Who We Are

Our Origin Story

Sales Engine is a tools and services firm founded on the principle that leaders should treat sales as the engine of their business. 

story

The Sales Engine Story….

In 2009, Craig had a wonderful and terrifying opportunity to turn around a struggling digital marketing agency in Chicago.  As he did his due diligence on whether he was the right person for this role, it became clear that this company was relying almost solely on inbound marketing leads.

Craig realized in a flash of a moment that he had the opportunity to build a Sales Engine for this company.  So he did exactly that.  In an 11 month sprint, he built a powerful Sales Engine, and within that same year he sold the company to a European competitor.  Towards the end of this experience, Craig said to his wife “This was so fascinating…I just want to do this over and over again.  I want to help companies build and tune their sales engines.”  And that’s how Sales Engine got its start.

Our Logo Story

Our Team Story

Meet the crew that will be tuning your sales engine.

Craig Wortmann

CEO Sales Engine
Founder of the Kellogg Sales Institute at Northwestern University

Craig Wortmann is a Clinical Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and is the Founder & Academic Director of the Kellogg Sales Institute. Since joining Kellogg in 2017, Craig has been a top five finalist as nominated by students for the Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year award. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and again in 2021, Craig won the “Outstanding Professor” distinction awarded by Kellogg’s Executive MBA students.

Launched in 2019, his Mastering Sales: A Toolkit for Success online course is the highest rated course on the Emeritus platform, and Craig was recently called “the gold standard in remote learning” by Executive MBA students at Kellogg.

From 2008 to 2016, Craig was Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He designed, developed and taught the award- winning Entrepreneurial Selling™ course, recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the “Top Ten” courses in the U.S. In addition to teaching the core entrepreneurship course called Building the New Venture, he also developed Chicago Booth’s four-day in-depth senior executive leadership course called Building Leadership Capital. Craig was the recipient of the 2012 Faculty Excellence Award, given to the professor who has the greatest positive impact on the students. After joining Kellogg’s faculty in 2017, Craig designed and launched the MBA course called Selling Yourself & Your Ideas™, which quickly became one of the most popular courses at Kellogg.

Craig is the author of What’s Your Story™?, a book designed to equip you with the right story at the right time for the right reason. Craig also launched The Art of Sales™: Mastering the Selling Process, a four-part Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Specialization with Coursera that has helped tens of thousands of people worldwide acquire critical selling skills and disciplines.

From selling tech for IBM early in his career, to financial services where he covered three-quarters of the United States, to consulting services, books and apps, Craig is an expert in sales across the B2B and B2C spectrum. He advises some of the world’s largest and most successful companies on developing and fine-tuning their sales talent, as well as guiding some of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial firms on how to design and build a powerful revenue engine. In just the past ten years, Craig has been fortunate to teach tens of thousands of people how to sell, how to lead sales teams and how to lead companies.

After earning his MBA in marketing and finance from Kellogg in 1995, Craig has been a three-time entrepreneur and CEO, beginning with his first software company in 2000. After selling that firm in 2008, Craig conducted a successful turnaround of a struggling digital marketing agency, selling it to a larger French company only 11 months after joining as its CEO.

In 2009 Craig founded Sales Engine Inc., a tools and services firm founded on the core belief that sales is the engine of any business. As a global speaker and virtual sales advisor, Craig helps people from every corner of the globe develop the knowledge, skill and discipline necessary to become magnetic and unstoppable sales people. In addition to growing his Sales Engine firm, Craig serves as Operating Partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital where he helps grow the revenue engines of its portfolio companies.

Craig is also an active angel investor, solely focused on companies that help people develop healthy habits and empower people to be their best. His portfolio currently includes sleep and food companies, as well as those creating the next generation of female leaders.

Craig and his family split their time between Illinois and Wisconsin where they can be found reading, running and laughing.

Craig's Awards

Craig is an award-winning course designer and professor, having won multiple teaching awards at two of the top 10 business schools in the world; Chicago Booth and now Kellogg.

Kellogg Sydney Levy Teaching Award
Kellogg Sydney Levy Teaching Award2019-2020
Chicago Inno “50 on Fire”
Chicago Inno “50 on Fire” 2019
Crain’s Tech 50
Crain’s Tech 502019
Kellogg Executive MBA Outstanding Teaching Award
Kellogg Executive MBA Outstanding Teaching Award2020, ’19, ’18
Faculty Excellence Award
Faculty Excellence Award2012, Chicago Booth
Inc Magazine Best Courses
Inc Magazine Best Courses2011
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Jeff Lietz

Meet Jeff Lietz, Principal Partner at Sales Engine. As a three-time entrepreneur and with more than 30 years of sales expertise, Jeff brings vast knowledge and keen first-hand experience to the team having delivered and utilized the Sales Engine tools and methodologies in real-life as a former client. 

Most recently as co-founder of Evive, Jeff served as Principal Partner and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer where he built a team of more than 28 individuals encompassing sales, marketing, and solution consultants. He presented and sold to no less then 275 of the Fortune 500 during his 12-year tenure and utilized Sales Engine’s tools and methodologies that helped grow the businesses revenue to over eight-figures   He currently serves as Emeritus Principal Partner at Evive.

In 1998 Jeff founded Healthy Pursuit, a company focused on providing outreach services to self-insured corporate and medical practice markets, including on-site biometric health screenings, health risk assessments, and health promotion programs ultimately referring individuals to local medical practices. In 2000 he merged Healthy Pursuit with HealthCalc Network, Inc., an Application Service Provider for business-to-business, health-specific applications, and later sold to Health Fitness Corporation.

Jeff’s first entrepreneurial endeavor was as the Co-founder and National Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Eagle Rehab Sports Medicine, a CMS/Horizon Healthcare nationwide healthcare provider with multiple outpatient and hospital divisions. He directed the national sales and marketing strategy within the Physician Practice Management & Physical Therapy Division which he grew from 0 to 165 centers bringing in annual sales of 122 million. He then sold CMS/Horizon to HealthSouth Corporation in 1997.

Jeff launched Midwest Orthopedic Network as Executive Director and Vice President of Marketing at Midwest Orthopedics at Rush where he orchestrated the initial formation, physician recruitment, launch and implementation of the Midwest Orthopedic Network which was the first independent orthopedic network owned and directed by 121 orthopedic physicians. 

 In 1988, Jeff began his sales career at Baxter/Caremark Orthopedic Services as Director of Business Development and he was ultimately promoted to Regional Marketing Manager, annually attaining the #1 Sales Director Award for new physician referrals and same clinic sales growth. During his tenure, he directed sales for 90 centers, and he built and initiated the division’s first venture into the Sports Medicine Outreach Program procuring Baxter/Caremark as the exclusive rehabilitation provider for the 1992 U.S. Olympic summer and winter teams.

A St. Charles, Illinois resident for more than 24 years, Jeff enjoys running, playing golf and hockey and spending time with his wife and three children.

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Manny Menendez

Meet Manny Menendez, Partner at Sales Engine. As a two-time entrepreneur with more than 30 years of sales expertise, Manny brings vast knowledge and perspective on what the Sales Engine tool and methodologies can bring to an individual and organization. Most recently Manny served as the Chief Revenue Officer for ConsumerMedical, providing clinical advocacy, decision support, and expert second opinion programs to some of the nation’s top employers and health plans. Leading the Sales, Marketing, Strategy & Client Success functions within ConsumerMedical, Manny drove the growth imperative to the business and through focused efforts led four successive years of Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40%+.
 
Manny’s first entrepreneurial endeavor was as a sales and strategy leader at Bloom Health, a Group Active Private exchange solution for Commercial employers. Prior to this role, many served as the Chicago Market P & L leader at Hewitt Associates (acquired by Aon in 2010), concentrating on the creation, execution and measurement of the Total Rewards strategy to Fortune 500 and Middle Market Clients, and laid the foundation of his sales career in client success and underwriting at CNA Insurance Companies.
 
“My goals of helping individuals remain consistent throughout my career. No matter my role, I’ve always said I’m just a people person. And really, I’m doing the same today at SalesEngine. Bringing my knowledge to the forefront and the skills and discipline I’ve learned the past 30+ years as a leader, teammate, and salesman. No fancy title here, just Manny.”

Jeffrey Newbill

Jeffrey D. Newbill is an Executive Business Consultant with 20 plus years of diverse and unique experience within the healthcare, sales training, finance, and entrepreneurial arenas. Jeff’s responsibilities have covered every aspect of business from sales, marketing, account management, advocate development, managed care, market development, launching new products and business consulting. Jeff has a proven track record of increasing customer access, sales, sales training and leadership development.

Jeff has a degree from Roosevelt University (Professional Administration) as well as certifications from Cornell University (Diversity and Inclusion) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Foundations of Everyday Leadership). Jeff has applied his skillset in logistics and customer service at Kraft Foods, in sales and account management at Merck & Co., Inc., and in sales and learning and performance at Impax Specialty Pharma and Amgen.

Jeff has tackled the toughest assignments through the utilization of a thorough understanding of the market and the customer by developing successful tools and strategies with a positive attitude, motivational leadership style and tireless work ethic. Jeff’s mantra is: “Trust, believe, learn, grow ….and don’t complain”. Simply put, learning never stops and the best can always get better.

Jill Mullen

As Business Manager, Jill is responsible for everything that happens under the Sales Engine hood including contracting, billing and operations. Previous to joining Sales Engine, Jill was the number one salesperson with the American Express Small Business Accounts team where she annually exceeded her sales goals during her five-year tenure and for more than 48 months exceeded her monthly target by 100%. For three years running she was the recipient of the “Most Outstanding Sales Representative” award.

With degrees from the University of Kansas School of Journalism (Minor in Marketing) and The Kellogg School of Management (MBA in Marketing and International Business), she has applied her skillset working on major brands including: AT&T Marketing Manager launching first-ever bundled phone services; Ameritech/SBC Communications marketing and PR planning for the merger; McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald House PR, Board of Directors scripting, and annual report writing; Blue Cross & Blue Shield consultant on branding initiatives; Sport & Social Clubs of the USA Marketing and Sponsorships Director securing annually renewing sponsorships with Gatorade, Ford and Anheuser-Busch.

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Bailey Carges

Bailey’s experience serving high-profile clients began in boutique communication, brand, and data design– finding custom solutions for small employee groups and Fortune 500 companies, and everyone in between. Bailey mastered delivering personalized communications in the health and benefits industry, studying how to drive behavior change with small, powerful, and unique nudges. 

Fast forward a few years, she found herself in a lively startup environment and jumped head-first into the world of SaaS– although now was over on the client delivery side of the house– a little different viewpoint from over here! Again, working hand-in-hand designing custom engagement programs for large employers, utilizing product knowledge, and having a great time building and mentoring teams. She enjoyed every second of the white glove solutions that were delivered, Bailey was known for turning around struggling clients and getting them back on track and partnered with some of the brightest minds in consulting software, and client success.

It was her time at Evive when she worked hand-in-hand with Jeff and Craig, where Jeff entrepreneured the sales team as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and where Bailey was one of the founding employees (under Jeff’s mentorship). She implemented, managed, and kept clients engaged working with dynamic teams at The Texas A&M University System, Dean Foods, The Home Depot, and Sanofi (just to name a few of her favorites).

In her spare time, Bailey is crazy about her two French Bulldogs, Huey and Olive. She leaves them at home, as they are too stubborn to walk, while she and her husband Andy explore Bucktown, their new Chicago neighborhood, and find endless tacos and Chicago pizza to enjoy.

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