The winners were announced at the annual Schibsted Sales Awards event in Copenhagen on the evening of Friday 27 January in front of a cheering crowd of about 750 sales people from all over Schibsted Media Group. Jokisalo received the NOK 250,000 prize from the hands of CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal. The theme of this year’s Sales Awars was “Winning as One”.
For the five award categories we received 88 nominations from 14 companies; of these 20 were from countries outside Norway and Sweden.
“We have an outstanding salesforce in Schibsted with deep customer insight in their local markets. I am pleased to see that the internal competition to win one of the sales awards is becoming tougher every year. The theme is “Winning as One” so I am happy that among the winners there are several great examples of how working together made their victory possible,” said CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal.
The Winners
- Sales Person of the Year: Kennet Jokisalo, Tori
- Sales Manager of the Year: Michael Hili, Schibsted Sales & Inventory
- Sales Team of the Year: Leboncoin Real Estate Telesales Team
- Sales Organization of the Year: Schibsted Sweden Sales & Inventory
- Performance of the Year: VG Partnerstudio
The jury’s motivation
Sales Person of the Year: Kennet Jokisalo, Tori
This person is the perfect role model for Schibsted’s One Company strategy and a true team player who has helped several Schibsted companies enter into cross-border deals. With a winning “can do” attitude, the sales person of the year is recognized for his analytical and bold selling style and delivering impressive growth each year.
Sales Manager of the Year: Michael Hili, Schibsted Sales and Inventory
This person is a clear and popular leader and a powerful inspiration for his colleagues. This sales manager is a textbook example of a Schibsted leader who provides insight and is always hands-on. The desire to evolve is inspiring but even more impressive is the willingness and ability to get his employees to develop and perform.
Sales Team of the Year: Leboncoin Real Estate Telesales Team
In only two years this team has managed to achieve an impressive market penetration, delivering strong growth despite tough conditions in their market. The team has been agile and adaptive to market and customer changes, which has resulted in massive increase in number of clients, efficiency and loyalty.
Sales Organization of the Year: Schibsted Sales & Inventory
This organization is a true example of how collaboration creates great results. By merging several sales organizations, they have generated a one-stop shop for their customers strengthening their position in the market. They always keep strong focus on developing individuals, teams and the organization as a whole. The result of this successful merger has been more customers and more business.
Performance of the Year: VG Partnerstudio750
This performance is a great example of how to take Schibsted to the next level. What started out as a lean cross-departmental innovation project, is now one of our fastest growing businesses and they are increasing their turnover all the time. When the project started it was a bit controversial, but by delivering quality in all phases they have turned skeptics into supporters and are now an important player in the market.