O2 has lifted two awards, Strategic Account Manager of the Year and B2B Sales Team of the Year, at the UK sales industry’s premier awards ceremony, the National Sales Awards.

Police Business Development Manger Brendan McLaughlin won Strategic Account Manager of the Year for his work with UK police forces. As O2’s highest achieving Account Manager, Brendan has achieved customer satisfaction scores of 100% and secured new contracts during 2008/9 worth several million pounds. Managing over 100 relationships with 23 UK police forces he has been responsible for an average increase in national Police contract connections and revenue of 158% during the last 12 months.

Brendan said of the win, “The whole process of entering and winning at the National Sales Awards made me scrutinise my role at O2 and the value I bring to the company. Seeing the quality of the finalists in my category made the win even more rewarding. I hope this award inspires my colleagues to strive even harder to achieve success”.

Andy Bell’s Public Sector Acquisition Team won B2B Sales Team of the Year in recognition of the collaboration and team work that led to significant success in 2008. The team sells to the Health and Education sectors, Local and Central Government, NHS, Charities and Housing Associations. Leveraging skills learned through O2’s Sales Academy programme, the team have been able to better serve their public sector customers and attain a stronger position in this market.

Andy Bell commented, “We’ve worked tirelessly for the last few years and the phenomenal success we’ve had in the public sector means we’ve doubled the size of our team. Winning this award is testament to the progress we’ve made in a new market for O2.”

In addition to the two awards won, three O2 sales staff were shortlisted as finalists. These include:

  • Louise Fellows – Sales Newcomer of the Year – Field Based
  • Carl Taylor – Sales Professional of the Year – Field Based
  • Darren Marsh – Account Manager of the Year

Ben Dowd, Business Sales Director at Telefonica O2 UK, commented: “With two prestigious awards under our belt we can be sure we are delivering what our customers want. The awards, and those who were shortlisted, reflect not only the massive effort and investment we have put into our sales teams but our success in spite of added challenges brought about by the global economic crisis. These wins show we have the ability to continue to win in a tough market, as we have a winning formula.”

The awards ceremony took place on 25th February at the London Hilton.

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