We help firms build and tune their sales engine.

Sales Engine is a tools and services firm founded on the principle that leaders should treat sales as the engine of their business..

“We got a group of sales leaders and sales professionals together worldwide to think about how we drive our sales performance and how we fine-tune our sales engine. Honestly, this is a group of people who thought they had it all figured out. And out of the session, out of the work we did with Craig, we realized that we should be doing a lot of things differently and we should be thinking differently, and particularly the way that we present, the way we talk about ourselves, and the way we articulate our stories to our clients. Truth be told, we have a lot to learn there. Craig and his team did a lot of work in challenging us and really thinking about how to do that effectively. And most importantly, what kinds of results that could actually mean for us. At the end of the day, we are working with Craig to change that. It starts with the way we tell our stories, and the way we think about our capabilities, and I look forward to partnering with Craig for a long time as it relates to the other aspects of our business.” – Byron Matthews, Global Head of Sales Effectiveness, Mercer Management Consulting.

Nothing happens until something gets sold. We all know this, but then why do we so often underperform our objectives? Because we often do not have the right sales process and tools in place and we do not have the right combination of knowledge, skills and discipline required for sales success.

Over the past twenty years, we have built a set of sales tools critical to building a high-performance sales engine. In recent months, we have been incredibly fortunate to work with some exciting, moving and shaking people and organizations such as Mercer Management Consulting, Driehaus Capital Management, American Institutes for Research, Weathergage Capital, and Iverify. These firms have either built or tuned their sales engines and are seeing the results on the top line.

Here are our stories…

Craig Wortmann, the Founder and CEO of Sales Engine has been a professional sales person for 20 years. He spent his first year in sales being trained by IBM Corporation in the classical selling style and was the #2 performer in his year-long sales school class. Post-IBM, Craig covered three-quarters of the country selling to large retailers for a division of Dean Witter. After finishing business school at Kellogg, Craig joined a midsize consulting firm called the Forum Corporation and quickly became the firm’s new product launch and client recovery specialist.

In 2000, Craig was recruited to join a start-up company called WisdomTools as its CEO. Craig ran and grew WisdomTools and then successfully sold the company to a larger firm in 2008.

After founding Sales Engine, one of Craig’s early projects was to become the interim CEO of an interactive marketing and web strategy firm called ClearGauge after being recruited by the firm’s venture backers. Craig executed a turnaround of ClearGauge by immediately building a sales engine and developing a new web presence as well as cutting significant costs. Craig then sold the company at a high valuation to a much larger agency.

From $250,000 computer systems to $1,500,000 consulting projects and from $20 books to entire companies, Craig has been a consistent high-performer selling products and services across the B2B and B2C spectrum.

Another of Craig’s personalities (one is not enough) is that of professor. He designed and developed a course that he teaches called Entrepreneurial Selling for the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. The course has quickly become one of the most popular courses at the school. He also teaches one of the core entrepreneurship courses for Chicago Booth called Building the New Venture.

Craig’s final personality is that of author. His recent book, “What’s Your Story?” looks at how leaders and sales professionals use stories to connect, inspire, and overachieve. He is co-authoring his next book with Dr. Waverly Deutsch PhD., a former venture capitalist and professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth. The book provides entrepreneurs and sales people the knowledge, skills and discipline it takes to succeed in the toughest, best job there is.

That’s it.

Kara Cardinale has 13 years of leadership experience in selling business services, growing revenues and leading lasting change.  She started her career at Yamaichi, the Japanese investment  bank, learning that skills and knowledge must be integrated with the ability to work with different  cultural styles.  How you solve a problem can be achieved in many ways…it’s the ability to address  the problem and stay disciplined with the solution that counts.  

Her six years in consulting at Accenture and three years at Towers Perrin taught her the skills  and discipline required to pull the simple from the complex in order to generate solutions that stick.     Kara’s skills have been applied to targeted messaging, improving profits, gaining buy-in and support  from management, and training large and small groups. Her clientele ranged from Fortune 500  companies looking to develop a strategic vision and vetting the plan to smaller groups identifying  valued skills and the employees who have those talents.  In the last two and half years, Kara has  reorganized major company divisions focusing on efficiencies, streamlining programs and instilling  the discipline to stay focused on the mission.  She love to see eyes dance when people reach  their goal and “get it.”    

Bethany Narkiewicz has eight years of experience in marketing and sales, business strategy, and organizational change. She started her career in consulting with Accenture; quickly learning how to understand her clients’ needs and maximize results. Her years at Accenture provided opportunities across various industries – each with its own challenges. Bethany learned how to define project strategies, perform program management, and execute to deliver results.
After leaving Accenture, Bethany started, operated, and sold an advertising business. Through this, she reinforced her understanding of front line sales, marketing, strategy, and customer service – all of which are essential for growth of a successful business. She developed innovative sales processes and tools which were rolled out on a national level.
Bethany then served as Director of Marketing for Innovative Solutions, Inc. where she focused on designing sales funnels and database marketing. Her experience spanned the entire sales process from finding leads, identifying prospects to converting to sales.
Bethany was raised in Indiana and attended Indiana University to study at the Kelley School of Business. She majored in Finance and minored in Psychology – always cognizant of how the two interrelate.
Bethany resides in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago with her husband. She has completed four marathons and appreciates her loyal dog Wrigley logging the miles by her side. She loves to travel, hike, and be outdoors whenever the Chicago weather will permit.
Bethany is focused, diligent, and always strives to surpass her clients’ expectations. Period.