By Andreia Leonard

NYC Hub Chair for the Speaker Series, Allen Kone, welcomed his nephew Ben Rubenstein as guest speaker for our first event in 2012. Ben is co-founder and Regional VP Sales for Yodle, the fastest-growing company in the US focused on online advertising for local businesses.

Ben took participants on a journey to find out more about the company starting with its creation in 2005 and achievements such as winning the Stevie Award (category: Fastest Growing Company – Under 2,500 employees) in the 2010 American Business Awards. Yodle has also received more than $30 million in venture capital funding since inception.

With Ben’s experience and background in sales, particularly in deal creation, the conversation centered on the sales process, training, particular aspects of cold calling and importance of high-performance culture and recognition as a form of keeping the motivation of the sales force high.

The Yodle board room was filled with alumni and active members that joined from both the MC and the Baruch LC. At the back, the white-board still held notes from a recent training session, which led to some of the many questions Ben addressed at the end of his presentation.

Eugene Master (VPICX at Baruch), sits next to Cole Wirpel, MCP-elect at the San Francisco conference December 2011. On his side, Mike Williams (Madison 07) later voiced excellent feedback on this event by saying that “Ben was a superb host. Yodle sure is on a great path”. To his right is Darius Nemati (Emory 88).

The event concluded with a tour of the Yodle selling floor, including the banging of the gong, a company ritual to celebrate a successful sell.

The company’s recognition as one of the authorities in Local Online Advertising has led to an invitation to Court Cunnigham, Yodle’s CEO, to co-author one of the editions of the Dummies series.