Facilitation
Faculty
John Dieseth
John Dieseth began developing and presenting seminars on direct marketing, sales and business transitions while at the Seminars International division of American Business Information, now known as InfoUSA. InfoUSA is the world’s largest compiler of account information used in business-to-business direct marketing and telephone selling. After its initial public offering in 1993, the company acquired many of the smaller players in its field and was known for its aggressive sales and direct marketing culture, in addition to evangelizing the benefits of selling direct business-to-business.
Covering such diverse topics as Maximizing Value for Your Organization, Sales Team Leadership, Total Quality Management, Direct Marketing and Telephone Selling, John consulted at over 24 organizations including the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial paints, the industrial robotics manufacturer for Ford Motor Company and a white-shoe law firm located in Chicago’s Sears Tower.
John became President of Seminars International in 1995. During his tenure, he represented the company as a platform speaker and presented at the American Society for Training and Development convention and at such diverse gatherings as the Wood Products and National Speaker’s Associations.
As President, he assisted in the sale of Seminars International to Baker University. This occurred when the bulk of the seminar industry was sold to non-profit interests because of postal savings. In late 1996, when the transition to Baker was completed, John joined American Media, the world’s largest producer of training video products as Vice President of Sales and Marketing with a mission to help position the business for sale. During the next two years, the company grew from $10.5 million in revenues to $18.5 million and was sold in the fall of 1998 to Provant, a publicly held company. After the earn-out was completed in 2000, John formed Business Performance Group, located in Des Moines, Iowa.
Business Performance Group has a customer base of over 1,000 organizations including many which are part of the Fortune 500.