Since the majority of my company has been without power in Austin this week, I’ve found myself answering a lot more client emails than I would normally to keep afloat.
One, this has renewed my respect for our frontline client teams who deal with complex troubleshooting every day. There are many questions about our product — which I’ve used myself for six years — that I can’t answer. Customer service teams are in the trenches and they are heroes.
And while it’s not my first choice of daily activity, it has been a great learning experience to be a little closer to our clients directly and get a feel for the questions that come in. Plus, I get to flex my own “hiring expertise” and advise on hiring best practices which I genuinely enjoy.
I’m also someone who makes a game of nearly everything and I enjoy trying to wow clients enough that they give me a good rating and comments . . . which I’ve received . . . and feel great about. I am such a (competitive) words of affirmation person.
With the team out and feeling a little under the weather, it’s been a tough week to get the big long-term important stuff done. So I’ve been grateful I can contribute here and keep the team afloat.
In general, though, I thought this was a good learning lesson others might be able to apply to (or at least others who work in jobs that may be distanced from end users/clients day-to-day): hop in the support queue for a while. You’ll probably learn something that’ll ultimately help inform your current job.
With Love,
Natalie