I can’t believe that I’m writing this and I’ve nearly completed my placement year at ProspectSoft. With around 8 weeks to go I am feeling very reflective of my time here and all the new things I’ve learnt and gained.

Every day within the Customer Success Team is different and I’ve been given some great opportunities throughout my placement year. I’ve not only developed skills and attributes which will benefit me in my future career, but I’ve grown as an individual. I’ve taken the time to build relationships with our 350+ customers which has enabled me to work alongside them to utilise their Prospect 365 solution and introduce new features when released. From this, I can see a real benefit of technology for businesses.  I’ve improved my team work skills as I’ve built great relationships with the Customer Success Team and I feel like a valued member of the team. I’ve learnt that teamwork is vital within my job role, as our customers rely on us for help and information. I believe this has helped massively with my confidence and motivation at work.

ProspectSoft integrates with a third-party email service provider (ESP), called CommuniGator, and it’s my role within the Customer Success Team to manage these customer accounts. This includes anything from answering general usage questions, to assisting customers with creating content for their emails, to managing the admin side of their account. As part of this, I have delivered 50+ product demonstrations of CommuniGator, as well as several training sessions for new users. Most of these training sessions were delivered remotely. However, I was recently given the opportunity to visit one of ProspectSoft’s largest customers to deliver a training session. This was extremely beneficial to both the customer and myself. I feel proud that my manager had the confidence to send me to see such a big customer to deliver professional, high-standard training. This demonstrates how far I’ve come on my journey with ProspectSoft.

During my placement year, new GDPR regulations were introduced. As the Account Manager for our CommuniGator customers, this was a huge project which I could get hands on with. As part of this, I assisted the Marketing Team Leader to send out an Email Marketing Campaign to our existing customers, promoting the benefits of using CommuniGator with ProspectSoft. This was an exciting project to manage and it was good to use my creative skills to create an engaging email that would appeal to our customers. Throughout this change, I was able to develop my communication skills as I was required to speak to customers about their GDPR strategy and help them to meet the new GDPR regulations. My business knowledge grew in terms of understanding legislations and the importance of compliance.

Coming towards the end of my placement year, I’ve just run an Email Marketing training session for all employees at ProspectSoft. This has proved just how much I’ve developed during my placement year. 10 months ago, presenting in front of the whole company would’ve been a daunting task that I would’ve been very nervous about. However, I was able to deliver this training session without any issues. This was due to my extensive knowledge of the subject and it was great to have a positive impact on the company. This is something I feel very proud to have achieved and it’s undoubtedly helped me to build my confidence, develop my professional manner and communication skills even further.  

Although working in a dynamic and high-pressure role has been a challenge at times, it’s been a challenge I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and wouldn’t change! I’ve learnt so much in a year and have gained a strong foundation of knowledge and skills that I can take back to University and then into my career. I’ve met some amazing people at ProspectSoft and each and every person has contributed something positive to my placement year, and this is something I’m very grateful for.