How Televerde Uses Adobe Technology to Give Incarcerated Women a Second Chance

Photo credit: Televerde

When a company’s values truly become the foundation for positive life changes for employees, there is something remarkable to be said about its purpose and bigger impact. Televerde, a sales and marketing solutions company that specializes in inside sales and global demand generation, does exactly that.

Its unique business model goes well beyond its ability to offer B2B companies marketing and sales support. The company also helps disempowered women find their voice and reach their potential by employing and upskilling incarcerated women and offering them a fair shot at a meaningful, productive life after release.

Empowering women through technology

Since Televerde launched more than two decades ago, it has positively impacted more than 3,000 women by employing them through the prison system and empowering them to become experts in marketing automation tools like Marketo Engage, part of Adobe Experience Cloud. Unlike other jobs offered in prison, Televerde prides itself on enabling these women to become highly-skilled and comfortable with technology, increasing their chances to get a job outside of prison.

In fact, 25% of the incarcerated women who work for Televerde are hired full-time once they are released. Forty-percent of the employees at Televerde’s corporate office in Phoenix began their careers with the company “on the inside,” and are represented in every department and at every level of the organization, including the c-suite. Many women are also hired by Televerde clients post-release, working in a variety of sales, marketing, and technical positions.

Ashley Cruz, who was once incarcerated, was introduced to the company during her 10-year sentence at the Perryville State Prison Complex in Arizona and is a perfect example of everything Televerde stands for. Today, Ashley works at Televerde’s headquarters as a marketing technology manager, overseeing the martech stack, including Marketo Engage.

Ashley reflects back on the opportunity and why Televerde was so important to her at that time in her life, “Televerde gave me an incredible opportunity. Everything I know about Marketo, I learned in prison. What Televerde does for women is amazing. Instead of thinking of yourself as just an inmate, you realize you’re someone who deserves a second chance. For me, that was life-changing.”

The right technology for its customers and employees

Selecting the right technology was key for Televerde’s success for both its clients and employees. Similar to many B2B companies, Televerde customers know the importance of marketing automation but lack the resources and skilled staff to successfully execute marketing strategies properly. That’s where Televerde comes in.

Televerde uses Marketo Engage as part of its services to help its B2B customers engage buyers, qualify leads, develop opportunities, close deals and offer customer support throughout the entire buyer’s journey. From an internal perspective, the solution is easy to use for all its employees – both inside and outside of prison. This was the main reason why Televerde recently started using Marketo Engage.

Ashley explains, “We didn’t need a complex tool that required a lot of user training. Marketo Engage can support our marketing strategy and our clients’ campaigns with the capabilities we need and a very straightforward user interface. Plus, with Marketo Engage, we can send an email campaign, do the lead scoring on it, and get the information we need all the way through to closing. Being able to track all that insight is extremely important to measure not only our success as a company, but also the conversions we’re achieving for our customers.”

After switching to Marketo Engage, Televerde saw its marketing efficiency increase up to 4 times. Previously, setting up a campaign took up to two hours: building out the forms and landing pages, connecting the pieces and completing all testing. With Marketo Engage, the same process takes just 30 minutes.

The incarcerated women are using Marketo Engage many different ways, allowing them to become experts in the entire marketing automation technology space. Specifically, Televerde employees use Marketo Engage to support their clients with consultative and managed services and then they act as an extension to their clients’ teams by helping them better understand how to utilize the technology within their existing marketing and sales processes. Additionally, they sync calling insights back to Marketo Engage to allow clients to have an enhanced view into their prospects for improved routing and follow up, making it as easy as possible for clients to drive pipeline and close leads.

Helping women find their voice and reach their potential

It’s clear that many women are benefitting from Televerde’s business model today, with Ashley’s story just being one example of getting a second chance. Getting access to sophisticated marketing technology, like Marketo Engage, while in prison builds women’s confidence and empowers them to do more when they get out.

Televerde’s impact on women goes well beyond just making them tech savvy and having a career where incarcerated women continue to learn and grown in an ever-evolving industry. Compared to the national recidivism average of 68% – meaning nearly 7 out of 10 people end up back in prison – recidivism for the 3,000 women graduates of Televerde’s program is just 5.4 percent. The model is clearly working and we are proud to have a part in that success.

And while Televerde will continue to invest in these women both inside and outside of prison, we’ll continue supporting Televerde and their entire staff by making sure they have the best technology readily available through Marketo Engage.