In this month’s Meet the Zauian, we catch up with Amanda Eagleson, our Support Specialist. As a Support Specialist, Amanda excels in identifying and troubleshooting customer issues. She communicates daily with our customers through email and phone calls to help them navigate their way to achieve their goals.

She is always very thorough and precise while helping her customers. Her great sense of humour always makes the conversation interesting. When she’s not cracking customer issues, Amanda can be found indulging her love of reading, writing, and travelling.

Can you tell us more about the challenges tour customer come across frequently?

The support team is the first point of contact with users struggling with some aspect of the software. Questions are, for the most part, straightforward (updating pricing, creating new activities, expanding on activity types etc.), but sometimes they are more complicated involving more testing and team input.

What is your favourite aspect of providing customer support?

My favourite aspect of providing customer support is being able to help clients learn Zaui and how it can be used to increase sales. I really appreciate the team here and the collaborative efforts to work through problems and challenges.

How would you handle multiple support requests coming in rapidly?

It is important to respond to new tickets/calls as soon as possible (this typically makes up the first part of a shift). But time needs to be set aside during the week for testing and reports.

My favourite quote 💥
Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls. — Maya Angelou

What does your typical workday look like?

I start my shift focusing on new tickets. Afternoons I focus on testing/and or reports if possible.
Meetings or team discussion tends to be mornings or early afternoons (the support team has at least one meet-up a week devoted to challenging tickets).

The best compliment you heard from your clients?

Over this last year, I’ve received compliments from new customers for answering questions in ways that are easy for them to understand and being attentive and easy to speak with. These compliments are really meaningful to me.

What helps you feel connected to your coworkers while working remotely?

This can be tricky. We are on slack all day (so there’s for sure a connection there). I feel like a real effort has been made to have both virtual and (limited) in-person events and I appreciate that. The past couple of years too, there’s been a focus on community outreach (which is great).

What makes you feel alive and excited?

Under non-pandemic circumstances travel rates right up there. It’s the best learning experience. My preference is challenging “road less travelled” trips and/or anything kitsch. I like writing, art, reading and trying new things. A couple of my co-workers here are really into mushroom hunting, which has sparked curiosity.

What’s the most common question people ask you when they find out what you do?

If I’m honest it’s “how did you end up doing that?”, my background is almost exclusively customer service (which support is but people tend to view anything related to tech differently).

What’s the biggest misconception people have about your position?

I don’t know about my position; generally, people tend to think about tech that verbal & written communication doesn’t matter. But whatever field you’re in soft skills are important, especially for team communication.

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose?

I feel like I overthought this question. Limiting myself in terms of time and space I would go for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She’s involved in a variety of creative projects and I think probably has a really interesting social circle. I feel like I could be her for one day.

If you could pick anybody to be your mentor, who would it be?

I took a quick LinkedIn Learning course on HTML from Apple Evangelist Jen Simmons and she was very good at breaking things down, explaining a lot in a limited time, and just seemed to have it remarkably together. I would pick her.

What do you do to turn things around when you’re having a bad day?

I think sometimes it’s good to step back/away, however briefly. Listen to music and mentally reset.

What advice would you give to new Zauians in their first month?

Review the Knowledge Base!

What volunteering or passion projects do you do outside of work?

I’m on the board of Vancouver Poetry House, and I write for Optimistic Learner, which is a site an old airport coworker and I started. It is dedicated to self-reflection, thoughtfulness, and growth through engaging educational content.