Hi there
I’m not finding this one so strange; and I think re-framing how roles are
referred to in line with the vision the business wants that role to achieve –
in this case, someone who thinks of the customer first and advocates for their
customer success or happiness – is useful for the company to keep that person
on track with the perspective you want them to keep in taking on the role of
writing, what I’m assuming is, customer-facing documentation.
I’ve seen this on the many entrepreneurial coaching business helpdesk response
signatures for years – it’s no longer “James B, Helpdesk Representative”, but
it’s more often “Sally T, Customer Happiness Expert”
As a customer, with a problem, I feel I’m been looked after more by “Sally T”
than “James B” – I feel that Sally T is passionate about her job and looking to
solve my problem, whereas James B feels more like a clock watcher to me who
doesn’t really care.
For years it hasn’t been uncommon for helpdesk roles to be re-defined – in the
80s they were Helpdesk representative, and then they commonly became “Customer
Service Representative” – to try and combat the bad reputation of helpdesks
around the world… not helping people. I think this is another evolution, and
in the meantime, helpdesk roles have expanded to include technical writers.
I can see the journey.
The company is defining it up front that what they want is someone who cares
about the customer’s happiness in their experience with the company, subtext,
“People who hate customers need not apply”.
I think with Rachael posting the “Customer Success Advocate” role it’s a sign
that, albeit in a startup, that you are going to see more of these roles coming
up in the future.
Kind regards Suzy
Suzy Davis
Microsoft Word Templates, Apps for Microsoft Office
& Documentation Projects
<http://www.appsforoffice.com/>
<http://au.linkedin.com/pub/suzy-davis/6/5ba/4b1>
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apps-for-Office/136256423063414>
<http://twitter.com/#!/AppsForOffice>
www. <http://www.appsforoffice.com/> appsforoffice.com
(Melbourne) Australia
Mobile +61 433 489 989
Email <mailto:suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rafael Manory
Sent: Sunday, 8 October 2017 12:35 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Junior Technical Writer / Customer Success Advocate role in
Melbourne
With all due respect, Mr. Ryan, your attempts to justify the use of this
term—with which I am sure you are by now very familiar---only make it sound
more bombastic than it is already. You can call a cleaner “sanitation worker”
if you believe that it makes the person feel better, but the job still involves
the same cleaning. I must admit that the first time I came across “Customer
Success Advocate” was in this position description. And with all due respect,
these three words combined still do not make any sense in my book. I am sure
you use it comfortably, but to this community it does not sound right, and I
strongly agree with Howard. Why does customer success require an advocate? I
agree that acquiring new customers and keeping them is an important role, but
this is supposed to be the role of each employee in the company. I do not see
myself calling a company and asking to speak with their customer success
advocate. It sounds ridiculous to me, and I am sure to others on this list as
well…
Rafael
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Ryan
Sent: Saturday, October 7, 2017 12:29 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Junior Technical Writer / Customer Success Advocate role in
Melbourne
Fair points Howard. It feels a little strange the first time, doesn't it?
Watching the term "Customer Success" rise to become a well-defined and
comfortably used term has been interesting. But it's an overall positive thing
that it split away from "customer support" in some clear ways. It starts to
feel comfortable if you think of the role as one to ensure that the customer
experience is positive along the whole user journey.
It becomes an incredibly important role for scaling companies. Especially SaaS
companies where the cost of acquiring new customers versus the lifetime value
of keeping them is a live-or-die obsession.
Even if you shy away from the business side of things, it's kind of awesome to
think of a role like this not only existing with the genuine focus of ensuring
customers are learning and getting the most out of the product, but that this
role gains a lot of power to fight for the user. I'd argue this is the most
important user advocate role outside of the original UX team. Even more-so than
customer support (high velocity exposure to users, but narrow band of
interaction) or technical writers (who are still hidden away from users in most
companies).
David Ryan · Managing Director
Corilla
<https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/59a4ab37f9d420611f6891c4/59a4bb5256bb8ab27444765a/4c20995ecd7b6abcb0818203ce8b74b3/www.corilla.com>
· @corilla <https://twitter.com/corilla>
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hm, I wonder if your HR person has seen the send-up of HR people in the Utopia
TV series. The term 'Customer Success Advocate' looks like it came from that
show, only if I saw it on the show I might think it a bit over the top. I
couldn't imagine telling someone that was my job title and keeping a straight
face!
Sorry, people on this list tend to look at word usage more critically than most!
Howard
On Tue, 3 Oct 2017 at 6:50 pm, Rachael Mullins <rachaelamullins@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:rachaelamullins@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hey Howard, good questions.
In an ideal world these would be two distinct roles, but one of the challenges
of working in a startup environment is more often than not, each of us needs to
wear more than one hat. That's not for everyone, but for the right person it
can offer an opportunity for a diverse workload and a broadening of their skill
set.
Customer Success Advocate is our HR person's preferred term for what you may
know as a customer support representative--someone in direct contact with
clients who helps them get the best out of our products and troubleshoots when
things go wrong. In my mind the two roles are fundamentally about the same
thing: helping our clients get stuff done, whether that's by supporting them
over the phone, escalating their issue to a development team, or writing a help
topic. So, different but overlapping skill sets.
Hope that helps!
Rachael
Rachael Mullins
about.me/rachaelmullins
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 6:16 PM, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Just out of interest, can you tell us what a Customer Success Advocate actually
is? Would she or he advocate on behalf of the company's customers? Who would
the advocacy be directed at? And why would you expect that work to suit someone
interested in technical writing?
I'm intrigued.
Regards
Howard
On Tue, 3 Oct 2017 at 3:37 pm, Rachael Mullins <rachaelamullins@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:rachaelamullins@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi austechies,
We have a role going at Seamless for a Junior Technical Writer / Customer
Success Advocate, starting ASAP. Melbourne CBD location, great team, and in a
company that's helping make a difference for cities and governments around the
world. Hit me up with any questions.
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/414919002/
More about Seamless: http://www.seamlesscms.com/Careers
Thanks,
Rachael
Rachael Mullins
about.me/rachaelmullins
??