New Testimonials November 2009

PSI Assessments of Sales Reps:  I am writing to relate my satisfaction with the Profile Sales Indicator.  As a Sale Manager working with a small Inbound Sales team I am faced with the challenge of transitioning my team from a Service focused environment to a Sales focused approach.  My team is made up of seasoned employees who were hired to fit a Service profile.  When I was brought in to lead the team many of them related their uncomfortable feelings concerning sales activities.  I was unsure how to best identify their strengths and challenge areas. 

Sam Black provided the Profile Sales Indicator as an effective tool to assist me in my assessment of the team.  The results were highly accurate and essential to creating an effective coaching strategy.  The PSI report contains insightful information on each employee, delivered in a clear and concise format.  When creating development plans for employees this type of report is key to identifying coaching strategies for effectively improving behaviors.  As everyone is aware, experienced employees represent a significant investment for any company.  Effectively assisting staff members to change and grow within their positions is key to staying current within your area of expertise.  The PSI is an excellent place to start for any team facing changes within the business environment.  The PSI would also be effective when used to identify new candidates to fill positions.  I will not hire future employees without it.

Training:  When we first met with Sam Black to discuss the particular needs of our business we were impressed with the time she took to carefully examine our situation and listen to our expectations.  We were looking for a Consultant that could provide a tailored training program that incorporated our specific products and services within a strong sales curriculum.  Other consultants had presented programs that required us to fit into a prepackaged Sales approach.  Sam Black offered something different.  She started with a detailed discussion of the challenges we faced in moving our Service personal into a Sales role, and built a personalized program for us that utilized examples taken from our everyday customer interactions.  The classes were highly successful.  Our Staff responded  well to the training and the curriculum was flexible enough to grow along with our business.  We couldn’t be happier with the services provided by Sam Black. 

Mark O'Brien

Call Center Manager

AmeriFile, St. Louis

New Testimonials October 2009

Sam Black hosted a webinar that I attended several weeks ago.  I picked up ideas that I was able to put to use in my business right away.  Sam has a way of zeroing in on what action we need to take as business owners right now. She changed the way I run my business.     Sam was also nice enough to come and speak to a monthly networking event that my company (GoSmallBiz) hosts.  She talked to our 40 attendees about  "Asking the Right Questions" of our prospects to uncover their real needs.  Extremely helpful to us all ... got rave reviews from the attendees!! Thanks Sam.    Dave Hilgendorf, Independent Broker GoSmallBiz

New Testimonial September 2009

Hi Sam,

You rock!  Thank you so much for the webinar today.  I learned or was reminded of activities I can do to manage my selling effectively and efficiently.  When I grow up I want to be just like the master of sales, Sam Black. 

To your success,

Donna Gamache

eWomenNetwork

Executive Managing Director, St. Louis & St. Charles

New Testimonial August 2009

"Sam Black's webinar [Managing Selling] was awesome.  If you're in the marketing/sales arena on a daily basis, you know that you need to constantly sharpen your axe.  Sam helped me re-focus my activities.  Great stuff!"

   -Dave Hilgendorf,  "The Pre-Paid Legal Guy"

New Testimonial July 2009

Dear Sam, I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that your Customer Service Training does work! All of our staff has gained confidence in how to treat and deal with customers, which has in turn created a pleasant work environment not to mention our customer are much happier! Here’s just one testimonial we received after our training with you:

Lorraine and Crew,

              Julio and everyone who comes with him are very courteous and prompt. In this market it is highly important. The service you provide is tops in the field. I am very glad we made the switch to A/C Electric. I have yet to have a complaint about your work or service and anticipate it staying that way in the future. The communication with your office staff is as important as the field work and I have to say I don’t hesitate in calling your friendly staff. So I would like to thank you for a wonderful experience with A/C Electric. God Bless you and yours,  Paul Koch,Maintenance Supervisor

New Hope Ministries

All of us here at A/C Electric want to thank you for your awesome help and insight!!

Fondly,Lorraine Carlone

Vice President

A/C Electric Service of SW FI., Inc.

New Testimonial July 2009

Hi Sam,

I am doing well!  I have continued to book 5-9 appoints with new customers a week and have set a goal of a total of 10 appointments, and 2 demos, which I have been meeting or exceeding. 

I know Bill [company president] is pleased with what you have done for me.  He has said that he has never seen me with so much activity.

"Since my Sales Therapy training with Sam my appointments with new clients has increased by 50%.  Sam has given me excellent tips on how to call a new prospect and set an appointment.  I am very satisfied with her coaching!” 

Julie Kehlenbrink, Account Manager

Tipton Systems

May 2009

Hi Sam,   How was your trip back to home? Did you manage to see Black Sea? I am writing to you because a couple of days ago I used entire script to obtain a meeting with a financial officer (short introduction, fact and need questions, closings, manage objections, reclosing). And guess what? I obtain the first meeting using your script. It was very easy! Thank you for scripts and tips.   Warm regards :))

Costin Olaru
Branch Manager

Citibank Europe plc, Dublin
Sucursala Romania

My company has used Sam Black’s Consulting/Sales Services to specifically increase the call activity levels for my internal-sales staff and help us develop internal processes to track and motivate towards performance goals.  Sam assisted us in identifying the correct metrics, developing acceptable goals individualized to our business, and implementing a management process to manage our individuals to the goals we have established.  As a result o f Sam’s Sales Consulting Services we have realized a 264% increase in productivity within 2 months and the trend remains in an upward thrust.  Sam’s candor and friendly personality was ensuring.  I enjoyed working with her tremendously.  I recommend Sam Black’s services to anyone that is looking for swift and decisive results on improving productivity, performance and setting structure in your organization. 

Sandi Hubert

                                                                                    President/CEO

                                                                                    Elite IT Services, Inc.

The whole team was very enthusiastic about the things they took away from the program that can be used and acted upon right away.

The customization work you did to make it fit our business model was fantastic great work and I can sense the payoff already in big dividends.

Stephen Kistner
Sr. VP of Sales Training & Development
Profiles International, Inc.

Sam Black's workshops were among the most popular we offered.
Her presentations were practical, providing new tools to use, and inspired
everyone to get back to work - and do it better.

Jan Scott
St. Louis Women's Yellow Pages

I highly recommend Sam Black for improving your telephone skills, both in sales and customer service. I have taken her workshops and (used) the testing program, which I highly recommend.

Tessa Greenspan. CEO
Sappington International Farmers Market

My first meeting with Sam was when I attended one of her Telephone Selling Skills workshops. At the time I was a caller for DataMarq, a marketing firm. Since then I have advanced from a calling position to call center coordinator and HR Director and am utilizing other programs by Sam such as: Monitoring/Coaching for Supervisors, Script Writing/Development, Profiles on the Web, and Field Selling Skills.

While all the courses have been knowledgeable and helpful, the course I am utilizing the most is the Script Writing/Development. Our business brings on new calling campaigns weekly and I find myself in a constant state of scripting.

The information taught has been very beneficial and provided the tools needed to get the job done right (the first time). Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you Sam!

Mary S.
DataMarq (A Direct Marketing Co.)

Sam set up an outbound appointment solicitation call center for us complete with all of the tracking documentation and caller training. The program produced results beyond what was promised.

Sam also did a one-day training for our salesmen to improve their phone skills in making cold calls to new business prospects. Our sales force was quite diverse ranging from those in their first or second jobs to those with 20+ years of experience. Sam had something of value for each of them. Her training was interesting and engaging. She kept everyone involved and actively participating. Everyone completed the training with new knowledge and skills that increased their ability to use to the telephone to get face to face with prospective clients.

Gerald Lieberg, former president, Johnson Heater Corp., St. Louis, MO

Our Direct Insurance call center had myriad problems. Acquisition rates were far above industry standards, the sales agents were unsure of themselves, we were spending $1.34 for every dollar we made, and corporate would only continue to finance this venture if we could turn it around, and do it quickly.

We decided to partner with Sam Black Consulting. Sam conducted an in-depth needs analysis, developed training, conducted train-the-trainer sessions, and provided job aids. It was the best decision we ever made. After the training, the agents were wildly successful. They had more confidence, and took on an unparalleled competitive spirit. Our Combined Operating Ratio dropped to $1.21, in less than 90 days, and continued to drop over the next year.

JoAnn Dye,
Director, Training & Development

"I have been a sales manager for several years. It was not until I met Sam Black and her Motivative / Upbeat selling program that I learned how to be the right kind of sales manager. It is important to remember that each and every one of your sales representatives are individuals. They want to sell their way with their own personality.

The key is to let them, but train them to be good at it. Training is never ending - the more you train the better they get".

Thank you Sam for a well deserved lesson.

Dee Fogelbach - Plumley
Sales Director/Manager
Amcon the Eyecare Supply Center

As we grew Primary Network to become the largest regional ISP in the Midwest, we needed someone to assist with the many new sales reps required on the job. Sam Black did a terrific job of first learning about our business, and then spinning it into a winning training course for our 75 plus sales focused employees. We all learned a lot from spending classroom time with Sam...

Trey Goede
Vice President of Sales
Primary Network, Inc

Sam Black's training programs are incredibly successful. Measuring a 5 month period in 2003 against the identical 5 month period in 2002, we realized a 65% increase in sales performance for our staff of 21 inside sales reps! Sam performed an on-target needs assessment and then returned with a customized telesales training program for the reps and a coaching implementation plan for supervisors. The results have been overwhelming and rewarding for both the employees and management. We look forward to more programs in the future. Thank you Sam.

Brian Weber
Director of Sales
Interstate All Battery Center

Dear Sam,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for introducing the Administrative team at CHRISTUS St. Catherine to the Profile's testing tool. We had the tremendous task of opening a brand new hospital and having to fill hundreds of positions in a short amount of time. The testing instrument assisted us in being able to make better informed decisions, in a short period of time. We found that the selections that were made with the assessment were on target and placed people in the appropriate positions as opposed to employees that were hired on prior to the use of the recommended assessment tool. The Profile testing assessment helped to save us many hours and dollars in the end.

Director of Business Development
Jo Ann Schwartz

Because of the talents of Chairman Sam Black, the VIP Panels of the Variety Telethon have become an important revenue stream for our charity. The training and implementation of the telemarketing on our phone bank was superior thanks to her expertise. Hundreds of disabled and disadvantaged children will receive the help they need from the funds raised on the phone bank.

Jan Albus
Executive Director
Variety Club St. Louis

Sam Black's "How to Use the Phone to Prospect For Jobs" seminar provided concrete guidelines, tried and proven methods, and valuable dos and don'ts to clients engaged in the job search process. Sam shared her expertise and talent in the area of telephone sales/marketing strategy and demonstrated how to effectively use these skills in selling oneself; preparing before the call, maintaining control of the conversation, and achieving the desired objectives.

James G. Wolf
President
HRMC St. Louis

From: Jennifer Sokso
Subject: Spin training results

We have found improvement in both quantity of sales and revenue per sale. Monthly average for Contract In(signed acceptance of offer)/Call has improved about 15% from February to March.

Jan Contract In/Calls was 13.4%
Feb Contract In/Calls was 17.2%
March Contract In/Calls was 20.2%
April run rate so far is over 25%, but will likely come down a bit.

Our revenue per deal has also improved from Feb to March by 16%.Good luck and talk to you later,

Jennifer Sokso
Sales Manager
NoteWorld, Tacoma, Washington

From: Reeves, Amanda J
Subject: Our sales jumped up after the telemarketing training

Sam,

When Primary Network decided to hire you we felt we already had good sales reps, they just needed a little help with their cold calling. Boy were we right! After the two days of training that our reps attended 5 of our 10 reps had no problem getting eight new appointments a week and our
monthly sales numbers increased by almost 50%. Two of the reps that attended your training consistently blew their numbers out for the next six months and we promoted them both to Sales manager. You did a great job! I would recommend your services to any sales force anytime.

Amanda J. Reeves
Data Sales Specialist
XO Communications-St. Louis

I have worked with Sam for over seven years, both as a trainer and as a consultant. Our customers love working with Sam, and she consistently gets excellent feedback when she completes trainings. She is a great people person, connects well with managers, and is able to effectively communicate with them and help them effectuate positive change.

Robert D. Garber
Digisoft

Sam Black- trainer, script writer, and motivator extraordinaire ! Sam helped TALX pilot it's initial group of telemarketing staff and laid the groundwork for the TALX sales team exceeding it's goals by 110%. Sam crafted the TALX Work Number telesales script from scratch and was part of the team who demonstrated that our product could be successfully sold over the telephone without a face-to-face sales call in the mid-market arena.

I have always appreciated Sam's knowledge of the industry and her contagious enthusiasm in the field of telemarketing. Sam delivers results with every phone call her team initiates..

Doug Kennedy
Sales Director
TALX

Sam,
I wanted to let you know what a valuable tool the Profiles on the Web Profiles assessment has been in helping us hire the most successful sales team we've had in years! The ability to test candidates and compare their profile to that of our most successful salespeople has made hiring easier and more effective. Thank you for suggesting we add this service to our interviewing process.

Kristie Jones
Sales Manager
Business Training Library

Sam's full service approach of script writing, sales training, and sales management training was a great process. Sales are up and the sales staff is happy to make more commissions using Sam's techniques.

Kris Horner
President
Auto Glass Plus

Sam was hired to review our existing sales training program for our retail mortgage sales unit, and to develop a new comprehensive sales program designed to train new Account Executives who are primarily trained remotely by their managers in branches located across the country. Sam did an
outstanding job in reviewing our branches and the new Account Executives and assessing their training challenges. She was able to identify key learning issues and to develop a complete training program that was readily embraced by a tough to please manager hierarchy.

One of the key findings she made was that our newer Account Executives did not have the opportunity to experience a lot of loan files when they first start. As a result, some of them were falling further behind the development curve as a result. She addressed this issue by building into
the training process a robust sample of loan file exercises that guaranteed that the Account Executive would have the ability to virtually experience up to 70 Chase files, which gave every new Account Executive the ability to become competent about the components of a successful Chase loan file. In addition, she built a multi-tiered training program that included: self paced learning exercises, manager led learning exercises, and tests that help to validate the learning at various steps.

Sam's experience and ability enable her to handle a variety of assignments. While her primary expertise is in the telemarketing area, she can add value to a variety of training and development situations. The job she did for our retail business was very comprehensive. While it contained some phone skill related parts, it was a soup to nuts training program that gives us a consistent way for branch managers located in branches across the country to provide a consistent training process utilizing tools that are easy to manage, and are highly effective.

It was difficult not to believe that Sam was not a whole team of development people, based on the amount of work that went into the project and the timeframe in which it was completed. Plus, she was able to deliver our program at a very fair price. We would not hesitate to work with Sam
again in the future.

Ervin Hall
Chase Manhattan Mortgage

"As a Manager of a telesales force, I took Sam's course to find ways to help my salespeople increase their results. What I got was not only helpful, but extremely impactful! Sam is a vibrant personality and shares a wealth of experience with her workshop participants. I learned so much that I could take back to my people - not only proven tactics, but a system that I could train both novice and veteran telesalespeople with that guarantees improved results! Consequently, our sales numbers increased significantly with the technology she shared. Thank you Sam!!!"

Aprille Trupiano

Sam-
I wanted to extend a personal THANK YOU to you for doing such an excellent job training the Telesales Workshop to our Account Managers in September. It's been two months from the date of your workshop and we are steadily seeing about a 5-10% increase in sales and quality scores each month. It's so refreshing to monitor or walk around on the sales floor and hear them using the tools that you taught. The Account Managers have praised the workshop and have been grateful that the company chose to invest in your time and talent.

The follow-up Coaching Workshop for the managers has been an incredible asset in following up with the Account Managers. Our Coaching Sessions have been more productive and we've been much more successful in getting them to set and achieve their own goals. Overall, everyone is extremely pleased with the successful outcome. Your workshop by far has been the best that we've ever had since I've been working with the company!

On another note, I finished training 5 new Account Managers for our sales staff and they are all scoring between 75-96% on their quality scores and their sales are off the charts! Thank you so much Sam!

Heather Swanson
Interstate All Battery Center
Training Manager

SAM BLACK IS THE CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL.

In over ten years, working closely with her, I am continuously amazed with the excellence of her execution. Sam is one of those rare marketing professionals, that under promises and over delivers. Bringing her into a wide variety of situations she possesses a unique quality of ingratiating herself, her talent and in building trust for those businesses and individuals she serves.

Her skills at one-on-one sales training, her knowledge of scripting, her instinct to understand infrastructure and technology needs, puts her in the top rank of her profession.

I have introduced her into insurance situations, membership applications, home improvement ... her reports to management represent an insight probably in many cases unknown to the management of how to squeeze maximum productivity and build a work force that is happy to perform.

This is a rare talent and bringing her into virtually any business situation is an invitation to improve performance. This is a very special broad based talent, that those of us who work in the field are proud to praise.

Bill Collinger
W. W. Collinger
COLLINGER & ASSOCIATES
St. Louis, MO