Q: How has Outreach been affected by Covid-19?
MA: It’s interesting as a company, we have spent a lot of time making sure that people were safe and that our customers had what they needed. We started working from home early on. We communicated a lot to make sure if anyone had issues, we were here.
Last year in North America, we were the fourth fastest growing company in America across any kind of industry. Telling a customer ‘Hey, would you like to grow super fast right now in a Covid-19 environment’ is extremely tone deaf. Companies are going away, and people are being laid off, so we guided folks on what are the things they really need. We actually helped a lot of companies tailor their messaging, but we wanted to help them. There are some companies that are exploding right now as well. For example, Zoom is expanding, and right now, they want to know how to expand faster than ever before. So really, we were looking to see where the customers were at with their businesses. Some were expanding, while others were struggling.
Q: Why is there often that pain point between marketing and sales?
MA: I think sales and marketers work in their departments more so than for the company. I have a shareholder in the marketing department at Outreach. When you have a company that thinks about it in that way, and we share research together, then we talk about the company as one voice. Imagine if it’s a relay race, and marketers get all these leads. This might come from ads, eBooks or webinars, and all these leads need to be qualified.
They need to go down the pipeline and if you’re the sales person, you’re the one to close the deal. Sometimes it can feel like marketers say: ‘Hey I’m handing the baton off to you. Good luck to you,’ and they go away. With marketers, I think it changes the conversation when you’re at the front part of the funnel. It’s our job to make sure they do cross the finish line so it’s that type of a collaboration.
Q: How can we bridge that gap as marketers?
MA: We always use the relay race analogy. You know a funnel – it does the same thing, which implies that I put something in the funnel, but I don’t care what comes out at the end. I like looking at those analogies and saying ‘But what about the other people supporting?’
And maybe we should start thinking about it as a garden instead. We’re gardeners, not relay racers. We all plant the seeds together, water and fertilise it, and it is our job to make sure something grows from it. If we all know what we’re nurturing and all of us are taking turns and watering it, it takes away the linear approach of thinking about our leads.
Q: What’s the key to breaking down these silos between departments?
MA: It might seem so basic, but literally sharing what your goals are and then being accountable to each other’s goals. By doing that, you create those same goals together. It’s easier to be empathetic when you’re all in the same situation. And in the US, 100% of us were quarantined in the same way. So with lockdown, people’s kids became a big part of the conversation. It kind of broke down the barriers with what’s home and what’s work.
In addition, marketers are meant to be optimistic all the time, but I think being authentic and real, is key. We have happy hours and weekly meetings, and we do that with our sales teams as well, so if you’re in it together. With Covid-19, it breaks down the silos and personas of your job. We all live in the same communities and are going through this together.
