Thank you to everyone that came out to the Chicago Sales Leadership Community meeting. It was a great opportunity to network, share and learn. The meeting included a panel discussion on “How Sales Leaders Are Addressing Changing Customer Buying Behavior”. The panel from the community shared insights and perspectives on the difficult challenge of aligning sales and marketing to drive results.

Who Were the Executives for the Panel Discussion?

• John Thackston (VP, Client Engagements for SOAR Performance Group)
• Vrahram Kadkhodaian (CEO of Prolifiq)
• Tom O’Connor (Senior VP for IRI)
• Jonathan Leaf (VP Sales, Western US for Softchoice)

Listen to or download the audio from the meeting:

Questions discussed during the meeting:

• How are customers changing in your market and what is the impact?
• As more decisions are made by committee, do you see a risk that they are making the wrong decisions?
• How are you addressing these changes in the engagement with customers on their buying journey?
• How are you dealing with changes in the markets you serve and how are you helping your customers in those markets?
• How are changes in customer buying behavior changing the profile of the sales person in your organization?
• What is your advice to other sales leaders to navigate this change most effectively?
• What approach do you use to drive alignment of common goals with the customer?
• What are your sales teams doing to successfully lead your customers to adopt technology?

Finally, thank you to our hosts for the meeting, DePaul University’s Center for Sales Leadership.

Why Should You Attend Future Meetings?

The meetings offer opportunities to:

• hear from other sales leaders to get their perspective on important topics you may also face within your company
• meet other sales leaders from the area to expand your personal and professional network
• connect with DePaul University students participating in the sales program to identify potential sales talent
• ask your questions to the panel (and group) to get further insights

Who Will You See at the Meetings?

Previous events have included sales leaders from CH Robinson, HP Enterprise, IRI, LinkedIn, Miller Coors, Patterson Medical, SAP, Shearer’s Foods, Siemens Healthineers, Softchoice, Southwire, Whirlpool, Zones and other top companies of all sizes and industries. Plus, there will be DePaul University students that are participating in the sales program (are you looking for some sales talent for your organization?) The meetings are open to practitioner sales leaders and invited guests. There is no cost to attend. Registration before the meeting is required to ensure that a seat is available to you.

When Was the Meeting?

May 19, 2017 / 7:30am to 9:00am

Where was the Meeting?

DePaul University
Center for Sales Leadership
1 E. Jackson
Chicago, IL 60604

ABOUT THE CHICAGO SALES LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

The Chicago Sales Leadership Community was co-founded by DePaul University and SOAR Performance Group to create a forum for best practice sharing and executive networking within the greater Chicago area.

• The community is a cross industry organization of senior sales leaders focused on building a community within the Chicago market for advancing best practices in sales leadership.
• It also creates networking and mentoring opportunities for Chicago senior sales executives with DePaul University students participating in the DePaul University Sales Program.
• The community is led by the advisory board with representatives from companies that represent different industries and go-to-market models.
• In addition to the breakfast meetings that include panel discussions on sales leadership topics, the community also provides online options for participation.
• Recordings from the panel discussion are posted in the previous events section.
• An online discussion group (Sales Leadership Community Insights) is available on LinkedIn.

We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!