About Marks & Associates

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Marks & Associates is an executive development, training and consulting firm specializing in customer-focused training and executive coaching that maximize a firm’s ability to attract and hold highly profitable business while retaining valuable employees as well as solving complex real estate challenges. Led by Larry A. Marks, a pioneer in the field of consultative sales training and professional marketing, Marks & Associates uses real-world banking and real estate knowledge, diagnostic skills, coaching experience, sales and marketing expertise to develop programs that get results -- fast.

TRAINING
Marks & Associates takes a consultative, diagnostic approach with all seminars. We believe that consultative selling and marketing are more than simply the art of persuasion. A consultative approach aims at convincing people or organizations to buy a product or service by focusing on the product benefits that are most attractive to them, not the sales person. Our training seminars show bankers and real estate professionals not only how to determine a prospect’s needs and match those needs to specific product benefits, but most importantly, how to present the benefits most important to the prospect.

We show how to use problem-solving techniques to uncover, investigate and solve a company’s or individual’s needs and problems. This approach works with all sales situations and puts you and your prospect in the position of being partners rather than in the more adversarial buyer- seller roles.

Marks & Associates offers sales training programs that are customized to your situations, sales force and marketplace. Our seminars include Consultative Selling, Building and Managing Key Relationships, Sales Management, Negotiation Skills, Cash Management, Presentation and Proposals, and Trade Show Selling. In addition, we develop new seminars to meet our clients' specific training needs, and design multimedia applications to support our training activities.

Nothing speaks more eloquently about our training capabilities than our clients. Composed of banks, firms and real estate professionals of all sizes and geographic locations, our client base regularly reports stunning increases in sales, customer penetration, and market expansion as a direct result of our sales training efforts. Perhaps it’s our unique blend of marketing and real-life expertise -- or perhaps its our 25 years of training and sales experience. Whatever the reason, results prove that Marks & Associates’ sales training programs are the most effective programs available.

EXECUTIVE COACHING
Working one-on-one with you or your staff, our coaching provides a combination of increased leverage for the organization and intellectual and skills development reach for it's managers. Our professional coaches bring real world financial services experience to our clients and the diagnostic and managerial skills necessary to help them cope with the on-going issues in their jobs and home life.

Coaching is a solid way to provide you or your managers with the direct, hands-on support that they need without acquiring those resources full time. Our relationships with clients are on-going and span many issues that face managers. We help the manager develop skills, master problem resolution and grow in their role while preparing them for the future.

MARKETING CONSULTING
While most industries understand that training salespeople to sell their products is only part of the total marketing package, many across diverse industries continue to struggle with the concept. Marks & Associates believes that it takes a well-developed, comprehensive marketing strategy, including product packaging, materials design, direct marketing, advertising, public relations, multimedia applications, trade show selling, sales management as well as sales training, to maximize your ability to attract and retain customers. We use our knowledge and marketing expertise to help you put that whole package together.

At the strategic level, Marks & Associates helps you assess your strengths and weaknesses, set marketing goals and objectives, and develop strategies and tactics that support those goals. Tactically, we work with you to design, conduct
and analyze market research; collect and digest competitive information; develop and schedule marketing activities, such as direct mailings, newsletters, customer seminars and advertising; write and produce marketing materials, such as brochures, pamphlets, articles, and Internet sites; improve internal communications between product management, marketing support and relationship managers; as well as develop sales tracking and follow-up systems.

When combined with the unequaled effectiveness of our sales training, Marks & Associates’ marketing consulting provides the most effective way to jump start stalled sales, more deeply penetrate existing customers, get listings and accelerate market expansion.