“Every one of us, unconsciously, works out a personal philosophy of life, by which we are

guided, inspired, and corrected, as time goes on. It is this philosophy by which we measure

out our days, and by which we advertise to all about us the man, or woman, that we are. . . .

It takes but a brief time to scent the life philosophy of anyone. It is defined in the conversation,

in the look of the eye, and in the general mien of the person. It has no hiding place. It’s like the

perfume of the flower—unseen, but known almost instantly. It is the possession of the

successful, and the happy.
And it can be greatly embellished by the absorption of ideas and experiences of the useful of this earth.”
-- George Matthew Adams

I often revisit my ardently-kept personal journals on unique analogies between modern-day farming and

21^st century marketing. Being born on a struggling patch of earth that my dad simply called the Cecil place; not being
nearly large enough to be called a FARM. From age 5, I watched my older siblings truly toil from sun-up till moon-rise

to winnow every possible bit of harvest they could influence. That meant a whole lot of digging, carrying water, hoeing weeds,

trapping critter thieves, and picking bugs off plants, and yes, done bare-handed.  Speaking at a recent Farm Equipment trade show and convention at McCormack Place in Chicago, I was stunned at the juxtaposition I saw at the John-Deere lavish display. There in the glaring spotlight was a tractor straight out of Star-Wars.

Try to imagine a farm tractor that housed a driver in an air-conditioned command box with the technology of a space launch at his/her finger tips. I visualized the gasp my Dad, now happily farming a different field somewhere in the universe, would have uttered at the amazing sight beheld. Can you see a gigantic, bright green, surprisingly silent and zero emissions tractor.
Front-equipped with a yard long series of sensors and probes conducting a serious set of facts about each square foot of ground. Calculating any variable from plan and automating the exact nutrients each spot needed on a bright color screen spotlighting questionable data for the driver.

Now from the rear of this behemoth you are seeing a perhaps 3 yard wide set of razor sharp blades plowing and forming for yet another device called a ‘disc-harrow, that pulverizes the huge chunks into a precision bed of perfect readiness for simultaneous delivery of its own unique feeding and the oh so carefully nurtured seed.

It would be unbelievable had I not both seen it with my own eyes.

I realized how combining the best thinking from the industrial age with the wizardly world of the internet age

had much to teach us all.

Imagine what would happen to the bottom line of our company, the productivity and satisfaction of employees, customers, prospects and centers of-influence.

Can you imagine what will happen when we adopt that same level of precision to the nurturing of our own customer relationship-seeds?  

Oh, it’s now called CRM, it brings to mind the immortal words of Obi Wan Kino be in Star Wars; “Use the FORCE, Luke!”.

It would seem obvious but the analogy is crystal-clear, I would think, to natural-nurturers.

Pay attention to those seeds and be useful to this earth.

Good Nurturing

Jim