Jacqueline Van Dao
Q: When did you join the IQ team?
Alex: It was September 8th when I joined, so I’ve been here for about three months. It honestly feels a lot longer, not in a bad way, just because every day I’m learning so much which has been great and exciting. It’s been lovely virtually meeting a lot people.
Q: What was your impression of IQ when you were first introduced?
Alex: I knew IQ was highly ranked among congressional members, I work with the House of Representatives and over 60% of offices use IQ. I think what a lot of people don’t notice about congressional offices is how diverse they are. What I loved about coming into IQ was how broad it can be but also how personalized for not only individual offices, but every individual staffer as well. There are a lot more features than what a typical CRM might have!
Q: What has been your favorite part about being on the IQ team?
Alex: I came from a smaller company, so coming into this bigger team I was a little afraid. I had an onboarding buddy which was helpful because I had someone to go to for questions. Although the whole team is so big, I felt that I could reach out to anybody and I think that’s so important in such a virtual world.
Q: What are you most excited about for New Congress?
Alex: I think I’m most excited to make the process my own as a consultant. I think it’s really important to check-in with the customer often and make sure they are happy with the product. It goes a long way when you personalize their experience because you are essentially the face of IQ to them. I’m also excited to get new offices, especially freshman offices. I feel like they are so excited about the process so that’ll make me more amped up and excited too! It’ll be fun.
Q: What are customers saying about IQ?
Alex: To be quite honest, I’ve had a lot of positive responses from people. I think what they love is having an IQ Consultant as part of their team. I think they like knowing they can reach out to somebody who can answer their questions quickly instead of calling a help desk, which is also available. Customers have said they love the customization for each individual in the office. It doesn’t have to be so complex, and having an IQ Consultant helping is something I think helps put them at ease. I also think customers like how their opinions matter, they can voice how they feel about the product and might say to me “hey is there any way IQ can do this?” and I’ll go and look into it for them to help make their work more efficient.
Q: What has been the most helpful resource for you?
Alex: Similar to what our customers like most about working with IQ, it’s the people. It’s amazing how much there is to learn in IQ and I’ve learned that every individual on the team is an expert in a particular module like casework or outreach. Obviously working in IQ, people start to find what they like the most, so it’s comforting knowing I can go to those individuals for help any time. As far as a feature in IQ that’s been the most helpful for me, I think it’s the home tiles. What’s great is that you have various staff roles and it can be pretty overwhelming looking at IQ if you don’t customize. You could be looking at a lot of information that you probably don’t need to touch. IQ makes users able to customize their home tiles to make sure that it’s specialized to what their job duties are. When I talk to staffers that either haven’t used IQ as much or new to IQ, I always start with the home screen and customizing the tiles to help them be more efficient from the beginning rather than just start off being overwhelmed.
Q: What is a newer feature of IQ that has made a difference for your customers?
Alex: Digital Privacy Release has been a big thing. I think what’s great about it is that it allows IQ to be more effective for District Offices and a goal for IQ has been to interact more with District Offices. Through Digital Privacy Release, users can virtually sign as they are submitting a request rather than waiting to hear back before opening a case. It’s easy, efficient, and allows us to interact more with District Offices.
Q: What about being an IQ Consultant gives you the most job satisfaction?
Alex: I’ve always strived towards something that requires building customer relationships and being able to help people. I think my favorite part about working with IQ is working with congressional offices because they are so passionate and motivated in what they do. Being able to contribute even a little bit to make their lives more efficient or to learn how to strengthen their relationships with their constituents is what keeps me going.
Meet Alex and the rest of the team here!