SMA 2023 - Vendor Criteria

Everything you need to know about entering the Vendor Categories of the 2023 Sales and Marketing Awards

Best Partner Programme

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and software in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify and obviously a channel programme that has been in place for more than a year. This can be a single or two-tier channel programme. The period covered for the awards is Jan 2022 to Jan 2023 so bear in mind when talking about additions/changes to programmes and the entry MUST be UK centric.

• Briefly describe your partner programme - ie length of time in operation, how it works, size of partner base, how rebates work, how partners get involved, what it offers partners?
• Do you have a partner portal? If so can you give some details of the benefits it provides partners? How user friendly is it? Why do partners want to work with you?
• How much time/money do you invest in your partner programme each year? What have been some of the most recent changes/additions you have made in the past year? Include stats.
• Why does it stand out from the competition/why have you entered?
• How does it help your UK partners? Do they enjoy working with you? Why?
• What have been the main benefits to you as a vendor with your partner programme? Why are partners so important to you?
• REQUIREMENT: Provide a UK partner testimonial within the entry

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. They must be UK RELEVANT ONLY. 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 and humour to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Videos over five minutes will not be watched in full by the judges.

Best Partner Event

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and/or software and all related services in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify. Since the onset of Covid, this category now covers all types of events, including physical events that have become online events, actual face-to-face events, or brand-new hybrid events launched over the past year. It MUST be a CHANNEL focussed event and not one aimed at end users. It must be relevant to UK partners. These awards cover the period Jan 2022 to Jan 2023 so the event must fall in that timeframe.

• Please describe the event - ie was it online/face-to-face or a mix of both? Also outline why you are entering it for this award
• Please reference any outstanding results or stats in terms of attendance/engagement
• What benefits did it offer your reseller/distribution partners?
• What fun/social elements did the event have? Was it tweeted about? What sort of buzz did it create?
• Why did partners sign up? How many attended?
• What did they take away with them after the event? Have there been any significant business wins as a result?
• What do you get out of it as the organiser?
• REQUIREMENT: Include testimonials from UK partners that joined the event within the entry itself, not as an attachment

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. They must be UK RELEVANT. 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 and humour to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Any videos longer than five minutes will not be viewed in full by the judges.

Best Company to Work For

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and software in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify. The company must pride itself on being a great place to work both in terms of results/growth, employee satisfaction/motivation, mental health, DE&I, CSR, environmental responsibility and general company culture. The period covered by the awards runs from Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, so please bear in mind when talking about particular activities, trips or incentives offered to staff. Images can also be used if required.

• How many people do you employ in the UK?
• Why is your company such a great place to work?
• How have you kept morale buoyant during the challenges of the past year? How have you looked after your teams' mental health/wellbeing?
• What do you think makes your company stand out from your competitors?
• How are you addressing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) in your company? Have you launched any particular schemes that are successful? Please explain.
• 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 morale? Give examples.
• How does your company empower its people to do their jobs better? Give examples.
• Can you give examples of CSR or environmental activities/initiatives? ie Charity fundraisers, carbon offsetting etc
• How do you motivate your people and engender loyalty? This can include outlines of bonus/commission schemes, extra leave, holidays, prizes etc
• REQUIREMENT: Please provide testimonials from your people/teams in the entry

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. They must be UK RELEVANT. 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 and humour to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Any videos longer than five minutes will not be viewed in full by the judges.

Best Marketing Campaign

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and software in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify. The period covered by the awards runs from Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, so please bear in mind when writing entries and referring to particular campaigns.

• What was the campaign and when did it run? How did it work? Please describe the campaign itself and its title. NOTE: This can be a social media-based campaign, email campaign, print campaign or any other form of campaign.
• Why are you entering this particular campaign? Why does it stand out?
• How did you overcome any challenges arising during the campaign?
• Were any distribution partners involved? Please elaborate if so.
• Who was it aimed at? ie SMBs, Enterprises, Public sector (or other specific sectors)
• How successful was the campaign - use UK facts and figures to back up claims. How many resellers benefitted from the campaign?
• Was there anything quirky or unusual about the campaign that really got it noticed?
• REQUIREMENT: Please provide partner testimonials within the entry itself

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. They must be UK RELEVANT. 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 and humour to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Any videos longer than five minutes will not be viewed in full by the judges.

Technology Innovation Award

PLEASE NOTE: This award is aimed at describing how your product/solution has actually helped make YOUR CHANNEL PARTNERS money by helping their customers through innovation, not a promotion of the product itself. Any entries that talk solely about the product or read like a cut-and-paste promotion piece will not be considered for the shortlist.

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and software and related services in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify. Bear in mind the awards cover the period Jan 2022 to Jan 2023. This award is aimed at a particular technology or technology set that has revolutionised business for channel partners and their respective customers over the past 12 months.

• Briefly describe the solution you are entering and why it is being entered for this award. Why is it innovative? What effect is this innovation having on your partners and their customers?
• How does it differ/standout from the other similar products that are on the market in terms of innovation - again keep it brief and focus on the business benefits, not the complexity of the technology.
• What benefits has this product or product set you are entering provided for your channel partners in the past year - facts and figures are a must.
• Demonstrate how sales of this product have increased through the channel in the past year and why (facts and figures needed)
• Why does this particular technology innovation deserve this award? ie because it has made a huge difference to partners' business, customer take up has been phenomenal etc
• REQUIREMENT: Back up your claims with testimonials from actual channel partners in the entry, and how this technology has helped their business in the past year. Get them to explain why they think this particular technology should win.

Written entries must be no more than 1,000 words, and try to think about the judges when composing them. They must be UK RELEVANT. 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 and humour to your entry too to make it stand out. If you are submitting a video, please keep it to FIVE minutes or less. Any videos longer than five minutes will not be watched by the judges.

Most Innovative Recruitment Scheme/Initiative - NEW for 2023

Criteria

Who can enter? Any firm that is defined as a vendor and operates a UK channel strategy. These can be vendors of hardware, networking and software and related services in all vertical markets, but the business must have a significant channel presence in the UK to qualify. The period covered by the awards runs from Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, so please bear in mind when writing entries and referring to particular campaigns.

• The skills gap is a top challenge many channel firms are facing. How is your company working to bring new talent into the industry?
• Tell us about your particular scheme/initiative and why you launched it/how long it has been running. For example, have you been working closely with local schools/colleges? Are you recruiting graduates through university schemes? Are you working with armed forces charities or local authorities to give people from different backgrounds a chance to build a new career?
• Are you doing anything in particular to encourage a more diverse range of candidates from different backgrounds to your company? Please elaborate.
• What have been the biggest challenges in running your scheme/initiative?
• 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 one or more of the successful recruits - either one that is still in training, or one that has gone on to success elsewhere in the company.

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 make the entry easier on the eye. PDF and other multimedia entries are encouraged, and you can add personality and humour 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 will not be viewed in full by the judges.

The ‘Over and Above' Award

This is an award aimed at highlighting the amazing work by an individual, the company as a whole, or a division/team over the past year.

It is a chance to give those individuals or teams some credit for going ‘over and above' their duties to ensure a partner 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 an exceptional sales/marketing/support team, a particular manager or staff member within any team, the CEO or a company cleaner that always goes the extra mile to keep the office running smoothly. Anyone you feel has definitely gone ‘over and above' their normal duties to make peoples' lives easier during difficult times and has done something to deserve special recognition.

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 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 to some extent. Please do make sure these are personal entries as it is an emotive category. The timeframe this covers is Jan 2022 - Jan 2023.