Employee Spotlight: Customer Success Manager Lucas Rezende on what he's learned during his time at Talon.One

Linkedin can be a frustrating and mystifying experience. Every company approaches hiring differently and even the perfect opportunity can somehow crop up at the wrong time. It is especially disappointing when the right company approaches you for a role that doesn’t suit you, leaving you conflicted about the next step on your career path.

Luckily, Talon.One’s people-first approach to hiring meant Customer Success Manager Lucas Rezende didn't have to worry about this kind of dilemma. Though originally approached through Linkedin about a sales position, Talon.One’s People & Culture team was more than happy to work with him to explore other possibilities for someone they knew had the right qualities for Talon.One.

“I replied to say ‘I love the product and the website but I’ve realized sales is not for me. I love talking to people, I love talking with clients and I saw that you have a Customer Success position open. As I worked as a CSM in Brazil, would you be open to talking with me about that position?’ I’ve been here from then on.”

Lucas has been at Talon.One since October 2020. Since then, the number of Taloners has more than quadrupled. A company in the midst of rapid expansion can often experience communication problems as departments begin to specialize while also having to step up their coordination. Additionally, new employees from a wide range of professional backgrounds can dilute company culture if a special effort isn’t made to get them all on the same page.

This concern is especially relevant for those working in Customer Success as maintaining open communication with every department is integral to the role. I asked Lucas how the exponential growth of the Talon.One staff has affected his role and company culture in general.

“It’s interesting because as a CSM I need to talk to all departments. I have to talk with Marketing, Sales, Product, Finance…But I think this only improved as the company grew. I started to have more support...”

“What always surprised me was how the People team managed to find people that were such a great fit. For me, it never felt like the company was losing its way. Whenever they added a person and I had to work with them, it always felt like the company was improving. I kept thinking ‘wow, you’re a really amazing person, I’m glad you’re working with us’. The culture was still there.”

Obviously, the last few years have been characterized by a big increase in the number of people working from home. With the majority of Taloners joining in the last 18 months, I asked Lucas if working in a largely remote environment had made the communication necessary in a the Customer Success role more difficult.

“It’s a personal thing. Obviously, it’s different through a screen and things tend to be a bit more work-focused. Everyone’s still super approachable though, online or offline. I’ve never had any issues talking with anyone. Everyone is always super eager to help and they’re also not afraid to come to me and ask for help…"

Lucas works in Talon.One’s Berlin office as often as he can. Working at home can sometimes be isolating and the office is a great place to work, meet new colleagues and take advantage of a quality caffeine source.

“When restrictions are lifted, every Friday we have a chance to catch up, go to the terrace, play some board games and have a beer. It’s always great because I get the chance to meet many people from different departments that I don’t usually don’t speak with.”

“For me, it’s a great refuge. Sometimes I get fed up working from home. I need a change of scenery to be productive and maintain my mental health. One of the main reasons I come to the office is the coffee, I have to admit. Great coffee machine. I even checked the price to get one for myself and…well, maybe one day. “

We’ve mentioned how heavily Customer Success depends on communication, but I asked Lucas for a quick description of his role so we could discuss it in a little more depth:

“In terms of being a Customer Success Manager… I’m reaching out to make sure our customers are happy, finding out why they might be unhappy, and solving their issues as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

It’s easy to see how a role encompassing so much varies wildly from company to company. Talon.One is not the first time Lucas has worked in Customer Success. I wondered how Talon.One’s approach compared to the industry norm:

“What I like here is that we have a coherent vision of how we should communicate with our clients…We work from a position of assessing the value a customer is getting and if it makes sense for them to use a particular feature. It feels much more like I’m helping them drive their business forward rather than constantly trying to upsell.”

Of course, such a wide-reaching role creates a lot of opportunities to learn - especially when the approach is so tailored to each individual customer. I wondered what Lucas considered the most interesting thing he had learned at Talon.One and what was his favorite part of the job?

“Oh my gosh, the list is endless really. I feel like a completely different person from when I started because I have learned so much from everyone: from our clients, from our team internally and from all the other teams. From how to understand the client’s pain points, how to talk to clients from a value-driven perspective, how to negotiate, how to understand APIs, how to understand the metrics of integrations, how servers communicate with one another…really, it’s difficult for me to focus on just one thing.

For me, the nicest experience is I have the opportunity to really connect with our clients. I can talk with them on the same level without any ulterior motive. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to make sure they’re as successful as they can be…. It’s great to have clients who love the product enough that they’ll support us in getting other clients on board. They’ll introduce me to a friend that works at another company who is interested in Talon.One so we can get a demo set up’”

Though the answer is probably easy to predict, I asked Lucas if he’d recommend Talon.One to other potential candidates. 

“After everything I’ve said? Of course!”

If you’re interested in joining Talon.One, check out our careers page.

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