inBetween welcomes
inBetween welcomes
Eckhardt Schwabe
as the new Director of Business Development
as the new Director of Business Development
Introducing Eckhardt Schwabe: Driving Digital Innovation and Growth at InBetween
InBetween is excited to welcome Eckhardt Schwabe as the new Director of Business Development. With nearly 29 years of experience in leading sales positions across eCommerce and IT, Ecki brings a wealth of knowledge and a passion for digital innovation to our team. His personal motto: “Digital Enthusiasm… I’m happy to share some of it,” perfectly captures his dynamic approach and commitment to driving growth and success.
Ecki, as he is often called, seamlessly balances his professional responsibilities with a fulfilling family life. He believes that enjoying work and having a family as a resting point makes everything fall into place naturally. This balance allows him to remain focused and effective in his role, bringing a calm and strategic perspective to business development.
In his interview, Ecki shares his insights on business development, decision-making under pressure, productivity hacks, and his goals for InBetween. He outlines his primary objective for the Business Development department: introducing target account management to pave the way for growth opportunities. This involves conducting analytical tasks related to the ideal cstomer profile and aligning it with InBetween’s functionalities.
We are grateful to have Ecki on board and look forward to the growth and opportunities his expertise will bring 🥳. Read Eckhardt’s interview to learn more about Ecki’s strategies, experiences, and vision for the future at InBetween👇.
🎙️ Interview Highlights
Can you describe your approach to business development?
An effective approach for business development typically involves a strategic and multifaceted plan that aligns with the company’s overall goals and objectives. I put the emphasis on sales-related aspects and therefore concentrate on:
1._Research and Analysis It is crucial for growth to understand who your potential customers are, where they are located, and what their needs and preferences are to identify an ideal customer profile. As you are not alone in the market, you have to assess your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and their market positioning.
2. Sales Strategy Growth starts with a solid lead funnel. You have to identify the right set of tactics for your company, such as inbound marketing, outbound campaigns, and referral programs, to generate leads. The sales process should be ready to consume the leads and fit seamlessly with your lead gen process. Adapting the existing sales process, including target account management, training your sales team, and using sales tools to enhance efficiency is crucial.
3. Strategy Development Defining goals and objectives sets targets for the future. These should be clearly described, measurable, and achievable business development goals. Clearly articulating what sets your product or service apart (value proposition) and how it solves problems for your target customers is crucial for realizing growth in the market.
4. Building Relationships To grow the number of people in the market that help achieve your targets, it is crucial to identify and pursue strategic partnerships that can help expand your reach and capabilities. Therefore, networking is important, like attending industry events, joining relevant associations, and leveraging online platforms like LinkedIn to build connections. Interactions with existing customers and leveraging them as beacons and multipliers is a helpful means.
5. Close Cooperation with Marketing Remarkable achievements in business development require close cooperation with marketing. Content marketing gets more and more important in developing high-quality content that addresses the needs and pain points of your target audience. Typical digital marketing means, such as SEO, social media, email marketing, and online advertising are extremely important to reach, engage, and focus on the ICP. They build the basis for being a leader in your topic and building a strong brand identity that resonates with your target market. Of course, this is only a high-level view and a small part of the work and impact of business development on a company.
Can you describe how you make quick decisions under pressure, and how you handle it?
It may be a positive result of the aging process, but I no longer perceive pressure in the decision-making process as a personal burden. It was certainly different in the past. But when you’ve worked in a wide variety of areas and faced pressure in sales and business management positions, a lot of the stress falls apart and you become calmer and more focused. You can rely on learned mechanisms and ask yourself questions such as:
- Is a decision really urgent in terms of time and thematically important?
- Who is putting pressure on me and do I want to let them?
- Do I really have all the relevant information from the team for a decision? / Is the problem clearly defined and what is the opinion of involved team members?
- Which solution scenarios are common and what effects would they have?
- Are there innovative options?
What’s your favorite productivity hack or time-saving tip that you’ve discovered in your career?
In fact, using the Eisenhower matrix has really helped me to prioritize my work environment. You are often bombarded with requests for answers, queries, confirmation requests, complaints, etc., from a wide variety of channels. The matrix organizes things according to “urgent” and “important” and helps you to manage your time.
I also always try to avoid “double filing.” As simple as it sounds, the CRM is relevant for the filing of customer-specific information, for example. I seek to avoid the struggle with requests for customer-specific Excel lists (which I’m sure everyone knows from their business environment) by trying to produce reports directly in the CRM. This saves a lot of time.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about business development?
Business development means developing a company from a certain initial situation to an even better future. The clear description of this initial situation requires a clean information base, lots of questions, and genuine listening. I believe that listening and taking the time to really understand a situation is extremely important, but it is also becoming increasingly difficult. The sheer number of daily communication points on more and more communication channels makes it difficult to take enough time and focus.
You have a family life with kids. How do you manage to strike a balance between your professional responsibilities and your family life?
Well, that’s a tough question. My answer would be that, first of all, it is important to enjoy your work in order to be happy and at the same time have a family as a resting point, then many things will happen by themselves. A working weekend, e.g., due to a trade fair or event, is easier to realize if everything is in order and happy at home. Conflicts on either side – work or family – would create fronts that are sometimes difficult to overcome. Similarly, a spontaneous day off for the family is easier to realize when you are having fun at work and everything is in order.
In the end, it’s a game of give and take, which is easier to play when there is fun on both sides.
What are your primary goals for the Business Development department at InBetween over the next year?
Initially, my primary goal will be to introduce target account management to InBetween in order to pave the way for growth opportunities. This results in starting with many analytical tasks in relation to the ideal customer profile, its typical requirements, and the match to the functionalities of InBetween. Of course, there are also sales targets relating to new customers and the expansion of the existing customer base, which I have always enjoyed growing.
With Eckhardt Schwabe joining InBetween, we are delighted by the fresh perspectives and strategic direction he brings to our Business Development efforts. His extensive experience and enthusiasm for digital innovation promise to drive significant growth and success for our company. We eagerly anticipate the positive changes and opportunities Eckhardt will bring as our new Director of Business Development 🎇.
About InBetween
As a global leader in digital publishing solutions, InBetween Deutschland GmbH has been at the synonymous forefront with high performance dynamic and database publishing for more than 15 years. The magic of simplicity is a key standard for their software. This cultivates creative ease and production in digital or print publications, whether it be catalogs, datasheets, price lists of a fully or partially automated manner and in a vast variety of output forms. InBetween effortlessly connects the digital world to the print world, saving you time, money and energy and taking your customer experience to the next level.
