Sales Excellence Award: New award for successful and forward-looking sales and distribution initiatives

The sales and distribution world is undergoing a profound transformation. Ever-shorter innovation cycles, the shift towards multi- and omnichannel, new technologies, the way personal selling is changing, and increasing price pressure are all demanding a lot from the sales and distribution departments of Swiss companies. To survive in this fast-paced environment, organizations in sales and distribution need to constantly realign themselves. This requires innovation, creativity and the courage to do the unusual.

Sales Excellence Award in two categories

Against this background, the sales and distribution experts of the Swiss Marketing Forum, WATC Consulting AG and the Hochschule für Wirtschaft in Zürich (HWZ) are launching an award for successful and forward-looking sales and distribution initiatives in Switzerland. Its primary goal: to identify and spotlight individuals and teams who are pioneering new and creative sales and distribution projects, and to promote exchange among sales and distribution professionals. The means to this end: the Sales Excellence Award, which in future will be presented once a year for outstanding sales and distribution achievements.

The Sales Excellence Award is presented in two categories:

• Small and medium-sized enterprises with less than 500 employees
• Large companies with more than 500 employees

In addition, there is a special jury prize and an audience award (not tied to categories).

Broadly based jury

The organizers of the Sales Excellence Awards are proud to have attracted an especially distinguished group of judges who represent a broad Combine wealth of experience from practice, consulting and teaching. The jury is composed as follows:

• Marc Baumgartner, CEO, Würth AG
• Paul-David Becker, Managing Partner, BSP International AG
• Daniel Binkert, Market Area Manager, Member of the Management, CSS Versicherung AG
• Katrin Brunner, Retail Manager, Lacoste
• John Charles, Head of Strategic and Key Account Management, Post CH AG
• Gregor Doser, Industry Leader Retail, Telco, FMCG, Agency, Google Switzerland
• Séverine Dröhnli, Head of National Sales and KAM, Bayer (Switzerland) AG
• Patrick E. Koller, Managing Partner, WATC Consulting AG (Jury President)
• Martin Limbeck, Managing Director, Martin Limbeck Training Group
• Marcus Schögel, Director, IfM-HSG Institute for Marketing, University of St. Gallen
• Monika Schulze, Global Head of Customer Experience & Digital Strategy, Zurich Insurance
• Thomas Schwertje, Head of Marketing, Coop Switzerland

The jury will judge the projects entered according to four criteria: Sales Strategy, Sales Management, Information Management, and Customer Relationship Management. Several dimensions are included in the assessment: the degree of innovation of the submitted project, its benefit for the organization, its relevance beyond the company, and its concrete implementation with the accompanying accompanying measures.

Application deadline until July 15, 2019

Sales and distribution projects from companies and organizations based in Switzerland are eligible for the competition. The application deadline is July 15, 2019. Application forms and further information on the Sales Excellence Award are available at www.swissmarketingforum.ch/sxa. The Sales Excellence Award ceremony will take place at the Sales Power Conference at the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute on November 12, 2019. In addition to the award ceremony, the event will focus on networking among guests and learning from each other. The prizes awaiting the winning teams are also in this spirit. In addition to a monetary prize, each winning team will receive a customized Sales Excellence Impulse Day with a workshop to discuss sales and sales-specific challenges and issues.