David and Goliath Meet Document Automation – CMO Meets Nate Gilmour

Nate Gilmour knows that others describe him as a startup and marketing guru, but he focuses on helping his team unleash what they need. I think it’s a service driver. This is a management style that has helped him as CMO of PandaDoc for almost four years and helped push document automation companies to the unicorn status in 2021.

I’m always happy to talk about PandaDoc, and Gilmour joined ITWCCMO Phone Annan in April 2022. CMO talk, A podcast series designed by ITWC, presents strategies for gaining competitiveness through the crossroads of marketing and technology. In a chat with Annan, he shared an old story about how David (PandaDoc in this case) adopted high-tech Goliath for SaaS dynamic documents to secure a share in SMB space.

Gilmour strongly agrees when Annan summarizes the lessons of his story as he knows your own strengths. PandaDoc’s market differentiator is more than a signature. “The heart of everything we do is a document, and there’s a set of features on top of it,” he explains.

Whether it’s a pricing catalog, a signature block workflow, or a template for new users, documentation is at the heart of PandaDoc’s capabilities. As an example, the sales team may consider PandaDoc’s catalog and pricing for high quality proposals. If you need to sign and automate documents such as HR adoption, Covid forms, NDAs, real estate transactions, PandaDoc has a separate signing platform within the document automation platform.

Emphasis on consumer awareness

In response to Annan’s question about the most important aspects of communicating about PandaDoc’s documentation solution, Gilmore points out consumer awareness, not just static uploads and signatures, but more in the documentation. Emphasize the importance of helping customers understand what is happening.

“PandaDoc has recreated the document for the Internet to ensure transparency between the sender and signer of the document and allow the document to be processed jointly,” he says. “For example, if I’m going to send you a suggestion to paint your home, I’ll send it to you, then you might see it and discuss garage painting together. I was able to edit our agreement in real time with a new price for you to approve. “

In addition to the enhanced collaboration between the sender and the signer, the PandaDoc platform also allows the sender to know if the signer logged in and where the signer paused when viewing the document. increase. This gives the sender valuable insights into the process.

Domino effect of excellent customer experience

With the theme of attracting business, Guimoa says many customers come to them without talking to anyone in the company. “There are a lot of customers coming to us because we signed a document sent by someone else. They think it’s a good service,” he says. “It absolutely begins and ends with a great customer experience for both signers and senders.”

Currently, PandaDoc has 700 employees, of which about 50 are in marketing. Like the other great David and Goliath stories, the mission is to become the dominant brand and win the market. “Therefore, our job is to help our business grow faster and connect with more and more customers around the world,” says Gilmour.

Knowledge sharing

The answer is clear when Gilmour is entering the SaaS product lead environment or is asked what to advise marketers currently in the SaaS product lead environment. “Details are important so that we can understand the state of the goal-achieving process through all marketing efforts,” he says. “And never lose track of where growth comes from. Partner with great companies and pay attention to business indicators.”

He can also give credit immediately if he needs it. This podcast has many more points, including the influential role of the founder in a founder-led company like PandaDoc. Gilmour states that corporate culture is essential. “We have the muscle to enter the scale-up market, but we have the heart and passion of a startup.”

With 35,000 customers, this combination is clearly a winning combination.