Vodafone winners: five on the night.

Now in its 12th successful year, the National Sales Awards is an institution that founder and chairman of the judges, Don Hales can take justifiable pride in, while programme director Lorraine Agnew and all of her excellent team at UBM Live should be congratulated and thanked for delivering this terrific event time and again in ‘better than ever’ style. Returning to the Hilton International on London’s Park Lane also seems to have suited the mix of glitz, glamour and manageable mayhem that these events imply.

It was an excellent night for Vodafone with five awards, including Sales Team of the Year: pictured above from left to right are Rob Sandford, Sue Kirk, Craig Wellman.

Adapt and change

Tony Hughes, sales director of Huthwaite International which sponsors the flagship Sales Team of the Year Award, introduced the evening with a reminder – more relevant than ever in these troubled economic times – that, as salespeople, we will be at our best when we adapt and change to meet the changing demands of our customers. He felt that some of this ‘balls of your feet’ posture had been evident amongst the hundreds of excellent finalists, congratulated them all for anyway making it onto the highly competitive short-lists, and thanked all the judges who had given freely of their expert time and knowledge to sift through the very detailed and demanding submissions and put the finalists through their paces.

Bobby Moore: World Cup triumph.

Sporting legends

Snooker ace Willie Thorne then brought the room into good spirits and introduced Stephanie Moore, wife of soccer legend and World Cup hero, the late Bobby Moore OBE. She demonstrated to an attentive and warmly supportive room what giving is all about, with a moving speech and slide presentation about the work she has put in to the Bobby Moore Fund to aid bowel cancer research within Cancer Research UK.

The former West Ham and England player died tragically early at 51 from bowel cancer, but the research which his widow has worked tirelessly to fund and support has brought real results, exemplified by slide after slide of those who have since ‘beaten bowel cancer’, young and old, male and female, famous and ‘Clapham Omnibus’ ordinary. The £8,000+ that the room instantly donated via Willie’s raffle of some equally generously donated prizes, was testament that the sales profession supported her efforts, and loved her husband too.

Grass Roots Group offered a live demonstration of the company’s masterful event management talents, by giving Thorne an ingenious ‘heads or tails’ (in fact red or yellow) coin to toss, which steadily eliminated further charity donators who were standing up around the room holding their chosen red or yellow cards aloft, guessing which to brandish after each flip. Very visual, exciting and involving – and yet more money in the bucket, and you had to be right about ten times on the trot to win, so well-deserved prizes.

Comedian

Then enter stage left one of those very rare creatures you only occasionally find at sales awards events…a comedian who is funny. Stephen K Amos is known to us all from TV and Royal Variety type appearances, but he too can ‘adapt and change’ to really suit his different audiences. (He’s got a few tips here about Social Networking, for example, if you want an idea of the mood he set, click the player).

The whole room, including those who should have been focussed on their awards presentation duties like your correspondent, were soon laughing as one, and offering hearty applause because, as Stephen pointed out, less than unified clapping ‘in a room this size... sounds like cow shit!’

So those Oscar moments, for each and every deserving winner, were anticipated, witnessed and at least warmly applauded, rising to a crowd roar that Bobby Moore and Wembley would have been proud of, for the better-supported candidates.

The comments on the ModernSelling.com (Sales Newcomer of the Year – Office Based) table, typified by Leanne Cummings of HSBC as ‘I can’t believe it, it’s surreal’ were echoed throughout the audience. And even the ‘seasoned pros’ like last year’s multi-award winning Darryn Welsh or ‘that bloke Lee off The Apprentice’ Lee McQueen, who should be used to all this hype and publicity, seemed moved, involved and absorbed.

So well played all, be you candidates, finalists, organisers, judges or hosts. And the winners are….!

List of award winners

Pareto Law Sales Newcomer of the Year – Field Based
Jeremy Knowles – Barclays Asset & Sales Finance

ModernSelling.com Sales Newcomer of the Year – Office Based
Jaimes Tipton-Hyam – EDF Energy

CACI Young Sales Professional of the Year – Field Based
Laura Fovargue – Trionics

Young Sales Professional of the Year – Office Based (sponsored by the Institute  of Customer Service)
Jack Copeland – Broadbean Technology

i-Snapshot Sales Professional of the Year – Field Based
Amanda Bragg – Ceridian

Sales Professional of the Year – Office Based (sponsored by Software for People)
Ceri John – Royal Mail

Account Manager of the Year (sponsored by The Chartered Institute of Marketing)
Karen Taylor – AXA Insurance

Strategic Account Manager of the Year (sponsored by Pareto Law)
Brendan McLaughlin – Telefonica O2 UK

Sales Contact Centre Team Leader of the Year (sponsored by Bridge Training & Events)
Lee Salih – Vodafone

Sales Manager of the Year – Field Based (sponsored by Infinity Corporate)
Colleen Hankin – Office Depot

Sales Manager of the Year – Office Based (sponsored by GE Capital Solutions)
Craig Hardy – EDF Energy

CosyHomesOnline.com Sales Leader of the Year
Chris Brindley – NatWest North Region

The Direct Line Decade of Excellence Award (candidates nominated by 3rd parties)
Jan Cavelle – The Jan Cavelle Furniture Company

Huthwaite International Sales Campaign of the Year
James Walker – Telesales Acquisition – British Gas

Sales Training Programme/Initiative of the Year (sponsored by Nationwide Building Society)
Steven Morris – Game Stores Group, Xcite Programme – Grass Roots

Best Incentive and Motivation Programme (sponsored by The Wave)
Vicki Rider – Brit Awards & Other Incentives – EDF Energy

Best Innovation in Sales (sponsored by Sky)
Paul Burton –World Class Sales – AXA Insurance

Sales Recruitment Agency of the Year (sponsored by Lyons Coffee)
Rob Carlton – Logical Resources

Sales Support Team of the Year (sponsored by Sales Resource Associates)
Zoe Mackrill – Vodafone Support – HSM

Sales Contact Centre of the Year (sponsored by Think! Consulting)
Sue Kirk – Small Business Sales – Vodafone

Field Sales Team of the Year (sponsored by CD Sales Recruitment)
David Woodley – Bedford & Milton Keynes Team – Lyreco

British Gas Business Small Sales Team of the Year
Joseph Anderson – Black Sheep Telecommunications

Silent Edge Sales Team of the Year – B2B
Andrew Bell – Public Sector Acquisition – Telefonica O2 UK

Sales Team of the Year – B2C (sponsored by WhiteLabelDating.com)
Damon Smith – Specialist Products Division – Hillarys Blinds

Silent Edge Sales Management Team of the Year
Amanda Baker – Enterprise Leadership Team – Vodafone

And the flagship, winner of winners….

Huthwaite International Sales Team of the Year
Sue Kirk – Small Business Sales - Vodafone

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