Customer Success Manager Steffen on his career at Local Brand X

Hello Steffen, nice of you to take the time today.  Please introduce yourself briefly.  

Hi, my name is Steffen, I'm 26 years old and I've been working at Local Brand X for almost exactly a year now. I originally moved to Mainz to study business administration in 2021. In my free time, I like to do sports, be it running, working out at the gym or playing football.  


What exactly do you do at Local Brand X? 

At Local Brand X, I currently work in the Customer Success department, where we look after our customers. In principle, support starts with the step of onboarding new customers to the Local Marketing Platform. Onboarding is followed by regular regular calls to discuss current issues and dialogue via our ticket system. 


You've already been through a few stations. How did you develop at Local Brand X?  

I started in summer 2023 as a working student in the Customer Success department. After my onboarding, I then actively supported my colleagues in the background in looking after customers. I still benefit from this today as a permanent employee, as I was able to gain insights into all customer areas and was always able to learn about new topics. I have now been working full-time in Customer Success for several months and look after my own customers. 


You recently wrote your bachelor’s thesis. What topic did you choose and how did Local Brand X support you? 

I wrote my bachelor's thesis at Local Brand X in spring 2024 and have already handed it in. Basically, two things were important to me: firstly, I attached great importance to practical relevance, because this was already important during my studies, and secondly, I wanted to deal with a topic that is current and relevant. That's why I approached our founders Yannik and Simon in December 2023 and signaled that I would like to write my bachelor’s thesis at Local Brand X on artificial intelligence. Yannik was very convinced, so we sat down together and discussed a rough direction. In the end, I conducted expert interviews with a selection of our customers on the implementation of AI-supported functions in the Local Marketing Platform. Overall, it was particularly helpful for me that I was able to approach Yannik again and again and that he supported me in the best possible way throughout the entire process of my bachelor’s thesis. I think you could say that it was a win-win situation for both sides. 


Did you always know that you wanted to do this or what was your dream job as a child? 

I think as a boy, becoming a professional footballer is often at the top of the wish list. I wouldn't have said no to that either, but I've also enjoyed playing the sport as a hobby for over 20 years. Through my commercial training and business studies, I also realized that the area of key account management, i.e. customer support, is very interesting for me. I like the constant contact with people, the organization of projects and the coordination between internal departments. That's also what I'm currently enjoying so much in Customer Success. 


How did you get to work to Local Brand X? 

I got to know Local Brand X 2023 at the Company Day at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. I got talking to my current colleagues Jule and Laura there. They really impressed me and I then applied for a job in the Customer Success department. 


What advice can you give future applicants or perhaps other students? 

Basically, as I already mentioned, practical relevance was very important to me during my studies, always with the ulterior motive that my studies should not suffer as a result. You should therefore consider whether you would like to invest the free time you have alongside your studies to work alongside your studies. You will never have the opportunity to do an internship or working student position so flexibly and to orientate yourself professionally accordingly. Local Brand X offers many career opportunities, such as marketing, sales, HR, product management or even customer success. There are many great areas, and you should simply see which one appeals to you and then simply apply. Local Brand X in particular, with its flat hierarchy, offers the opportunity to develop further within the company in various departments and to promote your personal development in addition to the professional aspect. 
 
Thank you very much for the interview, Steffen. I wish you continued fun and success with Local Brand X!