What Should Be the Qualities of a Successful Sales Rep and Marketer?
When you are looking for a new sales rep or marketing manager, you definitely know what skills they should have. But what about mental qualities? And how specific are eWay-CRM users? In an interview with our marketing director Lidka Weinzettl, we focused not only on the psychology she studied. If you read to the end, you will also learn what a successful bulk email delivery cannot do without.
Before the interview, I found out that you had your own translation agency? When did it end?
A year ago. I was faced with the decision of needing to invest to take the business to the next level, but I found that it didn't fulfill me that much, so I ended it.
Looking at your previous experience, it seems that the projects you have worked on were often connected to the theme of motherhood. Was it an intention?
From a professional point of view, motherhood does not resonate with me at all. For example, Mom4moms is a project of my friend Vanda Seidel, who, by the way, was recently featured in a Forbes article. We have met during studies and she was looking for a marketing manager a few years later. Coincidentally, at the beginning of the collaboration, I surprised her by getting pregnant, that's true. (laughter)
Then I came across another activity at UNIPA, which is an union of midwives, in the usual way. It was more based on my volunteer focus and previous work in the health care industry, than that it would be motherly in any way. I also did some consultations for the toy industry companies and the like, but I would say that it is quite natural connection when you work for one company where you get contacts to others who do something similar.
It probably draws you the most to marketing, even though you also did business or translation.
I like marketing because everything meets there. I got into it by accident. I was interviewed for a sales manager at a translation company. (laughs) So historically, it's all linked together. I refused the offered position at the time, so the then boss offered me the position of an outgoing marketing colleague.
Lidka Weinzettl, eWay-CRM marketing director
Does your sales background provide an advantage? What did it give you in the beginning with marketing?
I see a communication advantage in that. I was an acquisition sales rep, which means you have to pick up the phone and acquire clients based on cold calling. In my first full-time job in 2005, I was afraid to take the phone, my hand was shaking. But, over time I got used to it, and in marketing I lost my fear of anything. I've learned to look for things that work. At the same time, I'm not afraid to try new things. So I perceive conservatism and at the same time the courage of a sales rep who, if he does not have the courage, can never be successful.
It occurs to me that you approach marketing very analytically. Is analytics a bigger part of yourself than creativity?
When I finished high school, I was advised to study painting. So, on the contrary, I was creative. I am a 360-degree marketer who solves what is needed with regard to the functioning of the company. I don't have a narrow specialization and I intentionally try not to have it. Of course, analytics is also important, but data interpretation and finding context are just as important. Without it, you only get numbers that do not make any sense on its own.
Let's focus on eWay-CRM now. You have been working with us for 3 months, so how do you like it here so far?
When Roman asked me (note: eWay-CRM development director), I said I am looking forward to work every morning. I'm looking forward to people, the view from the office and I feel confident in marketing, so it is nice that I do what I know.
What were your expectations when you went to eWay-CRM?
I was aware that the product and the target group are specific, which was confirmed to me. At the same time, I wanted to apply my experience to something that will be a challenge for me and I will try to get the most out of it.
In your opinion, how exactly are eWay-CRM users specific?
Our clients are not rash. I have a feeling that rather than a startup owner who gets excited about something easily and quickly, the typical eWay-CRM user will be an entrepreneur who thinks about everything, plans, and evaluates risks. One that builds a business step by step.
With other CRM systems, the users often find that they learn all the functions within a month, but after half a year or a year they will find out that CRM does not offer them much more than contact management.
eWay-CRM is more in line with building a business. When they get started, they can edit, add, or remove it, and it's still in line with their business.
So you think they perceive the scalability of the system?
Exactly. In other systems, there are fixed windows with a lot of fields, and as a sales rep, when I used them, I was wondering which field to fill out. Then I found out that each manager sets up his own process to which the chosen CRM must correspond.
The marketing module is also a part of eWay-CRM. What is the biggest advantage of combining a CRM system and email delivery?
I think the greatest benefit of this connection is a unified record of information. The salesperson or project manager in the CRM system sees whether the people to whom the email was sent, read the message or clicked on topics they are interested in.
Finally, as an experienced marketer, I would like to ask you about current email marketing trends, which eWay-CRM users can possibly use when creating campaigns in the marketing module.
An extremely important thing is authenticity. The customers must be happy with the email. It needs to be beneficial or positive for them in order to have the desire to open the email. In short, so that the email does not look like it was written by a robot, but on the contrary, someone you like to read from. When an email comes from a friends or colleagues, I assume that they have selected things that are of interest to me and wrote them in an understandable way. The same should be done for mass messages.
Then it is also important to know how often to communicate with customers and how. Whether direct mailing is enough or it is necessary to connect the same information with other channels. Whether it's appropriate to send an email daily or once a month. Personally, I prefer a lower frequency. When an email arrives once a month, I know someone strives to create the email.
