2018 Men of the Year: Mark Holmes

SBJ photo by Wes Hamilton

In His Words

Family: My wife Jeanna is a Realtor, and we have two grown children and four grandchildren, with another due in September.
Words to live by: Wisdom is critical to a successful life.
Dream dinner guest: Mark Twain and Albert Einstein, at the same time.
Advice to other men: Get trusted, honest mentors in your life. Learn continually. Never ever stop working on your craft. Give more than people expect. Make your faith and family more important than your work.

Mark Holmes’ job is helping people do their jobs better.

“The focus of my business is to influence the success of others,” says Holmes, president of Sales Revenue Coach and Consultant Board Inc. “I do this by advising clients, training and coaching their people, as well as giving keynotes and presentations at convention events throughout the year. I have worked with hundreds of clients in 32 years … and each time I sit across the table from a client or take the stage, I have the opportunity as well as a responsibility to affect others positively.”

Holmes takes great satisfaction hearing that his work has made a difference, such as when a successful businessman reached out last year to tell Holmes that his presentation on culture change at a franchise convention had changed the man’s approach to building relationships with subordinates.

“He said this insight would forever change the way he led and related to employees in his 90-store operation,” Holmes says. “It was gratifying to learn that, in some small way, I had influenced his leadership approach and perhaps helped his employees to have a more meaningful work experience.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, Holmes worked in a few sales and marketing jobs before landing at Enactus, where he developed marketing strategies and efforts to increase local, regional and national sponsorships.

Following that, in 1986, he went into consulting and training and has remained in that field ever since. Holmes is the author of several books, including “Wooing Customers Back,” “Salesonomics,” “The People Keeper” and “The 5 Rules of Megavalue Selling.”

“My proudest accomplishment is having a positive influence on people long-term. Over the years, several individuals have taken the time to phone, send cards or emails to share something that had impacted them from a training session or speech,” Holmes says.

Brian Fogle has known Holmes for more than 20 years.

“Mark is very knowledgeable and experienced in his professional work and is nationally renowned for his training skills,” says Fogle, president of Community Foundation of the Ozarks. “What makes Mark’s work unique is his continued thirst for knowledge. He seeks out multiple points of view for his research, reads countless books and articles, and asks questions of friends, colleagues and family to make sure he has current knowledge on many areas of interest in organizational and business issues.”

Holmes enjoys volunteering for community and faith-based organizations and has facilitated strategic-planning meetings, trained, coached, advised or spoken to, among others, James River Church, United Way, The Kitchen and CFO.

“In addition to his stellar professional work, Mark has been extremely generous with his time and talent,” Fogle says. “Mark has traveled extensively in his work and has shared his expertise across the country. Fortunately, though, he calls Springfield home, and we’re better for that.”