Customer support often flies under the radar until something breaks. 

When queues are long or customers are frustrated, support suddenly takes center stage. But when everything’s running smoothly, we’re invisible by design: quietly removing obstacles, resolving issues, and keeping the business moving.

The truth is, support teams hold a gold mine of insights about your product, your customers, and your company. Yet too often, that expertise goes untapped.

At a time when efficiency is everything and AI is transforming how we work, there's a unique opportunity to reimagine the role of support. By unlocking the skills within our teams, embracing technology, and forging cross-functional connections, we can elevate support from a reactive function to a strategic powerhouse.

This is how we shift the narrative and uncover the hidden gems within customer support.

Move from reactive to strategic

So, how do we unlock the full potential of the support team and create a greater impact?

  • Identify and recognize the expertise and insights that already exist within your team.
  • Supercharge support with technology to create space for higher-value work.
  • Leverage our unique proximity to customers to amplify the customer voice inside the business.
  • Understand company strategy: what’s driving decisions, what obstacles leadership is facing, and where support can play a role.
  • Advocate and connect across departments, weaving support expertise into product development, marketing messaging, and strategic planning.

These are the hidden gems of customer support, and when we take the time to unlock them, we can truly change the way support is perceived and valued across the business.

Discover the personas within your team

One of the first steps to unlocking the full potential of your support team is identifying the skill sets and unique personas that already exist within it. Support professionals show up in many different ways, and it’s important to recognize and value those strengths.

Let me introduce you to a few of the personas I see most often.

The educator

These are the folks who can take complex concepts and break them down for customers in ways that just make sense. They’re often the ones with the highest customer satisfaction ratings. They thrive on making things clear and accessible.

The detective

These team members never shy away from tough tickets. They dive headfirst into complex issues, chasing root causes and solving tricky problems. Often, these are your more technical folks, the ones working on bugs, incident management, and process optimization.

The innovator

Innovators are constantly learning and experimenting. They don’t stop at surface-level solutions; they go deeper, trying new things and refining processes. You might see them leading workshops, digging into quality assurance, or proposing improvements.

The connector

These are your natural relationship-builders. They translate customer feedback into meaningful internal dialogue, and they bridge teams. You’ll often find them playing the role of feedback liaison, cross-functional collaborator, or community advocate. Their strength lies in communication and empathy.

The hidden influencer

Throughout my career, I’ve sat on both sides of the pre- and post-sales divide. No matter where I sit, I find myself constantly thinking about how to influence revenue. And behind all of these personas, there’s an influencer.

Support professionals have the power to shape customer behavior. They help drive activation, improve adoption, and even influence expansion and retention. In many ways, they’re an extension of your sales development team – surfacing leads and opportunities – and of your customer success team – educating and guiding customers toward value.

These personas aren’t exhaustive, and they definitely aren’t mutually exclusive. One person can embody several at once. When you take a step back and look at this cast of characters, you realize just how far from “just a cog” your support team really is.