April 18, 2023 • 48 mins
In this episode, our host Anika Zubair chats with Carly Agar, Founder and CEO at CarlyAgar about landing a customer success job in 2023.
As the tech industry experiences a wave of layoffs, the job market is flooded with talented professionals seeking their next customer success opportunity. So, what should you do if you have been laid off? And how do you prep for interviews and find the right next company?
Podcast enquiries: sofia@planhat.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everyone, I'm your host, Anika Zub, and
welcome back to the next episodeof the Customer Success Channel
podcast, brought to you by PlanHat, the modern Customer
platform.
This podcast is created foranyone working in or interested
in the customer success field.
On this podcast, we will speakto leaders in the industry about
their experiences and theirdefinitions of customer success
(00:27):
and get their advice and bestpractices on how to run ACS
organization.
Today I am speaking with CarlyAgar, who is a customer success
consultant who helps people landjobs in cs.
Whether you're looking totransition into customer success
or you're currently on the jobmarket, Carly is always sharing
(00:49):
her top tips and tricks with jobseekers.
After spending 10 years incustomer success, Carly founded
her own business where she leadsa team of coaches dedicated to
helping people land jobs in thefield.
She had our team work one-to-onewith career changers and
experienced CS professionals oneverything from resumes to
networking, all the way tointerviewing and negotiating
(01:10):
offers.
At the time of recording thispodcast, there have been mass
layoffs in the tech industry,and now more than ever, there
are more job seekers on themarket looking for their next
customer success opportunity.
Carly shares with us tips andtricks on what we should be
doing if you have been laid offand what to do next.
Welcome, Carly to the podcast.
I'm so very excited to have youhere with us and really excited
(01:33):
to talk about today's topic.
But before we jump into thenitty gritty of the topic, can
you please tell our listeners alittle bit more about yourself,
how you started in customersuccess and what you are doing
now?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, I am so excited to be here.
I can't wait.
We have a lot of cool thingsthat we're gonna be chatting
about As a quick introduction tomyself, so my name is Carly Agar
and I've been in customersuccess for just over a decade
now.
And I really started out incustomer success kind of as a
(02:09):
mistake.
Uh, it just kind of happened.
I found myself in this role andreally loved it.
So I consider myself to be very,very lucky.
I started my career in sales ina very formal sales development
program at a very largecorporation.
And what I found very quicklywas I loved working with
(02:33):
customers.
I did not love the quote unquotehunting aspect of sales, so I
really liked what happenedpost-contract signature, and
when I kind of started out inthis customer success and
account management kind of had ashared identity, we were still
(02:54):
figuring out how customersuccess was different from
account management.
So I really started as anaccount manager and then
throughout my career grew intomore of that specialized
customer success function.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Awesome.
I love hearing that story.
I also love hearing every guestunique journey into customer
success.
I think the profession is thismishmash of every type of
previous profession you can everimagine.
Yes.
All those skills transferreddirectly into customer success.
My story's actually similar toyours being I was in inside
sales, and then it was coinedaccount management before it was
(03:29):
coined into customer success,but mm-hmm.
, I love hearingyour journey.
I know you're also now in aconsultant or a career, uh,
advisor.
I'm not sure exactly the titleyou give yourself these days,
but you really transition fromthat customer success individual
contributor or leader into thatadvisory role, and now you
advise people on transitioninginto customer success or mm-hmm.
(03:51):
looking out for,you know, their first leadership
role.
Can you give us a little bitmore background onto what
inspired you to kind of buildyour own business and transition
from working within anorganization to building your
own?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love, I love sharing how I gothere.
So there were really two bigmotivating factors that led me
to actually leave customersuccess and start my own
business.
One of those was in customersuccess.
I felt like the next naturalstep for me was to become a
(04:26):
people leader.
So a a manager of a customersuccess team.
And I'm really, really big onany time you're taking a step in
your career, even if it's justmoving from mid-market to
enterprise, even if that feelslike the natural next step, it's
really important that you takethe time to self-reflect and
(04:48):
really think about, well, how ismy day gonna change when I step
into this new role?
Like, it's not just a titlechange, right?
It's you're spending most ofyour waking time at work.
So you really need to thinkabout like, is this thing that
I'm stepping into aligned withme?
Is this how I wanna spend mytime?
Am I going to get joy out ofthis?
(05:10):
And the more that I thoughtabout becoming a manager of a CS
team, the more that I realizedthis isn't really in line with
what I want to be doing.
I love talking about careers, Ilove coaching, I love enabling
people, empowering them.
And while there is room forthat, as a manager, oftentimes
(05:33):
you can find yourself prettybogged down and like the
day-to-day.
And that was just not how Iwanted to spend my time.
And so that was one of mymotivating factors was this next
natural step was not exactlywhat I wanted to do.
So then I was like, all right,gotta find something else.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Um, one of the things that I was doing in a customer
success enablement was helpingpeople create their career
paths.
Whether that meant, Hey, I wannamove into strategic customer
success.
Like what are the things that Ineed to start doing to prove
that I can move up into thatrole?
Or, Hey, I've been in customersuccess for five years, I love
(06:15):
it, but I think I wanna trymarketing.
And so I would help themdevelop, all right, what are the
skills we need to work on?
What are the things that youneed to gain experience in in
order for you to move into thisnew role that is going to give
you more satisfaction?
And the more that I did that,the more that I fell in love
with it.
(06:36):
And I was also doing a bit ofdesigning interview processes
for companies.
And at one point it just kind ofhit me like, I'm sitting on the
wrong side of the table.
I wanna be helping job seekersnot necessarily helping
companies develop theirinterview processes.
And so it felt like a reallynatural next step for me.
(06:59):
I am able to leverage all of myexperience in customer success.
So it's not as if that time hasgone to waste and now I get to
work on the things that I reallylove, which is empowering
people, helping them grow theircareers and it's, it's more
meaningful and feels moreimpactful than what I was doing
(07:20):
in my CS role.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, and that makes complete sense and I love how
you were so mindful and so wellthought out in what you wanted
to be doing next and reallytaking the step back, reflecting
on what it is, is it you're goodat which, like you said, you
really enjoy the empowering sideof people, but you needed to
look at what is it that youwanted to spend the majority of
your time doing, which is socritical when we look at a new
(07:44):
role.
And I think that that'ssomething we're gonna talk about
in more depth when we get intoour topic today.
But before we do that, you'resuch a online presence.
I know that on LinkedIn andacross the board of CS
communities, you're so activeand you're sharing and you're
always trying to help jobseekers.
What is it that motivates you todo what you do?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, that is such a good question.
And honestly the answer is itwhat has motivated me has really
evolved over time.
So when I started sharing myobservations and my thoughts and
maybe a little bit of advice, itwas really just motivated by, I
don't really see anyone elsesharing these specific
(08:28):
observations.
And so, you know, let me put mythoughts out there and just see
if it resonates.
Maybe it will help people, maybeit won't, but I, I'll never know
unless I try and I put it outthere.
So that's where it reallystarted.
And then it started to morphinto more of education, more
(08:49):
specific advice giving that wasmotivated by, I remember the day
that I got my strategic C S Mtitle and I went to LinkedIn and
I was like, surely someone outthere is teaching people how to
be a quote unquote strategic C Sm.
And to be honest, I was reallyfrustrated because there's a lot
(09:11):
of advice on the internet, butit all felt very fluffy to me.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's a lot of theory rather than practical takeaway
tips, things that you can applyto your day-to-day, like you're
saying
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes.
And I found myself often askinglike, okay, so you're telling me
that I should be this way, butwhat are the behaviors?
Like, what are my next steps?
And so I felt like there was,there was something missing in
the community in that veryspecific like action packed
education.
(09:45):
So it's really morphed overtime.
And then I'll say what motivatesme to keep going now is just the
messages that I get from people.
You know, if someone says, yourpost really resonated with me,
or I used something you said inyour post in a customer call
today, and I felt so much moreconfident, or something you said
(10:05):
about prepping for interviewsreally resonated with me.
And I think that's how I landedmy job.
It's messages like that thathave made me really think about
quote unquote content creationin a new way.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, I love that.
And you do share so manytactical tips, takeaways for the
job seeker, and that's reallywhat we wanna focus on in
today's topic, on today'spodcast.
I think there's a lot of peoplewho are listening to this
podcast today that have beenimpacted by what's happening in
the tech world right now.
And you do such a great job ofempowering your clients, but
(10:40):
obviously we wanna share thatwealth of knowledge with the
podcast as well.
And the world economics makes itreally difficult right now and
tricky.
Um, there have been a lot ofhighs in customer success
hiring, but I'd say that at themoment when we're recording this
in April, it's uh, it's, there'sbeen some lows when it comes to
the job market and layoffs andwhat people are thinking of
doing next in their career.
(11:01):
What are your thoughts on what'shappening right now in the tech
CS world with mass layoffs, withuncertainty and banking and
investments?
What are your initial thoughtsaround everything happening
right now?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean, my knee jerk reaction to it, whenever
someone asks me how I feel aboutit is point blank.
It sucks.
, you know, I, I can'tsugarcoat that.
It's, it's kind of a weird timethat we're living in right now
and there is a lot ofuncertainty and uncertainty can
cause a lot of stress.
So it sucks, it's unavoidable.
(11:35):
But what I would say for anyonewho has been affected, and I
know that we're gonna get intosome really tactical things that
you can be doing, but one thingthat I will share that I think a
lot of people need to hear orhaven't yet heard is, is it's
really important that if you areaffected by a layoff, that you
(11:57):
don't let that mean anythingabout you.
So try to look at it through thelens of, okay, business is
business, right?
At the end of the day, businesscomes down to numbers.
Sometimes really hard decisionsneed to be made, but it doesn't
reflect personally on me as a CS M or as a professional.
(12:22):
The other thing that I'll say isit can be really helpful to
shift your mindset from, oh mygosh, I've been laid off.
I can't believe this ishappening to me.
And instead try to think of itfrom the lens of, okay, this
happened.
Maybe this is happening for me.
Maybe there's some biggergreater reason why this has
(12:44):
happened.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I love that Carly, both things just resonate with
me so much and I really hopethat everyone listening also
hears out what you have to say.
But it's really hard when you'rein the moment.
Always life is really hard whenyou're going through something
in the moment.
But when you reflect back on it,when whenever you find your next
role for those who are impactedthat are listening, you'll look
back at this time and realize Ilearned something about myself
(13:08):
during this time.
Or I was able to take the nextstep in my career because of
what's happened.
And as someone who has beenaffected by layoffs in my
career, it's something thathappens like it, it is a moment
and it sucks.
Like you said, it fully sucks,but know that it has nothing to
do with you and you will comeout better in some way, shape or
form.
It might not seem like it inthis exact moment of when it's
(13:31):
happening, but one thing willhappen that'll lead to a better
next step in your career andyour life.
So thank you for for sharingthat.
Um, that being said, there arelots of people that are starting
to maybe get laid off or noticeany red flags within their
organization, things that mightbe leading to future layoffs.
Many people are worried thatthey might be next, especially
(13:52):
cuz there's just so manyhappening.
It's like every week there'ssomeone else announcing that you
know, hundreds if not thousandsof jobs are being cut.
Um, is there anything that youcan share to ease our listener's
mind if they think that they'repossibly next or maybe get them
more prepared or look out forthese red flags?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, so I'll answer what red flags to look out for
first.
I think people know the obviousred flags to look out for.
Like if your company has frozenhiring, that can often be a red
flag that there could be layoffscoming.
Hmm, A red flag that I think Idon't hear as often but I think
(14:30):
is really important to keep inmind is if leadership at your
company is not addressing thelayoffs.
So if they're not proactivelycoming out and saying, Hey, we
know that this is happening inthe market, here's where we're
at or here's how we're thinkingabout things, that to me would
be a huge red flag in, in timeslike this.
(14:52):
If leadership is not beingtransparent, then I would be
worried.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah.
And as, as a leader that alwaysloves to be transparent with my
team, if your leader is unableto answer questions or avoids
answering questions or delaysgiving you an answer to what's
happening with our currentcustomer base, our market, our
sales cycle, you know ourbusiness metrics in general, if
no one can be transparent, thenI would say that's like you
(15:19):
said, a big red flag of youknow, if they're not sharing
something, they're hidingsomething and that's never a
good thing.
So thank you for sharing thatand I hope that no one is going
through it right now, butsomething to look out for.
If you have been impactedthough, if you are, you know,
currently on the job markettoday and your role was
previously eliminate eliminated,what's kind of the first thing
(15:40):
that you would recommend someonedoes when they're first been
told they've been laid off andtheir role is eliminated?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, so if you're afforded the luxury of time,
meaning your access to all ofyour tools is not cut off
immediately, I would say thevery first thing you should do,
and this is also a really goodstep to take if you're even
slightly worried about animpending layoff, is collect as
(16:07):
much data as you possibly can.
You should definitely be carefulabout what data you are
collecting cause you don't wannaget in a situation where you're
potentially taking data that youshouldn't have.
But the data that you should betrying to gather is any data
that will allow you to calculateyour performance against KPIs.
(16:29):
So you don't necessarily need todo all those calculations right
away, but definitely make sureyou have your book of business,
the a r R of your accountsrenewal dates, um, any expansion
that you've achieved, N P scustomer satisfaction scores and
(16:50):
product adoption data.
And if you can grab that dataover a longer period of time, I
would say that's always better.
If we have two years of data tolook at, then we can look at
your performance over time andpotentially calculate
improvements in KPIs, which isalways great for resume or in
(17:11):
your interviews.
One step would be gathering thedata that you need to calculate
KPIs.
There are two other types ofdata that I think people often
forget.
One is going to be yourperformance reviews.
So any past performance reviewsthat you can download, I would
do that immediately.
(17:33):
Every time you have aperformance review you're
putting in all that hard work toreally self-reflect on the past
quarter or past six months.
You're writing lots of stories,lots of anecdotes of things that
you've done, you're probablygonna forget those things.
So if it's written downsomewhere, go grab it so that
you don't have to rethink aboutall of the stuff that you've
(17:54):
done.
And then another thing I wouldsay is spend a little bit of
time in Slack and in your emailand what you wanna look for is
just like tough situations thatyou were in with clients and how
you remediated those situations.
Any like internal projects thatyou've worked on, big client
(18:16):
projects that you've worked onjust by browsing your old emails
and your old Slack messages,you're gonna spark some memories
and that's gonna be very helpfulwhen you sit down to prep for an
interview or sit down to updateyour resume.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I completely agree on all the metrics and
data.
All that's critical.
If you think about it on aresume or cv, you're trying to
highlight your best numbers,whether you're the top
performer, whether you had themost upsells, renewal numbers,
highest book of business,highest csat, whatever all that
is all that's gonna translatelater.
But like you said, it's soimportant in that moment to grab
(18:54):
the data you need that reflectsthe best on your performance
that you did have at thatcompany.
So that's super important.
One other thing I would add,which I know can be hard in the
moment because when you'regetting the news you're probably
either emotional or it's reallyhard to like really process
everything that's happening butalso be okay with asking your
manager or anyone at thatbusiness for future referrals.
(19:18):
I think that that's something wedon't really think about because
we're so emotional in the momentof hey, I'm being laid off, what
the heck's gonna happen next inmy life and my next paycheck, et
cetera.
But you have to also think thatthe people that are speaking to
you know you're working withtoday can potentially be your
reference checks for futurejobs.
And it's always good to leave inthat high note of I appreciate
(19:42):
all the opportunity that it'sgiven to me at the same time,
would you be able to write me areference for future employment
is super critical, I think issomething to think about when
you're finding out your role isbeing eliminated.
Um, but thank you for sharingthose.
I think that's so important tohave those, those metrics.
The job market isn't easy as wealready discussed.
It's a very tough market outthere.
(20:02):
There's hundreds if notthousands of people applying for
jobs today.
What are some of your top tipsfor people who are actively on
the job market today?
Especially because there's justso much more talent looking for
jobs right now.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, so I'll start really broad and what I'll say
is today's job market is tough.
There's no getting around that.
We can't sugarcoat that.
However, it's not impossible toget a job, it just requires a
different strategy.
(20:34):
So what I mean by that, I'll geta little bit more specific in
the customer success job markettwo years ago.
So just post covid when everycompany was hiring like crazy,
you could just submit yourresume and probably hit easy
apply on LinkedIn and youprobably also had recruiters
reaching out to you all dayevery day.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Those are the great days when literally finding
another job was as easy as likejust thinking about it
Speaker 2 (21:03):
All days.
So that's not the reality thatwe're in right now.
Job seeking right now requiressomething different of you.
So it's not as easy as justsubmitting your resume.
It's not as easy as updatingyour LinkedIn profile and
waiting for recruiters to reachout to you.
If you are relying on thosetactics that work in a really
(21:28):
positive market, you're notgonna get very far in today's
market.
So one thing that I'll sayspecifically is relying on your
resume, even if you are a veryexperienced C S M and you have
the best resume ever is not agood tactic because there are so
(21:48):
many people applying to jobs,it's, you're essentially relying
on hope and luck if you're justrelying on a piece of paper to
get your foot in the door.
And so what today's marketreally requires a view if you
want to get consistentinterviews is you've got to be
networking and that meansrelying on people that you
(22:12):
personally know in your personalnetwork.
But also you gotta rip thebandaid, you gotta start
reaching out to strangers.
It's gonna be uncomfortable butthe more you do it, the easier
it's gonna
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Become.
I love that you just said thatsecond part, especially about
the networking and networkingwith strangers.
I think a lot of people getintimidated by, you know, oh my
gosh this person has 5,000connections.
How do I even send a message tothem that's meaningful and
impactful that they're actuallygoing to reply?
You'll never know unless youask.
(22:44):
That's my big thing.
What's the worst that's gonnahappen?
You get no reply, we'll you'llget no reply without doing
anything as well.
So you might as well shoot yourshot and go and ask the
question, whether it's a hiringmanager, a recruiter, someone
random that's working in thesame field that you have a
question about, just ask thequestion you'll never know.
So I totally appreciate thatyou're saying to reach out to
(23:06):
networks that aren't there yet.
How would you say people buildon their current network?
I think that's a, another bigthing that people have to focus
on is just networking ingeneral.
How do you build up yournetwork?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, for me it's all about having conversations with
people.
I think one of the things thatpeople struggle with most about
networking as a job seeker isthey have this mindset that, oh
my gosh, if I start reaching outto strangers, they're gonna know
why I'm reaching out.
They're gonna know that I, I'mjust looking for a job.
(23:39):
And to that I say, so what?
That's true at the end of theday.
Right.
Another really helpful way tothink about it is if the roles
were reversed.
So if you had not been laid offand another C S M who you had
never interacted with in yourlife reached out to you on
(24:00):
LinkedIn looking for help, wouldyou think poorly of them?
Would you think it was sleazy orweird?
Or awkward that they werereaching out to you?
Probably not, right?
You'd probably say, oh I've gotsome free time, I'm happy to
help.
So just that shift in mindset inin reversing the roles can be
really helpful When it comes tobuilding your network, a couple
(24:23):
mistakes that I see people makeis only going after like the
quote unquote influencers in theCS community.
That's a bad strategy becausethose are gonna be the people
that everyone else is flockingto first just because they have
a presence.
And just statistically speaking,if those people have more people
(24:47):
reaching out to them, thelikelihood of them being able to
respond to you or really giveyou their time is much lower.
So don't think that you can onlynetwork with someone who has
this loud ever present presenceon LinkedIn.
You can network with someone whohas 300 connections and hasn't
posted on LinkedIn ever.
(25:09):
Mm
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Definitely a hundred percent.
And those are the type of peoplethat have maybe more time but
also are more relatable.
They're probably in a similarrole to yourself and they
probably have been in a similarsituation to yourself and
they're willing to, again likeyou said, reach out with the
helping hand to help becausethey can be relatable to you
rather than just a blanket emailstatement to like you said, the
(25:32):
everyone that's present onLinkedIn that might not get your
response for days, weeks ormonths depending on how busy
everyone is.
Um, the other thing I did likethat you said was around the
fear part of LinkedIn andnetworking and I think everyone
forgets that LinkedIn is aprofessional network.
I think the two reasons whyLinkedIn even exists is to sell
(25:52):
a product, a professionalbusiness product or to reach out
and network with other peoplethat you do not know.
So I really hope if you'relistening to this, take the fear
out of networking on LinkedInbecause the whole point of it,
of the entire social experienceof LinkedIn is to network is to
reach out to people you do notknow.
(26:13):
So I hope that, I hope thatalleviates some spheres and
stress from people when they aresending those messages.
Cuz I know that that can be inthe back of your mind,
especially when you're like, ohI have no connection with this
person or I have no idea whothis person is
Speaker 2 (26:25):
For sure.
I always tell people if someonehas a LinkedIn profile, you
should assume that they are atleast open to the idea of
networking with a stranger.
Because like you said, that'swhat LinkedIn quite literally
was built for.
And if by chance they're notopen to networking with a
(26:47):
stranger, then that's on them.
That's not a reflection of you.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Exactly.
Awesome.
Let's talk a little bit aboutinterviewing right now in this
market.
You already said let's not relyon our, you know, resume or cv.
That's not the best way to get ajob but like how do you get
noticed There are 400 plusapplicants for each role
Nowadays when I'm seeing onLinkedIn I'm like wow that's
just a massive number that ahiring manager or recruiter is
(27:13):
looking through.
If I was applying to a C S Mrole today, how would I get
noticed with 400 otherapplicants that have applied as
well?
Yes,
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I love this question.
So one of my favorite tacticsfor standing out in a crowded
market is a video introduction.
I do have a free training whereI talk really specifically about
what you should say in thatvideo introduction.
But essentially what it is, isit's a reactive form of
(27:44):
networking.
So by reactive I mean it oftenhappens after you apply to a
job.
So the steps are you apply to ajob, then on LinkedIn you go and
find someone who is likely thehiring manager or at least a
decision maker in the hiringprocess.
And you're gonna send them avery carefully scripted video
(28:07):
introduction where it'sdefinitely under two minutes you
are giving a quick introductionto yourself, maybe talk a little
bit about your background, whyyou're excited about their
company, the role that you'reapplying for.
And then you wanna make surethat you highlight something
about your experience thattranslates to the job
(28:30):
description.
So if all over the jobdescription they talk about
expansion, driving expansion inyour book of business, that
clearly is something that theycare a lot about.
And so in your videointroduction you wanna give them
a quick like hey here's how I'vedriven expansion before.
Maybe you give some veryspecific numbers your
(28:53):
achievement and expansion andthen you just let them know like
I already applied to the rolebut I just wanted to send this
video to highlight why I'm agreat fit for the role.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I've had a few videos come in when I have been
actively hiring and there's lotsof people who will just message
on the actual post or send me anInMail, which is great, I will
sift through all of that.
But I've had people who havedone a video and then followed
up with another video when Ilike I've had people who have
interacted in that way and it'sjust so much more personable and
(29:26):
it just shows that you, youwanna be in front of me, you're
taking that, it's almost likethe idea or the concept of
walking your resume insomewhere.
Like you know you haveface-to-face time and I think
today's world where we all workremotely or digitally, a video
introduction can be just that.
And you know what I've alsonoticed is a lot of companies
have made that part of where youcan upload your resume but
(29:49):
there's like upload cover letteror video that's actually
becoming something in the hiringprocess as well.
It's not mandatory but I thinkit, it really makes someone
stick out, which I love seeingthat that's, that's the new way
of I guess introducing yourself.
I wanna ask another questionabout resumes translating into
interview tips as well cuz incustomer success a lot of us
(30:11):
come from different places andand different backgrounds.
But how do you highlight in theinterview what's important?
Like how do you make sure you'recoming in to highlight the right
skills because you get 30minutes, maybe 45 in your first
call.
How do you ensure that you arethe that perfect candidate of
the 400 others that that alsomight be getting that first
(30:32):
interview?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, so my favorite way to think about getting ready
for an interview is reallyrelying on the job description.
So there are really only twotypes of questions that you can
get in an interview.
There are gonna be questionsabout your past.
Those are gonna be the questionslike how have you done this
(30:55):
before?
Or can you give me an example ofa time when you did X, Y, Z?
So that's questions about yourpast.
You may also get questions aboutyour future.
Those are gonna be questionsthat sound like how, how do you
think about driving adoption orwhat's your process for
(31:16):
prioritizing your book ofbusiness?
So it's asking you for yourperspective or your approach to
things.
So now understanding thatthere's only questions I can get
about my past and PE questions Ican get about my future.
You then dissect the jobdescription, what are, pull out
the key responsibilities, thekey tasks that they are putting
(31:40):
out there.
And then before the interviewprepare for each responsibility
or each task in the jobdescription.
What's an example of a timewhere I've done this before and
how do I explain my generalapproach to this thing?
And if you've got your exampleand your perspective for
(32:03):
everything listed in the jobdescription, to me that is the
most effective way to get readyfor an interview.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Amazing, I love that.
And then what about the industryas well?
Cause I think a lot of peopleare looking at different
industries of breaking into,let's say someone was in ed tech
before and maybe they're lookingat FinTech now or they're
shifting industry, but that'salso a hard shift as well,
especially with the number ofapplicants that are out there
and the number of people thathave exact relevant industry
(32:33):
experience.
What are your tips to someonewho's shifting industry?
Because let's say they worked,worked in one industry but that
industry isn't doing so wellright now and they wanna, let's
say shift to FinTech.
How do they take those skillsand prepare for that type of
interview in order to ace thatkind of interview?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, so I'll say three things.
One, you wanna come prepared tothe interview with some
perspective on what's happeningin that industry.
What is everyone talking about?
What are the key trends?
The big challenges, just likeyou would if you got a new
customer assigned to you andthey are in an industry that
(33:12):
you're unfamiliar with, you gothrough the same motion, try to
understand what's happening inthat industry, what are, what's
everyone talking about.
The second thing I would say isreally try to build an
understanding of the keypersonas that you would be
working with.
So if you're moving from EdTechto FinTech, you're no longer
(33:34):
working with educators andadmins, now you're gonna be
working with CFOs likely.
So try to understand how dothese people speak, what do they
care about?
What do I need to know aboutthese people in order to relate
to them?
And that could be a really goodway for you to network or good
(33:56):
excuse for you to network.
Go reach out to a couple peoplewho work in FinTech or who work
in finance for differentcompanies and just try to get to
know like what's your day-to-daylike, what are you working on?
How has this market impactedyou?
And then the third thing I wouldsay is never shy away from
sharing personal stories thatindicate your interest or your
(34:22):
knowledge of an industry.
So I can give a really specificexample of this.
I was working with someone whonever worked in finance but
during Covid he created a wholeYouTube series on personal
finance.
It was just like a passion ofhis and he was like I really
(34:43):
wanna do this, but he wasn'ttalking about it in interviews
and I was like, you have tohighlight like the fact that you
took the time to learn enoughabout it to where you could then
go educate someone else on it.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Yeah, definitely that
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That's gonna mean a lot, especially
Speaker 1 (35:02):
There's so much initiative right there.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Exactly.
Especially if you're competingagainst someone else who does
not have industry expertise.
Just the fact that you createdthat little YouTube series that
gives you a legs a leg up thatis gonna make you stand out.
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I completely agree.
Any little bit that you've doneoutside of the nine to five as
well helps.
I know that a lot of peoplelisten to this podcast and when
I do interviews as well,everyone's like, oh yeah, I've
listened to the podcast andthat's something that I do
outside of my day-to-day, butit's something that I can
highlight in my experience.
So if there's anything out therethat you are doing that's
(35:37):
outside of but still relevant inyour search, whether like you
said in the finance sector or ifit's you're doing video series
on on CS or being a C S M, anyof that can always translate
into a great topic to talk aboutin an interview.
And I, I don't think anyoneshould shy away from it as well.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You could also look at it in the reverse.
So if you're not sure whatindustry you should be looking
into, start to look outside ofyour work life and look into
your personal life.
So if you own a bunch ofproperties and you rent them out
on Airbnb, perhaps real estatetech is an industry that you
(36:20):
could get into.
So there, there's so manyoptions and you just have to,
you have to really like thinkabout, all right, what am I
involved in?
What do I have some knowledgein?
And that could be the, the nextbest fit for you.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Another thing that I've noticed, which is sad to
see is people have been laid offnot once but twice in the last
year.
I've seen this come up and it'sa very sad story to see that
some people you know started anew job, got laid off mid last
year and then they're now backin the same boat six months
later.
(36:52):
That means that there's twoshorter timeframes that they've
been at a company.
How would you best tell yourclients to explain, let's say
shorter time spent at anorganization?
What's the best story or thebest way to explain that when
someone asks, Hey why were youonly at this company for six
months or a year or whatever theshorter amount was?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yeah, so what I'll say first is because of the
impact of covid and then thissecond big round of layoffs,
recruiters and hiring managersare definitely more open to
candidates who have had shorterstints at companies.
It's not like it was 10 yearsago where if you didn't stay at
(37:34):
a company for five years, it waslike put under a microscope and
they wanted to know every reasonwhy you didn't stay there.
It's, it's totally not the same.
So it's not as uncommon forpeople to have shorter stints at
companies.
But when it comes to talkingabout it, I would say two
things.
Be honest, being laid off againdoes not mean anything about you
(38:00):
personally.
It's a business decision and Iwould also always try to talk
about it in an optimistic way.
So try to highlight the thingsthat you learned or the
opportunities that you tookadvantage of or some good things
that happened as a result of thelayoff.
(38:23):
Because what that's gonna tell apotential hiring manager or
recruiter is you can adapt yourflexible, you can learn, you can
make the most of a bad situationand those are all really good
qualities for a CSM to have
Speaker 1 (38:37):
For sure.
And like you just said, ifsomeone is under the microscope
examining shorter time spent ata company and they're really
giving you guff or a hard time,remember that you're
interviewing that company aswell.
It's a two-way conversation andif they are so caught up on why
you were laid off twice becauseof what's happening in the
world, that might not be theexact place you wanna be
(39:00):
spending your time as well.
So just a reminder that I knowit's a tough market out there
and it's mostly companies thatare getting their pick and
choose of the candidates, but doremember that it is also your
right and your option tounderstand that this is a
two-way interview and you needto be looking if they're giving
you grief about a shorter timeat an organization that might
(39:21):
not be where where you wanna bespending your next one to five
years.
That being said, one otherquestion I have is around
finding the right next companyor the right next customer
success organization.
What are your tips for jobseekers or the clients that you
work with on figuring out thepotential good fit and a good
(39:44):
customer success org?
Cause I know that that's areally top thing people are
looking at today.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, so when it comes to finding your next
company, it is so personal,what's gonna be the best fit for
you is not gonna be the best fitfor someone else.
So there is no blanketed answerto what you should be looking
for.
But what can be a reallypowerful exercise is set aside
(40:15):
30 minutes or an hour and sitdown and just write everything
that you loved about your priorrole and everything that you did
not love about your prior role.
And that could be everythingfrom your, your past manager's
leadership style.
Maybe you really didn't love theway that you were managed.
(40:38):
Uh, maybe your company had areally, really awesome
onboarding for CSMs and that wassomething that you really
valued.
Write down all of those thingslove did not love.
Then what you're gonna do whenyou start interviewing with new
companies is turn that list intovery, very specific questions
(41:00):
that you are going to askthroughout your interviews.
So for example, if one of thethings that you wrote down was,
I did not love my manager'sleadership style.
I felt like I was constantlyunder a microscope.
Maybe I felt a little bitmicromanaged.
(41:21):
A question that I'm gonna ask inmy next interview is gonna be
very specific to how do youthink about being a leader in a
remote setting?
How do you balance micromanagingwhile also giving your team
freedom?
Ask really pointed and directquestions to try to uncover,
(41:44):
okay, is this person likelygoing to micromanage me or is
this someone who's gonna give mea little bit more freedom?
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Definitely.
I love that.
And again, remember it's atwo-way conversation.
You definitely have to have yourlist of things you want in a
company as much as a companywants a list of things that they
want for the candidate, we couldkeep going.
Carly, I know there's so manymore questions I can keep asking
you, but I do know that youspeak to lots of people in the
industry, but also you have alot of clients that have been
(42:13):
getting laid off and it'shappening and what are kind of
the biggest learnings thatyou're taking away from, from
these layoffs?
Or what would you do if ithappened again?
What are some of the tips thatyou can give our listeners?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Again, I said this earlier, but the biggest
learning is what used to worktwo years ago, three years ago
in order to get a job is notwhat's going to work today.
So you really need to thinkabout am have I adapted my
strategy to today's market?
Am I doing things differently?
(42:48):
Am I going out of my way to tryto stand out or am I still just
kind of falling on old tacticsthat used to work?
Like just sending my resumethrough easy apply Because the
longer you try to rely on thoseold tactics that used to work,
the longer you're just gonna belike banging your head against a
(43:08):
wall.
Like why is nothing happening?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
So true.
So, so true.
And I absolutely love that youshared so many tactical tips for
us today and I think that that'sgonna be so important to anyone
that's looking for a job.
As we wrap up this podcast, Ialways like to end with our
quick fire questions where I'mgonna challenge you to try to
answer these next questions in asentence or less.
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
I am so ready.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Okay, amazing.
The first question I have is,what do you think is next for
the customer success industry?
Speaker 2 (43:38):
I think what's next for the customer success
industry is a largerconversation about customer
success managers owningcommercial responsibility.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yep.
Completely agree.
I think that if you're notdriving revenue for the
business, it's hard to justifywhere the value of A C S M lies
in the end of the day, which issuper important these days
especially.
The next question I have is,what is your favorite app that
you cannot live without on yourphone or your laptop?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Ooh.
Okay.
So an app that I use everysingle day and I make my whole
team use it is called Fathom andit's a meeting recorder with ai.
It's so easy to use and amazingand I
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Love them.
Amazing.
I haven't heard of it so I'llhave to look it up after we
record.
The next question is, which SaaSproduct can you not live without
as a customer successprofessional?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Ooh, okay.
I'm gonna give you a category ofproducts.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I'm going to say product analytics or just any
data analytics.
I think I've been in roles whereI had access to a lot of product
usage data from my customers androles where I did not, I felt so
much more empowered when I knewexactly how my customers were
(44:56):
using our product and what theywere using it for.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Totally valid and very important to know how your
customer is actually using yourproduct.
So great answer.
Next question is, what sort ofcompensation should a customer
success manager get?
Should it be a base salary onlyor a base salary with a
commission variable
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Part?
Oh, I totally think it should bebase and commission.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Agreed.
And I think most people are, butsometimes I love hearing the
controversial answer.
Um, and then the final questionI have for you today is, what is
your favorite part of customersuccess or being a C S M?
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Ooh, this is really, really easy for me.
So my favorite part of customersuccess is the opportunity to be
involved in every single aspectof a SaaS business.
So as a CSM you have so muchfreedom to get involved with
marketing, with sales, withproduct, with professional
(45:52):
services.
So if you're not sure what yournext five years plan looks like,
customer success is a greatplace to be cuz you can kind of
like dip your toe into all thosepools.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
I love it and I totally agree.
I think as a C S M, if you'renot speaking to all those
departments at least once aweek, I don't know what's what's
happening cuz I feel like youhave to be cross-functional in
customer success.
Yeah.
But Carly, thank you so much.
All your insights tactic tipswere amazing.
We can find you on LinkedIn.
I already know that I've alreadyshared that, but where else can
(46:24):
we find you or find more of yourinformation and and everything
that you're sharing?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (46:29):
So LinkedIn is definitely the place to go.
That's where I'm always sharingtips and announcements of things
like that.
But I also do have a website.
It's just carly agar.com and Ihave a bunch of free trainings
on there.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Amazing.
And you have something comingup, right?
A new training?
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yes.
At the time that this ispublished, the free training
should be coming up in just acouple weeks.
So I'm doing a three part freetraining for folks who are
looking to land a customersuccess job in 2023, and that'll
be taking place in the first twoweeks of May.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Amazing.
Thank you so much Carly.
We'll be sure to list all yourinformation in the show notes,
but thank you again for sharingyour time and your wisdom with
us.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yes, thank you so much for having me.
This was so much fun.
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Thank you for listening to the Customer
Success Channel podcast today.
We hope you learned somethingnew to take back to your team
and your company.
If you found value in ourpodcast, please make sure to
give us a positive review andmake sure, sure you subscribe to
our channel as we release newpodcasts every month.
Also, if you have any topicsthat you would like me to
discuss in the future or youwould like to be a guest on the
(47:39):
podcast, please feel free toreach out.
All my contact details are inthis show notes.
Thanks again for listening andtune in next time for more on
customer success.
Hello everyone, I'm your host, Anika Zub, and
welcome back to the next episodeof the Customer Success Channel
podcast, brought to you by PlanHat, the modern Customer
platform.
This podcast is created foranyone working in or interested
in the customer success field.
On this podcast, we will speakto leaders in the industry about
their experiences and theirdefinitions of customer success
(00:27):
and get their advice and bestpractices on how to run ACS
organization.
Today I am speaking with CarlyAgar, who is a customer success
consultant who helps people landjobs in cs.
Whether you're looking totransition into customer success
or you're currently on the jobmarket, Carly is always sharing
(00:49):
her top tips and tricks with jobseekers.
After spending 10 years incustomer success, Carly founded
her own business where she leadsa team of coaches dedicated to
helping people land jobs in thefield.
She had our team work one-to-onewith career changers and
experienced CS professionals oneverything from resumes to
networking, all the way tointerviewing and negotiating
(01:10):
offers.
At the time of recording thispodcast, there have been mass
layoffs in the tech industry,and now more than ever, there
are more job seekers on themarket looking for their next
customer success opportunity.
Carly shares with us tips andtricks on what we should be
doing if you have been laid offand what to do next.
Welcome, Carly to the podcast.
I'm so very excited to have youhere with us and really excited
(01:33):
to talk about today's topic.
But before we jump into thenitty gritty of the topic, can
you please tell our listeners alittle bit more about yourself,
how you started in customersuccess and what you are doing
now?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, I am so excited to be here.
I can't wait.
We have a lot of cool thingsthat we're gonna be chatting
about As a quick introduction tomyself, so my name is Carly Agar
and I've been in customersuccess for just over a decade
now.
And I really started out incustomer success kind of as a
(02:09):
mistake.
Uh, it just kind of happened.
I found myself in this role andreally loved it.
So I consider myself to be very,very lucky.
I started my career in sales ina very formal sales development
program at a very largecorporation.
And what I found very quicklywas I loved working with
(02:33):
customers.
I did not love the quote unquotehunting aspect of sales, so I
really liked what happenedpost-contract signature, and
when I kind of started out inthis customer success and
account management kind of had ashared identity, we were still
(02:54):
figuring out how customersuccess was different from
account management.
So I really started as anaccount manager and then
throughout my career grew intomore of that specialized
customer success function.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Awesome.
I love hearing that story.
I also love hearing every guestunique journey into customer
success.
I think the profession is thismishmash of every type of
previous profession you can everimagine.
Yes.
All those skills transferreddirectly into customer success.
My story's actually similar toyours being I was in inside
sales, and then it was coinedaccount management before it was
(03:29):
coined into customer success,but mm-hmm.
I know you're also now in aconsultant or a career, uh,
advisor.
I'm not sure exactly the titleyou give yourself these days,
but you really transition fromthat customer success individual
contributor or leader into thatadvisory role, and now you
advise people on transitioninginto customer success or mm-hmm.
(03:51):
role.
Can you give us a little bitmore background onto what
inspired you to kind of buildyour own business and transition
from working within anorganization to building your
own?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love, I love sharing how I gothere.
So there were really two bigmotivating factors that led me
to actually leave customersuccess and start my own
business.
One of those was in customersuccess.
I felt like the next naturalstep for me was to become a
(04:26):
people leader.
So a a manager of a customersuccess team.
And I'm really, really big onany time you're taking a step in
your career, even if it's justmoving from mid-market to
enterprise, even if that feelslike the natural next step, it's
really important that you takethe time to self-reflect and
(04:48):
really think about, well, how ismy day gonna change when I step
into this new role?
Like, it's not just a titlechange, right?
It's you're spending most ofyour waking time at work.
So you really need to thinkabout like, is this thing that
I'm stepping into aligned withme?
Is this how I wanna spend mytime?
Am I going to get joy out ofthis?
(05:10):
And the more that I thoughtabout becoming a manager of a CS
team, the more that I realizedthis isn't really in line with
what I want to be doing.
I love talking about careers, Ilove coaching, I love enabling
people, empowering them.
And while there is room forthat, as a manager, oftentimes
(05:33):
you can find yourself prettybogged down and like the
day-to-day.
And that was just not how Iwanted to spend my time.
And so that was one of mymotivating factors was this next
natural step was not exactlywhat I wanted to do.
So then I was like, all right,gotta find something else.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Um, one of the things that I was doing in a customer
success enablement was helpingpeople create their career
paths.
Whether that meant, Hey, I wannamove into strategic customer
success.
Like what are the things that Ineed to start doing to prove
that I can move up into thatrole?
Or, Hey, I've been in customersuccess for five years, I love
(06:15):
it, but I think I wanna trymarketing.
And so I would help themdevelop, all right, what are the
skills we need to work on?
What are the things that youneed to gain experience in in
order for you to move into thisnew role that is going to give
you more satisfaction?
And the more that I did that,the more that I fell in love
with it.
(06:36):
And I was also doing a bit ofdesigning interview processes
for companies.
And at one point it just kind ofhit me like, I'm sitting on the
wrong side of the table.
I wanna be helping job seekersnot necessarily helping
companies develop theirinterview processes.
And so it felt like a reallynatural next step for me.
(06:59):
I am able to leverage all of myexperience in customer success.
So it's not as if that time hasgone to waste and now I get to
work on the things that I reallylove, which is empowering
people, helping them grow theircareers and it's, it's more
meaningful and feels moreimpactful than what I was doing
(07:20):
in my CS role.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, and that makes complete sense and I love how
you were so mindful and so wellthought out in what you wanted
to be doing next and reallytaking the step back, reflecting
on what it is, is it you're goodat which, like you said, you
really enjoy the empowering sideof people, but you needed to
look at what is it that youwanted to spend the majority of
your time doing, which is socritical when we look at a new
(07:44):
role.
And I think that that'ssomething we're gonna talk about
in more depth when we get intoour topic today.
But before we do that, you'resuch a online presence.
I know that on LinkedIn andacross the board of CS
communities, you're so activeand you're sharing and you're
always trying to help jobseekers.
What is it that motivates you todo what you do?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, that is such a good question.
And honestly the answer is itwhat has motivated me has really
evolved over time.
So when I started sharing myobservations and my thoughts and
maybe a little bit of advice, itwas really just motivated by, I
don't really see anyone elsesharing these specific
(08:28):
observations.
And so, you know, let me put mythoughts out there and just see
if it resonates.
Maybe it will help people, maybeit won't, but I, I'll never know
unless I try and I put it outthere.
So that's where it reallystarted.
And then it started to morphinto more of education, more
(08:49):
specific advice giving that wasmotivated by, I remember the day
that I got my strategic C S Mtitle and I went to LinkedIn and
I was like, surely someone outthere is teaching people how to
be a quote unquote strategic C Sm.
And to be honest, I was reallyfrustrated because there's a lot
(09:11):
of advice on the internet, butit all felt very fluffy to me.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's a lot of theory rather than practical takeaway
tips, things that you can applyto your day-to-day, like you're
saying
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes.
And I found myself often askinglike, okay, so you're telling me
that I should be this way, butwhat are the behaviors?
Like, what are my next steps?
And so I felt like there was,there was something missing in
the community in that veryspecific like action packed
education.
(09:45):
So it's really morphed overtime.
And then I'll say what motivatesme to keep going now is just the
messages that I get from people.
You know, if someone says, yourpost really resonated with me,
or I used something you said inyour post in a customer call
today, and I felt so much moreconfident, or something you said
(10:05):
about prepping for interviewsreally resonated with me.
And I think that's how I landedmy job.
It's messages like that thathave made me really think about
quote unquote content creationin a new way.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, I love that.
And you do share so manytactical tips, takeaways for the
job seeker, and that's reallywhat we wanna focus on in
today's topic, on today'spodcast.
I think there's a lot of peoplewho are listening to this
podcast today that have beenimpacted by what's happening in
the tech world right now.
And you do such a great job ofempowering your clients, but
(10:40):
obviously we wanna share thatwealth of knowledge with the
podcast as well.
And the world economics makes itreally difficult right now and
tricky.
Um, there have been a lot ofhighs in customer success
hiring, but I'd say that at themoment when we're recording this
in April, it's uh, it's, there'sbeen some lows when it comes to
the job market and layoffs andwhat people are thinking of
doing next in their career.
(11:01):
What are your thoughts on what'shappening right now in the tech
CS world with mass layoffs, withuncertainty and banking and
investments?
What are your initial thoughtsaround everything happening
right now?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean, my knee jerk reaction to it, whenever
someone asks me how I feel aboutit is point blank.
It sucks.
It's, it's kind of a weird timethat we're living in right now
and there is a lot ofuncertainty and uncertainty can
cause a lot of stress.
So it sucks, it's unavoidable.
(11:35):
But what I would say for anyonewho has been affected, and I
know that we're gonna get intosome really tactical things that
you can be doing, but one thingthat I will share that I think a
lot of people need to hear orhaven't yet heard is, is it's
really important that if you areaffected by a layoff, that you
(11:57):
don't let that mean anythingabout you.
So try to look at it through thelens of, okay, business is
business, right?
At the end of the day, businesscomes down to numbers.
Sometimes really hard decisionsneed to be made, but it doesn't
reflect personally on me as a CS M or as a professional.
(12:22):
The other thing that I'll say isit can be really helpful to
shift your mindset from, oh mygosh, I've been laid off.
I can't believe this ishappening to me.
And instead try to think of itfrom the lens of, okay, this
happened.
Maybe this is happening for me.
Maybe there's some biggergreater reason why this has
(12:44):
happened.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I love that Carly, both things just resonate with
me so much and I really hopethat everyone listening also
hears out what you have to say.
But it's really hard when you'rein the moment.
Always life is really hard whenyou're going through something
in the moment.
But when you reflect back on it,when whenever you find your next
role for those who are impactedthat are listening, you'll look
back at this time and realize Ilearned something about myself
(13:08):
during this time.
Or I was able to take the nextstep in my career because of
what's happened.
And as someone who has beenaffected by layoffs in my
career, it's something thathappens like it, it is a moment
and it sucks.
Like you said, it fully sucks,but know that it has nothing to
do with you and you will comeout better in some way, shape or
form.
It might not seem like it inthis exact moment of when it's
(13:31):
happening, but one thing willhappen that'll lead to a better
next step in your career andyour life.
So thank you for for sharingthat.
Um, that being said, there arelots of people that are starting
to maybe get laid off or noticeany red flags within their
organization, things that mightbe leading to future layoffs.
Many people are worried thatthey might be next, especially
(13:52):
cuz there's just so manyhappening.
It's like every week there'ssomeone else announcing that you
know, hundreds if not thousandsof jobs are being cut.
Um, is there anything that youcan share to ease our listener's
mind if they think that they'repossibly next or maybe get them
more prepared or look out forthese red flags?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, so I'll answer what red flags to look out for
first.
I think people know the obviousred flags to look out for.
Like if your company has frozenhiring, that can often be a red
flag that there could be layoffscoming.
Hmm, A red flag that I think Idon't hear as often but I think
(14:30):
is really important to keep inmind is if leadership at your
company is not addressing thelayoffs.
So if they're not proactivelycoming out and saying, Hey, we
know that this is happening inthe market, here's where we're
at or here's how we're thinkingabout things, that to me would
be a huge red flag in, in timeslike this.
(14:52):
If leadership is not beingtransparent, then I would be
worried.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah.
And as, as a leader that alwaysloves to be transparent with my
team, if your leader is unableto answer questions or avoids
answering questions or delaysgiving you an answer to what's
happening with our currentcustomer base, our market, our
sales cycle, you know ourbusiness metrics in general, if
no one can be transparent, thenI would say that's like you
(15:19):
said, a big red flag of youknow, if they're not sharing
something, they're hidingsomething and that's never a
good thing.
So thank you for sharing thatand I hope that no one is going
through it right now, butsomething to look out for.
If you have been impactedthough, if you are, you know,
currently on the job markettoday and your role was
previously eliminate eliminated,what's kind of the first thing
(15:40):
that you would recommend someonedoes when they're first been
told they've been laid off andtheir role is eliminated?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, so if you're afforded the luxury of time,
meaning your access to all ofyour tools is not cut off
immediately, I would say thevery first thing you should do,
and this is also a really goodstep to take if you're even
slightly worried about animpending layoff, is collect as
(16:07):
much data as you possibly can.
You should definitely be carefulabout what data you are
collecting cause you don't wannaget in a situation where you're
potentially taking data that youshouldn't have.
But the data that you should betrying to gather is any data
that will allow you to calculateyour performance against KPIs.
(16:29):
So you don't necessarily need todo all those calculations right
away, but definitely make sureyou have your book of business,
the a r R of your accountsrenewal dates, um, any expansion
that you've achieved, N P scustomer satisfaction scores and
(16:50):
product adoption data.
And if you can grab that dataover a longer period of time, I
would say that's always better.
If we have two years of data tolook at, then we can look at
your performance over time andpotentially calculate
improvements in KPIs, which isalways great for resume or in
(17:11):
your interviews.
One step would be gathering thedata that you need to calculate
KPIs.
There are two other types ofdata that I think people often
forget.
One is going to be yourperformance reviews.
So any past performance reviewsthat you can download, I would
do that immediately.
(17:33):
Every time you have aperformance review you're
putting in all that hard work toreally self-reflect on the past
quarter or past six months.
You're writing lots of stories,lots of anecdotes of things that
you've done, you're probablygonna forget those things.
So if it's written downsomewhere, go grab it so that
you don't have to rethink aboutall of the stuff that you've
(17:54):
done.
And then another thing I wouldsay is spend a little bit of
time in Slack and in your emailand what you wanna look for is
just like tough situations thatyou were in with clients and how
you remediated those situations.
Any like internal projects thatyou've worked on, big client
(18:16):
projects that you've worked onjust by browsing your old emails
and your old Slack messages,you're gonna spark some memories
and that's gonna be very helpfulwhen you sit down to prep for an
interview or sit down to updateyour resume.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I completely agree on all the metrics and
data.
All that's critical.
If you think about it on aresume or cv, you're trying to
highlight your best numbers,whether you're the top
performer, whether you had themost upsells, renewal numbers,
highest book of business,highest csat, whatever all that
is all that's gonna translatelater.
But like you said, it's soimportant in that moment to grab
(18:54):
the data you need that reflectsthe best on your performance
that you did have at thatcompany.
So that's super important.
One other thing I would add,which I know can be hard in the
moment because when you'regetting the news you're probably
either emotional or it's reallyhard to like really process
everything that's happening butalso be okay with asking your
manager or anyone at thatbusiness for future referrals.
(19:18):
I think that that's something wedon't really think about because
we're so emotional in the momentof hey, I'm being laid off, what
the heck's gonna happen next inmy life and my next paycheck, et
cetera.
But you have to also think thatthe people that are speaking to
you know you're working withtoday can potentially be your
reference checks for futurejobs.
And it's always good to leave inthat high note of I appreciate
(19:42):
all the opportunity that it'sgiven to me at the same time,
would you be able to write me areference for future employment
is super critical, I think issomething to think about when
you're finding out your role isbeing eliminated.
Um, but thank you for sharingthose.
I think that's so important tohave those, those metrics.
The job market isn't easy as wealready discussed.
It's a very tough market outthere.
(20:02):
There's hundreds if notthousands of people applying for
jobs today.
What are some of your top tipsfor people who are actively on
the job market today?
Especially because there's justso much more talent looking for
jobs right now.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, so I'll start really broad and what I'll say
is today's job market is tough.
There's no getting around that.
We can't sugarcoat that.
However, it's not impossible toget a job, it just requires a
different strategy.
(20:34):
So what I mean by that, I'll geta little bit more specific in
the customer success job markettwo years ago.
So just post covid when everycompany was hiring like crazy,
you could just submit yourresume and probably hit easy
apply on LinkedIn and youprobably also had recruiters
reaching out to you all dayevery day.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Those are the great days when literally finding
another job was as easy as likejust thinking about it
Speaker 2 (21:03):
All days.
So that's not the reality thatwe're in right now.
Job seeking right now requiressomething different of you.
So it's not as easy as justsubmitting your resume.
It's not as easy as updatingyour LinkedIn profile and
waiting for recruiters to reachout to you.
If you are relying on thosetactics that work in a really
(21:28):
positive market, you're notgonna get very far in today's
market.
So one thing that I'll sayspecifically is relying on your
resume, even if you are a veryexperienced C S M and you have
the best resume ever is not agood tactic because there are so
(21:48):
many people applying to jobs,it's, you're essentially relying
on hope and luck if you're justrelying on a piece of paper to
get your foot in the door.
And so what today's marketreally requires a view if you
want to get consistentinterviews is you've got to be
networking and that meansrelying on people that you
(22:12):
personally know in your personalnetwork.
But also you gotta rip thebandaid, you gotta start
reaching out to strangers.
It's gonna be uncomfortable butthe more you do it, the easier
it's gonna
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Become.
I love that you just said thatsecond part, especially about
the networking and networkingwith strangers.
I think a lot of people getintimidated by, you know, oh my
gosh this person has 5,000connections.
How do I even send a message tothem that's meaningful and
impactful that they're actuallygoing to reply?
You'll never know unless youask.
(22:44):
That's my big thing.
What's the worst that's gonnahappen?
You get no reply, we'll you'llget no reply without doing
anything as well.
So you might as well shoot yourshot and go and ask the
question, whether it's a hiringmanager, a recruiter, someone
random that's working in thesame field that you have a
question about, just ask thequestion you'll never know.
So I totally appreciate thatyou're saying to reach out to
(23:06):
networks that aren't there yet.
How would you say people buildon their current network?
I think that's a, another bigthing that people have to focus
on is just networking ingeneral.
How do you build up yournetwork?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, for me it's all about having conversations with
people.
I think one of the things thatpeople struggle with most about
networking as a job seeker isthey have this mindset that, oh
my gosh, if I start reaching outto strangers, they're gonna know
why I'm reaching out.
They're gonna know that I, I'mjust looking for a job.
(23:39):
And to that I say, so what?
That's true at the end of theday.
Right.
Another really helpful way tothink about it is if the roles
were reversed.
So if you had not been laid offand another C S M who you had
never interacted with in yourlife reached out to you on
(24:00):
LinkedIn looking for help, wouldyou think poorly of them?
Would you think it was sleazy orweird?
Or awkward that they werereaching out to you?
Probably not, right?
You'd probably say, oh I've gotsome free time, I'm happy to
help.
So just that shift in mindset inin reversing the roles can be
really helpful When it comes tobuilding your network, a couple
(24:23):
mistakes that I see people makeis only going after like the
quote unquote influencers in theCS community.
That's a bad strategy becausethose are gonna be the people
that everyone else is flockingto first just because they have
a presence.
And just statistically speaking,if those people have more people
(24:47):
reaching out to them, thelikelihood of them being able to
respond to you or really giveyou their time is much lower.
So don't think that you can onlynetwork with someone who has
this loud ever present presenceon LinkedIn.
You can network with someone whohas 300 connections and hasn't
posted on LinkedIn ever.
(25:09):
Mm
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Definitely a hundred percent.
And those are the type of peoplethat have maybe more time but
also are more relatable.
They're probably in a similarrole to yourself and they
probably have been in a similarsituation to yourself and
they're willing to, again likeyou said, reach out with the
helping hand to help becausethey can be relatable to you
rather than just a blanket emailstatement to like you said, the
(25:32):
everyone that's present onLinkedIn that might not get your
response for days, weeks ormonths depending on how busy
everyone is.
Um, the other thing I did likethat you said was around the
fear part of LinkedIn andnetworking and I think everyone
forgets that LinkedIn is aprofessional network.
I think the two reasons whyLinkedIn even exists is to sell
(25:52):
a product, a professionalbusiness product or to reach out
and network with other peoplethat you do not know.
So I really hope if you'relistening to this, take the fear
out of networking on LinkedInbecause the whole point of it,
of the entire social experienceof LinkedIn is to network is to
reach out to people you do notknow.
(26:13):
So I hope that, I hope thatalleviates some spheres and
stress from people when they aresending those messages.
Cuz I know that that can be inthe back of your mind,
especially when you're like, ohI have no connection with this
person or I have no idea whothis person is
Speaker 2 (26:25):
For sure.
I always tell people if someonehas a LinkedIn profile, you
should assume that they are atleast open to the idea of
networking with a stranger.
Because like you said, that'swhat LinkedIn quite literally
was built for.
And if by chance they're notopen to networking with a
(26:47):
stranger, then that's on them.
That's not a reflection of you.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Exactly.
Awesome.
Let's talk a little bit aboutinterviewing right now in this
market.
You already said let's not relyon our, you know, resume or cv.
That's not the best way to get ajob but like how do you get
noticed There are 400 plusapplicants for each role
Nowadays when I'm seeing onLinkedIn I'm like wow that's
just a massive number that ahiring manager or recruiter is
(27:13):
looking through.
If I was applying to a C S Mrole today, how would I get
noticed with 400 otherapplicants that have applied as
well?
Yes,
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I love this question.
So one of my favorite tacticsfor standing out in a crowded
market is a video introduction.
I do have a free training whereI talk really specifically about
what you should say in thatvideo introduction.
But essentially what it is, isit's a reactive form of
(27:44):
networking.
So by reactive I mean it oftenhappens after you apply to a
job.
So the steps are you apply to ajob, then on LinkedIn you go and
find someone who is likely thehiring manager or at least a
decision maker in the hiringprocess.
And you're gonna send them avery carefully scripted video
(28:07):
introduction where it'sdefinitely under two minutes you
are giving a quick introductionto yourself, maybe talk a little
bit about your background, whyyou're excited about their
company, the role that you'reapplying for.
And then you wanna make surethat you highlight something
about your experience thattranslates to the job
(28:30):
description.
So if all over the jobdescription they talk about
expansion, driving expansion inyour book of business, that
clearly is something that theycare a lot about.
And so in your videointroduction you wanna give them
a quick like hey here's how I'vedriven expansion before.
Maybe you give some veryspecific numbers your
(28:53):
achievement and expansion andthen you just let them know like
I already applied to the rolebut I just wanted to send this
video to highlight why I'm agreat fit for the role.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I've had a few videos come in when I have been
actively hiring and there's lotsof people who will just message
on the actual post or send me anInMail, which is great, I will
sift through all of that.
But I've had people who havedone a video and then followed
up with another video when Ilike I've had people who have
interacted in that way and it'sjust so much more personable and
(29:26):
it just shows that you, youwanna be in front of me, you're
taking that, it's almost likethe idea or the concept of
walking your resume insomewhere.
Like you know you haveface-to-face time and I think
today's world where we all workremotely or digitally, a video
introduction can be just that.
And you know what I've alsonoticed is a lot of companies
have made that part of where youcan upload your resume but
(29:49):
there's like upload cover letteror video that's actually
becoming something in the hiringprocess as well.
It's not mandatory but I thinkit, it really makes someone
stick out, which I love seeingthat that's, that's the new way
of I guess introducing yourself.
I wanna ask another questionabout resumes translating into
interview tips as well cuz incustomer success a lot of us
(30:11):
come from different places andand different backgrounds.
But how do you highlight in theinterview what's important?
Like how do you make sure you'recoming in to highlight the right
skills because you get 30minutes, maybe 45 in your first
call.
How do you ensure that you arethe that perfect candidate of
the 400 others that that alsomight be getting that first
(30:32):
interview?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, so my favorite way to think about getting ready
for an interview is reallyrelying on the job description.
So there are really only twotypes of questions that you can
get in an interview.
There are gonna be questionsabout your past.
Those are gonna be the questionslike how have you done this
(30:55):
before?
Or can you give me an example ofa time when you did X, Y, Z?
So that's questions about yourpast.
You may also get questions aboutyour future.
Those are gonna be questionsthat sound like how, how do you
think about driving adoption orwhat's your process for
(31:16):
prioritizing your book ofbusiness?
So it's asking you for yourperspective or your approach to
things.
So now understanding thatthere's only questions I can get
about my past and PE questions Ican get about my future.
You then dissect the jobdescription, what are, pull out
the key responsibilities, thekey tasks that they are putting
(31:40):
out there.
And then before the interviewprepare for each responsibility
or each task in the jobdescription.
What's an example of a timewhere I've done this before and
how do I explain my generalapproach to this thing?
And if you've got your exampleand your perspective for
(32:03):
everything listed in the jobdescription, to me that is the
most effective way to get readyfor an interview.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Amazing, I love that.
And then what about the industryas well?
Cause I think a lot of peopleare looking at different
industries of breaking into,let's say someone was in ed tech
before and maybe they're lookingat FinTech now or they're
shifting industry, but that'salso a hard shift as well,
especially with the number ofapplicants that are out there
and the number of people thathave exact relevant industry
(32:33):
experience.
What are your tips to someonewho's shifting industry?
Because let's say they worked,worked in one industry but that
industry isn't doing so wellright now and they wanna, let's
say shift to FinTech.
How do they take those skillsand prepare for that type of
interview in order to ace thatkind of interview?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, so I'll say three things.
One, you wanna come prepared tothe interview with some
perspective on what's happeningin that industry.
What is everyone talking about?
What are the key trends?
The big challenges, just likeyou would if you got a new
customer assigned to you andthey are in an industry that
(33:12):
you're unfamiliar with, you gothrough the same motion, try to
understand what's happening inthat industry, what are, what's
everyone talking about.
The second thing I would say isreally try to build an
understanding of the keypersonas that you would be
working with.
So if you're moving from EdTechto FinTech, you're no longer
(33:34):
working with educators andadmins, now you're gonna be
working with CFOs likely.
So try to understand how dothese people speak, what do they
care about?
What do I need to know aboutthese people in order to relate
to them?
And that could be a really goodway for you to network or good
(33:56):
excuse for you to network.
Go reach out to a couple peoplewho work in FinTech or who work
in finance for differentcompanies and just try to get to
know like what's your day-to-daylike, what are you working on?
How has this market impactedyou?
And then the third thing I wouldsay is never shy away from
sharing personal stories thatindicate your interest or your
(34:22):
knowledge of an industry.
So I can give a really specificexample of this.
I was working with someone whonever worked in finance but
during Covid he created a wholeYouTube series on personal
finance.
It was just like a passion ofhis and he was like I really
(34:43):
wanna do this, but he wasn'ttalking about it in interviews
and I was like, you have tohighlight like the fact that you
took the time to learn enoughabout it to where you could then
go educate someone else on it.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Yeah, definitely that
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That's gonna mean a lot, especially
Speaker 1 (35:02):
There's so much initiative right there.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Exactly.
Especially if you're competingagainst someone else who does
not have industry expertise.
Just the fact that you createdthat little YouTube series that
gives you a legs a leg up thatis gonna make you stand out.
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I completely agree.
Any little bit that you've doneoutside of the nine to five as
well helps.
I know that a lot of peoplelisten to this podcast and when
I do interviews as well,everyone's like, oh yeah, I've
listened to the podcast andthat's something that I do
outside of my day-to-day, butit's something that I can
highlight in my experience.
So if there's anything out therethat you are doing that's
(35:37):
outside of but still relevant inyour search, whether like you
said in the finance sector or ifit's you're doing video series
on on CS or being a C S M, anyof that can always translate
into a great topic to talk aboutin an interview.
And I, I don't think anyoneshould shy away from it as well.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
You could also look at it in the reverse.
So if you're not sure whatindustry you should be looking
into, start to look outside ofyour work life and look into
your personal life.
So if you own a bunch ofproperties and you rent them out
on Airbnb, perhaps real estatetech is an industry that you
(36:20):
could get into.
So there, there's so manyoptions and you just have to,
you have to really like thinkabout, all right, what am I
involved in?
What do I have some knowledgein?
And that could be the, the nextbest fit for you.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Another thing that I've noticed, which is sad to
see is people have been laid offnot once but twice in the last
year.
I've seen this come up and it'sa very sad story to see that
some people you know started anew job, got laid off mid last
year and then they're now backin the same boat six months
later.
(36:52):
That means that there's twoshorter timeframes that they've
been at a company.
How would you best tell yourclients to explain, let's say
shorter time spent at anorganization?
What's the best story or thebest way to explain that when
someone asks, Hey why were youonly at this company for six
months or a year or whatever theshorter amount was?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yeah, so what I'll say first is because of the
impact of covid and then thissecond big round of layoffs,
recruiters and hiring managersare definitely more open to
candidates who have had shorterstints at companies.
It's not like it was 10 yearsago where if you didn't stay at
(37:34):
a company for five years, it waslike put under a microscope and
they wanted to know every reasonwhy you didn't stay there.
It's, it's totally not the same.
So it's not as uncommon forpeople to have shorter stints at
companies.
But when it comes to talkingabout it, I would say two
things.
Be honest, being laid off againdoes not mean anything about you
(38:00):
personally.
It's a business decision and Iwould also always try to talk
about it in an optimistic way.
So try to highlight the thingsthat you learned or the
opportunities that you tookadvantage of or some good things
that happened as a result of thelayoff.
(38:23):
Because what that's gonna tell apotential hiring manager or
recruiter is you can adapt yourflexible, you can learn, you can
make the most of a bad situationand those are all really good
qualities for a CSM to have
Speaker 1 (38:37):
For sure.
And like you just said, ifsomeone is under the microscope
examining shorter time spent ata company and they're really
giving you guff or a hard time,remember that you're
interviewing that company aswell.
It's a two-way conversation andif they are so caught up on why
you were laid off twice becauseof what's happening in the
world, that might not be theexact place you wanna be
(39:00):
spending your time as well.
So just a reminder that I knowit's a tough market out there
and it's mostly companies thatare getting their pick and
choose of the candidates, but doremember that it is also your
right and your option tounderstand that this is a
two-way interview and you needto be looking if they're giving
you grief about a shorter timeat an organization that might
(39:21):
not be where where you wanna bespending your next one to five
years.
That being said, one otherquestion I have is around
finding the right next companyor the right next customer
success organization.
What are your tips for jobseekers or the clients that you
work with on figuring out thepotential good fit and a good
(39:44):
customer success org?
Cause I know that that's areally top thing people are
looking at today.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, so when it comes to finding your next
company, it is so personal,what's gonna be the best fit for
you is not gonna be the best fitfor someone else.
So there is no blanketed answerto what you should be looking
for.
But what can be a reallypowerful exercise is set aside
(40:15):
30 minutes or an hour and sitdown and just write everything
that you loved about your priorrole and everything that you did
not love about your prior role.
And that could be everythingfrom your, your past manager's
leadership style.
Maybe you really didn't love theway that you were managed.
(40:38):
Uh, maybe your company had areally, really awesome
onboarding for CSMs and that wassomething that you really
valued.
Write down all of those thingslove did not love.
Then what you're gonna do whenyou start interviewing with new
companies is turn that list intovery, very specific questions
(41:00):
that you are going to askthroughout your interviews.
So for example, if one of thethings that you wrote down was,
I did not love my manager'sleadership style.
I felt like I was constantlyunder a microscope.
Maybe I felt a little bitmicromanaged.
(41:21):
A question that I'm gonna ask inmy next interview is gonna be
very specific to how do youthink about being a leader in a
remote setting?
How do you balance micromanagingwhile also giving your team
freedom?
Ask really pointed and directquestions to try to uncover,
(41:44):
okay, is this person likelygoing to micromanage me or is
this someone who's gonna give mea little bit more freedom?
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Definitely.
I love that.
And again, remember it's atwo-way conversation.
You definitely have to have yourlist of things you want in a
company as much as a companywants a list of things that they
want for the candidate, we couldkeep going.
Carly, I know there's so manymore questions I can keep asking
you, but I do know that youspeak to lots of people in the
industry, but also you have alot of clients that have been
(42:13):
getting laid off and it'shappening and what are kind of
the biggest learnings thatyou're taking away from, from
these layoffs?
Or what would you do if ithappened again?
What are some of the tips thatyou can give our listeners?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Again, I said this earlier, but the biggest
learning is what used to worktwo years ago, three years ago
in order to get a job is notwhat's going to work today.
So you really need to thinkabout am have I adapted my
strategy to today's market?
Am I doing things differently?
(42:48):
Am I going out of my way to tryto stand out or am I still just
kind of falling on old tacticsthat used to work?
Like just sending my resumethrough easy apply Because the
longer you try to rely on thoseold tactics that used to work,
the longer you're just gonna belike banging your head against a
(43:08):
wall.
Like why is nothing happening?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
So true.
So, so true.
And I absolutely love that youshared so many tactical tips for
us today and I think that that'sgonna be so important to anyone
that's looking for a job.
As we wrap up this podcast, Ialways like to end with our
quick fire questions where I'mgonna challenge you to try to
answer these next questions in asentence or less.
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
I am so ready.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Okay, amazing.
The first question I have is,what do you think is next for
the customer success industry?
Speaker 2 (43:38):
I think what's next for the customer success
industry is a largerconversation about customer
success managers owningcommercial responsibility.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yep.
Completely agree.
I think that if you're notdriving revenue for the
business, it's hard to justifywhere the value of A C S M lies
in the end of the day, which issuper important these days
especially.
The next question I have is,what is your favorite app that
you cannot live without on yourphone or your laptop?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Ooh.
Okay.
So an app that I use everysingle day and I make my whole
team use it is called Fathom andit's a meeting recorder with ai.
It's so easy to use and amazingand I
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Love them.
Amazing.
I haven't heard of it so I'llhave to look it up after we
record.
The next question is, which SaaSproduct can you not live without
as a customer successprofessional?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Ooh, okay.
I'm gonna give you a category ofproducts.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I'm going to say product analytics or just any
data analytics.
I think I've been in roles whereI had access to a lot of product
usage data from my customers androles where I did not, I felt so
much more empowered when I knewexactly how my customers were
(44:56):
using our product and what theywere using it for.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Totally valid and very important to know how your
customer is actually using yourproduct.
So great answer.
Next question is, what sort ofcompensation should a customer
success manager get?
Should it be a base salary onlyor a base salary with a
commission variable
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Part?
Oh, I totally think it should bebase and commission.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Agreed.
And I think most people are, butsometimes I love hearing the
controversial answer
Um, and then the final questionI have for you today is, what is
your favorite part of customersuccess or being a C S M?
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Ooh, this is really, really easy for me.
So my favorite part of customersuccess is the opportunity to be
involved in every single aspectof a SaaS business.
So as a CSM you have so muchfreedom to get involved with
marketing, with sales, withproduct, with professional
(45:52):
services.
So if you're not sure what yournext five years plan looks like,
customer success is a greatplace to be cuz you can kind of
like dip your toe into all thosepools.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
I love it and I totally agree.
I think as a C S M, if you'renot speaking to all those
departments at least once aweek, I don't know what's what's
happening cuz I feel like youhave to be cross-functional in
customer success.
Yeah.
But Carly, thank you so much.
All your insights tactic tipswere amazing.
We can find you on LinkedIn.
I already know that I've alreadyshared that, but where else can
(46:24):
we find you or find more of yourinformation and and everything
that you're sharing?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (46:29):
So LinkedIn is definitely the place to go.
That's where I'm always sharingtips and announcements of things
like that.
But I also do have a website.
It's just carly agar.com and Ihave a bunch of free trainings
on there.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Amazing.
And you have something comingup, right?
A new training?
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yes.
At the time that this ispublished, the free training
should be coming up in just acouple weeks.
So I'm doing a three part freetraining for folks who are
looking to land a customersuccess job in 2023, and that'll
be taking place in the first twoweeks of May.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Amazing.
Thank you so much Carly.
We'll be sure to list all yourinformation in the show notes,
but thank you again for sharingyour time and your wisdom with
us.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yes, thank you so much for having me.
This was so much fun.
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Thank you for listening to the Customer
Success Channel podcast today.
We hope you learned somethingnew to take back to your team
and your company.
If you found value in ourpodcast, please make sure to
give us a positive review andmake sure, sure you subscribe to
our channel as we release newpodcasts every month.
Also, if you have any topicsthat you would like me to
discuss in the future or youwould like to be a guest on the
(47:39):
podcast, please feel free toreach out.
All my contact details are inthis show notes.
Thanks again for listening andtune in next time for more on
customer success.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com