January 28, 2014 To Whom It May Concern, I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Nick Benassi since January 2013. Within that year, Nick proved his leadership skills as an Account Executive and in the fall of 2013, I personally chose Nick to be a Team Leader; a position he has held for two semesters. Over the past year, I have watched Nick grow into an outstanding professional and leader on the Vidette staff. Most of Nick’s success is due to his high level of organization, excellent customer service and communication skills, as well as his ability to build trust and relationships with the other Vidette staff members and clients. Nick has a strong passion for sales and The Vidette as an organization. He takes a tremendous amount of pride in the work that he does on a daily basis, as well as the other members on staff, and appreciates the sentiment of working at a student-run newspaper or media organization. Nick’s responsibilities as a Team Leader include facilitating a weekly team meeting to foster team unity, monitor and supervise members of the sales team, take responsibility for planning and implementation of a special issue each semester, and provide constant feedback and sales instructions to team members; all while maintaining personal zones . As a Team Leader, Nick currently manages a team of 6 Account Executives. Proving his ability to manage a team while maintaining his personal zones, last semester, Nick was awarded Sales Representative of the Month in August, September, November, and December of 2013. One of Nick’s most notable traits is his enthusiasm to learn in the field of sales. He is constantly striving to be the best and while I have had the pleasure of working alongside him as both an Account Executive and later as Advertising Sales Manager, from the bottom of my heart I can say that Nick is truly an inspiration. He motivates his team as well as the entire sales staff by his work ethic, passion for sales, and humbling character. Nick has brought The Vidette invaluable knowledge and experience that the organization will continue to strive to look for in future Account Executives. I cannot think of an individual who is more deserving than Nick for the Best Sales Representative Award. My hope is that you will select Nick for this year’s Best Sales Representative Award. Nick’s high level of professionalism and organization, his maturity and understanding of college media, his humble character, and his outstanding work ethic makes him a perfect candidate for the 2014 Best Sales Representative Award. Overall, Nick has a wonderful, positive attitude and is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is extremely hard working, motivated, and works well in a team environment. If Nick is selected for this year’s Best Sales Representative Award, I assure you, you will not be disappointed. Thank you for your consideration, Dori Jones Advertising Sales Manager The Vidette Cell: (708) 610-0097 Fax: (309) 438-5211 E-mail: dv_dljone2@ilstu.edu
January 27th 2014 To Whom It May Concern, Kobe Japanese Steakhouse had a great relationship with Nicholas this past semester and we are very pleased to have been paired up with him again this semester. I would like to express my appreciation for the excellent customer service Nicholas provided. Nicholas and I paired up and together created a great marketing campaign for Kobe’s coupon specials. We worked closely together throughout last semester and I was very pleased that Nicholas always showed up to meetings on time, organized, and prepared so that my or his time was not wasted during our meetings. Nicholas did not try to assume or impose any sales techniques but instead listened intently and provided insight on Kobe’s marketing objective, which is marketing our coupons. Nicholas suggested that the strategy we should use to market our coupons should be in The Vidette’s supplement issues and catered our marketing efforts to Kobe’s specific budget. This marketing campaign achieved excellent results and many different customers came in with our coupons in hand. I believe that without the helpfulness of Nicholas and the great marketing insight he provided the success we have seen through The Vidette would not have come for this restaurant. Every time Nicholas and I met he is always in a very positive mood, eager to help, and eager to learn about my business and help my business achieve its goals. Because of these qualities that Nicholas brought consistently throughout our relationship I am happy to relay this letter of recommendation to whomever it may concern. Please take time to consider Nicholas as he has been a joy to work with and while he displayed great personal characteristics he also brought success to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Sincerely, Ryan Martin
January 28th, 2014 To Whom It May Concern, The sales philosophy I use every day out selling for The Vidette and the philosophy I have found to be most effective starts with creating, emphasizing, and displaying the value of my product. The sales market has changed over the years and the trend now is value over price. When selling for The Vidette it has always been that way as our prices are the highest of all of our competitors however, it is that way because of the value we bring to our clients. Every one of the Account Executives that work for The Vidette know what value The Vidette can bring to businesses and the success it has had for our current clients. However, when prospecting new clients who do not have prior knowledge about The Vidette, their perceived value of The Vidette will not be great. If the client could see the value of the product in the same light as the Account Executive then they would want to partner with our company; that is the goal, to create that value. This is the reason perceived value is the focal point of my sales philosophy. I practice different talk tracks in the office or in my apartment to try and generate the talk track that creates the most perceived value for the client. Every client is different however preparing in advance for the meetings will only bring success. However, it is necessary to do a need assessment with the client in the first meeting to get an understanding of the clients business and goals before starting to demonstrate value. If an Account Executive does the needs assessment first it allows him to have a more intelligent conversation with the client about the value the product can bring to that specific client. For instance if a client shows a strong belief in digital marketing during the needs assessment the Account Executive can push the value of our app or website rather than the news publication. Without the needs assessment and that belief in digital marketing being brought to light that next appointment might not have been made. Bringing the intelligence level of the conversation with clients is another major factor if a sale will be made or a next appointment will be set. This is the second major factor in my sales philosophy. My strategy that I use to enhance the needs assessment is to take time before the meeting to research the client. Taking this time to research may be tedious but you would be surprised the little bits of information you can find which can ultimately lead to a sale. After researching the client I take more time before the meeting to write down questions specific to that client that I feel will bring up the intelligence level of our conversation. The combination of researching and writing down questions in advance is essential for successful first appointments and first appointments are not something you want to overlook, as they are your first impression with the client. Also, this method does not only have to be used through solely the needs assessment. When talking with current clients in a routine meeting coming up with questions before those meetings will only help the conversation. The client will believe you are more interested in helping him and his business and create value of both yourself as an Account Executive and your company as well. My belief is that if an Account Executive can have a successful need assessment that will bring up the intelligence level of the conversation and then create the value in the clients mind specific to that clients business and goals then the first appointment will turn into a second appointment and hopefully a sale. When practicing this strategy while prospecting I have seen outstanding results in appointments set and have relayed that message to my sales team. This strategy does get a little more complicated when applying it to current clients who have had a long-standing relationship with The Vidette. It gets complicated because these clients usually already have a strong view on the value of The Vidette and changing that view can be a hard task. When The Vidette releases a new product or a new special, demonstrating and creating the value in these new marketing outlets to current clients is something that Account Executives will need to focus on to change the client’s mindset. The last major focus of my sales philosophy which creating value and having a productive needs assessment leads into is creating and maintaining healthy relationships with clients. There are many factors in creating and maintaining relationships with clients but working hard and doing all that is in your power for the client will definitely strengthen the relationship. The relationship all starts with creating value for your product, in other words creating a reason for the client to want to partner with you and your company. This is again enhanced through the needs assessment. If clients see you have researched their business and you have an intelligent conversation with him he will see even more value in your partnership. Thus, showing the value of your
product and having a productive need assessment is what starts and creates a healthy relationship with your client. The next step an Account Executive has to take is to maintain that relationship and turn that start of a relationship into a long-standing relationship. The glue that is needed to maintain that relationship is excellent customer service. This means showing up to meetings on time, being organized, prepared, as well as being informed about what the subject matter of the meeting is, and how to answer any questions the client might have. Being diligent and working hard for the client is what is going to turn a short relationship into a long one. The reason creating and maintaining these relationships is a focal point of my sales philosophy is because a very minuscule amount of businesses can survive on one-time sales. The way companies survive and grow is through the long-term healthy relationships they have with their clients as they do business together every year. Without those long-term relationships many business would struggle or fail so turning to your Account Executives to focus on those relationships is something that companies must do. To conclude my sales philosophy has three focal points; creating value, increasing the intelligence level of the conversation through the use of the needs assessment and creating and maintaining relationships with clients. Through my belief and practice of this sales philosophy I have seen a lot of success and I have seen the success of others who use this same philosophy every day. I will continue to relay my sales philosophy to more that come through The Vidette and throughout my future career in sales at the end of this semester. Thanks, Nicholas Benassi Senior Account Executive The Vidette Work: (309)438-8743 Cell: (847)401-1022 Fax: (309)438-5211
Email: dv_ntbenas@ilstu.edu
Appendix 1. Account Executive Job Description 2. Team Leader Job Description 3. Productivity Records 4. Resume
Account Executive Job Description Account Executives are responsible for prospecting new clients, account management, generating maximum sales from multiple geographic territories, providing an excellent level of customer service and meeting all monthly goals. They will work in conjunction with advertising production staff to create and design innovative, effective advertisements and campaigns to meet clients’ needs. Account Executives are responsible for meeting all deadlines and attending weekly meetings. In addition, account executives need to have excellent interpersonal communications skills. This position offers a high level of independence and autonomy; because of this, Account Executives need to possess a professional manner, positive attitude, strong work ethic, and the ability to manage time effectively.
Team Leader Job Description
Facilitate weekly meetings to foster team unity: Team Leaders will meet with the account executives on their team on a weekly basis. The purpose of these meetings changes from week to week. One week might focus on continuous sales training, another week on supervising a special issue and the next week on a project assigned by the advertising manager.
Monitor and supervise members of sales team: While account executives work approximately 10 to 12 hours per week, the Team Leader can expect to spend 12 to 18 hours per week at The Vidette. This includes office hours, sales staff meetings, weekly team meetings, a weekly meeting with the Advertising Manager, visits with clients, spending time in the office to act as a mentor and leader, and to help new staff with questions and issues. Team Leaders check account executive’s points each week as well.
Take responsibility for the planning and implementation of a special issue each semester Each Team Leader will create a contest and poster for one special issue each semester. In addition, the Team Leader will coordinate with her/his team to provide e-mail updates for the rest of the staff regarding progress of the sales of their special issue.
Provide constant feedback and sales instruction to team members This is one of the most important duties of the Team Leader. Spending time in the office with team members provides the opportunity to give feedback and instruction. In addition, it is expected that Team Leaders will go on one visit per month with each of their team members to provide assistance and constructive criticism.
Maintain personal zones
Productivity Report Nick Benassi EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY
MONTH Aug-12 Sep-12 Oct-12 Nov-12 Dec12/B2S Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec13/B2S Career
QUOTA 280 716 639 590
SOLD 57 245 731 392
PCT. OVER QUOTA -79.64% -65.78% 14.40% -33.56%
258 405 215 233 393 198 154 322 408 244
125 121 114 116 214 293 236 461 472 269
93 5148
150 3996
REP POINTS -513 -294 484 105
PLACE 12 12 7 9
REPS 12 12 12 11
PLACE IN PTS. 100.00% 100.00% 58.33% 81.82%
-51.55% -70.12% -46.98% -50.21% -45.55% 47.98% 53.25% 43.17% 15.69% 10.25%
27 674 308 550
9 5 10 7
11 14 14 14
928 580 440 440 385
2 1 5 7 3
14 12 12 12 12
81.82% 35.71% 71.43% 50.00% #DIV/0! 14.29% 8.33% 41.67% 58.33% 25.00%
61.29% -22.38%
570 4684
2 6.5
12 12.4
16.67% 52.30%
NICHOLAS BENASSI 1301 Warrington Road ▪ Deerfield, IL 60015 ▪ Cell 847-401-1022 ▪ Benassinick@gmail.com __________________________________________________________________________________________________ OBJECTIVE I am currently a senior at Illinois State University seeking a challenging sales career. My goal is to listen and learn, create and contribute by utilizing my academic coursework in Marketing and Professional Sales and my professional work experience.
SKILLS & ABILITIES Customer focused leader Excellent communication & time management skills Effective team player Strong organizational Abilities
Energetic, hard working and dependable Results oriented
EXPERIENCE Account Executive – Team Leader The Daily Vidette, Illinois State’s Campus Newspaper 2012- Present Achievements: Awarded Account Executive of the month for August, September, November, and December 2013. Exceeded quota each month of fall semester 2013 and exceeded semester quota achieving 130% quota. Generated $38,281 in revenue for The Daily Vidette since 2012 with 26% of that being new accounts. Nominated as best Account Executive by manager 2013. Awarded Richard Hunter Scholarship for professional excellence Managed a team of 5 Account Executives Headed the sales of special issues Generated income via advertising Created & maintained long lasting relationships with clients Prospected new business, through cold calling and face-to-face experience Managed each client’s accounts Planned and developed marketing campaign’s specific to each client Developed and designed advertisements with help of graphic artist
Solution Specialist Intern COTG- A Xerox Company Summer/Winter 2013 Achievements: Finished 2nd in amount of appointments set for the summer. Finished 1 st or 2nd place in all call blitzes. Worked with the Vice President of Healthcare in scheduling her appointments with net new accounts Prospected net new healthcare accounts via cold calling and B2B Attended meetings with current Account Executives Teamed with current Account Executives in prospecting Enhanced sales skills through a COTG training program
Swim Instructor, Attendant, Guard Deerfield Park District, Deerfield, IL Launched weekly goals for each group of swimmers Provided patience and mentored pupils towards each learning point Led team in goal and safety oriented environment
2007 -2012
AFFILIATIONS Sigma Chi – Theta Rho Illinois State University 2011- Present Positions Held- Historian Opportunity to meet fellow students and develop and sustain friendships through social events and service project events to positively impact community and campus.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Building for Habitat For Humanity Generated money for Lion’s Club,
Illinois State University – College of Business – Professional Sales & Marketing – GPA 3.18 Graduating 2014
Fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network
EDUCATION