Strategic Account Managers (SAMs) face difficult challenges even in the best of circumstances: grow revenues at our largest customers every year, deepen existing relationships, and continue to expand the network of stakeholders who will buy from our company. Valkre recently... Continue reading

Even with today’s advanced manufacturing and production methods, a cotton hoodie, like the one Bill Belicheck is wearing above, is still 22% more expensive to manufacture in the U.S. versus Asia. This is detailed in an excellent article from the... Continue reading

We recently had a great discussion with a potential customer. During the meeting a comment was said that made me smile: “Account planning around here is very much a process of documenting what we all know, then aligning around what... Continue reading

I have taken a number of flights within Australia over the past six months and have noticed something peculiar to those of us who live in the States: In Australia, there always seems to be ample overhead bin space and... Continue reading

This is my last post from Down-Under, its been a great month, but I am excited to get back to the States and share my learnings with the Valkre team and our customers in the States. I just spent the... Continue reading

It is still raining in Sydney and it has rained every day I have been down here…how the heck did Chicago’s Spring weather follow me half way around the world? Well, I just finished a boot camp with a new... Continue reading

Well the rest of the Cardinale family arrived on Saturday July 6th. The boys did great, and they stayed awake all day and fell asleep on the couch at 6PM. The great news is that they slept through the night,... Continue reading

Day 7 in Sydney. It’s still raining. It has rained every day I have been in Sydney…did Chicago weather follow me half way around the world? Anyway, I just finished the first day of a fantastic boot camp with a... Continue reading

I drank more great Aussie coffee today, although I keep forgetting to order my cappuccino’s without Chocolate. I do wonder why such a great coffee-loving culture sprinkles chocolate on the top of such carefully crafted drinks? I end up with... Continue reading

Day 1 in Australia and I am at sitting with a Valkre customer whom I have partnered with for over a year, let’s call him “Cooper” because I think that is a strong Aussie name. Cooper is a young, ambitious,... Continue reading

Well, I made it! I'm officially on Sydney soil, and ready to begin my month long stay. First order of business, get my coffee situation figured out. In Chicago, I am partial to a place by my office called Bowtruss,... Continue reading

Well it's that time again! Time for another trip to the great Australian Outback, to dive into the heart of Value Propositions. I'm going to spend the next 30 days and 30 nights knocking on customers' doors, trekking across the... Continue reading

I am a huge fan of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, and I consider Bill Watterson, the genius who brought to life the colorful world of a little boy named Calvin, to be one of the great innovators of... Continue reading

I own an SUV which proudly carries the pock marks of having driven me through the streets of Chicago for the past ten years. Recently I was at my brother’s house in Princeton, NJ and he insisted that I test... Continue reading