New Peer-Powered Network Invites Sales Executives to Learn, Connect and Capitalize to Optimize Performance

PALO ALTO, CA, Jan 15 (MARKET WIRE) --
In an effort to stay atop-of-the-curve, sales executives are continually
looking for resources and solutions that can improve technique, efficiency,
productivity and outcomes in acquiring, closing and growing customer
relationships.

To answer this need, the CMO Council, Oracle and The Wall Street Journal
have
partnered to launch the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness
(CLOSE) -- a dynamic web destination and membership community that will engage
sales executives seeking to advance their organization's competencies and
competitiveness as well as their own.

The mandate of CLOSE will be to champion best practices in sales
empowerment,
aggregate relevant knowledge and insight, and provide a peer-powered
environment for networking and interaction among sales executives and
professionals. In addition, CLOSE will explore the strategic value derived from
closer integration and alignment with marketing, channel and customer service
groups within the enterprise.

LEARN

The CLOSE global web portal will provide registered members with relevant
content,
powerful solutions, expert insights, evaluation and scorecarding tools, and
peer-inspired ideas to maximize performance. To do this, the channel will
team with training and certification bodies, associations, online communities
and
notable sales commentators and bloggers to aggregate resources and first-hand
knowledge from those that are "in the trenches." A monthly eJournal and ongoing
series of online and offline events, as well as syndicated content and
on-demand webcasts will extend the reach and appeal of the CLOSE community.

CONNECT

Sales executives from diverse companies and business sectors will connect
through
the CLOSE community, building a vibrant network to share critical knowledge.
From
pain points to over-the-moon successes, members will have an open forum to
share "how I got it done" stories and ask peers for constructive advice and
perspective. The CLOSE dynamic web portal will include message boards, blogs,
podcasts and a web 2.0-powered social network to connect sales executives with
each other and to experts, mentors and leading voices.

CAPITALIZE

CLOSE will give sales executives the opportunity to be strategic and
proactive with the business requirements and deliverables of their
organizations, helping them close more efficiently by capitalizing on
cutting-edge productivity and performance tools, on-demand services and
tried-and-true ROI strategies. It will also deliver information on
incentives that are effective in motivating sales teams toward reaching sales
objectives -- and exceeding them.

The CLOSE program will be focused on actively recruiting a peer-powered
network of top
sales producers and team leaders. Membership will be free and is also open to
business development, marketing, channel and customer service professionals --
important stakeholders working with sales to optimize demand creation, close
rates and customer retention.

A series of corporate sales and marketing team invention sessions will be
held in the first half of 2008 at leading business schools and institutes in New
York, London, Paris, Sao Paulo, Sydney and San Francisco under the auspices
of CLOSE and the CMO Council. A global research initiative is already
underway to determine where and how sales and marketing organizations should be
deriving greater business value from tighter synergies, unified strategies,
better information sharing and analytics, as well as well-defined measures
and metrics.

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level
knowledge
exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior
marketing and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global
industries. The CMO Council's 3,000 members control more than $70 billion in
aggregated annual marketing expenditures. Companies represented on the CMO
Council
have combined annual revenue of over $600 billion. Visit the CMO Council web
site to find out about the initiatives geared to address executive
marketers' challenges at www.cmocouncil.org.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's leader in CRM with 5,000
CRM
customers, 4.6 Million CRM users and 125 million self-service users. Our
customers rely on Oracle customer relationship management, business
intelligence,
and customer data integration solutions to deliver dramatic improvements in
identifying, acquiring, retaining, and serving their customers. These solutions
are the product of more than $2 billion in direct and partner investment and
reflect over 11 years of CRM industry leadership. Oracle's CRM products include
Siebel, Siebel CRM On Demand, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and Oracle
Contact Center Anywhere. With an unmatched range of products, industry
expertise,
and deployment options, Oracle is the right choice for CRM. www.oracle.com

About the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company
(NYSE:
DJ) (www.dowjones.com), is the world's leading business publication. Founded in
1889,
The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1
million,
reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors
across the country. Holding 33 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, The
Wall Street Journal provides readers with trusted information and knowledge to
make better decisions. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has more than
750 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,800
business
and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street
Journalfranchise, with total circulation of 2.6 million, include The Wall Street
Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online
at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2007, the
Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the eighth consecutive
year. The Wall Street Journal Radio Network services news and information to
more than 280 radio stations in the U.S.

Media Contact:
Liz Miller
CMO Council
Email Contact
650-433-4152

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