With the pace of change rising every year and the scope of digital marketing widening, each digital marketer has to invest time and energy to upskill and learn constantly. With hyper growth in digital advertising, brands and retailers need to leverage analytics to understand what makes their ads tick. If they want to stand out, content needs to do the talking and decisions should be backed with numbers. Performance-based digital marketing promises greater measurability, targetability, and effectiveness for organizations. An adaptable and self-aware leader, Sumita Kar, VP Customer Success at Crealytics, strives to build a strong relationship between customers and the organization. Through performance advertising and marketplace solutions, Crealytics helps brands and retailers activate their customer data, empowering them to master their paid media performance to win more new and loyal customers.

A forward-thinking competent professional, Sumita has nine years of experience in digital marketing, customer success, business development, strategic consulting, and project management in the digital landscape. Through her expertise in customer handling, she strives to empower and inspire others and create value for clients. Sumita Kar engages in an exclusive interaction with the Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

What are some essential features of your expertise as a business leader?

Every client is unique, so to become a trustworthy ally, one needs to maintain a good relationship with them and between them. I believe my ability to make decisions quickly helps me navigate through multiple things I have going on. Creativity and imagination never let me down when dealing with clients. I own the accountability for things I undertake. Lastly, I think there has to be optimism and humor in the easiest to most challenging times.

What are the various responsibilities that you shoulder as VP Customer Success? What are your current focus areas in the said role?

I act as a bridge between the client and internal teams, keeping a "high-level view" of the entire support process. Helping clients gain a sustainable competitive edge from the services provided, thus creating value for them, advocating for them, and nurturing healthy relationships. The primary responsibility is to enhance the satisfaction level of customers and provide continued value-added services. My capable team helps onboard new clients globally, refine internal processes, undertake inter-departmental projects, and hold communication training, among other things. Apart from usual client management and other projects, my current focus is to expand customer success to manage clients in the US. Roll out and replicate to a certain extent the processes that have proven effective in Europe and the UK.

Throw some light on the most critical challenges you face in your current role. What steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks that you face?

As the digital scene is ever-evolving, product and subject expertise remain critical, so it is pertinent to provide elements of consultancy and strategic advice to clients. Their expectation is not only to benefit from services but also to receive expert advice that is industry specific. It is essential to understand priorities and execute tasks according to their importance. One needs to be organized to sort out what drives value, retain customers, and enhance growth. In addition, automating repetitive tasks go a long way to free up time. Sometimes, a day or week goes by putting out fires; we don't usually hear from clients until something is wrong, and that's always challenging. Reacting to challenges takes time away from helping clients realize value. Flip the approach, proactively check in from time to time and create a robust client health model.

What are some of the most significant milestones you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What is your success mantra?

Deciding to leave India and move to Germany at the age of 23 was the most significant professional and personal milestone. Not knowing a soul here, proved to be a great learning experience as I had to navigate my way through and choose this path, and I believe it helped build character. Then moving to Berlin 6-7 years back made me realize the value of internationalization and the things one can learn from diverse cultures and ways of work. It made me independent and exposed me to different opportunities to learn and develop. Leading a team made me realize things about myself I would never have understood otherwise, like the bigger picture of a situation. My success mantra is something my parents always said, As you sow, So shall you reap. So, I show up and put in the work.

“ Learn to be open to change and adapt to every situation”

Tell us some key personality traits that make you a successful business leader.

Three primary hip pocket skills that I believe as my expertise are emotional intelligence, communication, and resilience. I am self-aware, as in I recognize my strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and social awareness. It helps to adapt to different situations and audiences quickly. I believe one must always be inquisitive, observe and actively listen to remain engaged and attentive. Things rarely go as planned, no matter how much one accounts for risks, so a leader's resilience under pressure is critical.

Sumita Kar, VP Customer Success, Crealytics

Having studied in Army Schools all through, discipline and fun went hand in hand for Sumita Kar, who believes in optimism even in darker times. Her life is a mixture of new places, family, friends, experiences, and culture, which have moulded her into an incredible character. With an engaging approach and a free-spirited team, she strives to enhance the performance bar of her company.