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SMART Technologies

  

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Company: SMART Technologies, Calgary, Alberta
Company Description: SMART is the world’s leading provider of interactive whiteboards. The company introduced the world’s first interactive whiteboard in 1991 and remains the global product category leader, providing easy-to-use, integrated products and services that improve the way the world works and learns. Our success is driven by a deep commitment to and engagement with both education and business communities.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Support Team of the Year

Nomination Title: SMART Sales Support

    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:

        Residing in the services department, the mandate of SMART’s sales support
team is to enable the sales division of the organization to effectively capture and
win every sales opportunity, and to make the process efficient for all
involved. Sales support is comprised of three sub-teams, each focused on a
distinct support element.

        1. Sales development support team – proactive support of sales activities
Created in response to shifting needs of a rapidly growing business, the sales
development support team maintains responsibility for the qualification and
management of quality sales leads, coordination of global sales programs, and
enhanced support for key reseller and customer accounts. The efforts of this
team are aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of the sales channel’s time and
resources.

        Key achievements during the 2009 calendar year include
• Developing and revising a lead-qualification and distribution process
• Contacting more than 35,000 new customers
• Generating approximately 20,000 quality leads for the sales team
• Building proactive support processes and relationships with top accounts
• Saving field staff between 100 and 150 hours per week on administrative
tasks.
• Shipping approximately 1,000 pieces of equipment to facilitate customer
demonstrations across North America

        2. Customer data team – effective data and order management
Responsible for managing the flow and integrity of customer data and owning
all order-entry processes, this team strives to ensure the overall quality of
customer information to extend the company’s reach and drive revenue through
improved market intelligence, customer data analytics and targeted lists for
marketing prospect identification.

        Key achievements during the 2009 calendar year include
• Establishing guidelines for data standards across the organization
• Auditing and correcting data integrity (completeness, accuracy and
duplication) for approximately 40,000 records
• Though the volume of orders was increasing, this team continued to maintain
a 24-hour service level on order entry
• Introduction of a paperless order-entry process

        3. Reseller support team – responsive inbound support for the sales channel
With more than 400 resellers globally, SMART's stability and growth relies
heavily on effective support of the sales channel. The reseller support team
is the primary point of contact for the sales channel, accountable for both
reseller sales and reseller technical support requirements. 

        Responding to reseller inquiries via e-mail, phone and chat queues, this team
has maintained an excellent standard of support despite increases in overall
inbound contact centre volume of  164% tied to SMART’s rapid growth.

        Key achievements in the 2009 calendar year include
• Handling an average of 5,000 e-mails per month
• Responding to an average of 6,000 calls per month
• Maintaining an average speed-of-answer below 90 seconds
• Providing dedicated support for global business customers
• Creating the Reseller Technical Bulletin which is sent to over 385 Resellers
and Distributors.  This is in addition to the customer and reseller bulletin.
• Implementing a paperless system for processing sales program claims

    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]:

    Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

        Biography - Donnovan Simon, Sales Support Director
The team reports to Donnovan Simon, Director of Sales Support, who develops
and executes SMART’s global sales support strategy.

        Throughout his 15 years of management experience, Mr. Simon has overseen
administration, IT, HR and other related business support functions. He has
earned two undergraduate degrees in communications and information systems,
and holds a master’s degree in business administration. Mr. Simon joined SMART
in 2006 and has been instrumental in developing key components of SMART’s
sales support offerings.