For those managers and executives out there with a struggling sales force, here’s something you can do about it. Tap into this rich opportunity to get immediate solutions to your most pressing sales and leadership challenges from the experts.
Next Monday, October 6, 2008 I’ll be speaking at the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference at the Four Seasons, Chicago. Below is the agenda. Click here for more information.
Agenda
7:30 AM REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
8:30 AM WELCOME KEYNOTE
9:15 AM TOTAL LEADERSHIP: BE A BETTER LEADER, HAVE A RICHER LIFE
Total Leadership is a proven method for producing sustainable change in all parts of life that can be learned and practiced by individuals, groups, or organizations. It is informed by decades of research and practical application by Stew Friedman, a veteran Wharton School faculty member.
Speaker: Stewart Friedman, Founding Director, Wharton Leadership Program
10:25 AM MORNING BREAK
10:45 AM HOW TO BUILD AN EXECUTION-ORIENTED SALES CULTURE
A sales-driven organization is one where the activities of the sales force are aligned with a company’s mission, vision and values and where salespeople deliver value every day with every customer. Each of the panelists has excelled in managing a sales-driven organization. Learn the winning strategies and tactics from these experts so you can get your entire executive team to support your guiding vision.
Moderator: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power
Panelists: Sanford Brown, CSO, Heartland Payment Systems
Michael Moorman, Managing Principal, B2B Sales & Marketing, ZS Associates
Veronica O’Shea, Vice President and General Manager of Professional Services, Oracle Corporation
Daniel Perry, Senior Vice President of Sales, ARAMARK Uniform Services
12:15 PM LUNCHEON
1:15 PM HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES TEAMS’ PERFORMANCE – CASE STUDY: DHL
Sales force success is driven by a continuous management system that links business objectives, benchmarking, focused planning, individual assessment, and hands-on coaching. In this in-depth case study, you will learn exactly how DHL uses a scientific Sales Improvement Process to maintain peak levels of sales performance. This approach was pioneered with DHL’s 1,500-person sales force in the Asia-Pacific region; however, it can be easily tailored to sales forces in any industry, of any size, and with missions ranging from making small ticket, transactional sales to much larger, relationship-based sales. At DHL, this Sales Improvement Process was employed with a 150-person sales force in China, as well as the 15-person sales force in the Philippines.
Speaker: Malcolm Rees, Global Head of Sales, DHL Express Global Management
2:30 PM BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Breakout A: Coaching Salespeople into Champions
Technology has not only changed the way companies sell but the way managers build and advance their team. There’s less face to face time between your customers and your salespeople. To maintain your competitive edge, sales leaders must know how to quickly and efficiently coach, develop, motivate and retain their top performers in order to drive positive, measurable change. You can create a world class team by developing your own coaching skills; the missing discipline among today’s leaders. Learn how a tactical coaching system can empower your sales force to realize their fullest potential.
Moderator: Mary Delaney, CSO, CareerBuilder.com
Panelists: Dave DiStefano, CEO, RIchardson
Keith Rosen, President, Profit Builders and author of Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions
Patrick Sweeney, EVP, Caliper
Breakout B: Reviving Sales with Creative Incentives During a Slow Economy
Many industries are suffering from a slowdown. To stimulate sales, sales leaders often resort to price-cutting, or offer special incentives to their customers and their sales force. What strategies work best when it comes to planning, promoting and executing a successful incentive program? What incentives motivate customers to buy and what incentives motivate salespeople to deploy the extra effort needed to drive up sales? Learn how industry leaders deploy Incentives to achieve a strategic competitive advantage.
Moderator: Matt Harris, Vice President, Marketing, American Express Incentive Services
Panelists: Richard Blabolil, President, Marketing Innovators
Christopher Cabrera, Founder, President & CEO, Xactly Corporation
Martin Scirratt, Senior Vice President, Sales, Administaff
3:30 PM AFTERNOON BREAK
3:50 PM THE FUTURE OF THE SALES PROFESSION
With many baby boomers retiring, US companies are beginning to suffer from a shortage of sales talent. Every year over 1.5 million College graduates enter the field of sales, starting their careers with inadequate training, burdening their employers with a high business ramp up investment. There is a silver lining on the horizon with 35 visionary Colleges that offer a complete sales curriculum. Every year, these colleges graduate 1,600 sales professionals who know how to cold call, write a sales letter, handle objections, close a sale and ask for referrals. Engage in this session to help advance your profession. Together we can transform selling into a respectable and predictable science.
Speaker: Howard P. Stevens, Chairman and CEO, The HR Chally Group
Panelists: Pete Peterson, Director, Program for Sales Excellence, University of Connecticut
Neil Rackham, Author, SPIN Selling
Lynn Schleeter, Director, Center for Sales Innovation, College of St. Catherine
Dan Strunk, Director Sales Leadership Program, DePaul University
4:50 PM CONCLUDING REMARKS
Speaker: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power
5:00 PM NETWORKING COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Post-Conference Workshop – Tuesday, October 7, 2008
This optional workshop will run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Ballroom A (8th floor) of the Four Seasons Chicago Hotel.
8:00 AM MANAGING THROUGH CURIOSITY
Click here for more information.
