Bill Guertin is an in-demand speaker, trainer, and Chief Enthusiasm Officer (CEO) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales, marketing and communications company based in suburban Chicago, IL.  Bill and his dynamic team work with companies nationwide on improving sales performance, inspiring great customer service, and consulting on creative marketing techniques.  His list of current clients includes several community banks and Park Districts, as well as the ticket sales departments of professional sports teams from the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.

A street-smart business expert with more than 25 years of hands-on experience, Bill's energy and passion for his topics are widely praised by audiences nationwide.  He is the author of Reality Sells: How To Bring Customers Back Again and Again By Marketing Your Genuine Story, a Gold Medal-winning book in the 2008 Sales Book Awards, and is a regular featured business columnist in several national publications, including Sports Business Journal and Sports Networker.  His second published book, The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales: How To Dominate Your Market, is scheduled for release by John Wiley & Sons in November 2009. 

Bill earned his first on-air job in Radio at the age of 16 at the former WBYG-FM, which made him one of the youngest licensed Radio broadcasters in the state of Illinois.  His extensive media background includes Sales Manager and General Manager of radio stations in the Midwest for over 20 years, guiding several stations to their highest-ever advertising sales levels.  He began and developed a face-to-face Market Development program for Riverside Medical Center, an award-winning hospital system in the south suburban Chicago market, and has managed and developed hundreds of marketing and promotion plans for the companies he has represented. 

He has been recognized by the National Association of Broadcasters for his creativity, and was a National Nominee for Sales Manager of the Year by Radio Ink Magazine, the Radio industry's largest trade publication.

As a speaker and trainer, Bill's audiences appreciate the fact that he is a “working professional”, on the streets and in the trenches every day. He understands the challenges of his audiences first-hand, and your group will immediately relate to him on the subject matter.