Customer Support Leaders

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 24 Doug and I talked quite some time ago about “All-Hands Support”, which becomes a mini fireside episode today. We talk about the type of industries where this is an appropriate paradigm, and when and how it might be useful. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 23 Josh brings a really interesting topic to the fireside today: specialisms in Customer Support and Service. We talk about everything from expertise to trusted advice. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 22 Jim Israel talks about the dangers of developing a culture of heroism in our teams, despite being the type of folks who always want to help. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 21 Vlad Shlosberg is building a business that enables organisations to better connect with their customers. As a creator of a support/success tool like Foqal.io , how does he connect with his own customers? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 20 Lauren Fearn comes to chat about creating growth opportunities and pathways in Support, so that you can continue to challenge, develop, and ultimately retain your staff. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 19 Hannah Steiman, from Peak Support , joins me today, to talk about how we even begin to consider finding the right outsourcing partner in support, and how we overcome the fear of what might be a strange new world for many fast-growing teams out there. Hannah Steiman is Chief Operating Officer of Peak Support, which provides exceptional customer service outsour...

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 18 Sharad Khandelwal, co-founder and CEO of Sentisum , joins the podcast today, to talk about accessing valuable insights in all those communications support teams have with their customers. Can AI ultimately solve this by doing the heavy lifting? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Specials: Fireside 17 Ethan explains how we can apply a scientific approach - semiotic theory - when trying to understand our customers context, and therefore meet them where they are. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 67 Topic: Managing Change Lauren joins me for two milestones: the 200th episode of the podcast, and my birthday! It’s always an interesting chat with Lauren, and her academic background in human genetics and social behaviours.  Here, she brings her expertise to bear in helping us manage change. Always hard, Lauren brings advice on making it easier. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 67 Topic: Managing Change Josh talks about thee easy bits and the challenges in dealing with any change, and how sometimes, the key is in a team that trusts and supports each other. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 67 Topic: Managing Change Adela Bodor joins me for the first time, and from a space I’ve never ventured into beyond the building site: cement! Her organisation has undergone significant transformation over the last few years, and here she talks to me about the changing shape of support and different demands placed on her team.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 67 Topic: Managing Change Natalie and I are both of the similar mindset that sometimes you just have to ‘do’ the change, rather than get caught up in it too much, and thereby risk being stuck. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 67 Topic: Managing Change Lauren, a previous panelist, returns to the podcast for our first one-to-one chat, where we pick up our conversation on managing change. Lauren believes that providing training on this difficult aspect of leadership shouldn’t be a single course or workshop.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 66 Topic: The Perfect Support Email Leslie O’Flahavan is a get-to-the point writer and an experienced, versatile writing instructor. E-WRITE owner since 1996, Leslie has been writing content and teaching customised writing courses for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organisations. Leslie helps the most stubborn, inexperienced, or word-phobic employe...

Send us Fan Mail Week 66 Topic: The Perfect Support Email Craig and I wonder whether the perfect email exists, or whether we are just at the whim of the mood of the recipient. How close to ‘perfect’ can we get without knowing the customer context? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 66 Topic: The Perfect Support Email Nick Zeisler believes we should take on the stress of our customers, in all our communications. Everything is recovery, down to the micro communications that are happening every day in Support. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 66 Topic: The Perfect Support Email Stacy believes that the key to the Perfect Support Email is the ‘hook’ that engenders the trust of the customer. It’s about understanding the customer and building their belief that you can solve their problem. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 66 Topic: The Perfect Support Email Ethan Walfish is a former panelist (take a listen to our discussion on Support Leadership 2.0 back in episode 105 ), and joins me today to discuss that most convenient and most misused communication - email! How do we approach getting this ‘just right’. Ethan believes there are 6 distinct elements to the perfect email, and takes me through...

Send us Fan Mail Week 65 Topic: Support in the Business Josh and I settle on the idea that a Support team that generates revenue is effectively another product, and deserves similar investment and approach. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 65 Topic: Support in the Business Craig returns to reinforce the idea that "Customer Experience is a mindset, not a department".  We talk about how Support relates to all parts of the business with that in mind. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 65 Topic: Support in the Business Natalie leads a team that has been everywhere in the business! Here, we talk about the relative merits of each placement, but also the advantages and problems inherent in those moves. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 65 Topic: Support in the Business Doug Akers joins me for the first time today, to talk about Support in the Business. Doug is a strategic technology leader who firmly believes in the mantra of customer, company, team, self. He believes that only when this order is respected can you unlock the true potential of each situation and individual. Over his career Doug has lead tech...

Send us Fan Mail Week 65 Topic: Support in the Business Greg joins me to talk about the role of Support in the business, and reminds me that a user guide is another form of support!  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 64 Topic: Startup Support Diane Garcia debuts on the podcast to talk about the freedoms that come with working in a startup, and nice it would be to have a bottomless budget.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Week 64 Topic: Startup Support Nicole Jackson found that many startup founders cared a lot about their customers, and hit a lot of the same problems when it came to scaling. What experiences did they all have in common? Once you’ve listened to this episode, head over to her new podcast – Support Night School , and read up on her consultancy practice at Solid Support Strategy . Sup...