Somewhere, in a ballroom set for 3,000, with a thermostat set at about 50...

If it's mid-December, there must be National Sales Meetings to write for. So I'm just thinking about the roles that should be played by the various players on an NSM stage. Let's look at it from the perspective of the sales rep in the audience. What feeling should a rep get about each speaker, after all is said and done? I'm pretty sure I'm right about these: 

As a sales rep in the audience of the pluperfect national sales meeting, here's what I'm feeling about the people who just spoke to me:

Product Managers...

CONFIDENCE. We can count on them to do what they say they will do; where sales force cynicism goes to die 

VP-Marketing...

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Thanks to him, we're a touchdown-and-a-half better than anyone we play before we even take the field

VP-Sales...

OWNERSHIP. She owns the sales program for this year and everything that goes with it -- including this meeting, stem to stern

CFO...

SMARTEST ONE IN THE ROOM. With him it's not just numbers; it's how the numbers breathe and sweat -- and where their sphincter is

CEO...

WAY AHEAD OF US. She goes places we'll never go, talks to people we'll never have access to, and is thinking about things today that won't be on our radar screen for years to come