Roca and colleagues from Let’s deal Sweden, VG, FINN, InfoJobs and Leboncoin received awards in Schibsted Sales Awards’ five categories, in front of more than 700 jubilant participants in Stockholm on Friday 30 January.
Roca received the NOK 250,000 prize from CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal.
The theme for Schibsted Sales Awards this year has been ‘Change’.
“The competition for this year’s Sales Awards has been very tough, and all the nominees have shown fantastic results, great cases and worked very hard. Change is an opportunity to constantly challenge our customers with insights based sales. Today’s users expect online services to follow them seamlessly and anticipate their needs with immediate response. They expect us to deliver the best. I am truly proud of the excellent work all the nominees and the winners have carried out for Schibsted in 2014. Thanks to all of you for your great sales efforts!” said Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO in Schibsted Media Group.
The Jury’s motivation
Sales Person of the Year: Cristina Roca, Aftonbladet
“Cristina’s life mantra is ‘I can do it’. Her creative spirit and insight-based Challenger profile is a true recipe for success. Delivering a 61 percent year-on-year growth, she gave the other competitors in this category a serious run.
Christina is money in the bank. Or as a client, one of Sweden´s largest banks, so appropriately said: “It feels like she knows our business better than we do ourselves”.
She was top of her class in the Schibsted KAM program. As if that wasn´t enough, she adds value by being a great team player, coaching her colleagues at Aftonbladet to reach their goals too.”
Sales Manager of the Year: Fabien Scolan, Leboncoin
“With a novel approach to selling display products, right at the heart of the Challenger model, Fabien is a sales manager who develops his team towards the changes in the market. He has coached and motivated his team so that they have tripled their display sales revenue.
Each year his team’s budget is exceeded; last year by 46 percent. We don´t need a crystal ball to see that the future shines bright for Fabien. He manages one of the most modern ad sales teams in Schibsted Media Group, delivering on the expectations of tomorrow – today.”
Sales Team of the Year: InfoJobs Spania, Strategic Account Team
“Working systematically and with a great passion for sales, InfoJobs Spain’s Strategic Account Team has proven that they are here to win. The team has managed to increase the amount of job postings in 2013, in spite of working in one of Europe´s toughest employment markets. They perform world-class in all areas, such as customer recommendation at 98 percent, continuous churn reduction, a growing client portfolio and a discount reduction of more than 50 percent. The team ended 2014 over the estimated budget. However, they never rest on their laurels but always find new ways to fulfill the customers’ needs and reach the next targets.”
Sales Organization of the Year: Let’s deal Sverige
“Adapted to change and true role-models of the «Yes we can» attitude, the sky is the limit for this organization. Every year Let’s deal outperforms its own activity. The jury is truly impressed with the strong and positive sales culture that Let´s deal Sweden has developed. Last year they managed to beat Groupon, the number one competitor in their market. Let’s deal is now one of the largest e-commerce sites in Sweden.”
Performance of the Year: VG og FINN.no, Citroën-saken, the Citroën case,
Nina Pedersen and Terje Dahlgren
“Joining forces and putting their best insights to good use, this sales performance case has exemplified the way we all should be working: Together. It’s a classic Challenger sales case and a great example of how to collaborate across Schibsted’s companies, and make the most of our expertise and skills.
VG and FINN.no realized that Citroën, their client, was targeting the buyers too late in the process. Together, they offered the client in-depth understanding and new ways to channel their message. The result is a contract worth ten times more than the previous year. Working together can certainly be a very profitable way of doing sales!”