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.

“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 year 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 to be nimble, forward-thinking leaders who can be counted on by farm customers. 

Klinefelter shares the basis for his mantra of providing customers “quality in the right quantity” and 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.