Making Customer Service a Priority in Agtech

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

It’s great that there are so many new options for technologies to help out on the farm, but what about when things go wrong? Many agtech companies simply don’t provide enough field support to make sure their customers are successful. Carbon Robotics CEO and founder, Paul Mikesell says that’s a core discovery they had when rolling out the LaserWeeder.

Mikesell... "Hiring a good support team and making sure that you have people in the places where people need you is critically important in agriculture. You cannot leave your customers hanging. You have to treat this as if you're going to be there and make sure you're there for anything that, that the people who took a bet on you and believed in you early, make sure that they get amazing support. And then, you know, as you grow the company, like we have continued that great support experience all throughout the life cycle of the machine. So we kind of, we try to be like Apple in that, you know, the kind of support we give is supposed to be excellent and the best in the world and you know, makes people feel like we really have their back. So that's part of it."

Mikesell says one challenge for an ag robotics company like his is to get his vendors on the same page.

Mikesell... "I think the second learning was that you know, your vendors, you need to really test them and pressure test them, not just on the prototype they build to you, but over the long term, you know, and make sure that they understand, you know, your expectations."

Carbon Robotics services over 100 different crops in multiple countries. Learn more at carbonrobotics.com.