Hitmetrix - User behavior analytics & recording

2015 40Under40 Winner: Courtney Caldwell

Courtney Caldwell, Founder, The Write One

Caldwell comes from a military family, though she never took the oath herself. Enough of the family discipline wore off on her, however, to accept one of business’s most dangerous missions: getting sales and marketing troops to rally together. “If marketing’s not helping sales keep the lights on, then what’s their purpose?” she asks. As head of global demand gen for Oracle, Caldwell served thousands of product team members. Now she handles one at a time, in insurgent, Special Forces fashion. When not fighting the sales and marketing wars she volunteers with her 14-year-old son, Trey. “We do bingo at the senior center, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity. I want him to have a world view,” Caldwell says. “And it’s another excuse to hang out with him.”

Defining moment: I had dreams of running my own marketing agency but wasn’t sure if my experience was wide enough. My husband, Tye, encouraged me to “jump and grow your wings on the way down!” I haven’t looked back.

Words to live by: Leave people, places, and things better off than when you found them.

Strategy shift: I now ask for CRM data sets to include closed-won opportunities within the last several months. One client’s sales team doubled its quarterly email and call numbers, but correlations continued to come up negative. What marketing had defined 18 months prior as the target profile had shifted.

Up next: Traditional models of buyer demographics are becoming democratized. Marketers are forced to meet expectations that didn’t exist before. I’m working to conceptualize these trends and launch “in-moment marketing” campaigns for a series of clients.

Advice to young marketers: When you see a chance to expand your influence—promotion, new job, more direct reports—jump…and grow your wings on the way down!

–Al Urbanski

Total
0
Shares
Related Posts