An Interview with Katrina Cawsey

“There are a lot of companies out there that won’t do that for you,” she explains, “Without any question, Lucy [Beck, CEO] just gave me that time, let me heal and let me get better so that when I came back in January, it was all guns blazing“.

The Present

All healed up and ready to go, Katrina flourished here at A2Z in the Customer Success department. In her own words, Customer Success takes over “if we’ve built a system, or a Zoho product hasn’t worked for a customer, they come to us and we try to resolve their problems, as best we can, as efficiently as we can“.

“I enjoy it because it is an option to learn,” she says, “you can learn specific things quite easily, because there’s a specific problem to solve, but in doing that, you learn a wider subject matter as you go”. This broader knowledge has enabled her to gain a wider understanding of Zoho products and services, even in her short time here.

This is the difference between Customer Support and Customer Success.

• A customer support team can respond to issues, but a customer success team has those skills alongside a broader knowledge of the products that your business utilises.
• Customer Success is here for you on a long-term basis and can help you beyond bug fixes. The team can help you understand how to optimise your use of your Zoho products, long after we integrated your new system.

If you want to take a little pressure off the Customer Success team, what can you do to help?

Well, according to Katrina, the most common problems they encounter revolve around the integrations between Zoho products. Fortunately, there is a simple way to find an answer: Googling things. “I know that sounds really silly,” she explained, “but research your problem before you think you have a problem, because Zoho has so much information online”.

“Sometimes you’ve just missed a button that is very clear if you’ve read about it. I think that a lot of customers, as soon as they realise that go, “oh” and it’s never a problem again, but it’s just learning that. I think that’s a very easy thing for customers to help us resolve with them and help them solve themselves“.

Teamwork

Katrina, humble as ever, attributes her success to the A2Z Cloud team. “The [A2Z Development Team] are very useful because their knowledge exceeds mine, currently. They answer the questions in a way that teaches, rather than, `I already know this and you should know it too`. […] I think from that I’ve learned a lot quite quickly, but there’s just so much to learn, I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

In her opinion, the team spirit is the best thing about working here at A2Z Cloud. “Everyone does look out for everyone here. Everyone is really helpful, if you’ve got a problem you can ask anyone and as long as they’ve got the time they will help.[…] If they don’t have the time they can point you in the direction of someone who does“.

“I’ve worked for companies before where it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are; you are nothing,” she told us, “I don’t get that impression here at all“.

The Promotion

Despite the rocky start, Katrina has prospered here at A2Z Cloud. She has swiftly been promoted to a leading role within the Customer Success department. “Being so new to the company, I’m quite proud of myself,” Katrina told us, “I’ve worked really hard in the last few months to prove myself. I felt like I owed it to Lucy, as well, to do well after all the help she gave me, and I want Customer Success to work the same as the company does“.

“I don’t want anyone else to fail here, because what’s the point of doing your job if you do?” she says, “So, now we have Jamie [Hogg, Support Agent], who has come in, and I am now having to put everything I’ve learned into teaching him“.

In this way, training up the next generation of Customer Success is the most important task for Katrina right now. “I would love to get the Customer Success side of things to a point where it’s up and running“, she said, “so there’s a good team involved in it and everyone is on the same level of `Knows-Where-They’re-At`“.

The Future

From there, Katrina has broader ambitions. “I would like to take my skills and take it further to a more broader business side of things,” she explained, “working with clients themselves to find out what we can do as a company to better them. Using the same skills that I’ve learned to better our clients in support, but leaving a support system with Customer Success that can run at the same rate we are now, if not better and more efficient“.

Undoubtedly, with all her successes so far, we can expect to see more of Katrina in the future. If you want to hear more about Customer Services, Katrina wrote a deep dive into the department for us.