The Amplify Growth™ Team
Joe Trueblood, CEO
Strategic Pathfinder. Truth Teller. Coach. Transformation Specialist
What do you get when you combine the mental toughness and performance precision of a top athlete with the business acumen and strategic foresight of a dynamic sales and operations leader? Meet Joe Trueblood, our CEO.
From the sales trenches to the back offices, from the basketball court to the executive suite, Joe brings a singular quality to every client, project or challenge: the ability to quickly size up a situation, understand what needs to be done and make it happen. No unnecessary fanfare or long-winded dissertations, just results.
With his get-it-done attitude and collaborative, motivational approach, Joe has been leading positive change that delivers real business growth for more than two decades, both domestically and internationally. Action oriented, disciplined and down-to-earth at the same time, he has a long track record of bringing order out of chaos, successfully restructuring, revamping and realigning resources for optimum efficiency and effectiveness.
Throughout his career, Joe has transformed underperforming sales organizations, turned around troubled companies and operational units, and fueled business and organizational growth by conceptualizing, developing and executing winning strategies and tactics that increase both internal and external satisfaction.
A coach at heart, he gains commitment, not just compliance, with an enthusiasm and participative leadership style that brings people on board and into the process.
In 2010 ISA-The Association of Learning Providers awarded Joe the Broomfield “Spirit of ISA” Award, honoring his work in encouraging and challenging the organization to be the best it can be, all the while he remained in the background and out of the spotlight.
The Spirit of ISA is an award that describes Joe to a tee: a passion for learning, an eagerness to explore new ideas, a determination to challenge the status quo, and an unassuming style that puts the focus on results.
Greg Bernbrock, Vice President
Recruit – Inspire – Develop
Greg has the track record to validate the results he has achieved in assisting companies and educational institutions become more successful via implementing best practices in talent acquisition and development.
Greg’s successful experience includes being an outstanding college athlete and coach, plus playing a key leadership role in assisting a Fortune 500 company have consistent growth in revenue, profit and market share.
Greg brings his experience and expertise to Amplify Growth™ clients assisting them in developing leadership and coaching skills such as:
Leading, motivating and inspiring managers and sales representatives at all levels
Developing both sales and interpersonal communication skills to maximize potential and success
Training individuals on visionary skills relating to longer term goals and objectives
Best practices for driving collective teamwork and responsibilities across an entire organization
Focusing on achieving attainable goals and exceeding yearly growth expectations
Teaching the balance between the art and science of managing and coaching
Understanding and executing the longer term “developmental sales” process
Executing sales strategies that focus on growth and customer satisfaction
Evaluating individuals at every career stage to ensure growth and success
Tackling the greatest challenges whereby committing broad based excellence
Gary Kral, Vice President
OD Consultant – Speaker – Trainer/Facilitator – Implementation Specialist
Gary’s specialties include organization development, corporate university and training operations, plus he is a motivational leader and sought-after public speaker. He has held executive level responsibility for all leadership, sales, customer service and training implementations as well as succession planning within Fortune 500 companies. Gary also spent four years as a Special Agent US Army Investigation Command (CID).
Amplify Growth™ clients rely on Gary’s knowledge, expertise and experience to give them complete confidence in their training and organizational development implementations.
Marla Lepore, Chief Marketing Officer
Marketing Communications Pro. Sales Strengthener. Compulsive Editor
Your marketing communications program is one of the most public representations of your brand. Is it telling your customers you’re sharp, different and ahead of the curve or generic, unpolished and sloppy?
Effective communication matters whether you’re focused on growing a company or sustaining that growth, but it doesn’t happen. That’s why you need someone with both the business experience and the sheer talent to pull it off.
That’s why you need Marla Lepore.
Marla is a seasoned writer, editor and marketing communications expert who focuses her skills on achieving your business growth goals. For nearly two decades, she has worked with a variety of organizations to support their sales and marketing objectives through a combination of first-rate communications strategies and executions along with a first-hand understanding of business realities and practicalities.
Rather than jumping on the latest bandwagons or blindly following the fads, Marla directs a critical eye toward what you’re trying to accomplish first. From there, she delivers – whether it’s content development, public relations, social media strategies or sales and marketing tools.
Marla says she loves working with demanding sales pros because they often become her best resources and biggest allies in creating and delivering the messages that will resonate in the marketplace. She has a long track record of building successful relationships with sales teams, from her role as Vice President of Marketing for a commercial real estate firm to her leadership roles at ELI, a compliance training company, where she managed custom and off-the-shelf product development in addition to overseeing all strategic marketing functions.
Among her accomplishments, Marla has secured expert interviews with national publications such as the New York Times, Inc. Magazine, T&D Magazine and Chief Executive Magazine. She has also managed numerous website copywriting projects, co-written and ghost-written a variety of articles, white papers, blogs and editorials, and developed newsletters, e-campaigns, advertising and sales tools that have directly impacted customer engagement, loyalty and sales.
Marla received her B.A. in English with a concentration in writing from Tulane University, participated in the Literary Nonfiction program at the prestigious Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and completed the Short Fiction program at Colgate University’s Writer’s Conference. Active in the Nashville literary community, she’s a member of The Porch (Nashville’s independent center for writing) and volunteers for the Southern Festival of Books.
Suzanne McMichael, Engagement Director
Inspiring Leader. Client and Team Galvanizer.
An experienced leader who knows how to make smart decisions, keep people engaged and facilitate corporate change. A top-performing professional who puts clients first and keeps a trained eye on quality, with an impact that goes all the way to the bottom line.
That’s what you’ll find in Suzanne McMichael, and you couldn’t find a better fit for Amplify Growth™.
Suzanne is a senior professional who brings extensive, broad-based management and business experience to the Amplify Growth™ team. Throughout her career, she has been fast-tracked into multiple roles of leadership, which has given her insight into how to effectively create positive customer service outcomes and develop outstanding client relationships.
From training, coaching and developing bench strength to quality analysis and assurance, Suzanne has played a key role in helping business environments achieve success. As our Engagement Director, she brings her range of expertise to every client opportunity. She has been there and done that, and now she wants to get it done for you.
Suzanne spent 15 years at GMAC Insurance where she quickly rose through the ranks of the Personal Lines Claims Department with four promotions within six years – a testament to her initiative and outstanding performance. Ultimately achieving the role of Claims Manager, she was responsible for overseeing three Claims divisions handling auto, recreational vehicle, motorcycle and homeowner claims.
Prior to joining Amplify Growth™, Susanne was the owner of SMC Industries, where she served as contractor of products for government procurement. With full managing and business development responsibility, she gained valuable B2B and product distribution experience and successfully bid for national government contracts.
Suzanne received her B.A in Corporate Communications from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri and holds multiple professional customer service and management certifications and designations.
News
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Results
The Challenge: Quickly grow revenues and profits to set up a top-dollar sale price.
Amplify Growth™ played a key role in the successful turnaround of a $200 million organization. Through its work with Amplify Growth™ the company was able to grow top line revenue by $10 million and increase net operating profit by 10% in the span of one year. This significant growth and turnaround success allowed the company to set up a realistic sale price that was 5 times higher than it had been just a year earlier.
The Challenge: Plug the sales efficiency leaks.
In a short five-month timeframe, Amplify Growth™ helped a $250 million organization redefine its sales structure, create a sales process map that ensured a consistent go-to-market approach, and revamp its sales compensation. The greater effectiveness and overall efficiency resulted in a savings of over $1 million.
The Challenge: Stop leaving money on the table.
Amplify Growth™, in the span of 30 months, helped an organization grow revenue by 30% and increase operating profit by 116%. In a total sales organization overhaul that began with analyzing the structure, market and strengths of the people, Amplify Growth™ redefined the sales profile, sales assignments, pricing, sales process, compensation and incentives.
The Challenge: Develop and grow the right market reputation by bringing strategic partners in line.
Amplify Growth™ helped a $100+ million organization evaluate its alliance partner strategy, working to ensure each partnership was in alignment with the organization’s business objectives and values, and that the overall value proposition was clear and distinct in the marketplace.
Amplify Growth™ was involved in establishing consistent governances, corresponding contracts, regular review process, revenue share, pricing methodology and a business development process that both fed and expanded beyond the established sales channels. These changes resulted in increased customer satisfaction, revenue and overall profit.
The Challenge: Put an end to internal battles, and put the customer first.
For a multi-million dollar organization, Amplify Growth™ architected a new organizational structure designed around improving agility and responsiveness to meet customer needs – both externally and internally.
Amplify Growth™ also helped the client eliminate turf battles by creating an environment where employees at all levels have accountability and responsibility for top-line and bottom-line growth and where midmanagement is organized around common goals.
The Challenge: Grow faster and leave the competition in the dust.
Amplify Growth™ assisted a major division of a large multi-million dollar company in targeting and acquiring a complementary line of business to more quickly meet growth objectives and provide an additional competitive advantage. Amplify Growth™ met with the owners of potential companies to be acquired, conducted the appropriate due diligence and evaluated the potential sale price and purchase options.
The Challenge: Getting more out of going global.
For a multi-million dollar global organization, Amplify Growth™ developed global policies, procedures and pricing to facilitate and support large global initiatives in a consistent manner with multi-national companies – which enabled greater customer satisfaction, teamwork, revenue and profit.
The Challenge: Expand market coverage without losing focus.
Amplify Growth™ assisted a customer in creating a segmented sales force to improve and expand market coverage and sales focus. The key strategy was to accommodate all levels of client relationships, from transactional to strategic, as well as ensure the sales people could focus on a finite and well-defined portfolio of accounts. This sales segmentation strategy also eliminated channel conflict.
The Challenge: Motivate the behaviors that make the company a success, both inside and out.
Amplify Growth™ devised a compensation, incentive and recognition package for a client to appropriately reward and recognize the behaviors that drive performance and also align with the company’s values and growth objectives. The compensation plan included a base salary, commission based on escalating revenue goals, and a bonus based on achieving profit objectives while growing the top line. An incentive sales trip and a recognition plan that called for acknowledging performance on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis rounded out the comprehensive package.
