Monday Guest Cara Benecke-Y3-W51
Get to know Cara Benceke
By: Mohammed Alqaq | December 16, 2024 | Year 3 – Week 51/2024
Hi there, I am Cara, German but living in sunny Spain. I work 100% remotely at the scale up WorkFlex, leading the Customer Success and Support team. I am also a mother of 2 children, a Golden Retriever called Pretzel and enjoy living with my family in Seville. In my free time I like to do sports, especially playing fieldhockey, listen to music and enjoy time with friends.
We asked Cara to take us through a journey telling us about her career path, how she spends her workday, what advice she can share with someone starting as a customer success manager, and many other questions.
Enjoy reading this interview
Table of Contents
Tell us about your career path?
I think like many my career did not straight away start in Customer Success. My dream was to be a Brand Manager for a cool brand, which is why I started working in Marketing. I had my dream job then, to work for cool brands at the multinational Unilever, until I moved to Spain and found my love for Account Management in another enterprise company.
How did you join Customer Success?
In 2022 I found my way to SaaS and since then, I have been either in Sales or Customer Success and in the end decided to move entirely to Customer Success and build the department from scratch.
How would you describe the ideal CSM candidate?
I believe Consultants are very good CSMs, because from their nature they are problem solvers. They are good listeners, they are advisors, putting the customer first. However, nowadays as a CSM you also need to have certain commercial skills. CS is more and more a revenue engine, which makes it almost impossible to partially also be working with negotiations, expansion discussions and renewals.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out as a Customer Success Manager?
Create your network now already. I have been in quite some networks and communities but the CS community is out of this world. It’s full of people that are more than happy to help. Also there are great resources like podcasts and newsletters and great people sharing their world and experience in CS. Make sure to check them out to get a feeling about what the CS world looks like.
Can you take us on a journey describing what your workday looks like?
Create your network now already. I have been in quite some networks and communities but the CS community is out of this world. It’s full of people that are more than happy to help. Also there are great resources like podcasts and newsletters and great people sharing their world and experience in CS. Make sure to check them out to get a feeling about what the CS world looks like.
What makes you feel inspired or motivated?
Seeing my team grow. I looooove to see how they improve, get out of their comfort zone and celebrate wins.
What’s one thing that people are generally surprised to find out about you?
Probably that I am already 35 :-D, A lot of people think I am much younger – grateful for my genetics, haha!
Who do you look up to the most?
My father – he is big pillar in my life and has always guided and supported my along the way. Also he is 77 years old and still loves and enjoys his job which keeps him also fit in his head, hopefully I’ll be like that when I am 77. I don’t mean maybe the working part, but being fit in my head!
What are your top 3 priorities now?
One priority is always taking care of my personal growth. I am a person that learns quickly and therefore gets bored easily. Therefore it is in my responsibility to keep challenging myself to grow. For my role and as we end 2024, I am of course working on our strategy for 2025 and from a private perspective I always make my sports also a priority, as otherwise I can be very grumpy and nobody wants that.
What advice would you give to Customer Success Managers to grow and develop their careers?
Get a mentor! Period!
What’s your favorite book, and why?
Oh, I am a very cheesy reader when it comes to fiction. People probably don’t want to know that! So for non-fiction I really enjoyed “The Diary of a CEO” from Steven Bartlett – the podcast is also amazing!
» Check out the 10 Books a CSM should read to advance and improve their skills.
Have you had your “I’ve made it” moment yet?
Yes, when I started my first consulting project that I thought just fell on my feet but in the end it was a lot of hard work building my personal brand on Linkedin, so that was a special moment for sure.
What should I have asked you but didn’t?
What’s my favourite food?
RASPBERRY!!
Where can people go to find out more about you?
I’d be happy to connect on Linkedin, feel free to reach out.
I share weekly tips and tricks, learnings and everything about Customer Success (sometimes I also like to be funny!)
Thank you, Cara, for sharing your knowledge and for the opportunity to know you more.
Do you have a Customer Success Leader, Expert, or Influencer you would like to know more about?
