Technology Management

I want to thank you for the excellent training series you took us through.  The information you provided will prove to be invaluable going forward. I do believe we have already had some success with it as it relates to more productive prospecting on our part. As I shared at the last meeting, this training will become part of what we do every day and will be managed and coached by our Sales Management team. —- Donna Tomasino, Chief Revenue Officer, Consensus Cloud Solutions

Paul is a hidden gem when it comes to personal, sales and business coaching.  Paul's unique experience and insights has helped me achieve balance in my life, which has resulted in great success while giving me the skills to handle very complex environments and situations.  He's been there when it has been both good and bad - providing valuable insights, knowledge, techniques and tools designed to deliver positive outcomes.  I can only say good things about Paul and believe that everyone should be lucky enough to have him as a coach! ---- Bud Abney, Director Channels, Talkdesk, Inc.

“You have truly worked with us as a partner to help us improve our hiring practices, our training and support, and the overall quality of our sales teams and sales processes.  The tools your company has provided have made a positive and dynamic impact in the way we run our business.  Our sales productivity has increased exponentially in no small part thanks to your help and support. The coaching and training you have provided to my team and to me personally has allowed us to improve the overall quality of our organization and customer experience.” — Edward Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Comcast former RVP Telcove, Inc.

“I can honestly say with certainty that our turnaround in the US Region – from a $9 million loss in 2000 to a $12 million profit in less than a year – was in many ways supported and fostered by your efforts. I am very grateful for your contribution” As importantly as our quick success was my promotion to Senior Vice President and GM of the $600 million US Region” — Chris Smith, Senior Vice President, Cellstar Communications   

Paul Scaffidi is a hidden gem when it comes to personal, sales and business coaching.  Paul's unique experience and insights has helped me achieve balance in my life, which has resulted in great success while giving me the skills to handle very complex environments and situations.  He's been there when it has been both good and bad - providing valuable insights, knowledge, techniques and tools designed to deliver positive outcomes.  I can only say good things about Paul and believe that everyone should be lucky enough to have him as a coach!  ---- Bud Abney, SVP Sales & Business Development, OpsTel Services, Inc. 

“I was referred to Paul by an Executive Vice President of Adelphia Business Solutions to assist with our goal of taking our sales force to another level. Paul quickly assessed the need and made recommendations that were a combination of his Executive Coaching for Sales leaders as well as the introduction of the DISC profile and Sales Max skills assessment tools. The senior leaders were so impressed that we rolled out this process Company wide. Paul is an exceptional business partner and I highly endorse him.” — Kim Matthews, Vice President Human Resources, Comcast

“I was asked to give honest feedback on the recent leadership training conducted by PSA, should I deem that it would be necessary to do so.  In its simplest terms, it was the single most important event in my career as a developing sales professional.” — Curt Wilcox, Sales Director, Premiere Global Services

“Your quick and accurate assessment helped our senior management team see and adapt quickly to a very complex situation saving us thousands of dollars and significant personnel attrition. Your design and implementation of our new sales training curriculum has already made an impact. The sales executives who attended your training had a 27% higher performance than the ones who have not yet attended.” — Brad Linden, Executive Vice President, Xpedite Communications 

“What I liked most about the training was the discussions on selling to C-level contacts, as well as selling to large multi-application accounts. Tools such as the Account Development Journal has been very useful in penetrating larger accounts with many layers of DM’s and management.” — Norman Brunner, Regional Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications

“I have received overwhelming positive feedback following the team development workshop that you conducted for our IT staff members. The tools and techniques that you cover provide the insight to improve communications and successful goal achievement” — Barbara Woods, Director of Client Services- Information Technology, Cellstar Communications

“While working with PSA, I witnessed a transformation of our National Sales Organization which shattered all previous revenue achievements. The great thing is we did this while building a World Class Infrastructure to meet the demands of a new more demanding target market. Their leadership enabled us to attract the right people and to build a new culture with the competencies that enabled us to capture Citcorp and many other new large accounts. The amazing thing was the speed in which this all happened while maintaining quality and raising standards.” — Jeri Abernathy, Director of Client Services, Cable & Wireless Communications, Inc.

“I wanted to give you some specific feedback regarding the training session in Chicago last month. First, I thought the tools you provided and the structure you outlined for the solution based sales process was right on. More specifically, I thought the final day of training was the most beneficial from an Xpedite perspective. Having the group outline actual sales strategies and discuss the application and tactics openly was very valuable.” — Ryan Deutsch, Senior Director, Business Development, Xpedite Communications

“The performance of the US Sales Group broke all records for new accounts and revenue using the process, training, and technology provided by PSA” — Dan Gottleib, Vice President North America, Telenet/Sprint

“Paul has great insight and understanding of our business.  He knows what tools and guidance the managers and sales representatives will need in order to be successful here at Xpedite.  Paul’s high energy and expertise kept everyone’s attention the entire time.” — Kim Ashley, Regional Sales Manager, Level 3 Communications

“There is no better model than PSA for large account development. It was directly responsible for capturing CIGNA, Wang Computer, Shawmut Bank, Bank of New England, and Fidelity Brokerage for General DataComm Industries.” — Paul Bezreh, Major Account Manager DataComm Industries,  Regional Manager, Dimension Data

“While the whole program was excellent, the behavioral part was outstanding.  I was able to grasp why and how to make better decisions when hiring and managing. The coaching materials are very helpful in planning out a region.” — Mike Briggs, Regional Manager, Premiere Global Communications

“The National Accounts program for Cable & Wireless used the PSA model, and was able to double the revenue contribution of the organization from the previous year.” — Andrew R. Candreva President/CEO Arcon International

“Paul it was great to hear some actual experiences that a Sales Executive like yourself has encountered in your career at all levels of management.  I also enjoyed the behavioral selling module and look forward to expanding my knowledge in that module at a future date (hopefully soon).  The condensed version of all the modules have truly wet my appetite for knowledge that will soon benefit myself and Xpedite’s growth.” — Jack Collins, District Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications

“Leadership and sales continuous education and skill development are essential to the success of any enterprise. Paul has an extraordinary talent as well as the resources and ability to connect and deliver results.” — Ruth Cox, Director of Operations, Cellstar Communications

“More than anything, I think the session proved that the Xpedite field teams do not focus closely enough on “Gap Analysis,” a term you used in the training session. I have attached two PowerPoint slides (Based on an opportunity I am currently working on) to help illustrate this. If you look at the attached PowerPoint, you could say that Xpedite works with organizations to acquire, retain, manage and grow their client base. We do this by delivering the industries most robust Multimedia Messaging Applications which help our clients remove costs from some business process ( client management and growth) and increase incremental revenue opportunities within others (acquisition and retention). Within each section of the client lifecycle are a variety of messaging opportunities. The key question our teams need to be asking the market is not: “What messaging do you do today that we could provide?” But, “What business processes are in place that you would like to improve.” Before we mention a distribution method, product or application, we need to identify the GAP between where the client is today and where they want to be tomorrow within a business process. That GAP is where Xpedite Application Solutions (customized by Xpedite Professional Services) fit into their business. It became apparent during training that our field teams are engaged in sales processes where the GAP has not been identified, or, worse yet, where there is no GAP at all, resulting in commodity type sales. I think as we develop market focused teams and targeted process applications (as in the second slide) the identification of the GAP the customer faces becomes even more crucial. The more we know about the GAP, the better our solutions will be resulting a higher value to the client, higher barriers of entry to competition and larger profit margins for Xpedite. I think ongoing analysis of real life applications with our field teams, focusing on ways to identify and exploit the GAP with solution based sales techniques will drive real return for Xpedite in the future. This process will be made even more effective with the participation of the industry specialists we are hiring.” — Ryan Deutsch, Senior Director, Business Development, Xpedite Communications

“I have had the pleasure of working with PSA on multiple engagements. There wealth of knowledge, experience, dedication, and ability to coach, motivate and drive performance have been incredible. A great business partner!” — Tony Welwood, Director of Operations, Telcove Communications, Inc.

“I had the opportunity to work with and for Paul over several years in different leadership roles. He was a great mentor in developing and motivating winning sales teams. Paul set high goals and expectations across his teams with the leadership and coaching to back them up. As a result, his teams were consistent top performers and recognized for achievement and professionalism both internally and with customers. Paul’s guidance and coaching would be beneficial to anyone looking to strengthen their sales organization.” — Steve Erlick, Regional Sales Director, General DataComm

“I first met Paul when he joined GTE Telenet as our Vice President of Sales. I also had the pleasure of working for him at Cable and Wireless. Paul was an effective business leader that always found a way to energize and develop his people. Paul and I stayed in contact throughout the years as I always found his knowledge and skills in people and leadership development to be invaluable. Paul can help any business leader better develop their teams and improve their career and personal life.” — Jim Ferguson, President , Frontier Communications, Inc.

“Paul is a results oriented, hands on coach. He is extremely focused on exceeding sales, revenue, and profit goals. He is people oriented, and people who work with Paul perform well. Paul is good at recruiting strong performers. He is very loyal, and honest. I would be proud to work with Paul again.” — Chuck Gibney, Sr. VP & General Manager, Cable & Wireless Communications 

“Paul’s training was excellent!!! As the only employee with less than a year of tenure, I listened intently to all comments. I’ve had the luxury of participating in several training seminars over the years as a Sales Executive, Manager and Entrepreneur. Paul was the best because he spent time understanding Xpedite’s environment and corporate culture. We could relate to his material and feedback because he spent time in the trenches. He provided us with real life experiences that added value to his tools and material.” — Octavius Gould, District Manager, Xpedite Communications

“Paul is an accomplished leader with proven experience in training selling teams to have the skills to close multimillion-dollar opportunities with Fortune 1000 corporations. I had the pleasure of being in a Solution Selling course presented by Paul. His energetic way of teaching and interaction with the room is very powerful. Paul’s is an expert in increasing sales revenues by changing selling beliefs, strategies, tactics and individual behaviors. He helped to change our team’s view of the selling process, from identifying opportunities via client’s pain to addressing them into a successful sale. Paul’s enthusiasm, knowledge, sales experience, and ability to be in step with his audience, made this the best training I have attended in over 20 years Thanks for everything. You have put together a great program. We have implemented it on a daily basis and used the techniques to close a close a couple of big sales last month to come in well over our committed revenue number. I look forward to attending more of your training in the future.” — Phillip Hanson Sales Manager, Level 3 Communications

“Paul is truly a student of high-level sales training and business coaching. A master at the Art of War as it applies to business. He adheres to best practices in executive coaching and helps his clients understand and achieve their full potential. He practices what he preaches using the Level Breaker Practice Expansion process for his own business. Additionally, Paul is conversant in all aspects of sales management and development. Clearly, Paul is committed and has demonstrated ability in developing high performance teams.” — Burgess Harrison, Vice President, Marketing, RealTech

“Just wanted to provide feedback to you regarding the sales training you conducted for Xpedite here in Dallas a couple of weeks ago. Since I was able to attend over half the training, my personal observation is that the reps were totally attentive to your class, they grasped the material and during the breakout sessions that I observed they demonstrated that they were learning what you were teaching. Informally I asked virtually all participants what they thought, and it was unanimous, every one of them told me that the class was outstanding and the material was on target to help them be more successful in their sales efforts and also on a personal level. I’ve been on a few sales calls subsequent to the training and I’ve had the pleasure of having the reps outline what we wanted to accomplish during the call, the agenda and the personality profile of the participants. It may sound basic to you, but this has been a major step forward for many of my folks. Once again, great job!” — Jim Henry, Area VP Sales, Xpedite

“Thanks again for one of the best sales training sessions I’ve ever participated in.  I’ve encouraged my GM to attend when he has the opportunity.  Is it possible to order copies of the profile form that you gave us.  They are copyrighted so we can’t really go have them printed.  My intent is to have my AE’s do this process on an ongoing process until they have it down.  We are doing a review with the GM on Thursday utilizing these forms.” — George Hunt, Sales Manager, Telcove Communications, Inc.

“I thought the class was great!!It really made you think about the goals you need to set and how to achieve those goals. Paul was very impressive and his teachings are right on target!!! His thoughts and knowledge about learning how to sell and learning about how people work and there set ways of attitude and how to get them to buy and get a trust going. I think we need some more team work building and guidance. Dale and Lisa are doing a great job down here, dale really gets us going and always has a smile and a good thing to say to all of us to get us pumped up for the day!!! Dale told me he really thought this was a great class and is really looking forward to get this all going!! I would love it if we got some weekly guidance to make sure we are growing and getting better at selling and working as a team!!” — Jason M. Innes, Manager Inside Sales Dept., CellStar

“I wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for the outstanding support you provided to CellStar and to me personally. The class taught us allot that we have not been able to work on with the inside staff. The class had 7 inside sales reps and only 3 other people so it gave us allot of time to focus on inside sales. We came out with a different focus on individual goals and how important it was to continue to polish our skills if we want to succeed in a changing industry. I personally found out there were areas I needed to put together that I assumed were alright but through group discussions we found out they were not.* Must spend more time training inside reps before they are put in a territory so they feel more comfortable to field calls. We learned that inside sales needs a hook for outbound calling to make sure we have people’s attention within 10 seconds or you lose them. Paul helped us develop that presentation. We developed a script that can be changed but now that the concept was learned we can build of that. By setting goals our people came back with a higher expectation of themselves. I took the new employees from inside sales and next class will be veterans. with Lisa Dean taking them. I think to get a group and work out issues in an environment like Paul’s class will return great dividends going forward.” — Dale Janecek, Director Inside Sales, CellStar LTD

“I enjoyed and benefited from the work we did together at TelCove. Paul helped me both personally and professionally as well as the team that reported to me at the time. I would recommend Paul!” — CD Jarrett, Sales Executive/Sales Mgr, TelCove 

“The behavioral selling program was invaluable. We recently used the consultative approach you taught with an existing client, Iceland Air and were able to discover and close two new applications. Thanks” — Rum Keswani, Regional Sales Manager , Xpedite

“Great feedback from last weeks training. Overall consensus = Excellent. Hope you’re enjoying the book. Created structure to achieve goals. Ability to understand specific behaviors to maximize individual effectiveness. I would recommend any company requiring Practice Development, Coaching and Training services to you.”— Sam Lau, Area Vice President, Xpedite Communication, Inc.

“Paul put the Northeast area on the map for Sprint Corporation.  Using his Developing Strategic Account process we were able to secure a large number of significant new accounts that not only vaulted the northeast from last to first, but also provided the foundation to remain number one for the past two years.” — Brad Linden, District Sales Manager, Sprint Corporation,

“I have taken the AMA Sales Training course in the past and just this part of the entire program is significantly better than AMA. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet each of you during our seminar in Atlanta.  Thanks you for an informative, beneficial, and entertaining approach to closing sales in our markets.  I’m sure everyone picked up on many positive “tweaks”.  I sure did.” — Jim Mitchell, Regional Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications

“I will have all MAM’s complete the roadmap with their top 5 accounts, develop a sales plan for each call, practice applying DISC, spend more time listening and identifying additional training requirements for my team.” — Vincent Porretti, District Sales Manager, Telcove Communications

“I now have a clear understanding of how to put a better plan in place that will achieve my regions goals, my personal, and the goals of my sales reps. We and I mean Xpedite, as a company, need to get this vision in everyone’s minds from management throughout our organization, Sales Reps, customer service reps, WQ support. This will be critical to facilitate the changes the company has made and needs to make in the future.” — Eddie Quinn, Regional Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications

“Paul is very skilled with gaining the trust and insight of the executive team and being able to translate those key initiatives into new revenue production. Paul does a great job of understanding the real challenges at different levels of the organization and using his sales experience to address issues. He provided a very well structured training program to help our sales teams become truly consultative and significantly improve sales results with Premier Global Services. I whole heartedly recommend Paul to any company wanting to improve long-term sales productivity and would be happy to discuss the program with you.” — Bill Rochfort, Senior VP, Xpedite Commnications.

“Paul and I were introduced while I was at Telecove/Level3. He was retained to build and implement a sales process that would move our sales channel “up market” and obtain larger revenue producing customers. His programs were implemented region wide and the success was felt immediately. His understanding of the sales process and his passion for excellence were, I believe, the key drivers in his programs success”. — Joe Rodriguez, Executive Level Manager, Telecommunications Industry”

“I enjoyed the format and how approach of how coaching and understanding the personality and behaviors drive our performance.  The discussions on our specific issues that are consistent across most organizations are helpful on how to deal with these and futures management issue.” — Robert J. Ruppert, Regional Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications  

“I found Paul’s ability to look at situations creatively helped me better think about the ways I currently manage.   Will Paul stresses the important of structure and demanding certain standards, he also understands the unique character traits of individuals.  Thus, to motivate people to achieve higher success you need to be aware of their behavioral traits so that your communications are more effective.  You can also use this to develop productivity base Business Plans.” — Mike Schaeffer, District Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications

“I liked the behavioral model analysis.  Identifying not only your rep personality types but clients. As well should help tremendously with further development and training with the reps as well as myself.” — Patrick Schwier, Regional Sales Manager Northwest, Xpedite

“Paul is one of the best Career and Business coaches that I have worked with. He helped me to become a better leader and coached me to improve my organizational skills. After working with Paul I have become a more successful Manager of people and projects and more effective to my clients and the company I work for. I highly endorse Paul.” — Raymond Silk, Sales Manager, Xpedite Communications, Inc.

“Paul, just a quick note to say thank you for the excellent training you provided for us over the past few days.  I’ve already started implementing some of things we learned during your training. We have taken your suggestion regarding spending an hour each day a step further.  We have agreed as a team to meet for the next two weeks reviewing and applying these strategies to our target accounts.  Starting today, we are meeting as a group, during a ” brown bag” working lunch to review the concepts. We will take accounts from each of the AE’s and work on them as a team applying what we have learned. I have “buy in” from my whole team that this is the way they want to move forward in their careers and “their business”.    It’s very exciting and a tribute to your excellent training. We are realistic that we may not see immediate results, however, there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that we can expect to see outstanding results in the future. We like the roadmap to success for both personal and professional development you have laid out.  The rest is up to us.” — Paul Siwula, Sales Manager, Telcove Communications

“Paul is able to get to the science of engineering a sale in a clear, concise, intelligent manner. To the point, without the soft stuff. It about the work not the feelings. His expertise is certainly worth spending a few hours or days in his workshops. I would think that a sales team under his guidance would be a top performer in any industry.” — Perry Swaim, President, Voyss Solutions, Inc.

“I believe the overall program was beneficial for everyone who participated.  It was a forum to learn as well as share ideas and the material covered was absolutely pertinent to our responsibilities as RSMs as well as our objectives of developing our sales people and meeting our goals. Paul does understand our business which allows him to incorporate the skill or concept he is teaching with authentic day-to-day examples.  I think this validates much of what he is trying to “bring to the table.”  I would very much like to see Paul continue with a basic and advanced skill course for our sales teams.” — Donna Tomasino, Regional Sales Manager, Xpedite

“As a result of the DSP program I am committed to using the roadmap for key accounts, having one-on-one reviews with each AE.” — Jana Tresher, District Sales Manager, Telcove Communications

“I thoroughly enjoyed the training, it was perfectly timed for me personally. The personality profile and goals booklet have given me a lot to think about! The reading list is greatly appreciated. Feedback wise, I have only a minor recommendation to make. Being an “out of towner” I would have liked some sort of “after hours” activity organized. As a “socializer”, I find those sort of things motivational… Other than that, I think I’ll definitely benefit from these tools in how I do my job. Thanks” — Chris Warus, District Sales Xpedite Communications, Toronto

“I have had the pleasure of working with PSA on multiple engagements. There wealth of knowledge, experience, dedication, and ability to coach, motivate and drive performance have been incredible. A great business partner!” — Tony Welwood, Director of Operations, Telcove Communications, Inc.