Client Acquisition and Trends in the B2B Tech Market | Emily Weaver from QFlow

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Emily from QFlow, head of marketing. How are you doing today, Emily?

Emily Weaver: I’m well, thanks for having me.

Ernesto: It’s great to have you on, someone with your expertise. So, well, I’m sure our listeners are tuning in wondering what QFlow is all about, so let’s kick it off with that. Emily, in your own words, can you tell us a little bit more?

Emily: Yeah, sure. So QFlow Systems right now is a B2B software company. We built a platform for enterprise content management that we call QAction. It has records management and document management, business process automation, and workflow automation all in one platform. So you can think of it as the central hub for all of your company’s data and information artifacts.

Ernesto: Great to hear that. For our listeners who are tuned in to get a good understanding of QFlow, what would you say is the key problem that you guys like to solve for clients?

Emily: It’s that tale as old as time of “where is this document that I saved in this one place that one time that I need several years later?” So it’s just getting all of that. I guess you could think of it as Google Drive, except it combines all of your apps into one area.

Ernesto: That’s really nice to hear. So then, who would be your ideal ICP for QFlow? Is there a sort of vertical segment?

Emily: Yeah. Generally speaking, QAction would be perfect for any industry or any department that’s really document-heavy or has a lot of data entry. But right now, most of our customers are actually in the federal government. We have a lot of contracts with the government right now, but we also thrive in the healthcare space.

Ernesto: And so, say I was in healthcare or the federal government, how would I usually find out about QFlow? Is there a top client acquisition channel for you guys?

Emily: Right now we’re doing really well in the referrals and word-of-mouth space. Other than that, we’re very active on LinkedIn. But if you know somebody who knows us, they’re probably going to tell you about us.

Ernesto: That’s the best referral, right? When someone recommends you, it’s always the best part. So awesome that you guys have that ability. And obviously, if it’s referrals, there’s something that you guys are doing great. So awesome to hear that. For our listeners who are tuned in, they can check you out at qflow.com. What role does the website play for client acquisition?

Emily: Our website right now functions really well as a self-education and awareness piece for our current clients and also the clients that they refer to us. Usually, they’ll go to our website first to see what our capabilities are before they reach out to us or we reach out to them. They’re usually doing a little bit of self-education first.

Ernesto: Emily, on that note, is there any tools or tips or methods that you would recommend to our listeners as far as some website lead generation?

Emily: In terms of how to build your website or what to look for when you’re building or tweaking your website, it’s to make the goal of your website really clear. Normally, websites are used to get leads, educate your target, or build credibility. You should prioritize which one of those goals is the end-all, be-all, and then center your homepage around achieving that goal. Once they get on your homepage, give them something to do right away, whether that’s going to your products page, demo page, or contact us page. Whatever that next step in the journey is, make sure it’s the first button they want to click.

Ernesto: Definitely super important. Let’s switch gears a little bit, Emily. Let’s talk about you as a leader, you being the head of marketing at QFlow. What are some key tasks you like to focus on in your day-to-day work?

Emily: I’m fairly new to my role at QFlow, so right now I’m focusing on laying the groundwork for the marketing machine that I’m building. We’re in the middle of a big website revamp and some other efforts like internal comms and lead gen that I’m working on. It’s really just rolling up my sleeves, laying that groundwork, and making sure everything’s set up properly for us to execute our strategy effectively.

Ernesto: Perfect. Thank you so much. In between that time, if you have some time available, how do you stay up to date with all the trends and strategies in the marketing world? Is there a specific channel that you like to go with?

Emily: I love a few LinkedIn influencers, like Jacob Benigni, Meg Scarborough, and Amanda N from Sparktoro. They always have great insights and are trying to break the mold. Outside of that, I try not to spend a lot of time in the marketing echo chamber and get different perspectives from people in different fields. I’ve gained a lot of insights from talking to people who aren’t necessarily marketing people. Another fun one is TikTok, which is a good way to stay chronically online and see the most popular things going on.

Ernesto: Definitely. I like going on LinkedIn a lot, and I hadn’t heard the expression “LinkedIn influencer,” but there is. People have a lot to say on there. Great to hear.

Emily: I feel like LinkedIn has shifted towards that kind of content, which I’ve learned a lot from. LinkedIn influencers didn’t exist maybe ten years ago.

Ernesto: Let’s jump into our next section, Emily, which is a rapid-fire question round. Are you ready?

Emily: I’m ready.

Ernesto: First off, what is the last book that you read?

Emily: That’s a hard one because I read multiple at the same time. For professional development, “Quiet” by Susan Cain and “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek. For fun, “The Lost City of the Monkey God” by Douglas Preston.

Ernesto: Great to hear that. Next up, if there were no boundaries in technology, what would be the one thing that you want to have fixed for your role as a marketer today?

Emily: Making social media content relevant and useful. Turning our social media listening tools into something that can give us the social media content that our audiences want to see, kind of like giving us a first draft so we can build off of it. That would be so nice and cut down on a lot of useless content from companies just on social media because they have to be.

Ernesto: Great to hear that. Next, if there’s one repetitive task that you could automate, what would that be?

Emily: A way to mass upload content on a website so you don’t have to go document by document to format each one. We’re going through a website revamp, and if I could take all of our blog posts that we want to keep, upload them at once, and call it done, that would save me so much time.

Ernesto: If someone’s listening out there, they’ll probably contact you. Lastly, Emily, you have tons of experience already in the marketing world, but what is one piece of advice that you would give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?

Emily: I have to give past me a pat on the back because I did take a lot of chances and risks throughout my career that ended up paying off. But if I did have to go talk to Emily in 2014, I would tell her to go get her master’s because I think a lot of bigger opportunities would be available to me sooner.

Ernesto: Great advice. Our listeners can take that into account as well. We are coming to the end of the show. I do want to thank you. But before we end, if someone forgets everything about the interview today, what is the one thing they should remember about QFlow?

Emily: One thing to remember about QFlow is that we make doing your job easier by giving you all of your documents right there in front of you.

Ernesto: You heard it from Emily. You can check them out at qflow.com. Work simpler. Work smarter. Emily, thank you so much for being on with us today. To our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. I’m looking forward to our next episode at Pathmonk Presents. Thanks a lot, Emily.

Emily: Thank you.