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Company: ALOM, Fremont CA Company Description: ALOM helps our customers manufacture, assemble and distribute their products worldwide. Headquartered in California, we are the world leader in quality and operational excellence in our industry Nomination Category: Sales Team Categories Nomination Sub Category: Global Sales Team of the Year
Nomination Title: Creating phenomenal growth
1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
The team worked together in a cooperative manner to increase sales, resulting In: 1) 62% growth in sales in one year 2) Maintaining gross margin and profitability 3) Targeting customers of strategic value to the company 4) Increase business within current customers 5) Maintain a true team environment in the sales group 6) Almost explosive growth in international sales
In competition with much larger global competitors, the team brought several large accounts to the company. Supply chain has increasingly become an industry that is dominated by a few very large giants. As a midsized, flexible supplier, ALOM has strengths that the sales team made clear to its customers and leads. These strengths include an extreme flexibility and ability to support change.
With markets constantly changing, being able to support the customer requirements is of tremendous importance.
As the industry goes through these structural changes, it is easy to lose focus. Instead, the team took a focused and disciplined approach. First the team had several planning sessions to ensure that marketing activities and sales focus went hand-in-hand. Main prospects were identified according to strategic direction of the company, desirability and likelihood of interest. The team then assigned responsibility for approaching the designated prospects. The team met to discuss weak spots in the sales process. Proposal templates and marketing materials were generated to support the team's goals. As part of the continued improvements to the sales process, customers and leads were constantly probed for feed-back.
Global leads were developed and approached with ALOM's international partners. This synchronized approached allowed the sales team to expand its reach beyond what would otherwise be possible. Sales activities included all European countries, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore and a number of other locations. Given the size of the team, these accomplishments are outstanding. Increasing sales to existing customers required a different approach with ALOM team members participating in internal meetings at the customer's site. The insight generated from these meetings created further business prospects, as ALOM adjusted to be able to meet new specific customer demands. One example was the addition of print-on-demand services to be able to provide customized printed materials integrated into the fulfillment process.
Team members consistently supported each other during peak work demands and through absences. Instead of spending its energy on competing internally, the team decided to do whatever it took to "expand the cake". Consequently, the team is very well respected internally in the company to allow for a positive collaborative environment between sales force and the staff that execute.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.alom.com
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:
Lisa Dolan, Vice President, Strategic Sales. Lisa Dolan has been spearheading ALOM's sales for 11 years. Using a consultative selling style, Lisa Dolan is extremely popular with her customers for her ability to support their needs. Like everyone else on the sales team, Ms. Dolan has an operations background from within the same industry.
Tami Strickland, Sr. Account Executive. Tami Strickland joined ALOM in 1999. With unwavering follow-up, Ms. Strickland consistently creates phone calls, e- mails and letters from customers who have become true fans. This has allowed Ms. Strickland to grow existing accounts significantly.
Kimberly Strobridge, Account Executive. Ms. Strobridge joined ALOM in 2006. Her significant account management background and thoughtful communications style have made it easy for her to spearhead international sales.
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