Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD
MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019
Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry.
Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller.
MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing?
ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really.
M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand?
AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories.
You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.
"People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them."
M7: LeadMD has been named as Marketo’s platinum service partner. What are the core values that drive the company to be a leading marketing firm?
AL: About two years ago, we got to the size where we had to really dedicate some time to defining our core values. We got into a room with everyone in the company and talked about what it feels like to work at LeadMD. We decided on the following values, which all start with “We” because we’re a tribe and succeed together with our clients:
1. We over me. Our people will drop almost anything to help another member of the tribe and our clients. We are a performance organization and aim to ease the lives of those around us with valuable contribution.
2. We stand in your shoes. Empathy is so critical to our success internally and externally.
3. We are better than yesterday. Marketing is a discipline that must be creative and iterative. We don’t know everything, but we strategize, plan, do, review and optimize constantly. Together, we figure out what will garner the best results.
4. We believe in transparency. Transparency is function of trust. Trust is a function of reliability, competency, communication, authority and predictability. Our clients trust us with their vision and that's an honor we take seriously.
5. We have fun in everything we do. We like our tribe and our clients and we do cool sh*t together. It’s fun work.
"Until you execute learnings, test them and see if and how they work, none of it means anything. If in doubt, do something."
M7: What distinguishes LeadMD from the rest in creating predictable and sustainable revenue operations for enterprise brands?
AL: Our value to our clients is our ability to integrate strategic objectives with all the day-to-day actions of teams of people. We are great at rolling our sleeves up and truly creating scale around these elements that ultimately impact the organization as a whole. The results our clients see are things like, a technology company generating a $15 million lift in pipeline within 90 days and a medical device company generating $5 million in revenue in six months (which is like one month in healthcare timelines) in a typically down quarter. Ultimately, the work we collaborate with clients on, impacts the business in more revenue, faster.
M7: How does LeadMD’s methodology facilitate organizations in delivering exceptional outcomes that they desire?
AL: This may fall more under philosophy than methodology, but we work with leaders unwilling to maintain the status quo. We call them Catalysts. We work with people eager and willing to act to change a current poor performing outcome in their organization. We can help, but we are never going to be able to impact the types of outcomes we’re used to without internal champions and rainmakers. Our outcomes are in large part due to the fearless nature of our clients.
"Learning is about connective tissue and being able to connect new things to things that already make sense to you. Just do it. It’ll not only make you a better employee or entrepreneur, it’ll also make you a better person."
M7: You have co-founded an e-learning firm, Six Bricks. What was the learning experience from it and how has this accelerated your career journey?
AL: The learning experiences from that piece of my career are far too numerous to name in this QA. The best way I could sum them up is to say that doing something new will always hold value. As a long-time consultant, I’ve had lots of ideas about what professionals in sales and marketing could or should do. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts, attended SaaStr’s annual conference and brought ideas back. But, until you execute on them, test them and see if and how they work, none of it means anything. If in doubt, do something.
M7: Going with the story of your book ‘Sixty Days Left’, how does exploring new marketing trends and making informed decisions create a fortune for any enterprise?
AL: I’m a big advocate for everyone, even executives, to explore trends and the news of their discipline at a fairly deep level. Just knowing artificial intelligence as a thing is “good” but not great. Lean in. Read opinions from people who have worked in artificial intelligence for years, who study it in a university setting, who can really break it down. The first AI article I read was really technical and I barely understood it, but I kept doing it and kept learning. Learning is about connective tissue and being able to connect new things to things that already make sense to you. Just do it. It’ll not only make you a better employee or entrepreneur, it’ll also make you a better person. Follow leaders like Bill Gates with book recommendations and actually read those things – again, it’ll just make you a better, more well-rounded and ultimately happier human.
M7: What is your superpower?
AL: Curiosity. I am interested in everything. And everyone. Everyone has a story and I love hearing them. I learn a lot from that and have more stories to tell and more knowledge to connect new knowledge to.
ABOUT LEADMD
LeadMD is the #1 performance marketing consultancy that leverages best-in-class technology to make your vision actionable and your outcomes measurable. Breaking down the typical siloes of technology and strategy, LeadMD collaborates with clients to increase revenues, align teams and engage ideal customers. We’ve helped more than 3,500 high-growth companies succeed by building revenue engines that scale on top of marketing and sales platforms like Marketo, Adobe, Salesforce.com and dozens of others. For more information, visit www.leadmd.com or email us at go@leadmd.com