2018 BESMA
THE BRITISH EXCELLENCE IN SALES MANAGEMENT AWARDS
AWARD WINNING WAYS
Winning Edge talks to some of BESMA’s biggest winners
AO: ELECTRIFYING PERFORMANCE
reviews on the online review site Trustpilot, and of those it is one of only 10 that has an “excellent” rating. The Aftercare sales team has expanded to 150 salespeople. “It’s AO, one of the UK’s leading online not the kind of place where someone has to retire before you can electrical retailers, celebrated a fabulous get a promotion,” says Woodfinden. “The majority of our sales BESMA night, walking off with two managers joined us as sales executives, and it typically takes them awards: Sales Team of the Year (for around 11 months to progress into a management role.” companies with over 50 salespeople), Karl Hinchcliffe, director of Aftercare, adds, “We constantly strive and Best Sales Employer of the Year. to deliver a great customer experience as well as hit sales targets, Founded in 2000 as Appliances Online, and recruiting the right people is key to maintaining that. We AO has grown rapidly by offering customers the best possible focus on recruiting graduates as they are a experience. As Colin Woodfinden, AO’s sales good fit culturally, and generally they are training manager (pictured), explains, “We “Our ISM assessor commented hungry for progression opportunities.” know that any success we have as a business Hinchcliffe is keen to dispel the myth stems entirely from our people being able that our sales induction is one that business-to-consumer (B2C) sales to be authentic, loving what they do, and of the most thorough she has roles are somehow inferior to business-tostriving to be the best they can be.” ever come across” business (B2B). “Typically, B2C roles are Woodfinden continues, “Nowhere is our considered a less lucrative option than B2B commitment to our staff more evident than positions,” he says. “But we go against the grain in this respect. A in the training we give to our Aftercare sales division, which offers lot of our salespeople and managers earn £60,000-£80,000 a year.” product warranties. Our internal sales training has been endorsed Alongside good pay and benefits, AO is becoming an ISM by the ISM. In fact, our ISM assessor commented that our sales Recognised Centre, enabling it to offer Ofqual-approved ISM induction is one of the most thorough she has ever come across. qualifications. Woodfinden concludes, “Our sales roles are “It’s very much a consultative sale. The service element our challenging, so we need to recruit the best people and give them salespeople provide is extremely important to us because, as an the support they deserve. Offering the chance of ISM qualifications online retailer, customer feedback is critical to our success.” AO is is as good for them as it is for us. It’s a genuine ‘win win’.” one of just 20 businesses in the world to have more than 100,000
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