Thursday 12th February 2009

Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hyde Park, London

The British Excellence in Sales & Marketing Awards (BESMA) represents the UK's highest level of recognition for outstanding sales achievement. Organised by The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, BESMA is the benchmark standard in its field. BESMA 2008 will be held on Thursday 12th February 2009 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel as a black tie event with a champagne reception,gala dinner, entertainment and an awards ceremony comparable to the OSCARs of the film industry. Over 600 hundred senior executives from the corporate world will attend, including CEOs, sales and marketing directors and the UK's top sales professionals - a "who's who' of the sales and marketing elite.

"It was great to see the sales profession receiving the recognition on a national scale and to attend such an innovative evening for sales professionals" KPMG

Awards objectives

The British Excellence in Sales & Marketing awards identify those organisations in which world class 'best practice' is demonstrated in every aspect of sales and marketing. Nominations for awards are open to companies of all sizes and industry sectors.

The key objectives are :

• To contribute to raising the profile and status of professional selling
• To recognise and reward achievement in all categories of sales and marketing
• To acknowledge the vital role sales personnel play in today's fast-moving climate and motivate them to sell more to help raise profitability
• To demonstrate the value of technology in business performance improvement

Awards criteria and judging The key requirement for entrants and winners is that they can prove that their practice meets the criteria set for the award category.The criteria reflects performance against the most significant responsibilities and skills required for each job role or desired team outcome. The selection process occurs in several stages :

The judges are selected - all are experienced sales professionals drawn from a variety of organisations and industry sectors. Nominations are invited for each category.The judges for each category prepare a shortlist of six finalists which is published on the ISMM website and in the magazine Winning Edge. Finalists are invited to a judging day where their skills and experience are independently rated by the panel judges whose marks are totalled to give the final result. Winners are announced at the awards ceremony on 12th February 2008.

“My team and I have a four year vision which includes benchmarking ourselves against external companies and industries rather than just against internal benchmarks.  By entering the BESMA awards we can measure our progress externally.  From a team point of view, it has really boosted morale…… Additionally the judging panel process made me think about the “how and why” we do things, not just the end result” Chris Brindley, Regional Managing Director, NatWest, North Region

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