About Us

SmartPenz Technologies is in the business of helping sales teams capture the conversations that drive commerce.  We do this by working with both Channel Partners and End-Users to leverage the power of capture technology to drive sales force productivity.

Read a White Paper on how the SmartPen is driving sales force productivity (click here)

A 2009 research report indicated that 84% of all sales training initiatives show no long term productivity gain after only 120 days (Source: ES Research Group).  Another disturbing study indicates a serious decline in the ability of a sales force to achieve their sales targets, quickly ramp up their sales hires, and execute on their new training and technologies (Source: CSO Insights, Sales Performance Optimization - 2008 Survey Results & Analysis).

Does the blame lie in the sales training programs and/or sales enablement technology solutions?  Interestingly, when most sales executives are pressed for the answer, they generally admit that the failure to achieve better results did not originate in the training and technology tools themselves, but in the lack of execution by their own selling teams.

To solve the execution problem, sales leadership require a new lever, one that helps manage at the core, not at the fringes.  The fringes of selling are all those things that happen before and after a sales call - typically abstract coaching conversations about yesterday or tomorrow.  The core is real time, the place where opportunities either gain or lose momentum - the actual sales conversation.

With capture technology, managing at the core requires very little change.  No expensive management travel is required - in fact, less travel is actually better.  And, all it requires of salespeople is use tools they are already comfortable with - the normal pen and paper.

Capture technology transforms the effectiveness and productivity of any salesperson or selling team.  This is due to its ability to capture the sales conversation conducted by the mobile sales professional, thus making the field call transparent.  This transparency factor enables the immediate coaching of the salespeople who engage customers and prospects.  As a result, sales behavior ramps more quickly and efficiently to higher levels of sales effectiveness.



SmartPenz Technologies Team

Marc Miller

Founder and CEO

Marc Miller is founder and CEO of SmarPenz Technologies, LLC and  Sogistics Corporation.  Both SmartPenz and Sogistics are internationally known sales productivity improvement firms who help organizations better understand, connect and add value to their customers’ strategies as a way to drive more profitable sales growth. Marc’s ideas, models, and methodologies are used by organizations such as Genentech, Nokia, G.E., Oerlikon, Marriott, Siemens, Diebold, and Sun MicroSystems – all companies interested in winning by transforming the sales role into something that is customer relevant and impactful. 

Outside of being CEO of SmartPenz Technologies, Marc is an active investor, speaker, and author. Marc has owned – and currently owns - privately-held companies in healthcare, packaging, graphic arts, and learning management. Marc’s first book, Selling is Dead , (published by John Wiley & Sons) was on numerous best seller lists and has been translated into multiple languages. Marc’s latest book, A Seat at the Table , (published by Greenleaf Book Group) explores the new role of sales and account managers in the process of creating and capturing customer value by learning to become less salespeople, and more businesspeople who sell.

Marc is a native Ohioan who lives in Boston Heights, OH. He has six children. His outside interests include reading, writing, basketball, travel – and paying college tuition bills.
 

Lisa Banach

Director, Client Solutions & Support

Lisa Banach - Director, Client Solutions & Support - Prior to joining SmartPenz Technologies, Lisa spent nine years with Sogistics Corporation.  Most recently she held the position of Director of Assessment Services.  At Sogistics, Lisa developed behaviorally-based assessment models and evaluated over one thousand salespeople and sales managers annually.  Her assessments were used by organizations that were in the complex selling space.  Industries she served include software/IT, medical, manufacturing, construction, chemical, professional services, and automotive.  These assessments served as a primary research engine at Sogistics.  In her role, Lisa also was responsible for selling assessment engagements to executive level personnel and engaging in client and project management on a day-to-day basis.  Lisa obtained her Masters' degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Xavier University. 

Lisa currently resides in Twinsburg with her husband and two daughters.  Her outside interests include spending time with family, reading, fitness, and local sports.

Andrew Deogracias
  
IT Manager, Customer Service

Andrew Deogracias joined SmartPenz Technologies as Project Specialist. and IT Operations.  Andrew manages a number of operational areas within SmartPenz Technologies, including technology, communications, logistics & fulfillment, and quality assurance. Prior to SmartPenz Technologies, Andrew worked in the banking and retail management.

Andrew is involved in the Smartpen technology, and has been instrumental in its development for applications around sales force productivity.

Andrew resides in Hudson, Ohio and in his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading computer technology articles, contributing to tech forums, sports, and playing piano.

 

Frank Moura

Director of Integration Programs

Director of Integration Programs for SmartPenz Technologies.  At SmartPenz, Frank directs the integration of the applications and services into various verticals including software manufacturers and learning development organizations.  Frank is a 25-year veteran of Silicon Valley.  His skills range from writing J2ME programs for the Livescribe Pulse™ smartpen to directing multi-million dollar data migration projects for some of the largest financial institutions in the US.  Frank has built and managed elite teams of analysts, product engineers, developer support and professional services consultants that delivered high quality services and technology into companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 200.

When Frank is not working for SmartPenz (it happens...), he is remodeling his home in Oakland, California with his long-suffering wife Terry.  Frank has three children the youngest of which is in her freshman year of college.

Want to learn more?

Contact Us and let's talk about how SmartPenz Technologies can help your customers capture and shape the conversations that create commerce!