an hour-long meeting that we schedule. We do have trainings that last longer than that, but it either half an hour or an hour — usually it’s an hour meeting when we pull the remote salesmen in. We publish an agenda and we stick to it. When you come to the meeting with an issue or problem, you are welcome to bring anything you want to the table. But you are not welcome to bring it there without an answer. I don’t care if you only have a complaint, try to have a solution for it.”

Look for extended coverage of these takeaways and more from the Summit in the Winter issue of Precision Farming Dealer and the March edition of Farm Equipment magazine.