KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Mike Schultz

Sales and sales productivity expert, President of RAIN Group, Director of RAIN Group Center for Sales Research, and bestselling author of Insight Selling and Rainmaking Conversations

BIO

KEYNOTES

TESTIMONIALS

VIDEOS

BOOKS

Mike Schultz is a speaker, researcher, and sales expert. He is author of several books, including two Wall Street Journal bestsellers: Rainmaking Conversations (Wiley, 2011) and Insight Selling (Wiley, 2014). He was named the Top Sales Thought Leader globally in 2011 by Top Sales Awards. As President of RAIN Group, Mike has grown the company into a global leader, named multiple times as one of the Top 20 Sales Training firms worldwide by Selling Power Magazine.

Mike and the team at RAIN Group have worked with organizations such as Toyota, Bright Horizons, BNY Mellon, BDO, Hitachi, Lee Hecht Harrison, Lowe’s, Agilysys, and hundreds of others to unleash sales performance.

Business Week, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, MSNBC and hundreds of others have featured Mike’s original articles, research, and white papers, and frequently quote him as one of world’s leading sales experts. Mike has spoken at prominent industry events, including the Strategic Account Management Association’s annual conference for five consecutive years, HubSpot’s INBOUND conference, the InsideSales Sales Acceleration Summit, and many others. In addition, Mike is Director of the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research. Recent studies include The Value-Driving Sales Organization, What Sales Winners Do Differently, Benchmark Report on High Performance in Strategic Account Management, Top Performance in Sales Prospecting Benchmark Report, and The Top-Performing Sales Organization.

Mike’s areas of expertise include sales, consultative selling, strategic account management, sales negotiation, sales management and coaching, sales prospecting, sales performance improvement, and productivity.

Along with his books, Mike has written hundreds of articles, case studies, research reports, and other publications in the areas of selling and sales training.

Mike received his B.A in American Studies from Brandeis University and holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He currently teaches selling courses at Brandeis University.

Keynote Presentations

Building a Top Performing Sales Organization
While quite a bit of research has been done on what separates top sellers from the rest, there’s relatively little on what top performing sales organizations do differently than the rest. That is, until now. Through the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research, we analyzed data from 472 sellers and sales leaders from medium-sized to some of the world’s largest companies and learned what they do to achieve top sales performance. The results are fascinating.

In this keynote Mike Schultz shares five, data-backed keys to top sales performance.

You’ll learn:

    • One big idea—one absolute essential—that you must do to perform at an elite level in sales
    • Five keys to help you build a top performing sales organization
    • Exactly what the top performing sales organizations do to beat their sales goals
    • How to maximize motivation and unleash your sales team’s potential
    • The three sales skills your team must possess
3 Keys to Extreme Sales Productivity
71% of sales leaders do not believe their sellers manage their time and day effectively. That’s nearly three-quarters of companies.

It’s no wonder when sellers are constantly distracted with Facebook, text messages, CRM reminders, What’s App, LinkedIn, Instagram, constant email, and the never-ending demands of the workplace.

To reach top performance, you and your sales team must operate with maximum motivation and energy. You need to spend your time on the most important activities, and when you do, you need to be laser focused and execute.

In this keynote Mike Schultz shares how you can manufacture motivation, gain control of your time, get in the zone, and achieve maximum sales results. You’ll learn:

  • Keys to dramatically increase sales motivation—yours and your team’s
  • The #1 productivity killer
  • How to get in the zone and get the most done, every day
  • The simplest yet most effective time management system
  • Nine productivity habits you can start right now
What Sales Winners Do Differently
There’s a revolution underway in sales. Sales approaches that have worked for decades are no longer getting the same results. The Harvard Business Review has even declared, “The End of Solution Sales.”

Is this true? How is selling changing? What are the most successful sellers doing to maximize their success?

To find out, the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research studied more than 700 business-to- business purchases. They posed the question: “What are the winners of actual sales opportunities doing differently than the sellers who come in second place?” In this keynote Mike Schultz shares the surprising findings.

You’ll learn:

  • The differences between winners and second-place finishers in sales
  • Three core things every seller needs to do to maximize wins, loyalty, and referrals
  • What it means to sell in the “blue ocean”
  • Popular sales advice that you may hear, but that you should NOT take
  • You’ll not only get a look into the minds of professional buyers, you’ll get tactical tips that will immediately help you sell to them more effectively.
The Future of Consultative Selling
What used to work in sales even 10 years ago is no longer working today.

The way buyers buy is evolving at an unprecedented pace due to massive changes in technology and a hyper-competitive marketplace. While traditional consultative selling has been the go-to sales methodology for the last 40 years, it’s not enough to win in 2018.

RAIN Group President Mike Schultz will walk you through the new rules of selling and show you how to succeed in today’s selling environment.

You’ll learn:

  • What doesn’t work, and what to change to succeed in the new world of consultative selling
  • How to differentiate and win even when your products and services may not be superior
  • The #1 way you can unleash value and wow buyers
  • What the research says today’s top sellers do to achieve the best results

Mike Schultz Testimonials

“Mike’s speech really brought it home for me. I would absolutely recommend Mike to speak at my conferences. He’s dynamic, interesting, relevant, and he clearly has his finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the market today.”

Jill Shaul, Cisco

“Very thought provoking, even for an expert audience. Mr. Schultz is a very thoughtful and insightful presenter.”
Gary Slack, Chairman and CEO, Slack Barshinger

“The hour and a half speech was great. We had extremely positive feedback on content and delivery. Mike kept the conversation very interactive, allowing each member the chance to engage and walk away with tangible solutions. I recommend Mike without reservation to speak at your event.”
Sara Fraim, MITX

“Fabulous speaker. I gained invaluable insight into why clients want to buy our accounting, tax and business development services…critically important in today’s ultra-competitive and challenging business arena!”
Curtis Feldman, Partner, Shepherd & Goldstein LLP

“He’s a very powerful speaker. I would definitely have him talk to any of our groups at Avaya.”
Paul Dunay, Avaya

“What Mike brings to the table is a fabulous understating of the world of sales and sales people, and what motivates them.”
Jackie Quint, ITSMA

“I found myself nodding my head and laughing when Mike explained the challenges. And nodding my head in agreement when Mike recommended approaches, while wondering why I hadn’t thought of those approaches before.”
Kevin O’Connell, Partner, Posternak, Blankstein, & Lund

Videos

Books