In 2021, Anthony joined the Customer Support team at Payday as a Technical Support Rep, and has since stepped up to lead the team. In this interview, Anthony shares the full story of how he got into customer support, his life at Payday and the skills required for good customer service. He also discusses what he enjoys doing during his free time. 

1. Hi, Anthony. Please tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your role at Payday and what does that entail?

My name is Anthony Nwakeze. I currently work as the Technical Support Lead at Payday. My core focus entails having conversations with customers concerning issues they are facing on the app and helping them resolve those issues on the spot.

2. Briefly run us through your career history. What did you do before starting your support career at Payday?

Previously, I worked as a Tech Lead at a virtual experience company, where we created virtual tours for businesses and individual customers. My job was to help the customers integrate virtual websites, and sometimes create virtual tours and walk them through using certain tools to showcase their products. In many cases, I was the first point of contact whenever they had issues with our services. I guess that was the beginning of my transition into Technical Support.

3. Did you always want to work in Customer Support?

I guess so. My career in tech has always revolved around fixing issues that had some level of technicality, and that somehow eased me into liking the idea of Support. I also get very excited whenever I have the opportunity to resolve issues for customers. Their happiness gives me a level of satisfaction that I can’t quite describe.

4. Now, everybody knows that customer support isn’t a job for the faint-hearted. Please share with us how you manage to stay on top of your game considering that Payday has a very large customer base?

To answer your question, I think it starts with the knowledge that the customer is king. I always remind myself that the customer’s satisfaction is paramount and this is what drives me to give my best to everyone I help.

Staying on top of my game requires that I make every customer feel seen – apologise for their inconvenience, offer assistance, fix their issues or escalate it (as the case may be), and follow up on them. Another tip that helps me is to prioritise customers according to their urgency level – Provide assistance to customers with missing funds and account related issues before others. 

5. What’s the most exciting part about your job at Payday?

I think the first part would be the customers in general. Payday’s customers are very exciting to interact with.  

Another exciting thing about my job at Payday is the team here, particularly the Customer Experience Team. I love the open conversations and discussions that we have. I also love the fact that I’m privileged to work with very smart people.

6. In your experience, what are the top 3 skills any customer support staff should have?

That’s a tricky question because I think there are a lot of skills that working in customer service requires. 

The first skill I think a support staff should have is Empathy. Second is communication, and last is Patience. With a perfect blend of these three skills, you’re guaranteed to succeed in your customer support career.

7. What would we find you doing when you’re not actively working for Payday

I run for about 30 minutes every morning, I write poems and short stories, and  I also play football on Saturdays.

When I’m not working, you’d find me scoring goals either on the field or in FIFA. By the way, I’m of the strong opinion that anyone who wants to improve their analytical skills should play FIFA often.

8. Have you ever had issues with receiving or sending money abroad, paying for things online, too? Care to share what that felt like?

Yes, I’ve had these issues before.

Firstly, I didn’t go to school in Nigeria, so it was quite difficult for my parents to send me money from here. Secondly, when I came back, I was doing some freelance jobs for clients outside of Nigeria, and it was really difficult to receive money. 

9. How does it feel to be working for a company that is actively solving that problem?

Honestly, It feels really good. Especially when you can see that you’re helping people solve a real problem from the customer service side and you see that a lot of people are using your services to carry out a lot of activities online – receiving money, paying for goods and services online – which have been difficult in the past couple of years until Payday came along. 

One of our goals at Payday is to ensure that we build a Global Neobank that solves the problem of staying globally connected, and I’m excited that this is happening for real. Payday is actively providing solutions for freelance creators, remote workers and anyone that wants to be connected to the Global Economy.

10. What advice do you have for anyone reading this who would like to become a Technical support lead?

In addition to empathy and emotional intelligence, I would advise the person to be consistent. Be consistent in networking, learning, and applying yourself wherever you currently are.

I also think that a lot of patience and analytical thinking  is important to succeed in this role. 

11. Before you go, is there anything you would like to tell all Payday’s customers who are reading this blog post?

Yeah, sure. If you’re reading this blog post right now, send money, fund your Payday virtual card, and use it to make payments online! If you need a walkthrough on how to use the App, just come to the in-app chat and ask for Anthony. I’ll be happy to give you a one on one tour.

Also, you should be excited for what’s coming in the future. I think a lot of the things we’re currently working on internally would make a lot of our customers very happy. We are also actively taking feedback. So, if you have any features that you would like to see on the app, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. 

12. Lastly, tell us something nobody else would ordinarily guess about you

I’m an Arsenal fan and I really hope we win the Premier league this season.