July 7, 2016
Our company Webconnex has been around for 8 years now and when our cofounder’s started this business they were determined to not only make software that was not less than awesome and but to make it affordable. We’ve done pretty well over the years of living up to these two goals. We are a small team of about 14. Yup that’s right, only 14! And really only 5 of us are support members. We serve thousands of clients and our number of clients keep climbing as our team count remains the same. We constantly receive feedback on how awesome our support team is while also constantly evolving our software to be on the edge of its market. From my experience in the industry, I don’t know any other company that does this or even close to as well as we have managed to.Now, I hear you asking, “So how are you able to serve thousands of clients effectively and still be rad? Is it Superpowers? Ninja skills?” We aren’t superhuman nor are we soaked in some radioactive lake, but we have managed to find a pretty powerful combination that allows us to keep our team small, and effective, while simultaneously reaching the masses.
To have an effective team, you need to fill it with passionate, self-motivated individuals. These individuals are the engine that keeps your organization moving. You don’t need to whip them to move faster, you only need to direct them in the direction you need them to go. These individuals see needs and meet them without being asked to do so. Their initiative and genuine care of the business drive their effectiveness. We have a team full of passionate and engaged individuals who genuinely believe in the vision of the business and give all they can during the hours they’re on the clock.
We don’t just look at competitors and ask “How can we do this better?” We look at the market and ask “What are the problems that need solving?” We have found that some of the biggest pain points in our market today is flexibility and affordability. Not only have we built our platform by soothing these pain points, but we strive to do so excellently. Our development team works late hours and even holidays to try and not only push great, new features, but to keep solidifying our current system. With our stable platform and mix of our on-boarding tools with helpful tutorials, our clients are pretty self-sufficient as they navigate our platform; only the clients with real needs reach out to us, allowing us to keep our support team lean and efficient.
We understand that a team is made up of individuals who each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Customer Support strength lies in their relationship skills. Development’s strength lies in their strategic skills. Each individual has a strength that covers another’s weakness. This is what makes us a solid team. As we begin to trust each other’s capabilities, we lean on each other’s strengths allowing each of us to fulfill a role that no one else can. If we had a 15 person team that consisted of all the same personalities and strengths, we would not achieve much. Since we each have our unique skill-set, we’re able to specialize and focus on our individual strength allowing us to cover more ground as we move forward as a company.
Why do we do what we do? We never forget our why. It can be easy to mark up our prices and make more money, but we’re not in it for the money. We don’t just see an awesome product. We see how this platform affects people’s lives. Our platform impacts people’s dreams and livelihood. Everything from non-profits wanting to solve the world’s safe water problems to events that alleviate personal hope in ticket buyers. Each client that comes across our path is asking for our help in achieving their dream. That is what motivates us.
The atmosphere can directly impact your team’s performance and motivation. Office drama and gossip kill trust and dependency. Our office was modeled after a co-working space layout to reflect the atmosphere we wanted to achieve: openness and liveliness. We strive to create an atmosphere that is open and transparent, not only for work but relationally too. Though this can open the door for tough conversations, the communication and honesty that is opened breeds more openness and trust, resulting in a team that internally supports each other. We can each express our frustrations and we can work together to find solutions. Our bond between our coworkers is genuine. We each enjoy coming to the office not only to work but to work with one another.How do we do it? With these ingredients we have been able to build a strong, solid, efficient team that has built a product that serves thousands of clients. It’s not always easy, breezy but we definitely enjoy what we do and how we do it.