 | Who is Mark S.A. Smith?Mark S. A. Smith is an electrical engineer, computer programmer, hardware salesman, and software marketer who now works with clients to get more business out of their distribution channels. Mark focuses on how to create profits rapidly in a fast-paced business world. Working with individuals and organizations of all sizes to generate measurable success, his clients include IBM, Ingram Micro, Agilysis, Oracle, Raytheon, AT&T, Sprint, Cadillac, Lexmark, Society of Government Meeting Planners, and Meeting Professionals International. Mark has worked with a wide range of sales and marketing situations, focusing on high tech products and services. |
Mark S.A. Smith delivers innovative ideas that make you more profits. |
"After nearly 20 years in business publishing, I've seen virtually every one of the marketing, sales, and management gurus, most of them twice. A lot of speakers are big on concept and theory but don't provide much, if any, practical, nuts-and-bolts stuff. Your style is markedly different, it's got verve and value."
Richard Kern, editor-in-chief, The Counselor
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Mark delivers innovative, unconventional strategies for entrepreneurial thinkers, marketing managers, and sales professionals to rope in the customers that looked all but impossible! He’s an expert in creating instantly implementable tactics to achieve real business success. “You’ve given me more ideas that I can use and want to use than anyone else I’ve ever heard,” says copywriting guru, David Garfinkel.
Recognized by his peers, Mark is a full member of the Society for the Advancement of Consulting. Membership requires stringent proof of performance, expertise, and excellence in consulting. A veteran professional speaker, he is past president of the National Speakers Association, Colorado chapter.
Distribution Channels Veteran
Mark has worked with channel sales since 1982 when he worked as a sales support engineer for Hewlett-Packard oscilloscopes division supporting H-P's direct sales channel. In that capacity, he learned about selling and creating crisp messaging to drive sales in a very competitive environment. He wrote training sessions and delivered them world-wide as part of a new technology product launch.
Experienced with International Channels
He worked for three years in Amsterdam at H-P's international marketing center as product line manager for oscilloscopes for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He substantially increased the sales every year with specific tactics that have proven to be successful over and over.
Multiple Channel Experience
Mark worked as director of sales for Minc, Inc. a software startup that created logic synthesis software for programmable logic devices and field programmable gate arrays. He managed a direct sales force of telemarketers, an indirect channel of resellers, and an OEM channel.
Channel Consulting, Training, and Tool Authoring
In 1992, Mark joined The Guerrilla Group and co-authored Guerrilla Trade Show Selling, Guerrilla Teleselling, and Guerrilla Negotiating with Guerrilla Marketing author, Jay Conrad Levinson, and Guerrilla Selling author, Orvel Ray Wilson. He co-created the wildly successful Executive Assessment channel sales tool for IBM, writing approximately 70 product-specific versions for IBM's major software brands, including DB2®, WebSphere®, Lotus®, Tivoli®, and Start Now™.
Mark has recently released the book Linux in the Boardroom: How Linux is Changing Corporate Computing and What Executives Need to Know and Do About it. The next book in the series, Security in the Boardroom: The Attack on Businesses and Information Systems and What Executives Need to Know and Do About it is scheduled for February 1, 2005 release.
He’s written more than 350 articles on sales and marketing topics, and has been quoted in business publications such as Inc. Magazine, Business Week, the Denver Business Journal, and The Denver Post.
Sales and Marketing Planning
Working with Jungle Marketing, Inc, Mark created complete integrated marketing and sales plans for clients like Sprint Broadband, Cadillac, and The Aurium Group. These unique plans included step-by-step action plans and implementation road maps.
Channel Enablement
Mark has created incremental sales with Agilysys over the past two years by teaching a mix of Oracle product knowledge combined with sales skills training to uniquely deliver a blend of know how and "do how". In the past he has delivered similar programs for IBM WebSphere and IBM Start Now brands. With his engineering and sales background, he can teach technical information in a way that sales people understand so that they can clearly communicate with executives.
More Writing
Mark’s now writing his latest book, CompetitionProof: How to protect accounts from competitive attack for 2005 publication.
Contact him at mark.smith@drivetimeu.com.