Get to Know: Randy Craig, Senior Director of Business Development, Lead Generation
Joined Everbridge
December 2015
Location
Burlington
What is your role at Everbridge?
I’m the Senior Director of Business Development for the Lead Generation team. Day to day, that means I work with and coach a team of about 25 business development reps and line managers to find new potential customers. I also collaborate with Marketing, Sales, Product, and the sales leaders in our satellite offices to makes sure we’re sharing best practices and are all on the same page.
What’s your leadership philosophy?
I don’t believe in micromanagement—instead, I’m a huge fan of empowering people to be successful. Our team members need to be clear on their roles and responsibilities, and from there, it’s about managing and coaching, not critiquing every call. I’ll provide direction where it’s needed, but I want to create an environment where people have room to run.
“I don’t believe in micromanagement — instead, I’m a huge fan of empowering people to be successful.”
A lot of it comes down to culture. We try to make it fun — we have contests, a TV screen that shows the top performers for the day, and little incentives like certificates signed by the CEO. We don’t constantly cheer people on to the point where the rewards feel routine, but we do want to make sure people hear about it when they’re doing well. We also recognize all kinds of success, not just hitting targets. For example, the whole team votes on a certificate for someone who might not be a top dog in meeting quotas, but is a leader in the way they motivate others.
What were you doing before Everbridge?
I started out as a golf professional, which is what got me into sales initially. Golf pros play in tournaments, but you’re also paid to teach and coach. So you’re selling your thoughts and ideas every day. Then when I moved into a traditional sales role 10 years ago, I had to sell myself in a different way. I had to convince people that I could adapt and learn — that even though I had zero experience in the corporate world, I could become a salesperson.
I remember thinking after my first day on the phones, “I’ve made a huge mistake. This is really hard.” But I pushed through, and after some trial and error, I realized sales is just a conversation, not some mythical, magical thing. Once I saw that, I could do it. As long as you’re asking questions and listening, you can be successful.
“As long as you’re asking questions and listening, you can be successful.”
My second sales job was at Constant Contact, which at the time had an inbound lead model and wanted to go outbound. No one else there had any experience cold-calling, so I said, “I’ll give it a shot.” That ended up working out well, and I stayed for a while in several leadership roles before I eventually joined EverQuote as the VP of Sales.
They had about 10 people at the time, and very little structure. It was a bit like the Wild West, with everyone figuring out as they went who to call and what to say. I created process and structure allowing the team to grow and scale to 70 successful salespeople. Then I was approached for my next great adventure here.
Why did you decide to join Everbridge?
When I think about whether to join a company, there are a few things I always look at. First is whether the product works. For a salesperson, nothing is worse than having to apologize for your product after you sell it. Second is whether the company is growing, which we definitely are. And third is the culture. Do people work hard, but also play hard and enjoy their successes? Everbridge checked off all those boxes for me.
“I said, ‘I’m selling a product that saves lives every single day.’ That was a proud moment.”
And on top of all that is the mission, which is really what motivated me to join. I remember the first family gathering I went to after I started here, about a month in. Of course when you get together, people always ask, “Randy, what are you doing now?” and I’d always just say, “I’m in sales.” And then they’d ask, “What are you selling?” and I used to say, “It doesn’t matter.” But after I joined Everbridge, my answer changed. I said, “I’m selling a product that saves lives every single day.” That was a proud moment.
Tell us more about what you learned from being a golf pro.
Communication skills — you need to be able to talk with anyone and everyone. If you’re at a pro-am with three people who paid oodles of money to play with you, you want them to enjoy themselves and feel welcome. So you need to find a common language. That experience taught me to be comfortable talking with anyone, no matter their level at a company or their area of expertise. That’s a big help in lead generation, where we might be talking with someone who’s super-technical, or someone with a much broader view. We need to be able to meet everyone where they are.
And I’m still learning from golf, because I still play. I’m making a comeback! I’m on a personal mission to get back out there, have some fun, and get to the U.S. Open.
What keeps you at Everbridge?
The fact that we’re still innovating, and I’m still learning. I’ve been at organizations that hang their hat on their core product and never move forward. Everbridge is breaking ground no one else has, but we’re not resting on our laurels. To me, the scariest thing you can hear in an organization is, “This is the way we’ve always done it.” People here don’t think that way. They think, “How else can we do it?” That’s fun and exciting.
“Everbridge is breaking ground no one else has, but we’re not resting on our laurels.”
The other big reason I’ve stayed is the people I work with. It’s a very open environment, and you feel like you can have a conversation with anyone. If you think about the number of hours you spend at work every week, it’s really important that your colleagues are people you enjoy being around. I wouldn’t hire someone who was hard to be around even if they were the biggest rock star in the world.
What qualities help someone be successful on your team?
It helps to be curious. People who want to understand the “whys” and “whats” of every situation do well here because they can put themselves in the customer’s shoes. Also, people who are persistent and fight hard even when no one’s looking. Sometimes you’ll make 85 phone calls in a day and only talk to two or three people. You just have to keep pushing through those voicemails and phone trees and gatekeepers. And you need to have a thick skin, because there’s definitely rejection in business development. But our product does amazing things and helps people, so if you can get them past the “I don’t want to talk to you” phase and start a conversation, you’ll hear that attitude start to change.
What advice would you give someone who’s considering joining your team?
If you want to learn sales, this is a great place to do it. You can get in on the ground floor of an enterprise SaaS company and learn the keys to some of the most difficult parts of the job. So much of the process is trial and error — you learn, you fail, you learn again and try again, and eventually, you succeed. We have a lot of support to help you through that process, and you’ll also have a path to move up. About 60 percent of the people on our Lead Generation team last year have already been promoted to new roles within the company.
“About 60 percent of the people on our Lead Generation team last year have already been promoted to new roles within the company.”
One of my favorite things about this job is seeing people succeed, especially people who are new. This might be their first job ever, and they start out feeling like they have no idea what they’re doing. But they catch on so quickly. Watching people transform as they see small wins turn into big wins — that’s exciting.
Interested in working with Randy and the rest of #TeamEverbridge? Check out open positions here.
