SMA 2021 - Reseller Criteria

Below are all the criteria for the Reseller categories:

Best New Business Win

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any UK-based firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider. The business win - which can be in any vertical sector in any space, must have taken place between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021 to qualify for entry.

Describe the opportunity and what it involved on your part as the supplier - ie hours on tender, skills etc
How was the business won? Did you have to do anything extra because of government restrictions? If so please explain.
Why was the business won? - ie track record of delivery (customer case studies), personal approach, vendor accreditations/certifications
What was the deal worth to your company and how did winning it help company development?
What has winning meant for staff morale?
REQUIREMENT: Please provide a customer testimonial within the entry

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. Use plenty of spacing, bullet points and paragraphs to construct your entry to make them easier on the eye. PDF and other multimedia entries are encouraged, and you can add personality to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Videos longer than five minutes may not be watched in full.

Best Sales Team

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider - that has a standalone sales team. The period the award covers is between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021- so please detail successes of sales teams during that period only to qualify for entry.

Brief background to the structure of the sales team(s), i.e experience and specialist skill sets and also personalities
Make it personal - introduce the team to the judges
How has the team coped with the challenges thrown at them due to the pandemic?
How has the sales team managed to grow the business and win new customers despite the Covid situation? Please include comparative YoY % sales growth for context.
Certifications/qualifications team has achieved during last year
Value provided to vendor partners
Value provided to customers
What is the team's biggest achievement of the year?
Examples of innovation within the team which have led to success
REQUIREMENT: Please provide a customer testimonial within the entry. (Vendor testimonials are optional).

Best Marketing Campaign (not event)- Reseller

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider - that has engaged in proactive marketing activities during the year. The period the award covers is between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021- so please detail an end user marketing campaign that successfully ran during that period only to qualify for entry. It can be a social media campaign or a more traditional campaign. Images can be used.

What was the campaign (please describe) and when did it run? Was it social media based or another method? (please explain)
Did the Covid pandemic change how you approached your marketing campaigns this year? Please explain further.
Why are you entering this particular campaign? What made it stand out for you? Why are you so proud of it?
Which vendor/vendors was it in conjunction with?
Who was it aimed at? ie SMEs, Enterprises, Public sector (or other specific sectors)
How successful was the campaign? Use facts and figures to back up claims.
Was there anything quirky or unusual about the campaign that really got it noticed?
REQUIREMENT: Please provide customer testimonials within the entry itself

Best Company to Work For - Sub £100m turnover

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider - with a turnover of £100m or below. The company must pride itself on being a great place to work both in terms of results/growth, staff/employee satisfaction/motivation, CSR and general company culture. The period the award covers is between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021, so please bear this in mind when talking about particular incentives offered to employees. Images can also be used if you like.

Why is your company such a great place to work?
What do you think makes it stand out from your peers?
How did you keep staff morale up during lockdowns and all the restrictions?
How has your workplace changed as a result of Covid? Ie - are more people set up for homeworking than before? Will this continue?
How does company culture help generate results?
Has your company used internal social media campaigns to generate a fun working environment? How has this enhanced the staff morale? Give examples
How does your company empower staff to do their jobs better? Give examples.
How are you tackling the gender pay gap and skills shortage in the industry?
Can you give examples of CSR activities? ie Charity fundraisers etc
How do you motivate staff and engender loyalty? This can include outlines of bonus/commission schemes, extra leave, holidays, prizes etc
REQUIREMENT: Please provide testimonials from your staff within the entry itself

Best Company to Work For - £101m+ turnover

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider - with a turnover of £101m or above. The company must pride itself on being a great place to work both in terms of results/growth, staff/employee satisfaction/motivation, CSR and general company culture. The period the award covers is between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021, so please bear this in mind when talking about particular incentives offered to employees. Images can also be used if you like.

Why is your company such a great place to work?
What do you think makes it stand out from your peers?
How did you keep staff morale up during lockdowns and all the restrictions?
How has your workplace changed as a result of Covid? Ie - are more people set up for homeworking than before? Will this continue?
How does company culture help generate results?
Has your company used internal social media campaigns to generate a fun working environment? How has this enhanced the staff morale? Give examples
How does your company empower staff to do their jobs better? Give examples.
How are you addressing the gender pay gap and skills shortage that are evident in our industry?
Can you give examples of CSR activities? ie Charity events etc
How do you motivate staff and engender loyalty? This can include outlines of bonus/commission schemes, extra leave, holidays, prizes etc
REQUIREMENT: Please provide testimonials from your staff within the entry itself

Best Graduate and/or Apprenticeship Scheme - Reseller

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider. The Graduate or Apprenticeship scheme must have been running from or further developed since January 2020.

The skills gap is the number one problem many channel firms are facing. Describe how your company is looking to plug that gap with a dedicated Graduate and/or Apprenticeship scheme.
Tell us about your particular programme and why you launched it/how long it has been running. Where do you get your Graduates/Apprentices from - how do they apply and how do you select them?
How many Graduates/Apprentices have you trained so far and are you planning on increasing this?
How did the pandemic affect your scheme and how did you overcome the challenges to keep new graduates motivated?
Are you doing anything in particular to encourage more female graduates into your schemes?
How long is the process and what do they do once it is finished?
What have been the biggest challenges in running your scheme?
Describe any particular success stories - ie, someone who has gone on to become a senior manager within your own company or has been headhunted somewhere and has done really well for themselves.
REQUIREMENT: A testimonial from a graduate/apprentice within the entry itself - either a current one, or one that has flourished after completing their training with your company.

Best Online/Hybrid Event - Reseller

Criteria

Who can enter? This award is open to any firm that falls under the Reseller category - whether an integrator, MSP, system builder, VAR or service provider - that has engaged in proactive marketing activities during the year. The period the award covers is between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021- so please detail an event that you created for your customers that successfully ran during that period only to qualify for entry. Due to Covid restrictions this category also covers physical events that were forced to become online events, or brand-new online events launched over the past year, as well as events that happened pre-lockdown. Images can be used.

What was the event (please describe) and when did it run? explain if appropriate how you had to adapt the event from a physical one to an online/hybrid event as a result of restrictions, and why you are entering it for this award. How did you encourage customers to sign up/attend? (please explain)
Why are you entering this particular event? What made it stand out for you? Why are you so proud of it?
Which partners (vendor or distie) was it in conjunction with?
Who was it aimed at? ie all customers, SMEs, Enterprises, Public sector (or any other specific sectors)
How successful was the event? What results did you achieve? Use facts and figures to back up claims.
Was there anything quirky or unusual about the event that really got it noticed?
REQUIREMENT: Please provide customer testimonials within the entry itself

The ‘Over and Above' Award - Reseller

This is a new award for 2021 aimed at highlighting the amazing work by an individual or a team, or even a whole company during the ongoing challenges of the global pandemic.

It is a chance to give those individuals or teams some credit for going ‘over and above' their duties to ensure a customer was served, or a project was completed, or they managed to keep everybody's spirits up by being an exceptional manager or supportive colleague or even a community-minded individual/team.

Anyone can receive this award, from the company as a whole, to an exceptional sales/marketing/support team; a particular manager or staff member within any team, the CEO or even a company cleaner that went the extra mile to keep the office safe during the pandemic. Anyone you feel has definitely gone ‘over and above' their normal duties to make peoples' lives easier during difficult times.

Below are some tips for constructing the entry but please make it as personal as you like.

Describe the individual or team that you are entering for this award - why do they deserve special recognition?
What have they done that you feel is ‘over and above' their usual duties? Please explain.
What kind of a difference has their actions during the pandemic made to either individuals, customers/partners/the company or their local community?
What would winning this award mean to them/the company?

Entries can be up to 1,000 words on why the particular individual or team deserves recognition- but shorter entries will not be penalised - if individuals want to nominate their colleagues, we will accept between 250-500 words as long as the above points are covered. Please do make sure these are personal entries as it is an emotive category. The timeframe this covers is Jan 2020 - Jan 2021.

The deadline for entry is Friday 9 April. To enter, please click here.