SEPTEMBER 2017 SEEDWORLD.COM / 35 IT SEEMS CUSTOMER service models can be as complicated or as simple as you want them. As a field service technician, my philosophy is quite simple: provide the same service that I would have wanted as a plant manager. This means providing training and education on the equipment, being upfront and honest, and showing up with a smile. As a plant manager, I wanted to work with equipment manufacturers who were willing to come and talk to me and who shared what they were doing and why. Providing training on equipment goes a long way in helping customers feel good about their purchase, giving them confi- dence in its operation and longevity. For example, I’ll explain what happens when a bearing goes out. I’m able to vali- date the importance of routine mainte- nance. I can tell them that this particular part has a three-year lifespan, because it’s a part that wears. If the customer stays on top of that, the machine will stay up to par and running good. I’m able to validate the importance of routine maintenance in helping the machine run for as long as possible — sometimes 20 to 30-plus years. And that builds a sense of trust, which goes a long way in the industry we are in today. I want customers to have the best possible experience with our equipment and every time they interact with the company. I believe we have to sell our experience as much as we sell our prod- uct, because we have experience. As an example, I did a training ses- sion for a grass seed company on how to optimize the machine and how to perform maintenance for minimal down- time. In the six months that followed, the Customer Service Is Core to Business DAVE MEANS OLIVER MANUFACTURING FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIAN Dave.Means@olivermanufacturing.com • olivermanufacturing.com plant increased production by more than 300,000 pounds of grass seed. Now I’m going to a few other of their plants to conduct the same training with other managers and operators. Regardless of whether I’m on site to fix a problem, host a training session or just checking in, I’m always asking “How can I make things better for you?” We’ll walk through your needs and how I might be able to help. Customer service is essential for Oliver. Without excellent customer service, we wouldn’t be in business. In fact, I believe you can have the best product in the world, but if you have poor customer ser- vice, people won’t buy it. On the flip side, you can have an average product and excellent customer service, and people will stand by you. A product and cus- tomer service are really complementary. IT’S NOT ROCKET science, even though it may sometimes seem that way when you read about advances in genetic purity testing or listen to a presentation on it. Here, I’ll share the nuts and bolts of the newest testing methods being used. Historically, we’ve relied on plant grow- outs in the field for genetic purity testing. This method was dependent on the visual identification of plant characteristics — a process that was time consuming, affected by environmental consequences and only worked for characteristics that could be seen by the eye. Nonvisual char- acteristics, such as high oil content or tol- erance to drought, could not be detected from others by using field grow-outs. Then we transitioned to protein-based molecular markers, and used methods such as Isoelectric Focusing or Isozyme electrophoresis. However, if you’re using a protein-based test for genetic purity testing and you also want to check for the presence of a trait, a separate test must be conducted. With a DNA-based method, you can test for both the pres- ence of the trait and genetic purity all in one. There are also a limited number of protein-based markers in the genome, which lowers their power of detection, especially for seed mixes and outcrossing. Today many of the largest seed companies have shifted to DNA-based molecular markers for genetic purity testing. They are fast, accurate and allow us to use seed or any type of plant tissue. There are a number of testing methods that are DNA based, including SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers and SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers. These markers got more common for genetic purity testing among other DNA- based molecular markers as their popular- ity increased in plant breeding. Advances in Genetic Purity Testing FARHAD GHAVAMI EUROFINS BIODIAGNOSTICS CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER @GhavamiF • FarhadGhavami@eurofinsUS.com • eurofinsus.com/biodiagnostics SNPs are becoming more popular as millions are available in the genome of dif- ferent crops. The more data we have, the higher quality purity panels we can create to test a variety against. SNP markers are also easy to automate, which allows the use of high throughput systems, making it more cost efficient. By using the same SNP markers in the seed production stage that the plant breeder used in the development pro- cess, we’re able to keep the same genetic quality and not lose the integrity of the seed downstream. With the breadth of SNP information available for different crops, a good SNP panel can be designed to be very accu- rate and detect genetic quality issues within a seed lot. Now, each company can differentiate themselves from the compe- tition in terms of the quality and purity of the seed they produce.