184: Startup Support with Nicole Jackson

Charlotte Ward: 0:13

Hello and welcome to episode one hundred and eighty-four 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, Nicole Jackson. Nicole, welcome back. It's lovely to see you again. Today, this week, we're talking about startup support, a topic that I know is dear to your heart, and I'd love to spend the next 10 minutes or so just discussing your experiences in startup support, the kind of conversations you're having in this area with other people, and let's see see where that conversation takes us.

Nicole Jackson: 1:00

Sounds great. Thanks so much. It's great to be back. Yeah, so startup support is something that I had direct experience in prior to last year. But then when I pivoted to consulting specifically with uh startups, they there were some questions that just kept coming up. And this uh niche sort of found me. And what happened is I would have a lot of startup founders reach out to me and say, you know, I'm just starting out. Um, what do I need to know? Who do I need to hire and how am I doing so far? You know, I don't know what I don't know. And, you know, on the surface, all what I saw is that these folks cared a lot about their customers and they're responding to people with care and attention. And so uh, you know, from a customer perspective, right, we're off to a good start, but we want to scale that. And so how do we do that? Um, and those are really, you know, the the questions that just come up for every founder that I've talked to.

Charlotte Ward: 2:09

That's super interesting because of course one of the things that I've often said about these these weeks where I get five different people talk about the same topic is that we get a bunch of different perspectives and everybody has a different experience. But freelancing in this field, you're talking to lots of people with the same types of questions. So you see you really are seeing the same questions come up quite a lot then.

Nicole Jackson: 2:30

Yeah, yeah. And those are the at the highest level, that's really what they all want to know. And so what I started doing, you know, I was auditing support teams because that was sort of the service that I was selling and how they found me. And what I realized is there's actually a need for even more proactive support for startups before they even have their first hire, or maybe they have a few hires, but they're not strategic hires yet. Maybe they're a little bit more junior and they aren't playing a strategic role on the support team. And so now I've sort of pivoted my attention to what how can I support these um startup founders, new managers, um, by answering their questions and providing them with tools to really just a quick start guide, um, you know, giving them the basics so that they can be reassured that you know they're they're doing well for for their stage.

Charlotte Ward: 3:28

So it's a good springboard then, because in these early stages, so much of this stuff is often quite reactively built. And it's so often built by people who have probably built the product and don't really have much experience or exposure to building support, right?

Nicole Jackson: 3:47

Exactly. Yeah. And so that's one of if I could boil down my advice to these folks, um, that's you know, one of the top three things I would say is to hire strategically from the start. And that's very counterintuitive to how it typically happens. But, you know, budget is typically, you know, a top concern at those really early stages. But you want to find somebody that has enough experience and shows that potential to operate strategically, and they don't have to have director level experience, even manager level experience. Maybe they've just been um not just been, but maybe they have support experience and they haven't had the opportunity to flex those leadership muscles, but are great at operations and you know could help you document things, provide some structure and get things started. And that's really one of the, you know, it's you want to start off on a on a good foot and and hiring the right person uh can really help you scale things quickly and and be a great asset in the long run.

Charlotte Ward: 4:55

And as you say, it doesn't have to be it strategic immediately, but can build those skills. And quite often those first steps into leadership, and I know mine really were those first steps into leadership are operational, aren't they? It's because you're you're doing it, because it's this, I think there's something in a mindset of a support person anyway, but particularly those people who step into wanting to kind of improve the work and improve the operations, sort of make things more efficient or happier, or any of the other things that that we want supports to be. Um they're quite often the people who find that ongoing path into leadership anyway, aren't they?

Nicole Jackson: 5:32

Exactly. Yep. And you can demonstrate that sort of interest in any role, right? And support, we come from a lot of different backgrounds, and uh you can get to know somebody and and their experience and and sort of see that potential, or that they've done something similar, just in a in a different way and uh be a little flexible there.

Charlotte Ward: 5:57

So so what do you think then the are other challenges that you're seeing that are common for uh even at that fairly high level, as you said? You I think you said there were there were a couple of others around um sort of the operations side potentially, but but really like really like how do we do this? I mean, getting the getting the early support experience in is key, but what are the other things these founders need to be looking for when they're considering those first steps into a separate support function in the business?

Nicole Jackson: 6:29

Yeah, yeah. So hiring and and having you know the resources and and somebody to be helping you with is key to to all of it. Um documenting everything. So oftentimes you see those early uh employees taking on, you know, they might be doing all hand support, the founder is directly responding to customers. And so document everything. And even if I think a big hesitation there is, well, I don't know if what I'm doing is the right way. And so I don't want somebody to come in and think this is the way that it has to be done and be afraid to change it. I think when we, you know, even if it's just a Google Doc that you're throwing things into, you know, how we received a refund request and what did we do when it came in? And document the documenting those decisions, uh, even if they change, that's great, but it's at least a starting point for a conversation and it's something that we can give to that employee we onboard to get them started, and any any sort of material like that and resource to help them hit the ground running. It's a gift to them. And so it's okay if it changes, it will be a living document and it will always change. But uh, you know, it provides a lot of context for you know why we're doing what we're doing and and can be a good springboard.

Charlotte Ward: 7:51

And and just making that knowledge accessible is such a key part to ensuring that ensuring the success of the people that you bring into the organization, isn't it? Because you don't want people to have to reinvent the wheel, but also lack of access to knowledge slows people down in any function in a business, but particularly in support, because they need it right then and there to speak to customers.

Nicole Jackson: 8:16

Yeah, exactly. And and you know, somebody's not gonna come in and change all the processes on day one. So it's okay if it's not perfect or or you know what we aspire to be, but it's something. Um and yeah, I think, you know, lastly making being intentional about giving support and customer-facing teams a seat at the table. I think in those really um early stages when the founder might be doing all hand support or providing it directly, they're very empathetic to the customers and their needs, and they're very in tune with what's going on, you know, on the customer-facing side. And it's a great time to capture and harness that um, you know, all of those experiences and and be intentional about how are we going to continue to um elevate the customer's voice and give this team a seat at the table, involve them in decisions because there is so much to learn from these teams. There's so much data, and you know, we can make more data-informed decisions when you know we're all involved. And so it's a great time to think about what those relationships look like and and how you want to incorporate them going forward.

Charlotte Ward: 9:33

Do you think that in your experience founders are doing that? Those ones that don't have the good fortune to come to you, are they giving support that early seat at the table?

Nicole Jackson: 9:46

I don't know if I have I it would it would be a guess, you know, if it's the customers that I'm, you know, not or the the folks that I'm not talking to. I think, you know, it's a challenge across support that we all talk about and have experienced before. And so unfortunately, I think the you know, overall experience is that's not typically what happens. I I think there is more momentum early on, and and we lose a sense of that as the company grows. And because I work with a lot of smaller teams in those early stages, uh, I'm not, you know, seeing that that full evolution as they're growing and getting to that point. Um, but I do think that there's momentum lost along the way. And maybe not hiring those folks strategically from the start who can continue to be that champion and you know, sort of force their way in there, remind folks, you know, why it's important for them to be there. If we start off with um, you know, just not having that that voice and and somebody who can step in and say, wait a second, you know, we should be here too. It's really easy to to you know wake up and and and not have that happening anymore.

Charlotte Ward: 11:05

Yeah, and before you know it, three or five years have passed, and suddenly support is just this business function that's kind of forgotten, right? Which we do see quite a lot, absolutely. So we've talked quite a lot about strategic approaches to startup support. Let's just spend the last few minutes, if we may, talking about the hyper operational. Like what does this look like? What what what's your experience? What's your advice? What should people do when they're considering maybe even before they make that strategic hire? Or indeed, if you're talking to maybe some of those less experienced people who are going to grow this role within the company as the company grows, um, what specific advice can you give to founders and early support folk out there, early stage support folk out there on the operational front?

Nicole Jackson: 12:00

Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. And it's another common one. Um, what does it mean to hire strategically? And, you know, I in general, I would say it's you want to hire somebody that's gonna be one step ahead of you, and you know, who has experience in this space, but uh understands the bigger picture, the bigger picture and how they play the role that they play in that and who the stakeholders are, who are they serving? You know, yes, my team is serving customers directly, but I also need to serve stakeholders internally and be, you know, closing that feedback loop and giving you the data that you need, the product feedback in a meaningful way that you can act on. And uh so, you know, that person in my head is going to be thinking one step ahead about what information they can be providing to elevate all the teams, because ideally, you know, the entire organization should be working towards um, you know, working in the same direction towards the same goals. And so understanding how what they're doing plays into those larger goals. Um, and you know, so that includes, you know, a lot of metrics tracking, right? And in understanding what's important and what's not. Um, and and that will change depending on what your goals are, um, being able to forecast what the needs look like for the team and and bubble that up so we're not in a pattern of hiring reactively, um, you know, and thinking a little bit outside the box of you know what that might look like. Do we need to hire seasonally, you know, part-time? Uh do we outsource answering those types of questions? And uh it's yeah, the it the mark is constantly changing. There's a lot of different problems. So really finding that person that enjoys a new challenge every day. Um, those are tend to be the folks who really enjoy the operational aspect. Um, you know, and and I think just considering best practices. So, you know, self-serve methods, right? What does that look like? And how do we um scale? I startups want to scale. And so self-serve obviously is a great way for for folks to do that. Um, and so you want to be prioritizing those sorts of projects. Um, those are the, you know, typically what comes to mind when I think of somebody operating strategically and, you know, identifying patterns uh and yeah, digging into them.

Charlotte Ward: 14:40

That's a that's a great point, actually. I'd really like to touch on the operational side a little bit more with you because um I know that we both are in some of the same communities, and uh I see over and over again people asking the same kind of questions. Can I see your forecasting model? Can I see the list of metrics that you're measuring on? Can I see how 12 different people do it in this environment so that I can kind of get a feel for how I need to do it? Because this is my first time doing it, or maybe it's not even my first time doing it, but I've just never felt like I've quite done it like it efficiently enough or with the right angle or whatever it is. What's um what's your uh just just in the last couple of minutes here, what's your sort of final take on the on the operational side in those early days? Maybe we're speaking to founder still, but I think particularly we're speaking to those first one or two support hires into a into a an embryonic team, right? What's your what's your advice on the operational front?

Nicole Jackson: 15:41

Yeah, great question. Um, so because I have had these conversations so many times, like you said, there's certain questions that come up we see all the time. And uh because of that, I have actually started building out resources based on these conversations for startup founders, for new support managers. And these are templates, uh, bundled templates that will help really kickstart uh support teams. And that's my goal with Solid Support Strategy is focusing on kickstarting teams, giving them that healthy foundation from which to start. And uh I think something to keep in mind when doing any sort of operational research is that there is no magic answer or one size fits all solution. And so, you know, you always want to, it's great to soundboard, pick other people's brains, see what they're doing. We can learn so much from that. Um, but that at the end of the day, you know, trust your decisions and and what works for your organization and sort of take what works and leave what doesn't. And so with the resources that I'm building, um, my aim here is to take everything that I have learned over the many years in this in this space and answer all those questions that are are being asked and build as you know, the most effective template that a template can be and be able to plug and play, you know, uh modify easily, remove this part, put that part in, you know, this is how it works in my organization, and really do the legwork and so that these folks who are very limited in time and resources can get started quickly and and have uh majority of that done for them and just tweak it here and there.

Charlotte Ward: 17:38

That sounds super helpful because who isn't limited on time and resources and support, right? Um that that so that's super interesting. Um so so you're creating resources around forecasting and and what what else are you building out there?

Nicole Jackson: 17:54

Yeah, so uh things like operational playbooks, job descriptions, hiring workflows, all of that structure that we really crave uh when you know, when we don't in the absence of it, um, and and things that we can continue to iterate on and and build on. Um yeah, so those are the types of things that will be included, you know, metrics to care about uh and and and things like that. So uh those will be launching on March 8th. So if you are listening after March 8th, uh you can head over to SolidSupportStrategy.com and check those out. Um, if you're listening before, you can still head over there and and learn more. But I'm really excited and and would love you know any feedback that folks in this community or who are listening uh have to share.

Charlotte Ward: 18:46

That sounds awesome. I'm definitely gonna be there. Uh and uh I'm sure I'll be making extensive use of quite a number of them. But as you said, oh you're welcome. I I think the final thing that you just said um before, though, even if you have a template or even if you're drawing on everyone else's experience, one size doesn't fit all, and you're probably gonna have to do a little bit of uh like self-discovery, let's call it, along the way as well, aren't you? That's always the joy. Is it a joy of startup support?

Nicole Jackson: 19:17

There's there's there are so many lessons to be learned for sure. Uh, but I think trusting our own voices, I yeah, it's that's always I think you know, for some of us can be a challenge.

Charlotte Ward: 19:29

Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much, Nikole. Thank you. Thank you, Charlotte. That's it for today. Go to customersupportleaders.com forward slash one eight four for the show notes, and I'll see you next time.