Tech Talk: Digital Support & Troubleshooting

Shaye Koester  00:05

Hey, hey, it’s Shaye Koester and I’m your host for the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast where we connect you to ranchers and beef industry enthusiasts who can help you build a more profitable operation and improve your lifestyle.  Are you looking for a community of ranchers who support and challenge you to be more profitable and proactive? Then sign-up for our monthly RancherMind events. RancherMinds are mastermind events for ranchers to come together once a month and find solutions for their own and the industry's challenges.   Stay connected by following @cattleconvos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and never miss an episode or event update by signing up for our newsletter on casualcattleconversations.com/newsletter.   If you get value out of this episode or any episode drop a comment or tip me by using the link in the show notes.  With that let’s see who our guest is today and connect you to a new resource to improve your own operation and lifestyle.  Alright, James. Well, it is great to have you on the show today. I know we've been able to chat over the phone a little bit and we're going to talk about some digital support ecosystems with Gallagher in this quick little interview. But to start off, would you share with the audience and anyone out there who's listening what your role with Gallagher is?

James Clark  01:16

Yeah, of course. So I'm a territory manager, or TM for short. I do the province of Quebec in Canada for the company. But I pretty much deal with anybody who speaks French in Canada and the US. My job is to manage the brand and all of our categories, fencing, watering systems and EID in my territory.

Shaye Koester  01:38

Well, that's pretty cool. That's something that didn't get brought up on our previous conversations that you handle individuals who speak French. So that's pretty awesome. So going back to the digital support ecosystems, what are various ways ranchers can work with Gallagher to troubleshoot any issues they're having with equipment, technology or any product really.

James Clark  01:59

So our main way currently, is by phone. But we're moving more and more towards our website. Right now, we have just one of those basic contact us forms. But we're going towards a messaging system directly on our website. We have a growing group of customer service, and technical service repair technicians, they're always happy to help. They're very knowledgeable, I think they get as many calls from customers as they do for me, since I have to deal with all the French customers and they only speak English. So I'm on the phone with him just as much getting all the information. And that brings me to the TMs. The other teams in the rest of North America. I mean, we text. We use Facebook. We use various social media as well to get connected with our customers. More and more, I'm using Facebook Messenger, I had to create a new profile just to be able to separate my personal and work. So those are the main ways. And then one more tool that we're using more and more and that we're building on is a library of media. So photos, videos and audio, so that the ranchers can just click of a button on our website, Facebook, YouTube, and have a how to, you know, 30 seconds this is how you tie wire. One minute, this is how you fix your Energizer.

Shaye Koester  03:19

That's pretty neat. So then producers, I know you said you're kind of in progress on it. But producers can go to those websites kind of find information there themselves. But if they still prefer to talk to a real person and do that method that's available as well.

James Clark  03:33

Absolutely.

Shaye Koester  03:35

So with that, you've kind of touched on it already. But if they're looking to learn, you know, proper management techniques right away, is that just go to the website, or is that Facebook? What is the best way to go find that video content right now as you're kind of shifting a little bit.

James Clark  03:54

So right now, the best place is our YouTube page. It's got everything from New Zealand, Australia, and North America, so the US and Canada as well as some European stuff. So they can go to our YouTube page to get the most of our videos for right now as we continue to build our website continue to build our social media.

Shaye Koester  04:14

Okay, so what you talked about, which I thought was neat was you know, the different fencing techniques and strategies so do you have quite a bit of content on there? What does support look like there as far as different strategies for building fences, putting up fences, what type of fence might be best for different areas just because Gallagher does cover such a broad span of areas climates and regions?

James Clark  04:37

Absolutely. I mean, we cover inclusion, fencing, exclusion fencing, we covered like I said, watering systems, weighing and EID. So it's it's a lot of information. And for one person to remember everything, it's just not going to happen. So you know, the YouTube page does have a lot of how-tos. It's not getting into specific regions yet, but we are working on that. Like I'm working on the eastern seaboard, Northeastern specifically right now, eventually I'll be going to the Midwest and out east out west, I should say, to be able to get more of that content so that it can be regionalized. It's a process. So right now, the best place to get that is your local territory manager. So the rancher can, you know, they can look on our website, find out who their local territory manager is, and give them a call.

Shaye Koester  05:30

So when it comes to digital support, what's one thing you would encourage ranchers to do first when they're looking for solutions?

James Clark  05:37

Oh, honestly, as much as we'd like the digital, first, talk to your local guys talk. Talk to the local reps. Talk to the local feed store. Talk to your neighbors, a lot of them will probably used a bunch of different digital things. And so they'll be able to give you, the rancher, some more indication on what worked for them, what didn't work for them. And that'll give the rancher a bit more narrowed down on, okay, well, YouTube worked really well, for me, Facebook didn't, this website works really well, this software doesn't. That's the number one place I tell them to go.

Shaye Koester  06:12

Okay, so is there anything else you'd like to touch on? Explain or speak about digital support ecosystems?

James Clark  06:20

Absolutely. You know, there are experts around the world, like tons of them. You know, we have this umbrella of sustainable agriculture and pasture management and all these umbrella terms that then can get divided into these little niche markets. And you know, some of them work or Gallagher some of them work with other ones. But I'd say that those guys, especially our partners that we're working with, go and find them, you can get overwhelmed with the results you'll find on Google and YouTube, of, you know, just typing in best management practices. It's like, Oh my God, they're in South Africa. There's Australia. Here's, you know, you can find right down to that's the county next to mine. This is my county, which one do I want to listen to? One of those leaders, one of those experts I work with is Brian Maloney of Broadleaf Farms out of Quebec. He's currently setting up pasture groups all across the province of Quebec and then he wants to go across the country and then into the US as well. You know, he's talking about livestock management, pasture management, and there are tons of folks just like him out there. And so it's just a click away.

Shaye Koester  07:29

Well, that's awesome. So as we kind of wrap up today, it really sounds like First things first ranchers, you know, you're really encouraging them to talk with their local rep find that person on, they can find that individual on the website, if they don't already know. But talk to that local rep, and then explore some of those digital options as well for visuals and other materials.

James Clark  07:51

Absolutely. And like I said, you know, talking like you said, as well, talking is great, you know, sometimes people like to still talk to a live person. That live person will also be able to help direct you to those digital assets that you need right away.

Shaye Koester  08:05

Well, awesome. Do you have anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up today?

James Clark  08:09

That's all I have.

Shaye Koester  08:10

Alright. Well, thank you for being on the show today, James. It was great to have a quick conversation and talk about these different support systems to help ranchers troubleshoot your fencing needs as well as a lot of other technology as well.

James Clark  08:24

Well, thanks for having me. This was awesome.

Shaye Koester  08:26

And that's a wrap on that one. Be sure to let me know your thoughts on the episode and if you have any further questions around the topic, take care and have a great day.