An interview with Fred Kessler,  CEO of the highly respected sales outsourcing firm, Sales Partnerships, Inc.

Sales Partnerships has provided outsourced sales solutions since 1997. Among their many Stevie Award wins, the company recently won the Silver Stevie in Sales Outsourcing Provider of the Year - along with a slew of other Stevie Awards in multiple categories. They were named as a Grand Stevie-winner in 2016 and are also a sponsor of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service for the second consecutive year.

We got the chance to talk to Fred Kessler, CEO of Sales Partnership, Inc., about how the group first submitted nominations to the Stevie Awards years ago and how they’ve remained involved since then.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service has closed for nominations. The 2017 American Business Awards offers Customer Service Awards categories and will accept entries through February 16. Late entries will be accepted through March 15. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Fred looked back on when they first, “heard about the Stevies in 2007 and knew it was something we wanted to be a part of. That year marked our first win – as the winner of the top Sales Outsourcing Provider. We’ve repeated as winner in that category several times.”

Sales Partnerships has become known for helping companies overcome their challenges. Fred relayed that, “Sales Partnerships helps top brands navigate the challenges of market expansion and customer engagement via field engagement and outsourced sales solutions. Utilizing our proprietary technology and best practices, Sales Partnerships provides integrated sales and marketing solutions for market launch, customer engagement, customer acquisition and retention.”

Since 2007, Sales Partnerships has continued to win Stevie Awards.Fred explained why their involvement with us has been beneficial: “We first got involved in participating in the Stevie Awards several years ago when we were just signing some of our first big accounts. We thought it would be a good way to get our name out there, network some of the other participating companies, and learn from each other.”

Being recognized for progress in your field is important; Fred explains why the Stevie Awards matters to the firm:

“We take pride in the wins. Recognitions for being the best at what we do are important.”

Fred also acknowledged how winning Stevie Awards has directly affected their business.

“Our Stevie wins have helped reinforce the reputation we’ve built over two decades of being the industry leader in Sales Outsourcing. “

We asked Fred what trends have come and gone over the years and how they have stayed relevant:

“Old school approaches to sales are increasingly failing. Field representatives aren’t there to just parrot information about products. Market targeting and approach have to be far more than just intuition or guessing about where the best opportunities will exist. Today’s success in field engagement requires getting the best talent, constantly honing them, and equipping them with best tools and analytics about their territories. Smart applications of big data, cutting edge use of analytics to maximize sales, and leveraging real time information to adjust and to maximize markets is now the requirement to be competitive. Today’s best field engagement teams will require evolution of the best practices and technologies – the industry is in a state of renaissance that will separate those willing to take the steps to achieve the best results and those left behind.”

Though the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 Sales Awards, the Sales Partnerships vision has remained focused on continuing their success in changing times.

“The vision of Sales Partnerships is to continuously develop best of breed solutions to allow for engagement with customers in the field as branded representatives for our clients. We serve as an extension to our clients’ brands which allows them to expand their market presence in ways difficult to do on their own. This provides brand protection and focus not possible through resellers or independent rep organizations. ”

Fred concluded that, “We focus on developing the most productive processes for recruiting, training, field management, territory management, and analytics to drive maximized marketing and sales goals for our clients. Large companies trust us to be their field forces globally. We strive to always deliver far above any other option they could have used while vigilantly protecting and advocating for their brands.”

Learn more about Sales Partnerships here 

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. The entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15. 

There are more than 50 categories to recognize management executives and teams. 

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. 

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's accomplishments since January 1 2016

b. In bullet-list form, a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of the nominee since January 1 2016

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

Management Awards categories include:

A39. Management Team of the Year
  a. Business Products Industries
  b. Business Services Industries
  c. Consumer Products Industries
  d. Consumer Services Industries

Executive of the Year (e.g. CEO, President, COO) 
A01. Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
A02. Aerospace & Defense
A03. Apparel, Beauty & Fashion (a new category for 2017)
A04. Automotive & Transport Equipment
A05. Banking
A06. Business & Professional Services
A07. Chemicals
A08. Computer Hardware
A09. Computer Software
  a. Up to 500 Employees
  b. 500 or More Employees
A10. Computer Services
A11. Conglomerates
A12. Consumer Products - Durables
A13. Consumer Products - Non-Durables
A14. Consumer Services (a new category for 2017)
A15. Diversified Services
A16. Electronics
A17. Energy
A18. Financial Services
A19. Food & Aeverage
A20. Health Products & Services
A21. Hospitality & Leisure
A22. Insurance
A23. Internet/New Media
A24. Legal
A25. Manufacturing
A26. Materials & Construction
A27. Media & Entertainment
A28. Metals & Mining
A29. Non-Profit or Government Organizations
A30. Pharmaceuticals
A31. Real Estate
A32. Retail
A33. Telecommunications
A34. Transportation
A35. Utilities 

A36. Maverick of the Year: recognizing the individual who's affected the most positive change on his or her company and/or industry since the beginning of 2016
  a. Business Products Industries
  b. Business Services Industries
  c. Consumer Products
  d. Consumer Services

A37. Tech Innovator of the Year (recognizing the individual who's contributed most to innovation, within their organization and/or industry, in the U.S.A. since the beginning of 2016)
  a. Hardware/Peripherals
  b. Services
  c. Software
  d. Other

A38. Woman of the Year: recognizing the achievements of women in the workplace since the beginning of 2016
  a. Business Products Industries
  b. Business Services Industries
  c. Consumer Products
  d. Consumer Services

Winners of Management Awards in the 2016 American Business Awards include: 

Management Team of the Year - Business Products or Services Industries
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Black Knight Financial Services, Jacksonville, FL: Black Knight Financial Services Management Team

Management Team of the Year - Consumer Products or Services Industries
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Jeunesse Global, Orlando, FL: The Team Behind the Billion-Dollar Jeunesse Brand

Executive of the Year - Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
97th Floor, Lehi, UT: Chris Bennett, CEO

Executive of the Year - Automotive, Transport Equipment & Transportation
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Donlen Fleet Leasing and Management, Northbrook, IL: Tom Callahan, President

...and more. See the full list of 2016 Management Stevie Award-winners here.

Dubai Statistics Center won a variety Stevie Awards in 2016. They were the top winner in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The Emirati government organization won five Gold Stevie Awards, including Employer of the Year – Government or Non-Profit. The five Gold Stevie wins earned the organization the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Organization. In The 2016 International Business Awards, they were named as a Top 10 Organization in the Best of the IBA Awards.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Great Employers and The International Business Awards will open for entries later this year. Request your entry kit from the links above and it will be emailed to you as soon as it's available.

We spoke with Naeema Abdulla Abdulwahid the Unit Head – Creativity & Innovation Strategy & Corporate Excellence Office at Dubai Statistics Center. 

When we asked what the Dubai Statistics Center does, we received a packed mission statement that depicts cultural priorities, passions, and pride in their work, community, and culture.

Naeema relayed that the Dubai Statistics Center (“DSC”) “provides smart and innovative statistical services with the highest levels of accuracy, reliability and transparency, which have a direct contribution to the sustainable development for the Emirate of Dubai and supporting the happiness of the community and future generations, by utilizing best technologies, practices and international standards with the support of the center's happy and creative work family.”

Naeema had a simple and clear response when we asked about the vision of DSC: “Statistics that support in the creation of happiness and sustainable development.” Happiness and sustainability are recurring themes we can all appreciate.

The story behind their nomination goes beyond recognition and highlighted an extension of goodwill and vision.

“We are a distinguished organization. In-line with Dubai Statistics Center leader’s vision to obtain international recognition as credit of our accomplishments, we participated in the The Stevie Award due to the organization’s good reputation on an international level, specifically The International Business Awards.” Naeema expounded, “Moreover, we considered this an opportunity to exchange experience and knowledge with others internationally.” 

Naeema continued, “We first became acquainted through previous participations of entities and organizations in the UAE and based on the good reputation and reviews of the awards in various media channels.”

When asked her thoughts on winning the Stevie Awards Naeema shared, “a feeling of happiness and pride as DSC has achieved internationally recognized accomplishments and records achieved for the first time on the country’s level and the Arab region.” Naeema recalled, “keeping up with the award requirements and criteria motivated DSC staff to work in unique and distinct ways. This resulted in the center being highlighted as a distinguished international organization.”

On company results since winning their Stevie Awards, Naeema articulated that, “Spreading the culture of excellence among employees and our motivation to achieve international achievements has been one of the key goals which DSC leaders have sought to achieve since 2006. Winning the award has encouraged the DSC to win in other prestigious awards.”

Understanding the inspiration behind our Award Winners’ work is always a curiosity. To that regard, Naeema let us know, “The existence of our ambitious leadership with a vision for the future is embodied in one person: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President of the UAE, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. He always seeks to make Dubai a leading city in all sectors to achieve prosperity and happiness for all segments of the society.”

Learn more about the Dubai Statistics Center here 

Brand activation agency Geometry Global nominated Time Warner Cable Business Class in the Marketing Campaign of the Year category of The 2016 American Business Awards. The campaign won a Gold Stevie Award. 

Interested in submitting nominations for marketing awards or any of the other 200+ awards categories in The 2017 American Business Awards? Review the entry kit here.

To learn a bit more about the Manhattan-based agency who submitted Stevie-winning nominations on behalf of Time Warner Cable, we connected with Account Supervisor Riley Sistrunk. Located in the “Chocolate factory” building, our appetites were sufficiently whetted.

“Geometry Global is the world’s most effective brand activation agency driving action conversion, and purchase through award-winning programs for our clients.” Riley began, “Our expertise includes shopper, digital, experiential, relationship, promotional and trade marketing.”

If you haven’t worked at a Agency in New York City, you may wonder what folks like Riley do, so we asked and Riley answered, “As Account Supervisor, I serve as a day-to-day lead for our Time Warner Cable Business Class client – partnering together to identify new opportunities for their business, oversee creative development of those ideas and act as their voice for our internal teams and third-party partners. It’s a great opportunity to get to build a strong client relationship and master the category.”

When asked about Geometry Global’s vision, Riley let us know, “Our organization is built around the belief that brand activation is not about sell, sell, sell but inspiring people to buy well. It is an approach to our work that transforms brand equity into action through pivotal ideas. Ideas that create meaningful, valued engagements with people at the precise right moment that matters to them and connects them to the product, service or brand that best meets their need.”

Time Warner Cable is a well known brand so we asked a bit more about the story behind the award submission. “While it’s a fairly common practice for our agency to submit for awards, we were particularly keen on submitting this campaign for nomination because its timing.” Sistrunk replied, “The challenges facing our clients’ business from their acquisition were mounting and with the positive results of the campaign it made a great ‘betting the odds’ story for us to tell.”

“We first learned of the Stevies while searching for competitive samples for a category audit.” Riley continued, “Our competitors had been known to submit for this award and after a little research into the Stevie American Business Award we decided it was the right award for our team to be entering into as well.”

Winning awards is always exciting but we wondered what it was like for an agency to win “Campaign of the Year.” Riley obliged with a story. “The announcement of our win could not have been more timely. We found out about our win while on a shoot for the next quarter’s production of the campaign. A big cheers erupted around the set as we made to the announcement to our team, clients and crew. It was a wonderful honor to be named Marketing Campaign of the Year (Internet/Telecom) by the Stevie Awards. Our clients and teams are extremely proud of the campaign, so to be recognized further our belief in the strength of this work.”

Riley continued, “This win has further strengthened our partnership with our clients. A win like this is always a welcome opportunity to celebrate success with our clients and a chance to be awarded additional projects because of it. Also, it’s be great for our clients within their own organization. Awards demonstrate to their fellow teams and leadership internally that they are high-achieving brand stewards for the corporation and will be increasingly relied as subject matter experts.”

What of results? We wondered how winning the award has affected Geometry Global. “This campaign and the results from it have gone on to be used as leading B2B and Telecom case study for our agency in new business pitches.” Riley recounted, “Our pitch teams have found it extremely valuable to showcase our capabilities and expertise within the category.”

We wanted to understand what drives folks like Riley in the ultra-competitive agency world in NYC. “I find two sources of inspiration to continue my work. Tangibly, there’s an excitement for our work, an urgency to every project that makes coming in to meet with a team of high-energy people to tackle a new assignment very rewarding.” Said Sistrunk, “There’s a great sense of accomplishment building something from scratch. More conceptually, I continue to be inspired to pursue this line of work for its opportunity to influence culture at large. As advertisers, we have the skill to reflect back an attitude or view of society with a new interpretation, much the way an artist does. That power to inspire change in others toward a goal is what makes this job so attractive compared to other business disciplines.”

Since change is the only constant, we asked Riley about his predictions of the future of the industry. “Advertising is a very flexible and fluid industry. There are many creators out there pushing forward with new ideas, testing and learning as they go and challenging everyone to keep pace. In the future, I see a shift to even more branded storytelling as consumers increasingly reject old ways of doing business and have begun to explore more socially conscience products. Creating and communicating an own-able brand identity that aligns with these new consumer expectations for a different economic model will be key to future success.” Riley mused, “And, the sooner we embrace those trends, the sooner we can position ourselves as thought leaders in the space.”

Learn more about Geometry Global at http://www.geometry.com/us 

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba.

There are 29 categories to recognize public relations professionals, agencies, departments, and campaigns.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15. 

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1 2016.  In the communications campaign categories, this will be a description of the campaign: its genesis, development, execution, and results to date

b. In bullet-list form, a brief summary (up to 150 words) of up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of the nominee since January 1 2016.  In the communications campaign categories, this will be a list of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files, works samples, and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

The Public Relations Awards categories are: 

C01. Public Relations Agency of the Year

C02. Communications Department of the Year

C03. Communications Team of the Year

C05. Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year
         a. Arts & Entertainment: campaigns/programs undertaken to promote or raise awareness of an artistic or entertainment endeavor, event, or program.
         b. Communications Research: recognizing research conducted for the development of business / communication strategies.  (new category for 2017)
         c. Community Relations: campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
         d. Crisis Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
         e. Events & Observances: campaigns/programs that generate awareness of or document commemorations, observances, openings, celebrations, and other types of events.
         f. Global Issues: campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries.
         g. Healthcare: campaign/programs in the healthcare sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.  (new category for 2017)
         h. Internal Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members. 
              - At organizations with up to 100 employees
              - At organizations with 100 or more employees
         i. Investor Relations: campaigns/programs undertaken to communicate information to a company's investors and the investment community and/or to manage the company's relationship with investors. 
         j. Issues Management: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with issues that could extraordinarily affect ongoing business strategy.
         k. Low Budget (under $10,000): campaigns/programs that cost no more than $10,000 to plan and implement.
         l. Marketing – Business to Business: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products or services to a business audience.
         m. Marketing – Consumer Products: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products to a consumer audience.
         n. Marketing – Consumer Services: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new services or promote existing services to a consumer audience.
         o. Media Relations: recognizing effective traditional media relations in a PR campaign. (new category for 2017)
         p. Multicultural: campaigns/programs specifically targeted to a cultural group.
         q. New Product Launch: campaigns/programs undertaken to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace.
         r. Reputation/Brand Management: campaigns/programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization with its publics or key elements of its publics.
         s. Public Affairs: campaigns/programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies.
         t. Public Service: campaigns/programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns.
         u. Social Media Focused: campaigns/programs designed to be implemented primarily through online social media.       
         v. Sponsorship: campaigns/programs that promote or create awareness of sponsorship of an event or activity. (new category for 2017)
         w Technology: campaign/programs in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.  (new category for 2017)
         x. Travel & Tourism: campaigns/programs designed to advance the interests of clients in the transport, travel, hotel or tourism industries. (new category for 2017)

C06. PR Innovation of the Year: this category will recognize singular innovations in communications practice, research, technology, or management since the beginning of 2015.

C07. Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year

C08. Communications Professional of the Year: for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals.  There is no entry fee for this category.

There are a number of other ABA categories that should be of interest to communications professionals, including many of the corporate publications and annual report awards categories, web site awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

World’s Top Honors Accepting Nominations Through January 11

The final entry deadline for the 2017 (11^th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is Wednesday, January 11.  Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

These are the world’s top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals.  All organizations and individuals worldwide may submit nominations.  The 2017 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2015.

Finalists will be announced on Thursday, January 19.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on Friday, February 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.   Attendance is not required to win.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories.   

The competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all of the judges’ comments about their entries – an invaluable resource.

The 2017 program offers new categories for new products and services and solution providers. New categories for new products and services include Customer Service or Sales Book of the Year, Customer Service Training Product of the Year and Sales Training Product of the Year. The new solution provider category for 2017 is Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year.

2017 will see the return of a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. All finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will be included in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote. Voting will open January 19 and close February 10.  Winners of the public vote will receive a special crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award trophy.

Winners of the 2016 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, Kohl’s Department Stores, Office Depot, SAVO, ShopKeep POS, Vestmark, and VIZIO, Inc., among others.

The 2017 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

An interview with Tabatha Conway, Marketing Director, Creative Lodging Solutions

Corporate lodging services provider Creative Lodging Solutions (CLS™) was presented a Silver Stevie® for Sales Growth Achievement of the Year at the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service in Las Vegas. Chief Sales Officer Cindy Rudovich also was named Senior Sales Executive of the Year - Bronze Stevie-winner.

Review the entry kit now to see how your organization can win Sales Awards. The final entry deadline for the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is January 11.

What does Creative Lodging Solutions do?

Creative Lodging Solutions (CLS) is an award-winning travel management company that provides customized lodging programs for corporate clients nationwide. Our services provide assistance with lodging expense control, negotiated rates, consolidated billing, and travel policy adherence. CLS has reserved over 11 million traveler nights.

What is your role in the organization?

I’m the Marketing Director.

What is the organizational vision?

Creative Lodging Solutions’ founding vision is to create profitable companies that allow us to provide revolutionary generosity. To fulfill our vision, we must be profitable; however, we are not in business solely for the betterment of our own lives. We exist to make a difference in the world. It is our philosophy that you cannot take it with you when you die but you can send it on ahead.

What sets your company apart in this category?

Creative Lodging Solutions’ fast-paced growth is fueled by our sales team who consistently surpass their annual goals despite any slowdowns in the economy or industry sectors we serve. The sales team has proven to be resourceful in expanding CLS’ market share with revenue exceeding $138 million in 2016.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevie® Awards?

We’ve participated in various Stevies awards programs for several years.

What was it like for your company to win this award?

We were honored to win a Silver Stevie for Sales Growth Achievement of the Year. It was an exciting recognition for CLS’ sales team.

How has the win affected your business?

Winning this award provided our sales team with national recognition for their accomplishments which propelled them toward ongoing success.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

Our client base increased by 26% and revenue has increased by 17% so far in 2016 with numbers continuing to climb.

What inspires you to continue your work?

Creative Lodging Solutions has an amazing team that’s truly passionate about serving our clients. The organization’s owners continue to invest back into the company with new technologies and a new corporate headquarters built in 2015. It’s exciting to see the results of our work as we expand and create new jobs while giving back to the community.

What do you expect to change in your company in the future?

Creative Lodging Solutions currently focuses on long-term and project based stays. We plan to enhance our services in 2017 and offer additional business travel solutions to our clients.

Learn more about Creative Lodging Solutions

Awards Recognize World-Best Achievements in Sales, Business Development
and Customer Service

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, have announced that Sales Partnerships, Inc., which provides turnkey, outsourced selling solutions, has signed to be a sponsor of its Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service program for the second consecutive year.

The 2017 (11^th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are accepting nominations through January at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.  The program recognizes the year’s best achievements in sales, business development and customer service.  The awards will be presented at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 24. 

Sales Partnerships is an industry-leader in outsourced services for building business-to-business field sales teams and field engagement teams for Fortune 500 companies.  Sales Partnerships has been providing outsourced sales solutions since 1997, and is one of the most highly respected sales outsourcing firms in the market.

According to Fred Kessler, CEO of Sales Partnerships, “The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service has grown to be the premier honor for sales professionals worldwide, and it’s proven to be an outstanding platform on which Sales Partnerships can interact with sales leaders in a wide variety of industries.  We’re delighted to sponsor the awards again in 2017.”

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•         Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
•         Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
•         Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
•         Sales Distinction categories in 13 industry groupings
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•         Customer Service Department categories in 11 industry groupings
•         Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings, to recognize the customer service-related achievements of organizations without a formal customer service function
•         New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
•         Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards or Recognition Provider of the Year
•         Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year    

The 2017 program offers new categories for new products and services and solution providers. New categories for new products and services include Customer Service or Sales Book of the Year, Customer Service Training Product of the Year and Sales Training Product of the Year. The new solution provider category for 2017 is Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year.

The 2017 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

Stevie Winners in the 2016 edition of the awards included Adobe Systems, Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, DP DHL, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, IBM, ISN Software UK Ltd., Kohl’s Department Stores, Office Depot, Ooyala, SAVO, ServiceMax, ShopKeep POS, Sirius Decisions, SugarCRM, VIZIO, Inc. and Vodafone Turkey, among others.  The full-text of Gold Stevie-winning nominations are available on the website.

The 2017 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About Sales Partnerships, Inc.
Sales Partnerships, Inc. was founded in 1997 with the mission to combine best practices in sales recruitment, training, management, quality assurance, and selling technologies into a complete services platform that consistently delivers exceptional results for our clients. Sales Partnerships has been recognized and awarded multiple times as the best sales outsourcing firm in North America, for innovation in the fields of applied sales technology, best service offerings, one of the best places to work, and for the individual accomplishments of its sales professionals and key leadership team members.  Visit http:// www.salespartnerships.com

An interview with Ralf Heim the Co-CEO at Fincite GmbH

Fincite GmbH of Frankfurt, Germany won two Stevie Awards in the 2016 German Stevie Awards. Fincite GmbH won the Gold Stevie Award for Technology Startup of the Year, and a Bronze Stevie for Management Team of the Year.  2017 The German Stevie Awards are accepting entries through January 27.  Review the entry kit to begin your nominations.

What does Fincite GmbH do?

Financial Advice today is often confounding and not made for the benefit of the customer. Technology can change this. We can make investments smarter by giving customers easy access to sophisticated analytics. We help banks, asset managers and insurers offer this technology to their customers.

What is your role as the Co-CEO?

As Co-CEO I’m responsible for growing the business. This covers marketing, business development, partnerships and recruiting.

What is the organizational vision?

Our mission is to engineer the future of finance. We see that technology will replace large parts in Financial Advice, Retail & Institutional Asset Management and even funds. Our aim is to grow and become the #1 Digital Asset Management company in Europe.

What sets your company apart in this category?

It’s the unique approach of our Digital Investment Management Software: We built a complete modular system that can easily connect to all private customers’ financial assets, analyze the status quo and make recommendations. Banks can build upon our software their own frontend and thus keep customer relationship while still providing most modern analytics and account integration capabilities.

What was it like for your company to win the Stevie award?

It was a great honor for us to win this award, especially in the category, Technology Start-Up of the Year because from the outset we wanted to focus on innovative products and organic growth. The nomination for Management Team of the Year indicates to my partners & I that we’re on the right path in how we conduct our business.

How has the win affected your business?

The direct effect is hard to tell, but I think the award is great feedback for us and it was acknowledged by our partners and clients.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

The size of our workforce has nearly doubled since April and the cash flow is still positive without external financing.

What inspires you to continue your work?

We’re inspired by our mission to change the world of finance and the good feedback we get from our partners, clients, employees and also the press.

What do you expect to change in your industry in the future?

We believe that Finance can be nearly 100% digitized. As a result, digital services will largely replace large branches and offices. We are intrigued by the thought of working on this more efficient next generation of Finance.

Learn more about Fincite GmbH

From left to right - Ralf Heim (co-CEO), Friedhelm Schmitt ( co-CEO), Stefan Post (CTO).

Insights from a Gold Stevie ® Winner at Lennox Industries, Inc.

We wanted to learn a bit more on how Rich Ford, the Sales Director for Lennox Industries in Richardson, Texas  grew to win the Gold Stevie® for Sales Director of the Year in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. So, we reached out to the Lennox Industries team and got a few different perspectives. Quan Nguyen,  the VP of Marketing helped us coordinate the conversation and expressed, “We are very excited and proud of Rich.“ Quan pulled in Gary Bedard, the Vice President and General Manager of Lennox Industries as well as the winner himself, Rich Ford.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is accepting nominations through January 11. REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

To get started we asked Gary to give us a bit of background on what solutions Lennox provides.

“Lennox Industries is a leading manufacturer and distributor of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems and products for residential and commercial markets. We have leveraged our expertise to become an industry leader known for innovation, quality and reliability,” said Gary.

Gary also shared the Vision behind Lennox. “Within the home comfort industry, we want to leverage our one step distribution model to provide our professional contractors with the most innovative and highest quality products and services for them to best serve our end customers.” Bedard continued, “Our core values of integrity, respect, and excellence has built a culture of performance and accountability to execute on our vision.”

When asked about the story behind the nomination, Gary got excited. “We have an outstanding team of sales professionals, a group honored by the Stevies for the Best Field Sales Force!  Within that team, we have a leader of leaders and that was Rich Ford. He’s elevated himself in both action and performance to become a complete sales professional. The three year sales performance and growth we’ve seen out of the Western Region is simply incredible for this industry. His leadership has been instrumental in our results. He continually coaches and mentors his team and his peers. He is a thoughtful advisor to the entire management team. He consistently finds innovative solutions to customer challenges and he maintains the highest levels of standards and integrity. When we saw this award category, we were absolutely delighted to nominate Rich. His contributions have been tremendous and he really embodies all of our values of integrity, respect, and excellence.”

Gary provided interesting background on how Lennox first became acquainted with the Stevie® Awards . “We had started undergoing a transformation in 2010. Coming out of the recession in 2012, we started winning. Not just growing,  but winning by taking market share!  It was largely driven by transformational changes in our sales team and supply chain logistics. I understood that the efforts and success we were making were not just industry leading but world class so we sought to compete on a global level. We came upon the Stevie Awards that way and that’s been one of our inspirations ever since.  And we still continue to win in the market.”

Enter Rich Ford himself who described the actual experience of winning the award. Rich began with,

“When you win something you’re not expecting, or even know you’re being considered, it’s a very humbling experience. We have some amazing leaders in our organization – others deserving of the award and recognition. Then, to find out the organization recognized me as their nominee, made me happy to be a part of the team; the organization as well as our industry.”

We were interested in learninghow the award has affected RIch’s business to which Mr. Ford replied, “I can’t say that the award has affected my business dealings. I’m not a better director or leader as a result of the award. I still strive to contribute to a culture of excellence in everything we do. I still try to bring the highest level of service to our customers and to be a champion and advocate for my team. I’m probably more acutely aware of my day to day interactions and will strive to live up to the expectations that come with the recognition.”

Rich also shared his insights on the future of his industry, ”The key drivers in our industry have always been regulatory. Either the environmental impact at the federal level or on the local level with utility companies. I find it interesting that the regulations can have a greater impact on our industry going forward beyond the typical SEER/EER ratings standards. Secondary regulations in local markets could impact the way our product is installed. And, as an applied product, this could have either a negative impact or change fundamentally how our product is designed and distributed in the future. Closely watching the actions of our competitors as well as different channels (Residential New Construction for example) will keep it interesting and require staying diligent in our own innovative development of products going forward.”

Rich showed his mettle with some inspiration we can all appreciate, “As I think about where I started professionally and where I ultimately wound up – it’s definitely not a straight line. Often times, Sales Leaders start in sales and through consecutive successes over their careers become who they are – Sales Leaders. I started with Lennox, as an IT Specialist. My background had been technology focused and it was through technology I joined Lennox. It wasn’t long before I noticed a culture of sales excellence within the company through working with the Sales Managers.

It became my purpose and goal to become a Sales Director before I had my first sales position. It was not a clear road.  It took three attempts before I was finally given the opportunity to join the sales team as a Territory Manager. With each rejection I worked harder to get better. I looked for opportunities for improvement by spending time with those who were great in the role to which I wanted to rise. From Territory Manager to District Manager – I learned from great DMs.  From DM to director – I listened to and spoke with great sales directors.  

I’m not a ‘natural salesperson’ as many believe is true for most salespeople. My point is – regardless of your dream – be it a sales leader, a great IT professional or even a great parent – don’t quit getting better at what you want to do. More importantly, find others who do it great and do what they do.”

Shown from left to right: Mark Yonai winner of the Stevie Gold for Best Use of Technology, Leigh Ann Vernon winner of the Stevie Gold for Best Sales Meeting, Rich Ford winner of the Stevie Gold for Sales Director, Bill Carlson winner of the Stevie Gold for Business Development.

You can learn more about Lennox Industries at http://www.lennox.com/