181: Startup Support with Zeni Bandy

Charlotte Ward: 0:13

Hello and welcome to episode 181 of the Customer Support Leaders Podcast. I'm Charlotte Ward. This week we're talking about startup support, so stay tuned for five leaders talking about that very topic. I'd like to welcome back to the podcast today, Zenny Bandy. Zenny, it's lovely to have you back again. And we're talking about a topic this week that's close to your heart. It's startup support. I know you have a lot of experience in this area.

Zeni Bandy: 0:46

Yes, I'm very passionate about startup support specifically, probably because it's the only type of support I've ever done. But yeah, I I love it. Um but it definitely is its own beast. Uh, and I'm excited to talk about it.

Charlotte Ward: 1:02

Well, I guess my first thought really is you you clearly are passionate about it, and you said it's the only type of support you've ever done. Would you seek a support role in a bigger organization? And and I know that might be maybe you maybe you don't want to never say never. But but what is it particularly that's attractive about startup support then that that you don't see in in bigger organizations?

Zeni Bandy: 1:28

That's a really good question. And honestly, sometimes in startup support, I don't see this as well. Um, so I'm very particular about the type of company I would join. Um but the problem with supporting larger organizations is that there's not they're not very strategic normally, those functions. Um, and in startups, especially earlier stage startups, you have a lot of opportunity to make it a very strategic function that actually helps directly with business objectives. Um, for example, customer support can drive profit and revenue. And at larger organizations, the systems and processes are so ingrained and entrenched that it's impossible to make progress on doing revenue-driving initiatives.

Charlotte Ward: 2:14

Yeah, just actually having that ability to influence is attractive in a lot of roles in startup world, isn't it? Really? Um so tell me then about some of your experience in startup support. I I I don't know if you've got a particular story you want to tell us or like a nugget of wisdom that you can that you can drop for the next five minutes.

Zeni Bandy: 2:40

Yeah, I think I would just start with saying always get help when you're um leading a team in a startup for support. Typically, your company, the people in your company don't have any experience. You might, you are probably the most experienced person, um, but there's many people who've done it, and so don't do it on your own. I was lucky enough to come across support-driven and talk with so many people and individuals there that really just helped me elevate what I was doing and how I was thinking about it. Uh and one of the things that I also really appreciated about startup support was also being able to take practices and frameworks from other parts of the business and apply them to support. So I was able to do a lot of training with growth, the growth marketing um function of uh one of the startups I worked at. And so I actually designed all of our OKRs and uh quarters exactly the same way as a project um, sorry, as a performance marketer would. And so you also are able to do that. So when you're talking to other people and getting outside help, don't limit it just to customer support. Talk to any function. It's really important to um not reinvent the wheel because you're gonna be, you're gonna have so much work that you just don't have time.

Charlotte Ward: 4:08

Yeah, very true, very true. Um, I'm I'm definitely experiencing the no time right now. So actually bringing a lot of experience from other leaders of other parts of different businesses, as well as other support leaders, is uh it is a key part of your learning experience right in startup land. Even if even if you are a pretty experienced support leader, there's always something to learn, right? What do you think the what do you think the the biggest lessons you've learned recently are?

Zeni Bandy: 4:40

I would say they've actually been around leadership specifically. Uh so I've been reading, I've been reading this collection of articles from the Harvard Business Review on managing people. And a lot of the articles are pretty old. Um but one of them was talking about how you really create these self-fulfilling results for your employees and your team members. And um there's this concept of the in and out circle, so uh support is no different than any other team. And so you're gonna have your support agents or support leads that you just can't do anything wrong, and you treat them as partners and you're going to them for ideas, and then there's those that just maybe underperform and it's often metrics, and you kind of have a lower bar for them and you don't give them as much opportunity to flourish. And it's talking about how that impact of having that in-group and that out group really have a long-term impact on the potential of your employees. And looking back, I definitely did that unintentionally, and so it's just something that I've really been thinking about a lot. Um, so just kind of going back into traditional type of leadership training.

Charlotte Ward: 5:58

I like that actually. Yeah, yeah, I really like that. Um, and you know, support leadership, I think does whether we're talking about startup support or in a larger, larger organization, I think um we do tend to focus a lot, as you said, on the metrics, on the process and everything else. And maybe we do have a tendency to forget that we're also looking after people.

Zeni Bandy: 6:23

Absolutely, absolutely. And um startups can be very intense work environments, so it's really important as well to um to really give people what they need. One of the things my husband and I have been talking about a lot recently was is applying love languages to the workplace. Um, the five love language, they actually have a book specifically you designed for that. Um, but it's really interesting and uh a way to treat people and making sure that you're showing up for them in the way they need because it makes such a big difference with the outcome of their work. And in startups, it's so hands-on, it's so personal, it's it's a family. Um, you know, maybe it gets to the size of a village, but you're you really, you know, what you do and how you treat people is what creates a culture in your company. Your comp your company culture is not something that you design, it's how you interact with people. And so as a leader with support, you especially in a startup, you're setting not just a tone for the culture of the company, but how the customers see you as well. So it makes such a big difference.

Charlotte Ward: 7:29

That's it for today. Go to customersupportleaders.com forward slash one eight one for the show notes, and I'll see you next time.