Tapping into external precision expertise can provide efficient and effective avenues to improve customer service for farm equipment dealerships. But the chaotic schedules of precision managers don’t always allow for coordinated sessions, especially nowadays.

Heading into fall harvest in many areas, the ability to connect and collaborate with precision specialists beyond a dealership’s immediate geographic area can provide valuable insight on product performance, troubleshooting tips or software glitches.

In 2018, a group of nearly a dozen John Deere precision farming managers, began communicating via text message to assist each other with proactively diagnosing in-field problems or trading insight on new products or services.

The group dynamic has provided an experienced support network of precision managers, who are able to innovate beyond the operator’s manual and creatively find a solution, says group member Karl Huebner, Integrated Solutions Manager with Hutson Inc., a 13-store Deere dealership serving Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.

“For me, what it comes down to is there is a certain group of people within each dealership that just know the machine. They are the consultants of that company and let’s be honest, at times, we don’t know the answer. We’re learning something new every day. 

“Some of our businesses have a higher degree of adoption for precision than others — whether it’s further along with planters or manure spreaders. So we’re incredibly diverse in that aspect. But whenever I hit the group text, I’m talking to the best of the best in that organization on that product. And most likely they’re going to get me pretty close to headed in the direction I need to be…That’s hard to find because in the AMS world, John Deere doesn’t always have the answer. There is going to be some brainstorming, and when I do it with a group of people that are experts, it makes me much more efficient in my role.”

You can hear more from Huebner and other members of the precision peer group who will be part of a moderated panel presentation during the 2021 Precision Farming Dealer Summit, Jan. 11-12.