#TDSU Episode 202:

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:24 - Breaking into customer success

00:02:13 - The power of networking

00:04:09 - Overcoming imposter syndrome

00:05:41 - Making meaningful connections

00:07:25 - Authenticity in personal branding

00:10:05 - Finding your tribe

00:10:46 - Parting words

📺 Lifetime Value: Your Destination for GTM content

Website: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com

🤝 Connect with the hosts:

Dillon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillonryoung

JP's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanpierrefrost/

Rob's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-zambito/

👋 Connect with Tahjai Conkerite:

Tahjai's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahjaiconkerite

[Tahjai] (0:00 - 0:12)

No one can be you better than you, right? So you don't need to go in trying to be anyone else other than yourself. And really, you only want to connect people that like you for you, so that you can move authentically and grow.

[Dillon] (0:21 - 0:32)

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 JP with us. JP, do you want to say hi?

[JP] (0:33 - 0:34)

What's up? What's up?

[Dillon] (0:35 - 0:38)

And we've got Rob with us. Rob, can you say hi?

[Rob] (0:39 - 0:40)

I'm on vacation, baby.

[Dillon] (0:41 - 0:53)

And we have Tahjai with us. Tahjai, can you say hi, please? What's going on, y'all?

What's up? And I am your host. My name is Dillon Young.

Tahjai, thank you so much for being here. Can you please introduce yourself?

[Tahjai] (0:54 - 1:09)

Yes, happy to. My name is Tahjai Conkright. Super pumped to be here.

I'm a customer success manager at Bell Free Software. We make physical security software, and I'm based in Austin, Texas. It's a little bit about me.

[Dillon] (1:09 - 1:21)

Cool. Tahjai, 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 tell us what that is for you?

[Tahjai] (1:24 - 2:11)

Absolutely. I think on my mind is, you know, just in the current market that we're in, I often get a lot of people reaching out, asking me how to break into customer success. So I just want to spend a little time thinking about, you know, how my journey into customer success and what might be helpful for others that want to get into this world.

My journey, I've been in client service most of my career. I didn't have a map into customer success, but someone on this call was someone that was vital in opening some doors for me. I actually finally broke in to my first startup at a company called Qualia, and it wasn't because I- Never heard of it.

Never heard of it. It's a real estate tech startup.

[Dillon] (2:11 - 2:13)

Rob talks about it every third episode.

[Tahjai] (2:13 - 4:08)

Oh, does he? Okay. No, you know, I think intuitively, I think job seekers are thinking, oh, let me prepare my resume, let me apply, let me connect my experiences that could say how I can like transition into this particular role.

But what I have found is for most people, that's not usually their typical journey. You know, I was in a job that I didn't necessarily really love. I wanted to transition.

And it wasn't because I had a really refined resume and crafted a great interview narrative. It was really because I started building my network, right? So I actually just started, you know, commenting on people's posts on LinkedIn and crafting my own posts on LinkedIn.

And as a result of, you know, those interactions that were happening online, I met someone, had a conversation, you know, with that individual just about how I could better prepare myself to transition into tech, how to become a better sales professional. And he was like, hey, do you know my buddy? He works in Austin, Texas.

His name is Scott Lease, right? He's like, you should reach out to him. And I just sent Scott a note, said, hey, been commenting on some of your content online.

Love it. Just spoke to one of your boys. He told me to reach out.

And Scott's like, yeah, come by the office anytime. And he just happened to be two blocks away from where I was currently working in downtown Austin. So often I think about like that particular inflection point.

Like it wasn't because I, you know, because of the degree that I had, it wasn't because I had all these certifications and had all this necessarily like work experience just because I was trying to build, you know, intentionally build relationships with people online that I never met. And through those connections, it actually leveraged me to meet someone like Scott, came to his office. We both ended up being from California.

We love sports. We connected it. And he was like, hey, I'm looking for folks on my team, right?

And that was kind of like my entry into the startup life.

[Dillon] (4:09 - 4:29)

Tahjai, this concept terrifies people, myself included, depending upon the day. Huge imposter syndrome, not knowing what to say, how to say it to people. If you had to start with one question, one topic, one mindset, as you try and connect with people you don't know, what would it be?

[Tahjai] (4:29 - 5:17)

No one can be you better than you. Right. So you don't need to go in trying to be anyone else other than yourself.

And really, you only want to connect people that like you for you so that you can move authentically and grow in that form, in that fashion. So I think for what I would encourage other people is like, hey, you don't have to like make yourself into something that you're not, but you do need to take action. Right.

And it doesn't need to be massive action, but you have to do something like you have to give the universe something to give you something back. Right. So for me, it was like it felt very simple where I was just like, man, this comment I'm leaving on this LinkedIn post maybe sounds silly.

Right. But that comment literally led to someone connecting with me, sending me a message, us chatting. Right.

So taking action is your best friend.

[Dillon] (5:19 - 5:33)

Rob, you are the certain someone that Tahjai was referring to. So why don't you jump in here and add your thoughts? You're not allowed to say that.

Other people might say it about you.

[Rob] (5:37 - 5:38)

Subscribe.

[Dillon] (5:38 - 5:41)

If you're listening, Rob likes to meet new people.

[Rob] (5:41 - 7:25)

Somebody recently roasted me, said that when I die, I'm going to go to the big networking event in the sky. That sounds like hell. That sounds amazing.

I would thrive. I'm just bouncing around heaven, connecting with people on LinkedIn. Like show me your QR code.

Tahjai, I love what you said about commenting on posts because it's a great way to get started. I used to think logging onto LinkedIn, like how do I connect with this audience? Am I going to have to post original content?

Am I going to have to put myself out there and feel really cringey doing it? At this point now, I'm on the fully opposite side of that, where I just embrace the cringe and just crack myself up with how cringey I can get at times. But commenting on posts is a great way to just get on someone's radar, to build familiarity with your name.

I would add to that, I would say comment something insightful too. When you're making that next step toward actually interacting with somebody, like someone like Scott, we both know has like tens of thousands of connections and followers and whatever. What I noticed is when you reach out to these people, it can feel intimidating.

I noticed that if you conduct that outreach in such a way as to comment on some of their work, something they've thought about, maybe it's like a white paper or something they released that they're worried. We're all worried no one's consuming our content. If somebody reached out to me and said, Hey Rob, I want to connect.

It's very different than if someone says, Hey Rob, I noticed on this podcast you said this. I wanted to follow up on that. That would get my attention.

Overall though, yeah, this could be career changing if people embrace their network as a key part of what they do.

[Dillon] (7:25 - 7:37)

I got to get the JP here, because I feel like JP has utilized this strategy to great success. I want to hear about one of those tangible examples, JP.

[JP] (7:38 - 10:04)

Tahjai was one of the members of the Hybrid Glyphics. I love that group. Tahjai, you real hip hop head, you know about Tahjai.

He's from the West Coast too, so I was like, Oh, that's interesting. I was like, all right. The cause was great.

I think being authentic is underrated because people are always trying to sell you on it. The way that I utilized it was I do not embrace the cringe. Some of my people may find something I pose cringey, but I think one of the things I tried to do was I didn't try to come out and post like I'm a thought leader outside of the box.

I thought about it as I wanted LinkedIn to be like a signal for what I was about. I knew that I would be a particular brand and I'd rather be, I think you mentioned this Tahjai, I'd rather be very sort of like exactly who I am so that I fall in with the right people versus trying to present an image for what I think might make me successful. Because I feel like whatever the unique talents and perspectives and things that I hold, someone's going to really value that and I want to go where I'm going to give value.

I don't want the wrong kind of recognition. I think that's a big thing for me on LinkedIn. So yeah, I would say to people listening, definitely engage meaningfully because it can still come off transactional if you're commenting on posts, but you're not really saying much.

Follow the type of people, comment on the type of people where you actually want to build a relationship with them, not because this person you think can put you where you want. It's a very different thing. I'm not saying you can't network with whoever, but I think that that kind of authenticity really shows in the way, the actions that you take.

As Tahjai said, it's what kind of actions are you going to take? So I think for me, that's always been the important thing is be on there, be authentic, connect with people in that way. Let them see what's unique about me, what I have to offer and not try to please everyone.

[Dillon] (10:05 - 10:16)

I think you've got to find your tribe, but the only way you can find your tribe is by knowing yourself first. So that's that authenticity piece. Tahjai, we are out of time, but why don't you, you got any last thoughts before we say goodbye?

[Tahjai] (10:19 - 10:29)

Any last thoughts? No, just super happy to be here. This was awesome.

Sorry about your sixers.

[Dillon] (10:30 - 10:46)

As a Lakers fan, you are probably on cloud nine right now, but don't tell me about it. We have to say goodbye. Come back some other time and tell us how the next 15 years of your franchise's future have been solidified.

Until then, Tahjai, got to say goodbye.

[Tahjai] (10:46 - 10:47)

Peace y'all.

[VO] (11:07 - 11:29)

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