Inaugural Impact Sales Summit: Leadership Interviews

During the first company-wide sales event at Impact Networking, managers and employee development experts share the benefits of the training and engaging sales employees at all levels of experience.

Video Transcript: Impact Networking Sales Leadership Interviews

Frank DeGeorge, Chief Technology Officer: “Hey, can you tell us your name and what you do for Impact?”

Mike Giardina, Branch Sales Manager: “I’m Mike Giardina, I’m a sales manager for the Downtown Chicago office.”

DeGeorge: “And why are we at Navy Pier on this fine Thursday afternoon?”

Giardina: “We’re here kicking off the inaugural Sales Summit.”

Impact Networking Sales Summit

Ashley Carnes, Director of Sales Strategy & Professional Development: “The purpose of the Sales Summit today is to foster camaraderie, communication, and fun, first and foremost, for our entire Sales team.”

Michael Lepper, Sales Manager, Impact Bolingbrook: “We’re at the Sales Summit today. It’s furthering our education in regards to prospecting.

“A lot of stuff that we teach already in our Foundations class, it’s good to hear it from another perspective, like Jeb [Blount], who’s an expert, and it’s going to bring out a lot of things for our Sales team to further their careers.”

Katrina Senour, Digital Learning Specialist: “We’ve got very seasoned reps here, who have been doing this for so long. It’s important to disrupt habits and strategies and just make sure that you’re staying at the top of your game.”

Beth Huber, Sales Manager, Impact Anaheim: “[Blount is] spending a full day with our Sales team, talking about fanatical prospecting, which has been amazing so far.”

Heidi Bassler, Manager of Professional Development: “Fanatical prospecting is all about putting 100 percent into everything you’re doing, not taking no for an answer, and really just living with a mindset of grit.”

Bailey Kennedy, Account Manager: “I was most excited about learning what not to say on the phone, because I think a lot of times we get tips on what to say, but knowing the tricks that help you to stay away from those kind of trigger words and things like that that people don’t respond well to has been really helpful.”

Fred Barrionuevo, Strategic Services Branch Manager: “The takeaway that I have is for prospecting itself, so as a specialist I am not on the phones, but I feel like I’ll be able to help the reps be better on the phones for when they’re calling on my division’s opportunities.”

DeGeorge: “So far, what’s been your favorite part about the Sales Summit?”

Giardina: “I think watching the reps get up there and roleplay through getting rid of some of that, what we call, ‘weak language,’ and just stopping and breathing and trying to figure out ways to do it better.”

Justin Walsh, Account Manager: “Being a sponge, and absorbing everything that [Blount is] telling us, you know, how everybody’s interacting, the collaboration tools, watching the team get together and really come together as one to form a project.”

Lepper: “I’ve had a lot of my Sales team come up to me and just say, you know, we know all this stuff, it’s good to hear it again, can’t wait to put it into practice tomorrow.”

Carnes: “What we hope the salespeople take away from today is a renewed sense of control over their pipeline, and excitement over the business that they can do this year in 2020, and some new trends, skills, techniques, tips that can help refine their sales craft, and hopefully a lot of memories from just a fun day being all together.”