There’s a fine line between being on the bleeding edge and the leading edge of innovation. As someone who has experienced both sides during more than 15 years of owning a precision dealership, Skip Klinefelter values the signature successes as much as learning from the losses.

 

Skip Klinefelter

“The safest place to be is second and right because you’ll make more money, but that’s not how I live my life,” he says. “I’ve always tried to do things that weren’t mainstream and my belief is you need to take some calculated risks, but at the same time, the business needs to survive.”

Since staring his first precision dealership in 2002, Klinefelter has experienced rapid revenue growth (doubling revenues every during an 7-year stretch), blending cultures through acquisition and navigating an economic downturn all while maintaining the same core business values of trust and respect.

Consistency amid chaos is challenging. But Klinefelter suggests that to survive in today’s precision market, dealers must be nimble, forward-thinking leaders who can be counted on by their farm customers.

“At every meeting I tell our employees, our job is to sell our customers quality equipment and machinery services,” he says. “Give them what they need, both in quantity and quality, as often as they need it. No more, no less. If we vary from that approach, we’re cheating our customers or cheating ourselves.”

During the opening general session at the 2019 Precision Farming Dealer Summit on Jan. 7, Klinefelter will shares his journey from a 3-employee dealership operating off his family farm, to the 25-person company, Linco Precision in El Paso, Ill., which is averaging more than $1.5 million in annual precision sales.

3 Things You Will Learn From this Session

  1. How — and how not to — manage precision employees on both the sales and service side
  2. Why taking calculated business risks can create a progressive culture of success
  3. Lessons learned adapting to external and internal changes to increase precision business value
 

 

Co-located with the 27th Annual National No-Tillage Conference, the 2019 Precision Farming Dealer Summit will be held Jan. 7-8 at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown. Among the Title Sponsors making the learning and networking opportunities possible for dealers are Charter Software Inc., DigiFarm VBN, Laforge Systems, Montag Mfg., Reichhardt, Topcon, AgDNA, AeroVironment, Praxidyn, Ag Leader, Precision Planting and Yetter Farm Equipment.

For more information and to register for the Precision Farming Dealer Summit click here or visit www.PrecisionSummit.com. Stay tuned for more updates and speaker announcements. We’ll see you in Indianapolis!