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Vodafone Turkey

How to EnterCompany: Vodafone Turkey
Entry Submitted by: Hooper Consulting International
Company Description: Hooper Consulting International is the representative of the Stevie Awards in Turkey.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Department of the Year - Telecommunications

Nomination Title: Vodafone Turkey: A New Approach

Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July 2010 (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:

“Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra
energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of
winning. -Denis Waitley, American author "Psychology of Winning"

How did a sales department revolutionize sales to increase market share to 26%
in the dog-eat-dog world of telecommunications? Vodafone Turkey did exactly that
and increased subscribers by a whopping 89%. Here’s how…

When Vodafone Turkey turned around its management team a couple of years ago,
the sales department rose to the occasion to target a whole new approach in
sales. While previously sales was the domain of marketing and customer service,
a key element of Turkish culture was left out: personal communications. So the
sales department aimed at retail to woo and win new customers. While some might
view a focus on retail as sales in the old fashioned way, it hit the mark in
Turkey. The sales department also knew that the retail experience would need to
be improved, so they set out to make it more relevant and productive in the
following ways:

Store Relocations
Exclusive VF stores were increased by 6.5% to 1,042 and 140
stores were relocated to more premium and heavily trafficked locations.

Store Concepts
VF modernized and reconfigured their retail stores to better
showcase their products and services, enabling customers to experience and enjoy
the mobile features and applications that were available to VF subscribers.

Creating New Channels
New sales channels were created, such as EXPRESS concepts
for the consumer business unit, which opened 58 express shops. This enabled the
sales team provide service in secondary commercial locations with very small
sizes (30-50 m2).

In the SME channel, an “Invoiced Sales Channel” was established to serve small
entrepreneurs. In one year alone, VF’s sales department achieved nationwide
coverage with 50 dealers.

Vodafone Consultants
VF Consultants was a new project to give better service in
premium store locations on data and smartphones. Unlike franchisee sales staff,
this team was selected and trained by members of VF’s own sales department. As
the consultants’ compensation was from a third party firm, half of the cost was
shouldered by VF and remaining is covered by the franchisees – a win-win
formula. From the first day, the consultants had a positive impact on service
quality and sales.

Results
Between July 2010-2011, the sales department added 100 new shops and 1
million new subscribers with only 37 additional sales people. The net impact was
an increase in VF Turkey’s mobile market share by 2%(from 24% to
26%)…highlighted by a stunning increase of $1 billion USD in revenue: nearly
doubling the previous year. This was no small feat - in the highly competitive
mobile telephone business consisting of only three operators.

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 sales organization:

ENGIN AKSOY has served as Head of Field Sales for nearly 4 years. He gained his
experience in various sales positions with Michelin and Coca-Cola and most
recently with NIKE as EMEA Football Sales Director in the Netherlands, where he
headed up Nike's overall football sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
He moved to Turkey to serve as Nike's Country Sales Director.

Engin earned his B.A. and masters degrees in marketing from the University of
Oxford, England.