Joanne Black

With over 30 years of sales training and consulting experience, Joanne's philosophy is that no one should ever have to make a cold call. Some may see this as heretical thinking, but for Joanne Black - and her clients - there is an alternative. It's called referral selling.

Joanne has provided sales strategy consulting since 1996, when she developed the No More Cold Calling concept - that building relationships and getting referrals generates sales faster and more cost-effectively than cold-calling.

Joanne began her career in the sales and management training program at Joseph Magnin, which was one of the leading fashion houses in the San Francisco Bay Area. She learned the nuances of selling, customer expectations, handling problems, and working with a diverse work force.

At Joseph Magnin, Joanne developed the mantra that's become the foundation of her extraordinary leadership ability: Doing something that's never been done before can be the best reason for doing it. "If you follow conventional wisdom, chances are you'll never have breakthrough ideas," says Joanne.

After co-founding and operating a successful retail business while still in her twenties, Joanne moved on to sales leadership positions with Omega Performance, a financial services training and consulting firm, and The Forum Corporation, a global management, consulting and training company that served such clients as Advanced Micro Devices, Hewlett-Packard, Pacific Gas & Electric, Shell Oil, and VISA.

Joanne Black is a leader with integrity, determination, and the clarity to see how conventional sales "wisdom" isn't always so effective. With these core qualities, Joanne guides client companies to where they want to go, steering them away from inefficient and ineffective business practices, and giving them clear directions towards business growth and success.