Deliver Application and Infrastructure Environments On-Demand

Arta:
Hello everyone. Welcome back to QualiFYi. I’m your host, Arta Shita, and I’m joined here today by our very own Rachel Kozun, VP of Customer Success here at Quali.

Rachel:
Thank you.

Arta:
Rachel. So excited to have you on here.

Rachel:
I’m thrilled. Thank you, Arta.

Arta:
Of course. So let’s get right into it.

Rachel:
Okay.

Arta:
We are really, really, really invested in our customers, and our CEO says if our customers win, we win. Which is why you’re here, right?

Rachel:
Yes.

Arta:
To ensure our customers’ success. So let’s get right into it.

Rachel:
Okay.

Arta:
What does day one look like?

Rachel:
Day one is critically important. I take this very personally because I’ve had an experience where I bought software, not as an individual, but as part of a company. I bought a platform and all excited, ready to get started, and then I didn’t hear anything for weeks. It was a terrible experience.

Rachel:
Here I am as the VP of Customer Success, I never want any of our customers to have that experience, so I take it very personally. And for us, day one starts way before our customer even buys. So we engage, the Customer Success team, engages in the sales process. So rarely is it day one that we are being introduced to the customer. We work really closely with the sales team to make sure that we have all the information that we need about the customer so on day one, we’re not laying the groundwork. We’re actually executing on the vision, which is where I always want to be is ahead of the game.

Arta:
Right. That’s incredible. Executing on the vision on day one. So I guess you really start at day zero then.

Rachel:
We do start at day zero. Exactly. But that should be the whole methodology. And sometimes it’s not perfect. But that’s always the goal is to be executing on the vision on day one.

Arta:
I love that. Ah, amazing. So then what makes our specific approach special?

Rachel:
It really comes down to three things. The three things in and of themselves are not special. Everyone has people and processes, and technology, but it’s really the thing that makes our version of it special, is we’re constantly iterating on the process. We’re always looking at what’s working, what’s not working, and making it better. So we’re always trying to improve the customer experience. And then the next part of that is really the people. We’ve put together just a really great team here that I couldn’t possibly be more proud of. They’re all not just Customer Success professionals, they’re really invested in delivering value to the customers. I can’t ask for anything more than that from them.

Arta:
That’s amazing. One thing that I have to compliment you and your team on is you all are so transparent about everything, especially in you, your process. Me, in Marketing, I know exactly where you guys are in your process, and I cannot commend that enough because it’s a company wide initiative. It’s not in silos. And I’m sure that makes the customer feel special too.

Rachel:
It really is across the whole company because it doesn’t work if you just have a Customer Success team, and they’re the only ones responsible for the customers being successful.

Arta:
Exactly. Exactly.

Rachel:
We can only do so much. So it really is a company effort, and I’m so glad that you can see that.

Arta:
Oh, completely. It’s amazing, and I’m glad to be on the pulse too.

Rachel:
Of course.

Arta:
So we talk about customer success. How do you measure your team’s success?

Rachel:
Well, you mentioned earlier, one of the core company values is when our customers win, we win. We do really bring that into every day. We even tell our customers that they don’t win when they sign an order, and they don’t win when they go into production on our platform. They win when they’re achieving their business goals. When they’re achieving that vision that we’re executing on, on day one, that’s when they win. And then that’s when we win. And the beauty of that-

Arta:
I just got chills. So good.

Rachel:
I feel so strongly about this. I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets chills when you talk about customer success. So I’m not the only dork in the room. But it really is about executing on that vision and delivering that vision and that feeling that you get with the customer when you’ve executed on the vision and they’ve reached their business goals and everybody looks at each other and says, “Let’s do that again.”

Rachel:
And then you set the next set of business goals and you go after that next thing with them. It’s an ever evolving process, and it’s an ongoing journey. It’s not just one and done.

Arta:
Right. I love that. That’s just so incredible. I love the way you think through things and the whole process and the way your team works together. And I’m just so excited to see where you take all of our customers.

Rachel:
We’ve really found a little bit of magic here, and so I just want to keep building on it and keep that magic growing. We’re starting to see it in our existing customers and then really when we’re onboarding new customers. It’s been great.

Arta:
Amazing. Let’s keep the magic going.

Rachel:
Yes.

Arta:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today, and I hope everybody looking into this is really feeling the magic as well.

Rachel:
I hope they do as well.

Arta:
Visit quali.com to learn more about environment as a service.