How Kristi Created Her Own Customer Success Job

What if the secret to progressing your career in customer support was as simple as making your work visible? In this first episode of season 3 of The Supportive Podcast, Help Scout’s own Kristi Thompson shares how a few bullet points and some phone calls eventually turned into a brand new role being created for her.

Subscribe to The Supportive in your podcast player (or via Spotify and Apple Podcasts), or watch the full episode below. Every episode this season will also be on video, so please subscribe to the Help Scout Youtube channel for notifications if you prefer that mode.

In this episode, you’ll discover how small, consistent acts — as simple as quarterly bullet-point updates — can change the way leadership perceives your work and help you advocate for customer needs, while also building your personal impact and visibility.

Some key moments

• (00:00) Transitioning to a customer success role

• (05:32) Company-wide collaboration on customer support

• (07:36) Tracking customer engagement calls

• (11:37) Showcasing valuable customer calls

• (13:52) Communicating AI features to customers

• (17:26) Communicating team needs and issues

• (19:14) Watching for customer trends

Too long, didn’t watch? Here’s your cheat sheet

Visibility drives value: Regularly sharing even small updates about your projects and wins helps ensure your work doesn't go unnoticed. It can lead to new opportunities — even the creation of new roles.

Don’t wait for permission to innovate: Start small. Frame new ideas as experiments. Measuring outcomes and sharing those results can prove value and gradually build momentum for bigger changes.

Tell stories, not just stats: Combining metrics with real customer stories makes your impact tangible and relatable to other teams. It’s not self-promotion; it’s advocacy for the work and your customers’ needs.