“As a data science company working in law enforcement, there are endless metrics we can point to and measure our success against, and that’s all well and good. You can show me all the data in the world, but at the end of the day, for me and my team, success boils down to one question: ‘What are the customers saying?'”
A Commitment to Customer Success
Benchmark Analytics is dedicated to continually enhancing the overall experience of our valued customers — including effective utilization of the product, achievement of desired outcomes, and overall satisfaction and fulfillment. With Jay Dobbs at the helm in his role as Senior Director, the Customer Success team is doing just that. Jay is motivated by a desire to make a meaningful impact, and has meticulously honed his skills in leadership, account management, interpersonal relationships, problem-solving, and communication.
Jay has over a decade of experience in customer service, including customer-facing roles at Target and CareerBuilder, where he developed foundational skills in managing diverse customer needs and solving problems quickly. To hone his customer service skills, Jay developed an interest in product management to better understand the mechanics of product functionality and malfunction, so he could provide customers with a well-rounded explanation of their services — and provide informed reports if and when something failed to meet a customer’s expectations.
At CareerBuilder, Jay advanced through support, account management, and product leadership roles, consistently focusing on how his work contributed to customer satisfaction and retention.
“For a long time, one of my career goals was to get into product management. I thought the best way to get there was to learn everything I could from the support side: how products worked, what happens when they break, and the quality assurance process. From there, it was just a matter of taking on different roles within the support world.”
Joining Benchmark Analytics
While proud of his achievements in customer satisfaction and the contributions they were making toward meeting his company’s performance objectives, Jay began to realize that he was interested in leveraging his expertise with an organization that was dedicated to making a broader social impact.
As he researched opportunities, he came across a LinkedIn post for an opening at Benchmark Analytics — and was immediately drawn to the company’s mission despite having no prior experience in public safety. Confident that his software and customer operations expertise would benefit the company, Jay applied for a Customer Support position; after a thorough interview process, he joined the team in December 2020.
“I was ready to challenge myself and figure out how I could use my skill sets in customer experience and customer operations to align with a company that’s doing really important work on the scale of Benchmark.”
Achievements at Benchmark
During his first two years with Benchmark, Jay focused on defining team structures and responsibilities, identifying process improvements, mentoring customer service representatives, and promoting the company’s data-driven approach to personnel management. One of Jay’s proudest achievements is the establishment of Benchmark’s robust customer health metrics that enable the organization to manage risk proactively, discuss key risk drivers, and align with the true sentiment of the customer.
By creating a framework for identifying and measuring customer satisfaction, Jay’s Customer Success team is able to provide critical input to Benchmark’s product and engineering teams to validate or refine priorities and roadmaps.
Leadership Philosophy
Regarding his leadership style, Jay firmly believes that every leader must align themselves with techniques and strategies that are authentic to them, rather than imitating others. Jay employs a coaching style for managing his team, assigning challenging tasks that take his team members outside their comfort zone — while providing a supportive environment for feedback and development.
One of the most important leadership lessons that has impacted Jay is that stewarding is less about exercising authority and more about influencing through relationships and managing conflicts. It requires being comfortable with ceding control, collaborating with others within the organization to find a happy medium when resources are scarce, and integrating personal objectives into the broader framework of the company’s goals.
“I think a lot of people fall into the trap of imitating how their leaders behave, and it creates an internal struggle. It was certainly something I grappled with in my first leadership role. I believe you have to be authentic to yourself to be an effective leader.”
On Success
When evaluating success, Jay prioritizes the customer’s voice above all else. Alongside quantitative KPIs, he measures success by the strength of customer relationships and feedback. He takes great pride in the accolades Benchmark’s customer operations team consistently receives for their rapport with agencies.
“One of our greatest strengths is our relationships with the agencies. Even in those occasional instances when customers have an issue with the platform’s performance, their feedback about the hard work and care shown by our customer reps has been outstanding. That’s something I’m immensely proud of; it speaks to our level of dedication as a team.”
Ultimately, Jay is motivated by the opportunity to help law enforcement agencies drive meaningful change by affecting the trajectory of their overall performance. He remains inspired by how Benchmark’s solutions can challenge management assumptions and conventional thinking by enabling organizations to turn insights into impact.
Looking to the future, Jay believes Benchmark will continue to innovate with solutions that will transform the landscape of police force management in America.