New frontiers | Michaela Carpenter | Ep. 144

[Michaela] (0:00 - 0:11)

Slovakia has something that Western countries where customer success is very popular, Slovakia is something they don't, and that is post-communism syndrome.

[Dillon] (0:18 - 0:28)

What's up, Lifers, and welcome to The Daily Standup with Lifetime Value, where we're giving you fresh new customer success ideas every single day. I got my man Rob with us. Rob, do you want to say hi?

[Rob] (0:29 - 0:30)

Ahoy, Lifers.

[Dillon] (0:31 - 0:35)

And we have Michaela with us. Michaela, can you say hi, please?

[Michaela] (0:35 - 0:36)

Hi, everyone.

[Dillon] (0:37 - 0:42)

And I am your host. My name is Dillon Young. Michaela, can you please introduce yourself?

[Michaela] (0:42 - 0:57)

Of course. My name is Michaela Carpenter. I currently work as Customer Success Operations Manager at OPLAN, and previously, I developed a customer success strategy for one of the leading cybersecurity companies in Europe.

[Dillon] (0:57 - 1:09)

Very cool. Very cool. Okay.

Michaela, you know what we do here? We ask every single guest one simple question, and that is, what is on your mind when it comes to customer success? So can you please tell us what that is for you?

[Michaela] (1:09 - 1:19)

What is on my mind is, why is customer success not such a hot and big topic in Slovakia as it is anywhere else?

[Dillon] (1:20 - 1:37)

And let me just clarify, you are in Slovakia. Is that right? Yes, that's right.

You're not just taking shots at some random country? No. Okay.

Well, I wouldn't deign to have the answer to that, but I bet you've got a theory. Do you want to share what that is?

[Michaela] (1:37 - 3:07)

I have a little theory, and I'll tell you what. Slovakia has something that Western countries, where customer success is very popular, Slovakia has something they don't, and that is post-communism syndrome. It's a very big theory, and I'm sure that a lot people have heard about it, but maybe they don't know how much it can influence consumer behavior, because while in the West, the economy was market-driven, in Slovakia and other countries that had communism, it was centrally planned.

And what that means is that there weren't enough goods. People had to wait in front of the stores to even get tangerines before Christmas. You know, it's the people, the generation of my parents and the mediocre customer service, because if people are standing in the lines to buy something or get a service, why would you even try?

You already know that you're going to sell out, and you're still going to make money. And a lot of people, they just developed tolerance, I would say, even apathy towards mediocre service. However, that's changing, because we have globalization.

We have a lot of big global companies coming to Slovakia, and we have technology. Technology is taking over everything, and especially younger generation. Everybody is glued to a phone, computer, iPad.

And, you know, people's expectations are rising, and companies have to keep up.

[Dillon] (3:08 - 3:34)

So I have to apologize in advance for not knowing my history, but when did Slovakia make the shift from a communist country or economy to a more market-driven one? It must have been in the past couple of decades for people to still be thinking that way, or do you think it's just in the traditions now?

[Michaela] (3:35 - 4:16)

You know, even though communism ended in 1989, that's not a shift that happens overnight, right? The change in economy, the change in mind, the mind shift, it just doesn't happen from day to day. It's something that takes time.

And, you know, the companies, as I said, they were traditionally used to just, we have a service and our product, and the only thing that we need to really take care of is that there is going to be enough, so we can sell everything we have to everyone that wants it. But that's changing now, because there is more competition, and just having a product, because people will buy it no matter what, is not enough.

[Dillon] (4:17 - 4:24)

Rob, I need you and your Ivy League education to bail me out here, because I am in over my head with history here.

[Rob] (4:25 - 4:33)

I love this topic, and I think we pronounced your name wrong, so I got to apologize. We've been saying Mikayla, it's Mishayla, is that right?

[Michaela] (4:33 - 4:35)

Mikayla is fine. Mikayla, it's that.

[Rob] (4:36 - 7:30)

Mikayla. Mikayla, yep. Well, yeah, I'm learning Arabic, so the kheh is common.

To me, this actually hits on one of the central questions that I've been asking myself, because a core mission of mine, of what I'm hoping to do in customer success, is I'm looking to be a facilitator of greater community. It's much too common for us to see customer success historically as just this American thing. The interesting thing is that what I did this summer, I traveled around quite a bit between, let's see, Jordan, London, Switzerland, Germany, quick pit stop in Amsterdam, yeah, Netherlands, and I was trying to discover how all these different cultural influences that affect our perceptions of customer success, and there's so much nuance, even when you just look at the language that we use and the relationship we have with our customers. For example, when someone is expected to speak up, or whether to have small talk at the beginning of a conversation, or whether to just get to the point, that's a common one. Learn that one the hard way in some conversations.

And then also, I think this one is really interesting, like how explicit we should be. In some cultures, in some languages, you're expected to sort of, these are referred to as high-context cultures. People are expected to just understand the context of the situation, and so you're not really expected to be explicit like we are in English.

In English, we're expected to be very explicit, very to the point, very direct. German is similar. And if you're sort of speaking in nuances and vagaries, it's often seen as sometimes even indirect, passive-aggressive, maybe not even professional.

In other languages, like high-context languages like Arabic, French, a little bit Spanish, people are not expected to be explicit. If you are explicit, it's sort of seen as if you're talking down to someone. And people in those languages and cultures that have those languages, they're more expected to use figures of speech, and people are expected to read between the lines.

That's why, as I've been learning Arabic, it's such a poetic language, and it's so beautiful in so many ways, but damn, is it confusing. Because I'm like, can we get to the point? I don't understand.

Real quick anecdote, and then I'll pass the mic back. But this is another thing that happened. My wife and I were getting some shawarma in Jordan, and the guy who sold us the shawarma, my wife asked, she's like, how much is it?

He's like, for you, it's free. And she's like, no, how much is it? And he was like, three dinar.

I was like, oh, okay. Why did we do this charade? Why didn't you just tell me how much it costs?

But it's kind of interesting, because imagine you're running a renewal, and you might be offering a discount or something like that. There's an expected back and forth that changes from culture to culture. So I haven't thought about it through this lens, the lens that you described.

But yeah, sorry, I feel like I just, I'll get off my soapbox now.

[Dillon] (7:32 - 7:49)

Michaela, so it sounded like there's optimism or things are changing. And it sounds like that's for the better. What's your expectation?

What will the impact be in Slovakia as traditions move towards more supply and demand and competition?

[Michaela] (7:50 - 9:07)

Yeah, I think there is a lot of competition now like that changed, you know, even that started changing even 20 years ago, it was still just that people were so used to have no consumer rights. A lot of people just had this complex of not having enough because they were used to not being able to buy stuff that you need for your everyday life. So a lot of times it was just, oh, I want to buy this.

And this is all I care about. I don't care how they treat me. I don't care about the post purchase service I get.

I just care about having this specific thing. And I think the mindset about that changes now. Because there are a lot of Western companies coming to Slovakia.

There are a lot of startups or a lot of new companies basically growing every day. And they come to the market with a different mindset. They come with that customer centric mindset.

Newer generation, they know what they expect. So they are trying to offer that to their customers. And the companies that don't keep up with that, they'll face churn.

That's just a fact. And I think that's why a lot of companies are really doing the transition. But the question is, where is that line?

As Rob mentioned, where is that line between high touch and being annoying?

[Dillon] (9:09 - 9:16)

Quick question to close us out, Michaela. Do Slovakian technology companies measure NPS?

[Michaela] (9:17 - 9:18)

Some do.

[Dillon] (9:20 - 9:55)

Interesting. Well, I am with Rob that this took a turn, this conversation. You and I chatted a little bit before this, but you didn't give me the full picture.

And so I was pleasantly surprised about the way you tied all of this together. And it is very interesting. I think we're having more and more conversations about the cultural differences, the customer success experiences as it goes from North America, let's say to AMEA over to APAC.

So really, really interesting stuff. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. But that is our time.

And we do have to say goodbye for now, Michaela.

[Michaela] (9:55 - 9:57)

Yes. Thank you so much for having me.

[Voiceover] (10:09 - 10:32)

And these conversations are attributed only to those individuals on this recording and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their respective employers. For all inquiries, please reach out via email to Dillon at LifetimeValueMedia.com. Find us on YouTube at Lifetime Value and find us on the socials at LifetimeValueMedia.

Until next time.