It is honest to say that not many individuals develop up dreaming of working in customer support. Not your typical aspirational profession path! In truth, some see a customer support function as a stepping stone to one thing else or a short-term job on a break from school or college. After practically a decade working in a help function right here at Buffer, I’ve come to think about buyer help as a profession in its personal proper, and I am extra enthusiastic about it than ever.

I have been engaged on the Buffer help staff for 9 years, which is a major and strange period of time in a single job! On the earth of know-how, folks change roles and employers greater than in nearly every other business, making me a fair greater outlier. There have definitely been instances when the considered transferring on has come to thoughts, and I questioned if I ought to think about beginning a brand new chapter. I need to share extra about why I stayed at Buffer and haven’t any plans to go away.

To begin with, why help?

I’ve at all times beloved figuring issues out, understanding how issues work, making issues higher, and serving to folks. I really feel glad when I’ve been in a position to make use of my information, expertise and abilities to make a distinction. I beforehand labored in healthcare, the place I carried out medical diagnostics (people-focused) and IT safety (technology-focused) roles. My customer support function at Buffer is at a candy spot for me, the place I take advantage of abilities from each areas.

Working in customer support can reap the benefits of many abilities that you wouldn’t mix in different roles. In simply in the future’s work, you need to use a variety of abilities: emotional intelligence, predictive communication, technical information, troubleshooting/diagnostics, and testing. There’s additionally lots of cross-team communication: we work straight with the finance staff on gross sales administration, with the advertising staff on launch planning, and we work with the product and engineering groups to help their work on bettering our product. and the incorporation of latest capabilities. to our shoppers We’re removed from being an remoted staff!

One other superb factor about help is that we have to learn about the entire product, not simply functionally. We have to know the ins and outs of the right way to use every function, and we have to perceive a number of use instances for every function, the related bugs, what bugs have been not too long ago resolved for that function, how the options work together with one another, how our options differ from the opposite options. native and so on The potential exists for infinite progress of information. You’ve got by no means ‘arrived’ as a information knowledgeable throughout the product because of the continuous adjustments, so there is a fixed problem. But within the midst of that problem, your understanding of the assets at your disposal grows, supplying you with the boldness to proceed navigating this ever-changing surroundings.

Second, why have I stayed in Buffer.

I joined in 2014 after we had been nonetheless a start-up (Buffer was based in 2012) and we had been lower than 20 folks. The help staff is at present greater than Buffer’s once I joined! I began out overlaying Saturdays and Sundays as a “weekend warrior” (we used to have barely extra jovial names for our roles, and had an amazing love of alliteration again then). I lined the e-mail inbox and the conversations that got here by way of social media, and after some time, transitioned to a extra conventional work week.

Some folks know Buffer as a lot for our tradition as for our product. We have been utterly distant since earlier than my time, and with the ability to work from wherever you’re feeling best has been extremely highly effective. For me, it’s the greatest benefit!

I used to be in a position to stick with my dad, working from his place when he wasn’t feeling nicely. I’ve additionally had the luxurious of serving shoppers poolside on a Spanish island. The flexibleness and potential to search out your finest model of labor/life stability with out having to journey or be tied to an workplace is one thing I treasure. Most not too long ago, we transitioned to a four-day work week with no pay discount. You might be starting to know why Buffer is such an distinctive firm! Past this stuff, we’re a values-driven firm, and regardless of being unfold throughout the globe, there are key issues all of us have in widespread.

The work we do in help has at all times been targeted on empowering folks. We need to be there to assist, however we additionally need to get out of the best way as quickly as attainable. There are a couple of methods we do that:

• We provide the identical degree of help to our free plan customers as any paid buyer, which suggests we may be there for folks simply beginning out. That’s extremely highly effective.

• We invite prospects to evaluation their help expertise, and we pay shut consideration to how they charge us. Our buyer satisfaction rating is at present 97%!

• We use a system to evaluation and charge our help conversations to ensure we’re delivering to a very excessive customary, specializing in three ideas: Consciousness, Readability, and Empowerment.

Within the span of 9 years, Buffer has modified lots. Our product is extra highly effective and extra advanced, and our firm has grown to simply beneath 80 folks. All this transformation has saved my function fascinating, with new challenges and altering staff buildings as we evolve and refine our work and experiment with new approaches and instruments. On the identical time, we’ve got maintained our small staff mentality and targeted on our core values.

Within the final yr, I’ve taken on a product liaison function (extra on that right here), working because the liaison between our help staff and our incredible product staff. I’ve realized a lot! I ensure the help staff is conscious of all of the customer-facing adjustments which can be being labored on, in addition to go on insights from prospects coming by way of the inbox, akin to areas of buyer friction. product and have requests. I am additionally getting extra concerned in pre-release testing and studying about the entire technique of bringing new options to market. It has been eye opening, and the final 12 months have been probably the most thrilling and rewarding of my profession.

How do I keep away from stagnation and hold my motivation recent?

A couple of times a yr, I deliberately step away from my work to replicate and ensure I do not get caught in a rut or complacent about what I do. You’d by no means need to work on autopilot; That’s not me. Fortuitously, my job retains me on my toes! There are additionally some proactive issues I’ve performed which have tremendously enriched my work and profession in advocacy:

• Take the time to attach with the broader help neighborhood. There are Slack communities and real-life alternatives like meetups and conferences. Constructing a community of help professionals outdoors of Buffer’s buyer advocacy staff labored nicely for me. It began very organically, in a customer support assembly one night time in London. I used to be chatting with some pretty individuals who had been additionally working remotely about how good it will be to work as a staff regularly. This was the beginning of the Assist Breakfast, an off-the-cuff co-working occasion primarily based on breakfast at numerous areas in London. We work from all types of locations, together with espresso outlets, lodge lobbies, and museums, and we kind shut friendships over time. We had such nice talks concerning the widespread themes in our work and the alternative ways we strategy a number of the challenges we face, that we began recording our conversations and sharing them as a podcast.
• Concentrate on engaged on autopilot. I am not pondering of “getting within the zone” right here, extra of spending the day. I’ve had jobs like that previously, and it is simply not me. I do not suppose most individuals need that from a profession. Some degree of problem that you simply be ok with on the finish of the day or week.
• Verify open positions at different firms once in a while. The job description and necessities can assist you body your present place and encourage you when it comes to private progress and the talents you need to develop. This is not going to solely enrich your present work, however will even make sure that it’s prepared for the market if you happen to resolve to maneuver ahead.
• Tackle new challenges and initiatives inside your capability and with the help of your supervisor. Discover areas inside your staff or adjoining groups the place you may assist. For some time, I had doubts that as Buffer grew our roles turned extra outlined, with much less selection in our work or alternatives to do one thing totally different. In small firms, you usually do what must be performed, whether or not or not it is in your job description; in bigger organizations, your function is extra clearly mapped out and outlined, and there are fewer alternatives to ‘placed on many hats’. Nevertheless, even in bigger organizations, there’ll at all times be gaps that have to be crammed, new initiatives or experiments value exploring, or people or groups that need assistance.
• Lastly me recommends studying books and articles and listening to podcasts to develop your information. Customer support has actually turn out to be a profession, and like all careers, there are rising tendencies and alternatives.

I ended up working within the help world as a result of I like to assist, and I ended up surrounded by a number of the kindest and most understanding folks I’ve ever met.

There are numerous instructions a profession in help can take you, and so many areas you may attempt to maybe concentrate on: advertising, buyer analysis, neighborhood administration, gross sales, and account administration. You’ll be able to deepen technical and engineering abilities, in addition to progress into an operations or management function. I didn’t develop up anticipating to comply with this path, however I’m motivated and inspired by how dynamic and fulfilling my profession in customer support has been. I will be right here for some time!

What ideas come to thoughts on this topic? Come chat with me on Mastodon, Twitteror LinkedIn!