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Marie Ortquist
Helping speakers and coaches grow their business by providing admin, sales and digital marketing support
Professional Background
Marie Ortquist is a dynamic and forward-thinking professional speaker and coach support specialist, known for her expertise in providing administrative assistance for the speaking and coaching industry. With a passion for enabling professionals to focus on their content creation and delivery, Marie established Call the Office, a virtual assistance service designed specifically for speakers and coaches. Marie understands the unique challenges faced by professionals in this bustling industry, including limited budgets and overwhelming administrative responsibilities. By offering dedicated support, Marie allows these professionals to streamline their operations and maximize their productivity.
Her journey into this niche began with a solid foundation in various administrative roles across multiple sectors. Marie has amassed over several years of experience, shining in positions such as the Executive Assistant at Lynne Schinella - Ripe Learning, where she supported executive functions and built strong client relationships. As the Client and Presenter Liaison at Great Expectation Speakers Bureau, she juggled responsibilities that included managing client inquiries and acting as a pivotal point of support between presenters and clients.
Marie’s impressive skills extend beyond just administrative tasks; she has leveraged her competence as a Business Office Manager at Professional Client Services to enhance business operations and streamline productivity. Her experience as Coaching Administration Manager at robnixon allowed her to gain insight into the coaching industry, which she now brings to her role at Call the Office.
Education and Achievements
While details of Marie’s formal education are not specifically outlined, her wealth of experience serves as a testament to her professional competencies and achievements. With a proven record of taking on progressively responsible roles, Marie has consistently demonstrated her ability to manage complex administrative functions efficiently. Her most notable accomplishment is the founding of Call the Office, a venture that embodies her commitment to empowering speakers and coaches by alleviating their administrative burdens.
Notable Achievements
- Founder of Call the Office: Marie capitalized on her extensive experience in various support roles to establish a service that meets the specific needs of professional speakers and coaches, allowing them to focus more on their core activities.
- Diverse Project Management Skills: With an extensive background as an Executive Assistant and Business Manager, she has honed her ability to manage various tasks effectively, which includes client care, email management, and sales and marketing support.
- Establishing Long-Lasting Professional Relationships: Through her work with Great Expectation Speakers Bureau and other roles, Marie has developed a knack for building rapport with clients, ensuring they feel valued and understood in their interactions.
Marie Ortquist’s story is not just about her roles but also about the impact she’s had on those she assists. By taking care of the essential yet time-consuming aspects of business, she has enabled fellow speakers and coaches to flourish. With her professional mindset, commitment, and a genuine desire to help others, Marie continues to enhance the productivity of her clients, urging them to focus on what they do best — delivering powerful and transformative presentations.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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