This week we talk about CenturyLink changing to Lumen and welcome our guest, Jay Hanley from Thrive.  Jay is a seasoned Solution Architect and it was awesome to host him on the show.

Jay covers his background which began in Finance & Economics...nothing to do with Tech.  We're talking numbers, graphs, supply and demand all of the subjects many of us avoided so we could take a programming class, ha!

In all seriousness, his background in business lends itself well when solving critical workload challenges with his customers.  He's not simply putting a demo together or explaining the finer points of his value-prop....he talks about breaking it down for each customer.  Every company has a slightly unique business case and we ask Jay how to perform in that scenario as a Solution Architect.


Check out Thrive.com to learn more about their solutions & services.

Connect with Jay Hanley:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjhanley3/

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come to speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsloper/
Follow us::  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

Show Notes:

We hosted Claude Decarish, Areas SE Director for Windstream, based out of Atlanta to speak about staying relevant and how to build your career.   His team supports Next-Gen SDWAN services, Collaboration and Security Services for many large enterprise accounts.  Claude began his path to Presales as a Civil Engineer which provided an excellent foundation to move into technology.  

I pressed him on the importance of relationship-building not just among your peers as Sales Engineers but the ever-critical role with Sales counterparts.  Claude talked about holding each other accountable and being open to feedback with those teams.

Claude also shared some feedback about being a SE Leader and the importance of establishing a relationship early on with Sales Management to focus on common goals.  There are situations when both are not aligned and he discussed his experiences about how he puts the train back on the track.   

Check out Windstream.com to learn more about their SD-WAN and full suite of Layer 1-3 services.

Connect with Claude:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/claude-decarish-4185899/

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come to speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

The Career Opportunity this week is with Intensify who is searching for a Rockstar Customer Success Manager.  Check them out @ https://intentsify.io/careers/ learn more!

Shown Notes:  This week we had the privilege of hosting Matt Toy, Director of Account Management with Fastly.  Fastly's edge cloud platform provides a content delivery network, Internet security services, load balancing, and video & streaming services for brands all over the world

We dive into the various descriptions or assertions many have on what Customer Success is or should be vs. the reality.  One key area that is discussed is not how to support B2B or B2C, it’s P2P, aka People to People which is often overlooked these days.

Matt shares a few instances on his journey into customer success and why it's critically important when scaling a business, protecting protentional customer churn, and much more.  We clearly run out of time to dig deeper into the analytics and myopic views which can spawn hours of conversation.  So, that just means we need to host Matt again on the show!  

Check out Fastly.com to learn more about their Edge platform

Connect with our guest Matt Toy @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtoy5/

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come to speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

Most people have an unrealistic belief (at times) that all Sales Engineers have the answers to every question and possess a swami-like approach to solving problems.  We all know SEs are human and never have nor will they ever possess the answer to every challenge a customer sends their way.

What if you are a SE who looks to find the answers to his/her profession?  Our guest this week had that exact challenge and took charge to control his learning curve.  This week, Ramzi Marjaba joined the show to discuss his career as a Sales Engineer and why he started his own Podcast, We the Sales Engineers.

He started a podcast to interview and learn from others about the craft of being a Sales Engineer…super clever!  He now has over 100 episodes in which users can listen to or watch the YouTube channel.  That’s not all, he’s launched a brand to discuss tools and tips across the ether on Sales Engineering so others can share in knowledge.  

Please take a listen to his podcast and visit his site which is a useful tool for SEs.  You can reach him on his website:

WeTheSalesEngineers.com or 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba/

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come to speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

Today we hosted Tom Gleason from Snyk.io where he leads the Solution Engineering organization.  Snyk empowers software-driven businesses to develop fast and stay secure.  The Snyk open source offering is what many engineers are quite familiar with and I was eager to have Tom on and discuss the organization further.  

Tom and I discuss his career background and how it has come full circle supporting customers in a pre-sales role and now a leader within Synk. 

I highly encourage anyone interested in learning more about Snyk to check out their site or connect with Tom directly as you will not be disappointed. 
www.Snyk.io

Connect with Tom:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasdgleason/

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come to speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

In this episode, we throw out the metrics(well, sort of) and bring the discussion to focus on the human element we find ourselves in during the coronavirus. 

How do you support customers who are all remote at the moment?

What pre-actions should you focus on as a CSM in the industry prior to speaking with a client?

Let's focus on customers and their situation as people and then their business as I promise you, nobody is immune right now. 

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

Season 2 is finally here! 

On this episode, we invited Paul McBratney, Senior Solution Engineer with Alert Logic based in Atlanta to join the show.  Paul brings a wealth of knowledge and background on the role of a PreSales Engineer, Problem Solver and Story Teller.

Paul is a bi-lingual SE who discusses how getting your teeth cut early into areas such as physical devices (taking apart and rebuilding servers for example), troubleshooting and more helped him early on.  He walks through the conversation about how to methodically work with customers but also set the right expectations and the value of “no” when needed. His organization at Alert Logic was founded in 2002 and has a slew of offerings including their SIEMless Threat Management portfolio providing security, compliance and more Globally.   Let’s dig into the conversation with Paul.

Paul McBratney:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmcbratney/
Alert Logic:  www.alertlogic.com

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-for-customers-podcast
or www.SolutionsForCustomers.com

As we wind down Season 1, it’s time to quickly reflect on closing Q4 and getting ready for the next fiscal year.  

How do you push for the final support of your customers if you are on a Fiscal Calendar year?  Does your Customer Success plan go out the window only to drive short-sales which will burn you in the future?  

Let's not forget about getting ready for Sales Kick-offs!

About the Host, Gary Sloper
For 20 Years, Gary Sloper has led high-performing Tech Sales Engineering and Customer Success teams Globally.  Growing up as a programmer and eventually a Sales Engineer, he explores the scrappy environments people in these roles face and the fun they have.  After years of being nudged by his colleagues to come speak to the masses about the inner workings of supporting customers in fast-moving Tech, it's now here for all to listen and interact with.  Please join future topics!

Connect, chat and interact with Gary on Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsloper/ or email: solutions4customers@gmail.com