Sales and Customer Support, with Lisa Reeves

5 Minute Mentor

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Lisa Reeves started her career in technology in the early 90s. She’s currently Senior Vice President of Product at Zenefits. For over 14 years she worked at SAP, a company that builds enterprise software since the 1970s. Lisa’s interest in emerging technologies and innovation evolved into a career in venture capital, both in corporate Venture Capital and traditional Venture Capital.

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Transcript:

ES: This is 5 Minute Mentor, a podcast where you’ll get advice from prominent engineers, authors, artists, and more in 5 minutes or less.

LR: Hi, this is Lisa Reeves Senior Vice President of Product at Zenefits.

LR: My advice is, if you are early in your career and you have an opportunity to go into sales or customer support, I’d say, go for it. Those are two areas where you’re head to head with customers. So whether you’re selling products, selling software products selling hardware product, or supporting, so taking in support calls, and cases, customer feedback, you know, traditionally, maybe a call center those are really two disciplines, two opportunities that bring you super close to the customer.

LR: And I think really, as you advance in your career, whether you’re in business development, or product, or maybe even engineering or program management, the ability you have to really get close to a customer early in your career will serve you very very well. And typically those are not two fields that you go back after, you know, ten years in the workforce and say “Oh, now I’m going to go into customer support.”

LR: So if you have the opportunity when you’re just starting out I’d say go for it, sales or customer support.

Lisa Reeves, SVP of Product at Zenefits