As precision ag coordinator, Nick Rust oversees all elements of the precision business — from organization and oversight to recruiting and training — for H&R Agri-Power (2024 Farm Equipment Dealership of the Year), a Case IH dealer with 21 locations across Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.

“We only had 6 locations back when I started as a precision ag specialist,” says Rust, who joined the dealership full-time in 2010 after completing an 80-hour internship program coordinated through Hopkinsville Community College. “It’s been fun to watch the growth of the business and live through it.”

Rust’s precision team has also grown significantly over the years. There are over 20 people on the current roster, including a connected vehicle manager, 14 full-time precision specialists, 4 dual role precision specialists and interns. He says the key to success starts early in the hiring process.

“It actually starts even before the interview,” Rust says. “You have to get the right people applying for the position. We’re in the high schools, trade schools, community colleges and 4-year colleges. Good, quality hires come from everywhere.”

Finding Winners

Rust has found rock stars from different backgrounds and fields, but he prefers hiring a blank slate over someone with a ton of experience outside of the ag equipment business.

“If they haven’t worked for an equipment dealership, I don’t know how well their skills will translate to our business,” he says. “We’ve hired folks with 15 years of co-op/retail experience. Our business is different than that. Their skills translate, but the work-life balance is different. The seasons are different. We do better with folks we can mold and develop into what we need them to be.”

When Rust became the dealership’s precision ag coordinator in 2019, one of his requests was to be heavily involved in the interviews. While he doesn’t directly hire specialists — those decisions are ultimately made by the store managers — Rust sits in on interviews and has veto power.

“I didn’t want anyone hired without me being able to check the box,” Rust says. “I’ve made good calls. I’ve made bad calls. How you respond to those calls is what’s most important.”

Rust’s ideal resume has something ag related on it, even if it’s just high school FFA or an internship with a co-op.   

“If they have some kind of experience being around ag, chances are they understand the seasonality of our jobs,” he says. “I also look for anything on their resume that shows they have a good work ethic. If they’re a brick layer, there’s a good chance I’m going to call them.”

Handling Bad & Good Hires 

Drawing on his experience as a precision specialist, Rust has a list of about 15 questions for every candidate. Even if they check all the boxes, it’s inevitable that not every hire is going to be a home run.

“We’ve had two bad hires in the last 2 years,” Rust says. “We knew within the first month that one of them wasn’t going to work. The young man was a know-it-all and had an attitude problem. He also didn’t have good rapport with customers. But those things didn’t come up in the interview. We fired him after 18 months.

“The other hire was someone we took a chance on who had no experience in ag,” Rust adds. “After about a month, we saw the physical demands of the job were going to be a problem for him. When he was shadowing some of the guys, and it was time to crawl under equipment and do something, he was never the first person to do it. He could pick up on all the knowledge, but he wasn’t going to physically do the job. We had to cut him loose.”

Rust says one of the hardest parts about letting people go is admitting you were wrong about them. But part of being a good leader is owning up to your bad calls and doing what’s best for the team.

On the other end of the spectrum, when a hire turns out to be a star, Rust does everything in his power to keep them on board.

“If someone is a go-getter and a winner, we’ll bump up their salary quickly,” Rust says. “You need to keep them working in your program before someone else gobbles them up and takes the 6 months’ worth of training you invested in them.”

Onboarding

The biggest priority for new H&R Agri-Power precision hires is getting them in the field to shadow other precision specialists. Rust also makes sure all their resources — a truck, laptop and phone — are ready to use on day 1 so they can hit the ground running.

If a new hire starts during the slow period in the winter, Rust has them shadow technicians in the shop.   

“I’m done assuming new hires know basic things,” Rust says. “We prioritize job shadowing. They’ll spend time with me, the connected vehicle manager and other people on the team.”

Rust is in the process of building a comprehensive training program for his team. He put together a basic course for new employees that takes about 6 hours to complete. But it’s a work in progress, he says, and the goal is to expand the training program to 3 courses by the end of 2025.

“I’d like to have a week’s worth of curriculum that we can put people through before they go and work with someone,” Rust says. “Maybe they’ll retain more of the things they’re seeing in person.”

Building Team Chemistry

Every successful team has good chemistry. And oftentimes that chemistry is developed outside of work.

“We usually try to do something fun away from work after our annual meetings,” Rust says. “We’ve done Topgolf, bowling, axe throwing and sport shooting. I’m not a golfer or a shooter, but as a manager, you must be willing to do things with your team that you’re not good at.

“Our team bonds in those non-work settings because they rarely get to spend time with each other,” Rust says. “They’re around each other for training sessions, but you have to get them together in non-work settings to really develop relationships.”

Given H&R Agri-Power’s massive geographic footprint, the relationship-building really pays off when a precision specialist in Brownsville, Tenn., feels like he can pick up the phone and call a precision specialist in Hopkinsville, Ky., for help when he’s struggling on a job.  

“It’s critical for us to make the group feel more connected across our footprint,” Rust says. “The closer we feel connected, the better off we’ll be, even though there’s a lot of geography between us.”

Quantifying Success

Fun and games and chemistry aside, Rust realizes if they’re not making money, they won’t be around too long. He meets with every member of the precision department individually at the end of the month to go over numbers and evaluate how they’re doing.

“I focus on the daily activities that drive the numbers,” Rust says. “Are you calling a customer? Did you visit the farm, or did you just sit in the office all day? Did you complete your training? Did you bill your time when you fixed that tractor? Those are all important questions to ask.”

Rust shares comparative metrics from P&L statements during annual team meetings to show how different store locations stack up to each other. The bottom-line value of the precision business is evaluated by tracking income through hardware sales and billed service hours for each specialist, along with expenses which include salaries, trucks, training and fuel.

“Gross contribution is a reasonable metric to evaluate the precision team,” Rust says. “This is a sales company, and our specialists are in the business of selling. We can go off that financial sheet and decide whether the specialist is producing or not. It’s fair.

“I don’t do this to get them to compete with each other. It does happen, but they compete with who they should be competing with,” he adds. “If they see they’re lagging behind or they’re doing better, it’s a real good look in the mirror for how healthy we are.”