After nearly four decades in banking, Elizabeth Dobers was ready for a new chapter in her career. She was looking for a role where she could leverage her deep finance, sales, and coaching experience to help banks and other businesses grow and succeed in more meaningful ways. And fortunately for us here at Vertical IQ, she has recently joined our team as a new Customer Success manager!
“This is such a nice change for me,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve been in banking almost my entire life — 38 years — and it’s all I ever thought I would do. But I reached a point where I wanted to do something different, something that teaches and trains and helps others to be better at what they do.”
Elizabeth’s banking career took her from community banks to mega-banks, and from Arizona to Las Vegas, San Antonio, and back to her home state of Alabama. Along the way, she held leadership roles including director of business banking, overseeing teams as large as 165 salespeople, along with product groups, SBA teams, and more.
Her leadership style has been shaped by a core belief: Success starts with equipping people with the right tools. One eye-opening moment early in her career came when a top-performing banker told her she was leaving because “the job had gotten too hard.” The reason? She had a lot of tools at her disposal, but she didn’t have the right tools.
“I thought I was doing great by giving my team all these resources,” Elizabeth explained. “But I realized I was giving them too much; they didn’t know where to start. Once I boiled it down to one or two critical tools, their focus improved, and they became more successful.”
And one of those essential tools was Vertical IQ.
An emphasis on call readiness
Elizabeth has been a Vertical IQ fan for many years. “I’ve been an avid user ever since they started the company,” she recollected. “I respect what they do. I love their tool — and now I can say ‘our tool’!”
She pointed to two things she especially values when it comes to Vertical IQ’s economic and Industry Intelligence: the quality of the information and the ease of use.
“It’s the ease of quickly getting exactly what I need,” she said. “Sometimes I’d be on the way to a client meeting, and I’d pull up the Call Prep Questions on my phone. It allowed me to walk into that room asking intelligent, industry-specific questions that made me look like I’d been working in their industry for years.”
Elizabeth also saw firsthand how Vertical IQ helped her banking teams deepen relationships and win business. She often encouraged her bankers to pick a specific industry to specialize in and use Vertical IQ to become an expert.
“When they did that — whether it was healthcare, manufacturing, or even a niche like dentistry — they won business because they were viewed as the expert,” she said. “The customers could tell they cared and understood their business.”
Elizabeth also firmly believes that for bankers or anyone calling on businesses, “Vertical IQ is as essential as email or a CRM system; it should be part of your daily routine.” She would train her bankers to go into Vertical IQ before making a call or walking into a business. “The information will make your conversation more meaningful and position you as a trusted advisor,” she noted.
Elizabeth continued:
“One of the most important things that I’ve learned from years of using Vertical IQ is that readiness wins. In today’s world, you can’t just wing it, like swinging by a business and dropping off a business card. Business owners want personalization, and they want value. Vertical IQ will make your interactions much more meaningful, and you’ll get to a decision quicker because you’re ready to take on whatever that customer throws at you. You’ll be able to answer those questions. You’ll be able to give them the information they need. Readiness wins — and Vertical IQ helps you be ready.”
>> Related: Vertical IQ Welcomes Career Banker Jerry Bazata to Our Team
A stand-out vendor relationship
During her time as a banking executive, Elizabeth viewed Vertical IQ not just as a vendor, but as “an extension of my team.”
“Having worked with numerous vendors and service providers, one thing that really sets Vertical IQ apart from the others is their proactiveness,” she said. “They’d call me with salient updates, usage insights, or to offer training to my team before I even thought to ask. They always made sure my team knew how to use the tool to its fullest.”
Now that she is part of the Vertical IQ team, Elizabeth will continue to call Birmingham, Alabama, home, working remotely and traveling as needed. She and her husband of 35 years have one daughter and two young grandchildren, who live just 15 minutes away … a big reason she’s not planning to move again after eight job-related relocations over four decades! Her parents, now 100 and 93, still live independently in Huntsville, Alabama, and remain a big source of inspiration for her as well.
Elizabeth explained her excitement that her new role at Vertical IQ will allow her to work with not just one bank but with many, as well as with firms in other industries like insurance and accounting.
“I may not be working at a bank anymore, but I’m still working for banks and for other B2B organizations, helping them become trusted advisors,” she explained. “Over the course of my career, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I’m eager to bring proven strategies and my years of experience to help our clients grow, train, and deepen relationships in meaningful ways through their use of Vertical IQ.”
Welcome to Vertical IQ, Elizabeth! We’re thrilled to have you on our team!