Early on in my Day in the Cab visit with Pete Kopriva, precision farming specialist at Case IH dealer J.J. Nichting, he said the amount of phone calls he was getting had “really died down” since the previous week.

Jack Bartholomew, a former farmer himself, converted an ambulance into a “store on wheels,” fully stocked with parts and tools to serve his customers.

“This year we decided to go full force with the planter inspections because of all the failures we were seeing during the growing season,” says Abby Weltzien, service & parts manager of Swiderski’s precision farming department in Mosinee. “We wanted to drive home the importance of it to the customers and help educate them on the issues they could run into if they don’t fix certain problems with their planter.”

We asked Precision Farming Dealer readers to share the best and worst precision agriculture-related idea, practice, technology, etc., implemented at their dealership in the last 2 years and explain what went well or what went wrong.

Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to customers (and employees) will likely leave you frustrated and those you work with dissatisfied. The goal of this article is to help you better understand the differences between the generations you serve — and employ — why they matter, and how you can use that information to build a better business.

In honor of the Inaugural Precision Specialist Week celebration, we collected these tributes from members of the ag community to recognize all of the hard work and dedication of those making today's precision farming systems possible.

Bruce West, owner of West Enterprises, an independent precision ag hardware and software dealer in Erie, Ill., shares the secret to his success when it comes to developing strong relationships with customers.