Growing Customer Operations at Teachable
I began working at Teachable (formerly Fedora) in the summer of 2015, when the support team was one affable Californian named Mike. Mike’s job entailed troubleshooting issues, responding to inbound, writing articles, making coupons for promotional events, and building/maintaining the tools the company used to support customers.
A week later, a bright eyed and bushy tailed young grad named Cameron joined the team and completed our support trio. Together, we embarked on a journey to save customers from…whatever. Our training was informal, to say the least. For a week or so we sat by Mike like bespectacled nestlings — computer savvy nestlings — to learn the ways of support.
We learn about the product, how to post articles, use console commands to look up account information and do one off actions like refunds. We also learn how to monitor several similarly named inboxes, each abounding with stories, issues, and feedback. The job isn’t simple, but we become proficient at wearing many hats.
A space probe orbits Pluto for the first time, our inbound volume is manageable, the support inbox is emptied daily, most of us still don’t know why the company is called Fedora, Grey’s Anatomy is soon to enter its 235th season — it’s a great time to be alive.
But like a Behind the Music special, our young team starts to betray foundational cracks. It becomes increasingly clear that we’re going to pursue solo careers, moving into other roles at the company. It’s like Destiny’s Child, but we are all burgeoning Beyoncés working at a tech startup. It’s at this point that hiring new support team members becomes a priority. Mainly, my priority. Luckily for me, I’d never hired anyone before.
The process of finding people suitable for the role takes more time than I’d bargained for. Still dividing my days answering support questions, tracking issues, and creating training for new team members, it becomes increasingly clear that hiring is its own job and needs much more energy invested toward it.
Nevertheless, utilizing tried and true sources like AngelList, we manage to make three new hires for the Customer Care team over the course of four months, as previous members transition to new teams. The backgrounds of these “Customer Care Specialists” are varied.
Jade, the first of the new hires, has never supported a SaaS platform, but she has customer facing experience and a background helping people with random and sometimes outlandish requests (e.g. ordering helicopters and finding specialty foods in remote areas). She seems like she’ll take everything in stride and she does.
Brit, the team’s next hire, got caught in the rain and was late to her interview. She has some technical experience, but it’s from a few years prior. When I ask her about the gap in her work history, she explains that she was having a baby. Her final reference never responds to my calls.
I move forward with her anyway.
Weeks later Brit has some questions and constructive criticism about the job’s lack of an employee manual for me. Here are the actual notes I took from that meeting:
What it means to be in customer service?
Trial period?
What’s expected?
How to take off if you’re sick?
The hours?
Equipment usage?
Establishing the mission!
Programs — What you need to download?
Front (reference)
Stripe — (who do you talk to)?
The purpose of channels (where to ask things)?
Establishing roles
How we work?
The new team is trained with the help a 20+ page Google doc that becomes out-of-date a little over a week after I’ve completed it. Because their start dates are weeks apart, one-on-one shadowing is the simplest, albeit most time consuming, way to get everyone onboarded. By July, Jade and Brit become experts in their own right, support queues are cleared almost every Friday, and all’s right with the world. It’s only the calm before the storm, however.
Don, our third hire, also had no SaaS experience yet worked in retail tech support for many years. For our video interview assessment he wears a tie and recreates high-key lighting with his desk lamp. He takes an exorbitant amount of time working on each ticket he gets and has more patience dealing with frustrated customers than anyone else I know. I have a bit of background on him as well, because he’s also my cousin. Don arrives as Pokémon GO hits a fever pitch.
As Summer turns to Fall, we find ourselves swamped with inbound. Hiring hasn’t kept pace with growth, and a poorly executed move between helpdesk platforms leaves us further behind, as we work to answer support requests in three different channels.
The team carries laptops home every night, and on weekends, to catch up on and respond to whatever is missed during the day. For several months we barely tread water. I try to show my appreciation with pizza, but my cheesy gestures feel empty.
This isn’t the work life balance I want for my team. I feel like I’ve failed them. By now, I’ve grown to see them as family (even Don). The people who contact us looking for assistance are an extended branch of this family, and not being able to provide them that help as fast as we’d like becomes increasingly frustrating. At this point, I decide I’d rather over hire than have a team who can scarcely manage their workload or customers who feel unsupported. It helps that I have the full trust and support of our CEO to do so.
Not long after coming to this decision, we welcome Paulina onto the team. A veteran from another successful tech company that scaled in a major way, she’s the first hire on the team that isn’t dedicated to answering support requests. Her strength is organization and a team poised to scale needs this. She teaches the value of documentation, documentation and, you guessed it, more documentation.
Brit, who you’ll recall was hired just months before, also takes a shine to documentation and proves herself forward- thinking about developing a team. Because of her constant initiative, I decided that if I could, by some miracle, hire more than zero people in the next year, she would be the one to manage them.
Fortunately, we’re able to bring on Kadian who, like other members of the team, is new to SaaS support but has much experience working with people who were told by AppleCare that they could walk in the store and get the part. She takes to the product well with our newish and 85% less sleep inducing training.
With these five core team members in place by December, I begin to dedicate the bulk of my days in the New Year to sourcing and hiring. I set goals for interviews each week, usually three to four people, and get most members of the team involved in the interview process.
Per a suggestion I received early on, most would be scheduled the same day. This made some days particularly hectic, but was far less disruptive than daily interviews. At Paulina’s urging, as a team we standardized/categorized interview questions and formally kept notes on each new interviewee. All of which also helped to ensure fairness and consistency when reaching decisions. Those decisions usually came quickly.
On the training front Brit, our new Customer Care Manager, took over revising onboarding materials and, with the help of many team members, began leading an engaging training process that was more fun and less reliant on a single person.
Of course, hiring as fast as we did opened up opportunities for growth sooner than most people expected. I myself went from doing entry-level support to manager to VP of Customer Operations in less than two years. Breaking the team up into distinct roles and developing pathways for growth has been essential in scaling as well. Not only does it give us the chance to invest in people, it helps in the day-to-day running and management of the team. That said, team scaling and structuring is still an ongoing effort, one that we hope to continue to see the benefits of. Thus far, those benefits have taken the form of drastically reduced First Response Times, increased CSAT, weekend support, social support, and — on the horizon — live chat.
There’s no perfect recipe for hiring, but here are a few points that have proven invaluable:
Standardize and organize
I’m sure this is important for all sorts of HR reasons, but a disorganized hiring process with slow response times and repetitive or seemingly irrelevant questions can be a turnoff for both candidates and interviewers. Moreover, team members will find hiring less of a priority and more of a task if you don’t treat it with due importance.
Seek help
Make hiring a team effort, and get as many people involved in the interview process as possible. Not only does it save time overall, it helps each team member learn what traits to look for in hiring — an essential skill to have should they move into a leadership role.
It may seem intense to have a candidate meet two people at a time in three twenty minute rounds, but it’s a great opportunity for you to show off your team and get people excited to work with them. In the end, each person who’s interviewed can also provide valuable feedback, from perspectives you may not have considered.
Get motivated
In building any team, ensuring that said team has the resources they need to be successful should be a passion. I strongly believe that the greatest resource any company can have is people. The desire to find and develop good people who take pride in both their work and team should be the foremost goal.
Move quickly
From screenings to interviews, it’s important for everyone to get the ball rolling ASAP. Potential hires appreciate it when you’re responsive and decisive. Also, take special note of candidates who respond quickly to emails and prompts. The motivation or lack thereof that people display during the hiring process can provide insight into how they’ll work once hired.
Trust your instincts
If you’re not excited about working alongside a potential hire or have doubts about whether they’re the right fit, it’s usually best to keep looking until you find someone that clicks.
Don’t be afraid to take chances
Remember that you’re dealing with human beings with unique personalities and experiences. A candidate may not have all of the skills you want or need on paper, but there’s something to be said for life experience and a willingness to learn. Be mindful of the fact that some people are terrible in interviews. Nervousness can be a sign that someone is afraid of missing out on a great opportunity. Conversely, confidence can be well rehearsed and disingenuous.
Diversify
Look for great people wherever and however you can. A diverse customer base is best served by a team that with a variety of skill sets and experiences. Personally, I’ve never wanted to work at a company where everyone had the same social background, gender, race, educational pedigree or skills. I like to think the Customer Care team is a reflection of this.
Show appreciation
If you have a team dedicated to their work, be sure to let them know how valued their contributions are, even if all you can do for a time is buy them pizza. If you’re lucky enough you’ll end up with a team like ours.
Shoutout to Jade, Brit, Don, Paulina, Kadian, Noele, Zareef, Kevin, Roderick, Tim, Jess, Nick, Ashley, Honor, Alexander, Alexandra, Ben, Elle, Aquilah, Keeana, Jason, Meggan, Shy, Cody, Jeff, and Amanda for combining to form the GOAT Customer Operations team and being integral to Teachable’s mission.
