Customer Success: A Specialist’s Journey

It has become usual that nothing in Hostinger is set in stone. The employees thrive in an entrepreneurial environment and are true daredevils when breaking the rules for efficiency and quality. No department can escape evolution. The Customer Success squad members are the true pioneers behind meaningful changes. We invite you for a sneak peek into a Customer Success specialist’s journey at Hostinger – we’ll let you know why we care so much about providing quality customer care.

Step 1: We Attract the Right Talent

Becoming an advocate of the customer is a journey on its own. It all starts with a brilliant young mind – you only need to notice a purple jumper in a crowd of potential employers at a job fair or university event. When participating in such events, Hostinger focuses on delegating Customer Success specialists alongside HR people to ensure that our potential employee gets a chance to meet their soon-to-be teammates. They are the ones who share real daily stories and confirm that anyone can apply – Hostinger hires and develops the best, based on the person’s attitude, not the content of their resumes.

Step 2: We Hire the Right Talent

Once a candidate decides to enter the recruitment process, it starts with a simple hello and a not-so-simple job description. The process of becoming a full-fledged specialist requires exceptional resources of time and effort – this is why the People team wants to make sure the candidate is 100% ready for it. The recruiters agree that the Customer Success team itself is imperative for a potential employee’s decision, where young minds working hard is something we believe a culture-fit person will feel inspired by. After a simulation session with a Customer Success Team member, we expect everyone involved in this process to be inspired and motivated to start learning as soon as possible.

Step 3: We Prepare the Right Talent

Day 1 at Hostinger usually starts with the employee reading “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh. It is a book picked up by Darius Grigorjevas a few years ago before becoming the global Team Lead of Customer Success. After listening to customer feedback, Darius realized that having a purely technical team will not be enough to achieve the highest standards in customer care. The book promotes empathy as the critical component in quality service – understanding the customer’s needs by reflecting on their position will aid the speed of solutions and build a solid road for their success. After introducing empathy into the conversations, customer service became an individual experience rather than mere statistics.

Reading books is only a fraction of the training that is in store for our new employees. Our mentors are all former Customer Success agents who have earned their role for concrete actions – showing genuine interest in their colleagues alongside their daily tasks as specialists. Our employees receive a 2-months training course that consists of individual and interactive methods. The trainees have the liberty to complete their tasks without close monitoring. It sets the right tone for their future career – micromanagement is a last resort as we focus on developing a team with self-inspired ownership. Other specialists are just as welcome to participate in the training process, which they usually do – after all, these are the people who will be helping them out pretty soon!

The main factors that develop a good Customer Success Specialist are the People team with their high-quality recruitment and extensive training which introduces the company’s values and develops their communication, technical, and product knowledge.” – Darius Grigorjevas, Chief Customer Officer at Hostinger

Step 4: We Develop the Right Talent

After completing the final test, a Junior Specialist receives their first quality goal and starts working independently. We have a running joke in the team that the best newbie is the one who annoys their colleagues with the most questions. In other words, the team celebrates someone who is determined to learn and be curious. The senior specialists act as internal mentors who are always there to guide the rest of the team. A shift leader ensures each customer receives a service beyond their expectations. Each specialist belongs to a batch with a direct Team Leader who is there to give timely feedback and direct attention to specific methods for improvement. The Team Lead is the specialist’s #1 fan – they root for their growth and initiative, being the first line of support during setbacks.

While the specialist is learning how to deliver results in their daily tasks, they are also encouraged to be curious about something outside of their job description. Hostinger employees can add their book orders to our ever-growing office library. Everyone is welcome to organize internal workshops and lectures, regardless of whether the topic is work-related or not. Internal Customer Success sessions are also an excellent method to boost web-hosting knowledge and gain a better aptitude to help our Customers. Meanwhile, open key meetings, leadership guild sessions, and global endomarketing initiatives serve as superb learning opportunities contributing to comprehensive curiosity. 

Each Customer Success member can take tests that evaluate their performance. Mid-level specialists prove themselves skilled with live chat tasks, so they become shift leaders and learn how to share their knowledge with the rest of the team. A senior-level specialist is an even higher stepping stone in an agent’s career – they are considered an exemplary team member with extensive knowledge, allowing them to contribute to upscaling processes. This is not all, however – an exceptional Customer Success agent is acknowledged with Super Senior status earned by continuously high and outstanding performance.

At this point, it might seem that the specialist has reached the height of their potential as their progress starts to slow down. Stagnation is something we do not encourage here at Hostinger – people are expected to take on more significant challenges, and Customer Success is no exception. Each 1-on-1 session gives guidance and support to specialists and is primarily focused on their individual development. As long as the specialist has a vision of a career path they wish to take, the Team Leaders ensure that everything’s there so they can land their dream job. At some point, once the specialist is ready to test their newly gained knowledge, the Team Leads shift the specialist’s schedule to allow them to improve their knowledge and develop skills needed for other positions. Once the internal recruitment process for the dream position begins, the employee receives a recommendation from the Team Lead and applies for it. A successful recruitment process leads to a promotion, and, from this point, every member of Customer Success becomes the number one fan of the specialist’s future endeavors at Hostinger. 

Step 5: The Right Talent Is What Makes the Company

Customer Success agents make up 50% of Hostinger’s employees. Usually, this position serves as a career starter – even our CTO, Balys Krikščiūnas, started his career path at Hostinger as a Customer Success specialist. There is no better person to build the product than someone who truly knows Hostinger’s customers from the bottom to the top.

Over time, a passion for learning translates to formative experiences. Former Customer Success agents are our real success stories – they lead entire projects and make big calls while keeping Customer Obsession as the guiding principle. After taking up the responsible role of building Hostinger from the inside, the Customer Success alumni always find the time to share their stories in events to emphasize how far a culture-fit employee can reach. They appreciate nothing more than another bright young mind noticing their purple jumper in the big crowd of potential employers and deciding to start their career in the IT field with our Customer Success team. 

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