Testimonials

I want to thank you for the incredible job that you and Focus America have done for me and Allways Precision Inc. I can truly say that with your help I have become a dynamic business development representative at API. With your guidance, I have honed my sales skills from a re-active sales style to a pro-active sales style. I have found that by changing to a pro-active sales style I am making more contacts and completing more sales. I have learned to create opportunities by making a more complete cold call and have learned to develop trust with customers through the 'Approach to driving sales'. It is a demanding program that develops results!

The time that I have spent working with you and Focus America has been a wonderful journey and I truly looked forward to each of our meetings. I highly recommend Justin Baker and Focus America to anyone who wants to increase their sales and develop lasting relationships with their customers.

Jim Saflarski

Allways Precision, Inc.
Business Development Manager

I want to thank you for all your time, effort and interest as it relates to my success at Dagostino Electronic Services, Inc.

Specifically, your effort, support and coaching in the areas of systems, processes, teamwork and development has been instrumental in my success for 2010. With only six months into the year, I have attained my annual revenue objective. I expect the same success moving forward.

Mark C. Patterson

Dagostino Electronic Services, Inc
Account Manager

I have enjoyed working with your organization over the past 9 months. From building the sales process, to re-customizing Goldmine, recruitment of new staff, training and beyond - Focus America was consistently well-organized, thorough and delivered on the promise.

Today, we are well on our way. Our Business Development Rep - Al Perez - has generated leads that have turned into almost $1 million in sales. We are excited to watch this department grow. In addition, our entire team is consistently improving in the use of the Sales Roadmap sales process and Goldmine.

At the beginning of our relationship, you told us that your organization does not watch the clock or bill by time. You also said that you would not only set things up but also provide ongoing support to keep to us on track. Your promise was kept.

Focus America will continue to be a part of the Nortrux team as we continue to look for ways to tighten and improve our sales organization.

Oneil Perreault

Sales Manager
Nortrux Inc.

After hearing you speak, both Doug and I felt strongly that we needed to do a better job keeping our pipeline full and our sales reps in front of real opportunities. Your Business Development Department concept was a great solution to this problem and after 8 months, we are happy with the candidates you helped us select, the strategy that was developed and all the work you did in helping us 'get up to speed' with our new group.

Our new Business Development Department is now a key part of our sales organization with a mandate of generating high-quality, real and actionable sales opportunities for our sales reps to follow up.

Thank you for your efforts.

Troy Campbell

Director, Sales & Marketing
Pollock NationLease

Darren and his team have met all timelines and in fact made sure that he held my team and me accountable to the original plan. Their team is very well organized, have been on time for all meetings (including sending reminders for all upcoming meetings) and continue to execute flawlessly through the follow up audit process.

Our company had been using Maximizer, which had become unsupportable and required a full system replacement. There were a couple of key points in Darren's presentation regarding a successful implementation of Sales Force Automation that I recognized as a short coming in our first attempt with Maximizer. A follow up meeting with Darren confirmed that we needed a different strategy if we were going to get the full benefits of our new SFA program.

Chris Love

Vice-President Sales and Marketing
Almag Aluminum Inc.

Thank you for all the work you have done over the past few years and most recently for your 'Needs Analysis Workshop' held for our sales executives.

Your tactical, real-life approach to the training was very well received by our team - many of which came into the training thinking it would be the 'same old stuff'. In addition, the tools you built for us are now a staple part of their daily sales processes helping to not only re-enforce what was taught but get our entire team and their managers on the same page.

Whether it is helping our organization keep the pipeline full, drive new business or close more sales, you have always been a resource we can turn to and I would encourage any company trying to do the same, to contact you.

David Ross

Vice President, Sales
ExhibitGroup/Giltspur

I have been a client of Darren Rabie's for just over 2 years. Since working with Darren we have implemented the Project Analyzer, the Sales Roadmap, Salesforce.com CRM and a Business Development Representative (BDR) to handle our lead generation and lead follow up. To date, our close ratio has increased from 3% to 34% & our sales have doubled. The reason for this letter is to honestly tell you about the value and results we got from working with Darren Rabie and Focus America.

The last 2 years were our best years ever. We increased our sales by over 100%. Our sales people spend their time building relationships with the companies that have an immediate need and their current customers. Our BDR has many more contacts in a day and reaches those who do not have an immediate need and keeps in touch with those people every 3 months. As soon as they have a need, they are passed over to a sales person.

The Sales Roadmap sales process & Salesforce.com (as our CRM tool) have also given us the structure, uniformity, visibility and information-sharing we needed to run a proper sales organization - which is something new for Samco as we relied on the 1 sales rep for 10 + years until now.

Lisa Repovs

VP, Marketing & Sales
Samco Machinery

This is a letter to thank your team for their stellar performance.

Westbrook recognized early in 2006 that we had a group of people in sales and technical support without direction and purpose because the ground rules for the sales process was weak and the group was not being managed. Focus did an external evaluation of the process and identified a number of areas requiring improvement. We notified our sales force of the changes. We then asked some people to leave and presented a map to the remaining personnel of the new structure, direction, and management. This new philosophy intimidated some players so they departed, while others departed because they didn't want to be accountable. Regardless we recruited a new team and restructured our remaining players in this area.

Your guidance, roadmap, training, and follow-up has been greatly appreciated. You have forged a new sales process at Westbrook through recruitment of personnel, establishment of prospecting, implementation of a 24-7 CRM program such as Salesforce.com. The CRM has enhanced our communication and accountability. This tool alone has better organized our sales force to accomplish more in less time with less effort. The division of labor has made everyone more productive, accountable, with greater results and satisfaction. The training sessions with Steve were excellent. He is very knowledge, patient, understanding, and a phenomenal teacher in drilling down and explaining the CRM Program. He is a strong communicator, very personable, and results oriented. His follow-up is superb. The defining of quarterly objectives for the Account Managers with metrics is valuable feedback for them to realize their performance and accountability. In 103 accounts there was an additional growth of $1.2MM which is testimonial to the success of your program.

Bruce Girard

President
Westbrook Technologies

I asked Darren the question: "Can't my inside sales coordinators cultivate our prospects? After all, these are the people who will continue to work with them through the rest of the sales cycle." Well, Darren convinced me otherwise and I can certainly see his reasoning now.

Dwanya is a dynamo and she truly spends her entire day building rapport with our prospects. She has made such a positive impact that she received sample product (several packages of Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups) from a prospect that isn't even close to becoming a customer. But, she has had such a positive impact on this person that she is confident that when his need arises that she will be the first person he contacts. My inside sales coordinators spend their entire day working up quotations and processing sales orders. They are now following up with all open quotes and sending hand written thank you notes to their customers, so their time is being well spent on the later part of the sales process.

When we get to the point where we are generating more leads I will be considering adding another BDR to our sales team.

Jill Batka

General Manager
Dynamic Conveyor Corporation

Today it is critical that our exhibitors get real, measurable value from their investment. Your 'Turning Leads Into Sales' workshop really hit the spot.

It was clear from the number of companies that attended the workshop as well as the positive feedback we have had to date, that your help was greatly valued.

We look forward to continuing to offer your help to our exhibitors. We know that whether they just learn from the workshops or become a client of yours, their business will benefit and in turn, our company will benefit as well.

Dan Radomski

EASTEC Show Manager
Director of Sales for SME Expositions
Society of Manufacturing Engineers

I am writing to acknowledge the good work you have done over the past few years with your 'Turning Leads Into Sales' workshops put on for our exhibitors at Assembly Technology Expo and the NEPCON events.

It is a challenge to ensure our exhibitors properly follow up their leads and truly gain the most value from their trade show investment. Your training workshop (as well as on-site 1-on-1 consultations) has been well received and valued by both Reed Exhibitions and our exhibitors.

This relationship continues to be meaningful and productive and we look forward to continuing to bring your message to our audience.

Kel Marsden-Kish

Vice President
Reed Exhibitions

We thoroughly enjoyed your presentation Friday.

Your delivery was very effective, in our diverse group. By any measure you are a very talented speaker and educator. Even at our breakfast send off Franchisees were still discussing the points they plan to implement.

On behalf of Speedpro Systems, thank you for a memorable presentation.

Stuart Burns

President
Speedpro Systems Canada Inc.

Focus was referred to me by TEC Canada in 2007 and have been working with us ever since. We have booked a record number of new orders this month and I feel that a large contribution was the focus that they put on process and holding the sales personnel accountable for the sales function.

We are in the field of high tech chemical manufacturing for pharmaceutical applications and sell a basket of services to pharmaceutical companies.

We worked together and created a 'sales road map' that included all aspects of sales. We identified a key time constraint with our current system that had sales people doing lead generation and qualification. This led us to hire a BD person to do this function. Focus America manages this person for us. They implemented Salesforce.com and this was a major feature that attracted them to us.

Darren and his team have a clear understanding of how to set up and manage a sales organization. Their processes seem to transcend all industries. They have a particularly good grasp of the CRM tool and are able to modify and adapt this tool to most businesses. We have also begun to use the CRM to manage the Marketing function as well.

They are honest, professional and dedicated to the success of their clients. It is not unusual to see responses to emails at night and weekends. They have also assisted with the development of the compensation plan for our reps and have in a very short time developed strong rapport with everyone they interact with in our company.

Call me if you need anything else.

Peter Pekos

President
Dalton Pharma Services