Hi folks,

One of our customers told me a really interesting story last week: they started up their customer success team as a group of humans who looked after both support and success activities for customers.

Unsurprisingly, the team ended up firefighting a backlog of support queries, and they were looking into hiring some support-specific staff to allow their success team to focus on engaging with customers in a more consultative and proactive way.

Instead, they decided to implement Fin AI Agent, which quickly took care of a huge bulk of support-type queries. This meant they could rethink the hiring strategy around a brand new team and extra headcount.

This is the opposite of how I've seen support and success teams get going in the past. In my experience, a support team is set up first, then scales in terms of human headcount as the business grows. Success teams are built later, when support and sales are too busy to help customers more proactively.

This customer's story really showcases the power of AI today in being able to build a team of “true CX” humans from the start and automate the classic “customer service” interactions, leading to no hiring for a specific “support” team (for now at least.)

My question to all of you: If you could start over, would you do this? If not, what would you do differently?

I know the hiring of human support teammates (or the opposite!) in the world of AI is a spicy topic.

I'm looking forward to some interesting debate on this topic over the months / years ahead. I’d love to hear what you think. Reply to this email with your thoughts, or DM me on LinkedIn. 

Until next time, 

Response Time

Response Time is how we get to know folks in the support community in a real and relatable way. This week, we’re passing the mic to Stephanie Smith, Manager, Customer Success at Collage. 

What’s the most valuable thing that working in customer service has taught you?
“That active listening is the key to building strong relationships. By listening to understand rather than to respond, you can better identify and explain the best solutions to the client. It also shows customers that you recognize and value them as individuals, which fosters trust and deepens the relationship.”

If customer service was an Olympic sport, what would be the main event?
“The ‘calm under pressure hurdle race’ where contestants would compete to stay composed while providing client-focused resolutions during increasingly difficult customer service situations. The gold medal would go to the person who ends the event with the highest overall CSAT score.”

What’s the best thing a customer has ever said to you?
“‘You’ve made the onboarding process so easy. We’re really excited to roll out to our team!’ There’s nothing quite like knowing your client feels confident using the product and feels like they can rely on you when they need guidance.”

Check out the full Q&A here.

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We all know this by now: you get the best results from AI when you’re intentional about how you use it. That requires a strategic, measured approach that focuses on specific organizational needs rather than getting swept up in technological excitement. Fast Company shares seven practical strategies to get this right.

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Teams everywhere are going through a significant period of change – and this article from Forbes dives into how a sense of “newness” – in whatever form it takes – can spur on innovation and complex problem solving. It’s a refreshing take that helps reframe what might be overwhelming to some.

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