Catherine Green, Field Global Account Manager based in Morrisville, NC, has proven herself to exemplify what it means to be a Lenovo employee. She is infectiously passionate about building customer relationships that last, having cultivated a comprehensive consultation approach that takes Lenovo from a source of hardware to an essential partner that makes business not only easier, but smarter.
Simply put: she knows how to bring the best minds together. Affectionately known as “Cat” amongst her peers, she is viewed as a leader who consistently helps her customers accomplish their goals, shares best practices with her colleagues, and guides many through complex situations to find real, sustainable solutions.
We sat down with Cat to hear more about her experience.
What does it mean to be a Field Global Account Manager?
My role is to help provide solutions for customers, really focusing on how we can be a trusted advisor for them.
A major focus I hold is to make sure I’m not the only one that is close to the customer. I always ensure more people from Lenovo are involved in our discussions than just myself. My job is to quarterback efforts to ensure effectiveness with the solutions we drive. By making sure customers feel supported across all avenues – bringing in our Data Center group, Motorola, and Intelligent Devices team where appropriate – we coordinate with the right people to have those conversations and provide the best experience.
I’ve found that the key to providing the best customer experience is through utilizing the resources Lenovo already has available. That allows more people to develop relationships with our customers, not just a single account manager. I’ve really tried to build with my accounts with a strong team that stays connected with our customers on a daily basis.
Instead of standing as a middleman between the customer and Lenovo, I’m making sure our customers have direct access to the Lenovo experts they need, right when they need them.
I make sure our customers have direct access to the Lenovo experts they need, right when they need them.
How has expanding customer teams impacted your relationships?
I’m seeing that our conversations are expanding beyond just hardware, and we are having more of those total–solution collaborations. We’re having the opportunity to have deep strategic conversations and really serve as trusted advisors.
It’s also allowing us to change our mindset from being reactive in fear of customer issues to seeing the opportunities available if a problem arises. We’ve been able to leverage what could traditionally be seen as a “bad” customer experience as an opportunity to rebuild a positive experience by bringing in our expanded teams to dig deeper and understand the root of the problem, how that affects the rest of the customer’s business, and what solutions already available at Lenovo could be utilized to bring results.
I work hard make sure customers really understand that Lenovo is backing them.
I can feel your passion. How do you stay sharp for your customers?
There are areas where you can be an asset to a specific project, even if it’s not your own role, that helps Lenovo and its customers move further ahead in the long run. Personally, I’ve been very involved with Lenovo’s SmartOffice team discussions on top of my regular responsibilities because I really enjoy strategic projects. It expands my knowledge, and it helps me better understand how we’re making specific decisions. The extra work ultimately helps me serve my customers because I’m able to be more transparent and take customer feedback straight to the source.
There are areas where you can be an asset to a specific project, even if it’s not your own role, that helps Lenovo and its customers move further ahead in the long run.
What lessons have you been learning lately?
The biggest thing that I’ve uncovered in the two years I’ve worked at Lenovo is this idea of being one team. I’ve found so much value in sharing best practices because there are so many amazing things that different account teams are doing across the company. We’re having frequent touchpoints with our peers to understand what our respective customers are experiencing so that we can know who to partner with if our own customers come to us with similar asks.
Keeping those best practices in our back pockets allows us to reach farther than just surface level in any situation. We could respond to a customer request by saying, “sorry, we don’t offer that,” and leave it there until they ask for something we do offer. Or, we could take the next step to align with Lenovo’s strategic vision to our devices – advocating both for Lenovo to our customers and also for customers to Lenovo.
I’ve been able to craft solutions simply by sharing customer concerns – if Lenovo can provide solutions to those concerns, then we become more of that advisor customers can trust in the future. We’re taking the next step to customize solutions that actually meet our customer needs.
If Lenovo can provide solutions to those concerns, then we become more of that advisor customers can trust in the future. We’re taking the next step to customize solutions that actually meet our customer needs.
I look at my job as less of “this is my job; that’s someone else’s job,” and instead I try think of how we can come together to provide a glimpse of who we are to our customers. We are innovators and entrepreneurs, and that’s something I want to make sure our customers see. I’m proud to work at Lenovo because Lenovo invests so much into creating a smarter world, and I want my customers to want to be part of innovating that world with us.