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Zions First National Bank

How to EnterCompany: Zions First National Bank
Company Description: Zions Bank, a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation, operates 133 full-service offices in Utah and Idaho. In addition to offering a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions Bank is also a leader in small business lending and has ranked as the No. 1 lender of U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) loans in Utah and Idaho for the past 18 and 10 consecutive years, respectively.
Nomination Category: Solution Provider Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Training Practice of the Year

Nomination Title: Zions Bank Business Performance Series

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has achieved since the beginning of July 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
As part of Zions' Committment to helping businesses solve problems they care
about, Zions spent significant time discovering the core problems that
businesses of all sizes are looking to solve.

An interesting learning was that the #1 problem that businesses wanted help
with was achieving revenue goals and becoming more competitive in their
marketplaces. This problem was identified as "most important" & "Least
Likely" that a bank could help.

Knowing that "Sales Training" is a $5Billion industry that has been shown to
fail 91% of the time, Zions Bank created an alternative. Pulling from Industry
Experts, University Professors, & Published Thought Leaders, Zions introduced
the "Business Performance Series" as a free service to their business clients.

The Performance Series is an advanced course designed to help businesses of
all sizes engineer a world-class sales team. 6 elements were introduced as
concepts that must be considered and addressed as part of a successful sales
team. The 6 elements include:
- The Building Blocks of Success: How to discover and implement YOUR sales
process.
- Planning: The 3 things that must be prepared prior to ever going on a
sales call.
- Adaptive Communications: The skill most predictive in sales success is
ability to adapt. This introduces participants to communication types and how
to effectively engage them regardless of your type.
- Value Engineering: A proprietary sales approach that participants learn
to adapt to their sales model.
- Marketing that Matters: "Boomstart" principles and Social Media....how to
use them to achieve growth in sales quickly with minimal investent.
- Leadership: Principles of Leadership and Coaching. The premise of World
Class leaders make world class teams. Tactics on how to coach, where to coach
and when to coach, and the tactics of everyday leadership that are proven to
make points without making enemies.

Classes are a full day on each topic. Classes are as frequent as every 2 weeks
and as spread out as once per month. Classes are held in Zions Bank facilities
across their footprint. There is no tuition to attend...but classes are only
available to Zions Bank clients.

Class sizes are 20-30 business owners or sales leaders. Homework is given to
implement the topics & best practices from the week before are reviewed at
the beginning of each class.

Classes are hand-selected so a diverse group is working on the same sales
challenges. This helps reinforce the point that HOW you sell is a more
defensible competitive advantage than WHAT you sell.

Over 400 businesses took the course in 2011 alone. Results have been
outstanding. Medical Device companies have seen 15% growth, and small blue
collar organizations have seen over 1000% growth.

Zions has had businesses choose to bank with Zions for the sole purpose of
being invited to the class. The materials are first class, the instruction is
compelling, and the instructors are entertaining, engaging, & challenging.
Attendees learn to build their own sales process, create predictive metrics,
understand why people buy, and have a new outlook on how to lead a sales team.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Rob Jeppsen is the SVP of Commercial Sales for Zions Bank. With 16 years of
direct sales and sales leadership experience, Rob has worked in publicly-traded
organizations, privately-held organizations, & has successfully led sales teams
in the Technology, Pharmaceutical, and Financial Services sectors.

Gary K. Rhoads is a Stephen Mack Covey professor of Marketing and Sales at
Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management. He has a background
in technology and pharmaceutical sales and has consulted with many of the
Fortune 100.

Gary has authored several works including "Boomstart" and "Secrets of Everyday
Leadership."