About the Author
Kimberly K. Richmond
Kimberly K. Richmond is an executive, author, speaker, and professor in the sales and marketing arena. She is a senior marketing executive with over twenty-five years of sales, marketing, and branding experience. She has held senior marketing positions at several major companies, including executive vice president of marketing at FAO Schwarz and other senior marketing roles at Kraft Foods, Sears, Zany Brainy, The Right Start, and Charming Shoppes.
She has been responsible for the integration and communication of a new corporate identity to the national sales force of 1,500 at Kraft Foodservice when the $5 billion division was sold. The sale of the company required a new name to be completely implemented within months of the transaction. In addition, Ms. Richmond developed seven new proprietary brands that were the focus of a massive internal training and communication campaign, which incorporated the company’s Pro-Customer selling process. The campaign to launch the new brands was successful beyond expectations when the new brands accounted for over 11 percent of the company’s revenues in less than eighteen months and generated a gross margin over six points higher than the rest of the brand portfolio.
Her leadership roles have included training and communication to the national consumer selling organization of over 10,000 salespeople at Sears in the Home Appliance Group. In addition, she was a member of the senior management team at FAO Schwarz that relaunched the brand and, in the process, completely transformed the brand, including the hiring process for store sales associates. The new process required candidates to “audition” for all sales positions (including sales managers) at a theater near the stores. The initial “open casting call” was so successful that the process became the standard for the company. It is a true example of why selling yourself as a brand is so important.
Ms. Richmond is currently a principal at Richmond Marketing + Communications, the marketing consultancy she founded. Her firm specializes in multichannel sales, marketing, and branding including traditional and online marketing and social networking strategies. She also consults with sales organizations to help them realize the true potential of their marketing and selling efforts.
She is the author of Brand You, a guide to building and marketing your personal brand that was published by Pearson Prentice Hall in November 2008. She is also an adjunct professor at the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia) and Rutgers University in New Jersey. She is a member of the Thought Leaders Panel for the Center for Consumer Research and the Advisory Board of the Department of Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University. Ms. Richmond frequently speaks at industry and academic events. She also serves on the Board of Governors of the Philly Ad Club.
Ms. Richmond earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University in Chicago.
Connect with Kim Richmond on LinkedIn or by e-mail:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kimrichmond