Industry sales panel to address market issues

As seen in: The Title Report
4/29/05

Venue? – Check!
Caterer ? – Check!
Hotel rooms? – Check!
Roundtable panelists …

It’s quite an adventure to conceptuale, implement and execute a national conference for hundreds of industry professionals. When the folks at The Title Report teamed up with Bob Skalstad, executive vice president and principal of Corporate Management Advisors, last spring to assemble a sales and marketing roundtable panel for the National Settlement Services Summit (www.settlementsummit2005.com), June 14-15 in Cleveland, they knew the importance of the task at hand.

“I’ve been hearing from quite a few clients that there’s not much sales training available at the national conferences. At a time when settlement services firms have to fight harder for market share, there’s a need there. I wanted to bring value to these professionals,” said Skalstad.

Sponsored by RamQuest Software and presented by The Title Report, the National Settlement Services Summit will bring together the mortgage, realty and settlement services industry’s top professionals to discuss the hottest topics in the business today. Among those subjects — sales and marketing strategies tailored to the settlement services market.

“We know that there is a wide group interested in increasing sales as well as recruitment and retention of the best sales personnel. In assembling the panel, we wanted to take a broader approach that would allow us to bring value to the small to medium, regional title and vendor companies,” said Skalstad. “Such entrepreneurial, under-capitalized, and under-staffed companies run successful title agencies, but in small organization conditions.”

“Most small companies don’t have experience with marketing and sales business plans. I wanted my roundtable to educate on the different aspects of running a more efficient shop. We’re bringing in professionals who have done this before many times to describe their own experiences. Then, after you have “strategized” and built a business plan, it’s time to find the right people to execute it,” he said.

The panel will not just benefit the owner of a small title company, however. “Many of the principles we’ll discuss can easily be applied to the national companies, too,” said Skalstad. “This panel will also provide a great review for large account or sales managers. We’ll also talk about strategic account mapping and other techniques necessary to both large and small companies seeking to grow.”

Skalstad will join his handpicked selection of panelists including – John Lewis, partner, Campbell-Lewis; Scott Stucky of the Stucky Group, and Kenneth Bloss, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Fiserv Lending Solutions – to discuss “The ABCs of Settlement Services Sales - Recruiting, Retention, Compensation and Management.”

Touted as the Summit’s core training session, the panel will explore building settlement sales programs from the ground up, and provide tips for reviewing established programs to maximize results. Each panelist will be available for an extended Q & A breakout session for another hour after the training panel concludes.

“We brought in experienced specialists to speak on each topic. To speak on the business, sales and marketing plans, I’ve drafted the principal of a marketing company. For key management strategies, we have the national sales manager of a large company who can speak to sales and marketing training. From large national institutions to small local offices, the advantage of this panel is that they know the market inside and out.”

He hopes his session will “better equip our participants to be more effective running their business. While there is no single approach or silver bullet to growing or protecting market share, this panel should provide the broader experience examples so the participants will benefit.”

To learn more about this panel and all of the panels planned for The National Settlement Services Summit, or to register, go to http://www.settlementsummit2005.com/.

Related link: www.thetitlereport.com