Authors and Consultants

Michelle Vazzana is a partner at Vantage Point Performance, the most innovative sales management training and development firm in the marketplace today. Michelle is a seasoned practitioner in the sales management arena and has coached and developed hundreds of sales managers and leaders since her foray into consulting more than 12 years ago. As a voracious learner, Michelle continues to pursue graduate studies in Organizational Psychology to deepen her insights into the interplay between human behavior and sales performance. Michelle is a recognized expert in the area of sales management and sales coaching, and she is a sought-after speaker for organizations including the American Society for Training and Development and the Sales Management Association. She has been the driving force behind the development of Vantage Point’s key training programs and leads the firm’s deployment of high-impact client engagements. Michelle has personally coached hundreds of sales managers and leaders. Her graduate studies and extensive experience helped bridge the gap between Vantage Point Performance’s ground breaking research and its practical application for sales managers. She is a popular speaker on the topic of sales transformation. Michelle and her family currently reside in Ashburn, Virginia.

Focus

Michelle is co-author of Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance, published by McGraw Hill in October of 2011. She is often selected to speak on the topic of sales management and sales transformation for the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and the Sales Management Association (SMA). She is a sought-after speaker on the topics of sales management and sales transformation. Michelle has designed and facilitated programs for effective sales management, coaching and reinforcement, face- to-face selling, major account sales strategy, and telesales. She designs and implements global end-to-end engagements for clients that create the environment to ensure long-term performance change. Michelle has broken new ground in the area of sales and sales management effectiveness, helping managers focus on the vital few activities that drive true sales improvement. Her experience in coaching and training sales managers in Fortune 500 companies has propelled Vantage Point’s ground-breaking research into practical application for sales managers worldwide.

Experience

Michelle works in sales training and sales training management for Vantage Point Performance, a sales management training and development firm. She has 28 years of successful sales and management experience in the major account environment. Michelle enjoyed a successful career in direct major account sales for Xerox Corporation, prior to moving into sales training and sales training management. After 12 years with Xerox, she expanded her expertise at a major consulting and training firm, where she was a senior designer of a field sales reinforcement program that became a staple in the consulting firm’s client interventions. Michelle also developed a major new offering in conjunction with Neil Rackham, creator of SPIN® Selling. For 26 years, Michelle has been in sales roles including direct sales, management, training, and consulting. She started her career selling for IBM and Xerox, where she held a variety of sales and management roles. Michelle has worked with Neil Rackham and other thought leaders in the industry to design and deploy pioneering sales performance improvement strategies. 2008 - Partner of Vantge Point Performance. As a partner with Vantage Point, Michelle has a primary role in continuing research into sales management and leadership, developing new solutions, taking lead on key client engagements, and driving enterprise sales. 2000 - Senior Training Consultant of Huthwaite. 2007 - Sales Manager Coach of EMC 2005 - President of Sales Formance

Education

A graduate of the Florida International University, in Miami, Florida, Michelle obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. She also holds a Master of Science in Organizational Effectiveness and Master’s Certificates in both Instructional Systems Design and Total Quality Management from Marymount University. Michelle is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology with a goal to break new ground in the area of sales manager productivity.