Pre-Conference Workshop:  Sales and Marketing Are Two Peas in a Pod Wednesday, April 18 ~ 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

As a subset of marketing promotion, sales plays an important role in many organizations.  Yet, sometimes there is a disconnect between a company’s marketing efforts and sales efforts.  Often promotional planning addresses advertising and branding separately from the company’s personal interactions with customers in the field.  Salespeople often come from independent stock and get so focused on products and customers that they don’t take full advantage of the marketing tools available to them.  In this interactive session, we’ll discuss how selling and marketing can co-exist as an integrated effort with some simple twists of commonly used tools.

Scott Downey, Purdue University

Scott Downey teaches courses in selling and sales management in the Department of Agricultural Economics. He joined Purdue University on a full time basis in 2000 after spending 15 years in the financial services industry and eight years concurrently teaching undergraduate and graduate level marketing and finance courses, at Purdue and Indiana Wesleyan Universities.

Scott is also associate director for the Center for Food and Agricultural Business. He teaches in many of the Center’s programs and represents the Center at other events within industry. He is a frequent speaker and consultant for agribusiness industry sales teams on professional development topics like building value, branding in the field, field marketing, key account management, and leadership.

Senior Management Workshop: Next-Gen Profits
Thursday, April 19 ~ 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Peter Sheahan

Generation Y represents one the most lucrative opportunities open to business today. Whether you want to unleash their creativity at work, get your share of the $200bn plus they spend annually, or align yourself to profit from the $17.8 trillion they will inherit, you will need a fresh approach to branding, sales and leadership.

Human needs never change, but our definitions of whether those needs are being met change dramatically based on how we were brought up. If you are going to attract and retain the new generation as customers, members and staff, you will need to understand their new perspectives and definitions.

Based on the research presented in the international best seller Generation Y, this very funny and extremely insightful session will:

– Give you insight into the REAL differences between generations.
– Offer strategies for exploiting this new market opportunity.
– Identify emerging trends associated with this generation which are impacting your broader target markets.
– Show you how successful organizations have adapted their leadership and management styles to this new employee group.
– Outline specific strategies for attracting and engaging Gen Y as customers and/or staff.
– Present case studies from around the world of organizations who have profitably engaged this new generation.
– Move beyond “technology” hype and focus on opportunities which align with your desired culture and business model