Dealers Will be Hiring
Precision Farming Specialists This Year

GPS and precision farming components have been at the top of the list of “best bets” since 2005, the first year the Farm Equipment Dealer Business Outlook & Trends report was published. That trend continues for 2012, when 96.5% of dealers believe that sales will be as good or better than 2011.

As precision farming equipment has become more sophisticated, so too has the dealer’s approach to selling and serving it. For the first time, the Farm Equipment survey asked dealers if they would hiring precision farming specialists by the end of the year. Of the dealers who responded, nearly 20% said they would.

Using that information, Precision Farming Dealer’s editors went a step further. We contacted the dealers who said they’d be hiring this year and asked them four questions. Here’s feedback from just one of them, which incidentally is from Farm Equipment's 2011 Dealership of the Year:

Duane Smith
CEO/General Manager
JayDee AgTech
Swift Current, Sask., Canada

1. What did you see in your local market that showed the demand was there to add to your staff?

As a percentage, this is one of the fastest growing areas of the dealership; what is driving this move to a new precision services department is ongoing demand for continued training, knowledge and after sales service. This is what we need to turn into a revenue stream. Within the warranty period, you can provide free services. But after that passes, the time and effort to support customers is getting overwhelming given the number of units that are out there. As long as commodity prices stay high, we see this as a continued demand. However, we do wonder if this is one of the first items to go if markets crash, as you can still manually steer your own units! The sooner producers start using variable rate applicators they'll see the savings from this. And then it will become too costly to ever let go.

2. How are you integrating these precision farming specialist positions into your dealership’s organizational structure? To what managerial function will they report?

All will report to a Precision Services Division Manager. We need a driver to get this moving or it will not become a revenue center. We need someone who is passionate about this and gets how support agreements need to be developed, sold to customers, and administered on a yearly renewal basis. We need someone who is focused on booking acres signed up vs. selling $400,000 machines. The mindset is different, so you need a different manager vs. one you’d seek for wholegoods.

3. For the next 12 months, do you view the precision farming specialist role as support-only, or as a sales-generating position? Why?

We expect to have some revenue coming in within the year. However we expect the division to lose money in year one, break even in year two, and make money in year three.

4. What is the best piece of advice you’ve received as you’ve gone about the process of adding precision farming specialists?

Precision services delivered effectively creates the opportunity to bond your customers to the dealership more than ever.

This Precision Services Department Organizational Chart is something that Duane Smith and the rest of the management team at JayDee AgTech use to keep track of responsibilities inside the department. (click to enlarge)