Prof. Craig Wortmann
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Craig Wortmann is the Founder and CEO of Sales Engine, a firm that helps companies build and tune their sales engine. He has been a sales person and entrepreneur for over 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 newproduct 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.
Another of Craig’s personalities (one is not enough) is that of professor. He designed and developed an award-winning course that he teaches called Entrepreneurial Selling for the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. This course was recently recognized my Inc. Magazine as one of the Top Ten courses in the country. 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. Craig tells his story and helps leaders tell theirs all over the world.