Craig Wortmann
Craig Wortmann
Craig Wortmann is the CEO and Founder of Sales Engine, a firm that helps companies build and tune their sales engine(s). He is also a renowned professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. His course, Entrepreneurial Selling, was ranked by Inc Magazine as one of the Best Courses of 2011. Craig published his book What's Your Story?: Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful in the same year and continues to speak on the topic of using stories in the sales process.
Not All Sales Positions Are Created Equal: The Sliding Scale of Selling Challenges
It’s no secret that selling can be a difficult profession. It’s challenging in ways that other positions aren’t. It can be high stakes, it...
3 Tactics to Avoid a “Michael Bay Meltdown”
Like many people, I watched Michael Bay’s recent meltdown during a simple presentation and I cringed. The first thought in my head was; “Ohmigod...
Discipline and the Power of Time
Time is a weird thing. Sometimes it seems like it flies by, and sometimes the afternoon's drag. If there's one discipline that is...
Boldness and Humility: The Yin & Yang of High-Performance Selling
Yin and Yang. The universal symbol of "how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world." (source: Wikipedia) The more...
12 Ways to Prospect Like a Sales Pro
Prospecting as a salesperson can be difficult. You feel like you've reached the end of your rope and you've called everyone and their mother....
My First Job and The Power of Asking the Right Questions
My First Job: Selling Computers on the South Side of Chicago My first job in business was as a salesperson for IBM. I covered...
5 Things Salespeople Should Stop Doing Immediately
"First we make our habits and then our habits make us." – Anonymous All of us have habits which lead to routines. Once in...
Leadership With a Little “l”
The "Leadership" We All Know: Leadership is one of those things that is hard to define. It's such a big topic, that we often...
A Discipline Manifesto for Salespeople
Okay, "manifesto" is a big word, true. But discipline is HUGE. Eat your vegetables. Get enough sleep. Work hard. Spend time with family. Work out…
Sales Tip: Work An Event Floor with Conversation Strategy
You go to an event. There are prospects there. You look through the crack in the door and you see 80 people in a...
How to Talk About Your Competitors With A Prospect
When a prospect says; "You know, Christy, I have to tell you that we are also looking at XYZ Competitor as well…" what should...
How to Write a Sales Proposal: The 3 Elements You’re Missing
In our review of many proposals over the past few years, there are often three missing but critical elements that ever proposal should contain: Sales...
TED Talks for Salespeople: The 5 Not to Be Missed
Sometimes we need little moments of education to shock ourselves out of our normal way of thinking. We think TED talks often do that...
Why Entrepreneurs Should Tell Stories
In a way, entrepreneurs are radicals. Like radicals from the 1960's. Or free radicals in physics. They change things. They flit around. They push...
10 Ways to Optimize Your Sales Engine in 30 Days
Optimizing your sales engine doesn't have to be time-consuming. Think of them as small changes to your current state of affairs and gradually work...
Install Your Own BS Detector With the Help of a Mentor
Most people have this vision of a mentor being this friendly sage who dispenses wisdom in hushed tones just when you need it. ...