Decisively Digital. Alexander Loth
don't have to have every employee in the office every day, that we can work remotely at scale. So take advantage of the expanded talent pool and hire the best people you can find, wherever they are (within reason).
That being said, we're all going to have to get much better at establishing deep and trusting relationships without necessarily experiencing in-person touchpoints. That's hard to do, from the interview or first meeting to the daily working relationship. That means reading people well, sending clear signals, and delivering on the things we say we're going to do.
We're also going to have to find ways to make teams work efficiently together at scale in digital environments. I've noticed in my teaching that I can't cover as much material in a virtual class as I did in an in-person class. But there are practices and techniques that can shorten the time to efficiency.
And finally, when it comes to sellers and buyers, I'll make a pitch for my discipline. In an increasingly digital world, marketing is going to own more and more of the customer journey because marketing teams can generally execute digital experiences well. So seeing sales, customer success, and marketing come into greater alignment and integrate better is going to result in more customers acquired, happier customers, and more turnover.
Key Takeaways
Social media is a great way to carry your brand and your voice, because it's casual and temporal. You could have a little more fun with it, which can be a huge part of your brand.
Culture comes from the personalities of the employees. You need to be surrounded by people you want to build this culture with.
Refreshing culture is not done in a one-day workshop. It's going to take deliberate evolution over a long period that starts with the truth about who you are.
Endnotes
1 1 Tableau is a product-driven software company focusing on data visualization. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. On August 1, 2019, Salesforce acquired Tableau.
2 2 Christian Chabot is a cofounder and the former CEO of Tableau Software.
3 3 Chris Stolte is a cofounder and the former chief development officer of Tableau Software.
4 4 Pat Hanrahan is a cofounder and the former chief scientist of Tableau Software.
5 5 Tableau Public is a free online service where everyone can share their visualizations.
6 6 Tableau Conference is an annual conference for Tableau users.
7 7 Nate Vogel is the VP of worldwide sales and partner readiness at Tableau Software.
Chapter 3 Patrick Kirchgäßner: Making Invaluable Pools of Information Accessible and Searchable
Patrick Kirchgäßner, senior product manager, Highspot
Source: Patrick Kirchgäßner
In his current role, Patrick is building an analytics platform that includes self-serve reports, powerful data visualizations, and raw data exports for the business customers of Highspot's sales enablement solution. He has led ecommerce businesses and is developing a real estate lead acquisition platform leveraging chatbots and social ads. In prior roles, Patrick has built consumer apps in the multimedia and entertainment space, where he had to rely on data to drive product improvements.
Alexander: You are senior product manager at Highspot. What is your mission?
Patrick: Highspot is an enablement solution focused on improving the performance of customer-facing teams. I'm spending my time building the analytics engine that gives our customers the data to create better content and improve rep behavior.
Alexander: How should business models evolve to survive and thrive in an increasingly digital world?
Patrick: More so than ever, 2020 has shown us that businesses that can adapt and evolve quickly are resilient to unforeseen or sooner-than-expected change in the environments that surround them. To be successful in the digital world, businesses need to understand the metrics that make them tick, leverage data to understand changes in their environment early, and be ready to course-correct quickly.
Alexander: How can technology shift the roles and responsibilities of the workforce?
Patrick: Technology in many ways makes much of our work more measurable and thereby more predictable. While it helps businesses to be more efficient, it can make individuals feel uncomfortable or left behind. To successfully adopt technology, it is important to bring the workforce along as the technology gets introduced — so they can use it to their advantage rather than being afraid of it. With information having become a ubiquitous commodity, the ability to leverage it with technology has become an invaluable skill.
Alexander: Which technology or digital capabilities are essential for a digital strategy?
Efficient communication tools and the ability to work from anywhere and at any time are top-of-mind capabilities, independent of industry or market segment.
Patrick: Even in the digital world, there is a workforce behind products, solutions, and services that are built and provided. Enabling that workforce to do their best work is going to yield the best business impact. Efficient communication tools and the ability to work from anywhere and at any time are top-of-mind capabilities, independent of industry or market segment. A close second is business KPIs — prioritized by the impact of improving them. What would move the needle the most? A 20 percent change in lead-acquisition cost, customer satisfaction, COGS, employee retention? Implementing the tools to measure those indicators reliably and transparently is the basis for driving continuous improvement around them.
Alexander: Today, many companies use email as their main communication channel. Are there better approaches?
Patrick: Companies often encourage the use of email instead of distracting, spontaneous phone conversations, but chat tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams are able to bridge that gap much better. They enable real-time conversations where needed but allow members to adjust notifications to what fits their working style to avoid distractions. By implementing channels, companies can make many formerly private conversations public to their teams and co-workers. Doing so enables new team members to learn along the way and experienced team members to save time, and instead of building tribal knowledge, companies create invaluable pools of information that are accessible and searchable for years to come.
Alexander: If a company offers multiple ways to communicate (email, chat, phone), which channel should be used for which purpose? Do you have examples or best practices?
Patrick: Email is a great tool for long-form, asynchronous communication. It works well for bidirectional exchanges with single individuals or exceedingly small groups. It also works great as a broadcasting tool for unidirectional one-to-many use cases.
Chat is great for exchanging bits of information, getting questions