My guest for this episode is Alan Chambless, the VP of Customer Success at Weebly, the very popular, DIY website-building software company. Alan has a wealth of experience from working with other high-profile companies in the CX space. He is a well-respected customer experience leader who also has a knack for finding opportunities to take customer service or customer support from cost centers to profit centers.

 

Alan and I discuss a key aspect of customer experience — building the teams that serve them, and creating the culture that is in line with delivering amazing results for customers. Alan shares how he identifies opportunities for expanding the team, and the intricacies of building a new office from the ground up in a separate location from the HQ of the company. He also has some insight into building great teams through hiring practices and how culture can be scaled up as the company grows. Tune in to find out more!

 

Key Takeaways:

[:27] Jaspar introduces his guest for this episode — Alan Chambless.

[1:52] What is Weebly?

[2:25] What is Alan responsible for as head of customer success, and what kinds of teams does he oversee?

[3:32] What does Alan define as customer success vs. customer support?

[00:05:01] Where are Weebly’s team located?

[5:18] What are the metrics Alan looks at to determine if his team is being successful?

[7:33] How does Alan evaluate talent to make sure he has a profile that can do both service and support?

[9:31] Alan has been able to turn customer support, which is often looked at as a cost center, into a profit center. How does he do that?

[13:16] Alan discusses some other viable options for starting new offices.

[14:42] Where does Alan turn to start developing and evaluating real estate options for where to physically locate an office?

[16:10] What is the metric or attribute that is often overlooked or a common pitfall to avoid when choosing a location?

[19:36] What would Alan say is the most important thing about execution, when it comes to setting up a new office?

[20:13] How does Alan create consistency in hiring?

[24:21] Alan elaborates on the importance of building a culture.

[28:32] How can the culture of empowerment be scaled up as the team grows?

[30:36] How does Alan adapt the core components of culture to each new company that he enters? How does he navigate the differences between companies?

[32:44] What are some other most important learning lessons Alan has had in his career, specifically in the CX world?

[34:47] What is Alan’s favorite story about his team going above and beyond customer expectations?

[36:53] Alan shares his favorite quote for some inspiration.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

TaskUs Podcast

Alan Chambless on LinkedIn

Email Alan Chambless

Weebly

 

Tweetables:

“Our mission is to help the world’s entrepreneurs succeed by making it easier to go from idea to actual success.”

 

“We have a real vested interest in [our customers’ success].”

 

“You need to think about where that [second] office is going to be, and what you’re trying to achieve with that office.”

 

“I think it really really starts with hiring the right people … and #2 — that is closely related to that — intertwined with that is building a strong culture.”

 

“I saw, wow, we can really make a difference in the lives of lots of customers by having a team who is really empowered to do the right thing for those customers.”