By Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing
“How I Work” is one of my favorite recurring features in Inc Magazine as well as via Lifehacker’s This Is How I Work Series, and recently several sales experts (including Anthony Iannarino, Dave Brock and Trish Bertuzzi) participated as well.
Periodically moving forward we will feature a new B2B sales, marketing or business leader here answering what have become the standard “How I Work” questions. You can catch up on everyone we’ve featured thus far in the “How I Work” series here.
This week I’m really excited to feature Scott Fehr, vice president of customer success with Engagio. He’s a veteran of the B2B marketing world having served for years in sales consulting roles at Eloqua and Oracle. Scott lives in Seattle but commutes to the San Francisco Bay Area weekly (!), and previous to his sales consulting career owned a high-end stereo equipment business in Seattle.
Suffice it to say, Scott gets stuff done. Here in his own words is how he does it.
Location: I live in Seattle but commute to San Mateo virtually every week. I know some of the Alaska Airlines pilots by name.
Current computers: Macbook Air
Current mobile devices: iPhone, iPad
What apps/software/tools can’t you live without? Slack, Calendly. Slack has essentially replaced email at Engagio, it’s fantastic for real-time communication. In fact I recently created a Slack community group for our customers and partners, we call it the Engagio Spearfishing Club and it’s great for support and collaboration. I use Calendly to eliminate all the back-and-forth emails trying to find meeting times with customers.
What’s your best time-saving shortcut or lifehack? When you’re parking at the airport for a trip, before you get out of the car create a meeting for yourself for the day you return. The subject of the meeting is your parking level and space number. This has saved my bacon many times.
What everyday thing are you better at than anybody else? I’m a travel ninja. When it comes to air travel my wife calls me a “drama removal machine”. I think it’s just experience and a lot of miles, but I have “systems” (like my parking hack above) that keep stress levels to an absolute minimum.
What’s your favorite to-do list manager? I’ve tried apps like Evernote and for while I used a cool sticky-note Chrome extension but I usually end up going old school and use google calendar, even if it’s just reminders or blocking spots to work on specific to-dos. For those super high-priority items I’ll often use an ink-based modal (pen) and organic medium (paper) combination.
What do you listen to while at work? We have a “DJ of the Day” rotation at Engagio. When your name pops up on the wall, it’s your turn. It’s super interesting because one day we’re listening to AC/DC and the next it’s Concerto for Cello in D Minor. I love it.
What are you currently reading? I’m a news and opinion junky and typically spend most of my reading time scouring various blogs, industry-related sites and reddit. I used to love reading science fiction but haven’t read a novel in many months. I need to fix that.
What’s your sleep routine like? I’m very much an early-to-bed and early-to-rise guy, especially as I get older. In fact, at some point soon I can envision me falling asleep by 8pm and then creeping around the house at 5am like some old gramma waiting for the sun to rise. Upon reflection, I probably need to get out more and enjoy what the world has to offer after 10pm. Thanks for the therapy, Matt.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Oh that’s a tough one. I’ve been lucky enough to know some pretty smart people over the years. One piece of advice that stuck with me is “The results of hard work are not always immediate, but they are as certain as gravity.” I’ve always believed that down to my bones. I also love Mario Andretti’s philosophy: “If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”
Anything else you want to add? This has been cathartic. I’ve never had a therapist but I feel like I should be sending you a check for the visit.
Fill in the Blank: I’d love to see BLANK answer these questions. Louis CK
