Communicate with stakeholders to move the needle - whether it’s project requirements, feedback, or a conversion

Working cross-functionally within a team is a multivariate challenge that I enjoy solving.

With effective communication, I’ve solved problems in remote work settings like:

Collaborating with stakeholders in different timezones has taught me a couple of skills:

Here are some concrete examples of me communicating with project owners and team members as a team lead: 

Within the team

Including subject matter expertise in the content

My goal

I was collaborating with a subject matter expert who interfaced directly with our end-users.

My research showed that users were constantly asking for resources to help them on their journey: how to videos, articles, access to free information from subject matter experts.

My goal was to create resources that would directly address the community’s needs, and collaborate on the subject matter expert to flesh out a nuanced, community-informed content strategy.

How I achieve this goal

Why: This reduces scope creep and narrows down their focus on what you think is important as an individual contributor. It’s not uncommon for project owners to want to be involved in every single aspect of the project. Having too many voices in a project isn’t always helpful and typically ends in delays or an unfocused strategy.

Why: Sometimes strategies don’t match because the underlying goal or intention is not in alignment. Mentioning that upfront sets a clear, unambiguous starting point.

Why: If they say “I’d rather do a podcast than a blog”, that is infinitely more useful than two days of back and forth “brainstorming” what you could do together.

Results and thoughts

The subject matter expert said he was struggling to come up with topics that related to the feature. This is a clear signal to me that I can take the lead on content ideation moving forward.

I shared a popular video that is commonly shared by peers within the community to see what he thinks of it. He mentioned that he did not resonate with the tone.

This gave me some directions on the type of content he was willing to make. Finding a format the subject matter expert is most comfortable with is key to content sustainability, at least in the early stages of laying out a content strategy.

Moving the needle in a time-constrained development project

My goal

I was working with a full-stack developer to get Writrly’s site up. We were working asynchronously and had a tight deadline to follow.

My goal was to work with the developer to transform the static UI/UX screens into a dynamic website.

How I achieved this goal

Why: I find this is especially true when working with developers - I could have a completely different understanding of a technical jargon or term than they do. Provide screenshots and screen recordings to eliminate miscommunication.

Why: This keeps the team in-sync regarding updates and edits to the project, making cross-collaboration easier. This is especially useful in situations where the work of ICs feed into each other.

Results

We finished the 10+ page website within 2 weeks of development. Granted it was a WP-based site, which meant it was faster, but it was equipped with a dynamic CMS, a payment portal, and an email forwarding service.

The systematic feedback made it infinitely quicker and easier to collaborate - even with the 6 hour time difference.

Assigning a creative task to an IC

My goal

I was working with a newly hired designer in developing marketing assets. We didn’t have a formalized brand identity and at the very most had a color palette we used on our website.

My goal was to provide a creative brief where I provided just enough context to give her a starting point, while encouraging her to explore her own creativity and sensibilities to start co-creating a brand identity.

How I achieved this goal

Why: Mentioning who the end-user is gives them a starting point when it comes to doing their own design research. Having a clear target in mind helps ICs more connected to the project and ensures the design is rooted in the audience.

Why: This narrows down their scope of options and ensures that the final output is more or less aligned with what you’re looking for. This information upfront saves a lot of revision time in the future.

Results and thoughts

We were able to land on a visual identity within the same week of the assignment. We did a review session mid-week and she polished the marketing assets according to my feedback.

Because she was essentially a collaborator on the visual identity, she internalized my preferences and sensibilities for the brand identity. By her second week, she created a pitch deck for sales with little to no guidance from me.

With clients and external shareholders

My time at Writrly was split between coordinating with the internal team, and doing outbound sales. I connected with director of/marketing VPs, founders, and SMB owners who didn’t have their own content team.

Here’s how I typically approach prospects who are interested in getting a subscription, but still has reservations about the process:

My goal

The client is an AWS service provider and works with high-budget startups and organizations in the US.

Although she seemed interested in our services, she had some concerns about the cost of the service.

My goal was to understand her reservations, address her concerns, and convert her to a paying customer.

How I achieved this goal

Throughout the conversation, she told me that her company typically enlisted developers to write content every now and then - which I assumed took time away from their actual roles.

As the Head of Marketing, this was going to be her first content hire.

From her questions, I could glean a couple of things:

I answered her questions specifically, while expanding on what I thought were the “question behind the questions”.

Results

In that same email thread, the client got back to me and signed a $500/month subscription with us.

What is your approach to communicating with users/customers?

“Don’t ask for anything in return - just give value and build a relationship with them first.”

This is advice that I frequently see being exchanged online. It’s great advice, but as with most stuff I see circulating on Twitter and LinkedIn, I think it’s usually said way out of context.

This ideal that B2B buyers buy based on a built relationship has to be one of the biggest lies ever. It’s not a relationship people are looking for - it’s resonance and trust.

When they feel like you understand what their problems are and they hear you talk about their problems in their own language, you’re basically telling them: “I know exactly what you’re going through - and I have experience on how to fix that.”

How does that translate to positioning and messaging?