In 'Colleague to the Word' we ask one of our Qooqie colleagues the shirt off his back. This way you get to know the people who work here a little better, and you get a glimpse behind the scenes of our company. Youri Joziasse has the honor of kicking off this series. Youri is our sales manager and partner consultant, and a familiar name to many of our partners.

Youri, how did you end up at Qooqie?

"That's a fun story, though! In 2017, I had arranged a graduate internship for my HBO, but it didn't work out in the end. Then I urgently needed to find a new internship. Via via via, I then ended up with Richard, the founder and CEO of Qooqie. He was looking for someone who could set up sales. That's how I got in. I came for an interview, the click was good and during the interview I was hired."

Eventually you grew to sales manager. Looking back; what has been most challenging in the last 4 years?

"That was learning the sales profession in practice. In school you do learn a lot, but that's mostly theory. The most important thing for me was determining in what way I add value. I can think for myself what added value I deliver to my customers, but is that really what they are looking for? Always being able to give the right answer and learning to ask the right questions in conversations; that is the key to long-term partnerships."

The marketing landscape is constantly innovating and changing. How do you stay on top of all the developments and respond to them?

"I subscribe to ten different news formats on developments in online and digital marketing. Also for specific industries. For example, Qooqie is well represented within the automotive industry, so I like to be closely involved in all developments within that industry. Every morning I take the time to go through all the important topics. This is how I look at how we can keep the offerings with Qooqie in line with the developments taking place."

Many marketers who are not yet familiar with call tracking find it quite complex. In your own words, can you describe in a nutshell what call tracking is?

"Call tracking is the marketing tool needed to link phone calls, as well as phone conversions, to marketing efforts. For example, do you want to link keywords to phone inquiries and know which pages led to inquiries? Or do you want to add the phone as a sales channel to overall attribution? You need call tracking for that."

Clear! So why exactly do partners choose Qooqie? What distinguishes Qooqie from the market?

"That's mainly the role we play. For example, I myself am formally a sales manager, but actually I am more of a consultant for our partners. Within the online landscape, the role that telephony plays in this has been a black box for a very long time. It is not tangible, you don't know exactly who is calling and how a contact moment came about etc. Call tracking not only traces where a call comes from, but it also offers great insight into what it brings you. The strength of Qooqie is that we map exactly those factors (who is calling me, why, and what does it get me?) as well, rather than just the source of the call. So you actually get a sales channel that provides just as much information as, say, a contact form."

I see from you that you get a lot of energy from your work. What is the reason, besides the content work, that you work at Qooqie in particular?

"It is mainly the philosophy that appeals to me so much. Over the years it has developed and I myself have had the opportunity to contribute to it. There are many SaaS companies, and that has always been my affinity. Those companies have a tool that is always reproducible and deployable. So is our tool, but the nice thing is that we help our partners to really add value to their customers. We present ourselves not simply as a supplier, but primarily as a partner. From that role, we help our partners and customers get the most out of our tool. It gives me a lot of energy to help them achieve greater returns. I am also always happy to help put the call tracking data into context. That way you arrive at useful statistics and concrete points for improvement. I also learn a lot from my partners and customers. I work together with a large group of content specialists and I like the fact that I also learn things from them on a daily basis."

Looking ahead now to 2022, where do you think there are opportunities in the call tracking area?

"The basis of the tool is providing insights, and through those insights you're going to make better decisions. In 2022, we want to do even more of a deep dive into the data. Why do people actually call? What is their motivation for picking up the phone instead of filling out a form online? With Qooqie we want to support our clients in this even more. One of the ways we do this is by building links for specific industries. This way, they no longer have to manage only on numbers and the source of calls. Instead, they can start making better quality decisions by considering the telephone as a sales channel in its own right."

I like to close this interview with a personal quote. What is a famous quote of yours that your partners recognize you by?

"I guess that's: 'Oh by the way, you know? If you do this, you can do that too'! Many of my partners will recognize this, because from the data I often come up with new ideas. You then get something insightful, and that in turn creates new opportunities. This happens regularly during the conversations I have. This is not just down to me, because often a partner and I come up with ideas together. This is what I like most about my work. I also think that knowledge sharing and exploiting opportunities together based on data are the driving forces behind good collaborations."