Craig Wortmann Speaker Biography
Three-Time CEO, Author of What’s Your Story?, Clinical Professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Creator of the Sales Engine Toolkit
Craig Wortmann is a distinguished sales speaker and Clinical Professor. He teaches Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Furthermore, he is the Founder & Academic Director of the Kellogg Sales Institute. Notably, in 2018, 2019, and 2020, Kellogg’s Executive MBA students awarded Craig “Outstanding Professor.” Launched in 2019, his online course, Mastering Sales: A Toolkit for Success, is top-rated on Emeritus. Moreover, Kellogg Executive MBA students recently called Craig “the gold standard in remote learning.” As a renowned sales speaker, his expertise is highly valued.
Entrepreneurship
From 2008 to 2016, Craig was a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship. He taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Moreover, he designed and taught the award-winning Entrepreneurial Selling™ course. Inc. Magazine recognized this as one of the “Top Ten” in the U.S. Additionally, he taught Building the New Venture. He also developed Chicago Booth’s senior executive leadership course. This four-day course was called Building Leadership Capital. In 2012, Craig received the Faculty Excellence Award. This award recognized his significant positive impact on students. His entrepreneurial background enhances his perspective as a sales speaker.
What’s Your Story?
Craig authored What’s Your Story? This book helps people tell the right story at the right time for the right reasons. Additionally, Craig launched The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process. This is a four-part Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Specialization with Coursera. Consequently, it has helped tens of thousands worldwide acquire critical selling skills. His publications further establish him as a leading sales speaker.
Career
Starting at IBM Corporation, Craig was the #2 performer in his year-long Sales School class. Later, at a Dean Witter company, he covered a vast territory selling to large retailers. Thus, Craig is an expert in all aspects of sales. After earning his MBA in marketing and finance from Kellogg in 1995, Craig joined the Forum Corporation. He quickly became their new product launch and client recovery specialist. In 2000, startup WisdomTools recruited Craig as CEO. Subsequently, he sold it to a larger firm in 2008. His extensive career experience makes him a knowledgeable sales speaker.
Sales Engine
Craig is the Founder and CEO of Sales Engine, Inc. This tools and services firm believes sales should drive a business. As a global speaker and virtual sales advisor, Craig helps companies. He assists them in developing the necessary knowledge, skill, and discipline. This builds a successful sales engine. In 2009, venture backers behind ClearGauge sought Craig as CEO. He continued running his Sales Engine firm concurrently. Craig executed a turnaround by building a sales engine. Consequently, ClearGauge was acquired by a larger agency. His entrepreneurial success in sales reinforces his credibility as a sales speaker.
Venture Capital
Craig serves as Operating Partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital, where he helps grow the sales engines of their portfolio companies. Residing in Evanston, Illinois for over 21 years, Craig enjoys his free time. He likes reading and running the Lake Michigan path. Furthermore, he enjoys wakeboarding and photography in Wisconsin with his family. His diverse experiences enrich his insights as a sales speaker.
Craig Wortmann Speaking Topics
The power of story
The Power of Story keynote speech helps leaders enhance their leadership performance by looking at their everyday communications differently. Using a series of powerful stories, anecdotes, visual examples and his story tools, Craig describes unique challenges we face trying to communicate effectively and demonstrates how leaders create strong connections with people and with the organization's strategy. He discusses the importance of capturing and telling the right kinds of stories and why stories are the most effective method for enhancing performance.
Stories and motivation
The Stories and Motivation keynote speech looks at how leaders of all levels motivate and inspire those around them. This keynote can be quite a ride, as Craig shares different kinds of stories and examples of what causes people to become motivated and how great leaders inspire. This multimedia keynote demonstrates the true power of the human element of storytelling.
Stories and coaching
Stories and coaching... are you picking up on a theme? In this keynote, Craig looks at the usual ways we coach people and he helps leaders change their perspective on why coaching can be such a challenge. He looks at coaching from the perspective of the person receiving the coaching, and in this way helps leaders truly understand their challenge. The keynote then explores how to build stronger connections with people in order to open up more possibilities for coaching and building skill.
Stories and selling
The Stories and Selling keynote speech looks at how sales professionals differentiate themselves through stories. Craig calls on his days as an IBM salesperson to outline the new challenges that salespeople face, and how they can cut through all of the "noise in the channel." With plenty of stories and humor, Craig helps sales professionals distinguish themselves by going beyond "features and benefits" to build stronger relationships with clients.
Other Topics
Deliberate Practice, From Entrepreneurial Selling to Professional Selling, Building Your Sales Process, Virtual Reality - Selling in a Virtual World, The Power of Story, Your Personal Brand, Setting & Achieving Goals, Managing Virtually, Building a Strong, Positive & Powerful Sales Culture, Life Hacks, Generating Positive Energy, Articulating Your Point of View, Filter Your Targets, Stakeholder Mapping, Competitive Talking Points, Virtual Reality - Selling in a Virtual World, Proactive Pursuit, How to Build a Killer Prospecting Script, Why Bad Emails Happen to Good People, The Art of the Sales Conversation, Networking Like Your Wealth Depends On It, Don’t Let “CRM” Mean “Can’t Remember Much,” Creating Personas & Qualifying Fast, Asking the Right Questions, Running High-Impact Meetings, Telling Stories, Handling Objections
Craig Wortmann Books
