I\u2019m admittedly thrilled that the winners of both awards are women, who have made huge strides in the business since I joined nearly 18 years ago and now make up a decided majority of the industry. And they\u2019re getting their due for the success they bring with them, which is about time.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s someone our team counts on to help us with those complex opportunities by educating us on options, going to bat for us with her management team and being incredibly responsive \u2013 for someone on the road so often, we really appreciate that,\u201d says Rosin. \u201cShe\u2019s also taken the time to understand who our clients are so that we can be mutually successful. The best part? She\u2019s someone we trust \u2013 and she is honest.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s this year\u2019s Customer Service Rep of the Year. I confess, I\u2019m been on the receiving end of such horrific customer service (and blogged about it with such acidic venom I\u2019m sure certain airlines, cable companies and phone service providers have me on their own personal \u201ceff with\u201d list) that when I experience good customer service, my loyalty for that company becomes downright evangelical. I\u2019d even go so far to say that I believe customer service is the most important department \u2013 yep, even more than sales \u2013 of any company. Why? Salespeople get the clients, but it\u2019s the customer service reps who keep them coming back and have the power to turn them into word-of-mouth advocates.<\/p>\n And hoo boy, does this year\u2019s winner of the SGR<\/em> CSR of the Year \u2013 PCNA\u2019s Cally Neal (lower right) \u2013 have those traits in spades. \u201cCally has always been extremely supportive of our initiatives and her follow through is first rate,\u201d says Cathy Cummings, supplier relations manager at Counselor<\/em> Top 40 distributor AIA Corp. \u201cI can always depend on Cally to provide product suggestions and sales assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n So here’s to Julie and Cally, who truly exemplify the best this industry has to offer!<\/p>\n Cheers,<\/p>\n M<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi Everyone! Truly, one of the best parts of my job (and there are many) is the privilege of giving awards each year to the SGR Supplier Sales Reps of the Year and Customer Service Rep of the Year. Now in its fifth year, these awards are based on distributor voting what I think is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":953,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hit](\"http:\/\/media.asicentral.com\/images\/blogs\/julie_strob.jpg\")
Our amazing Supplier Rep of the Year, whose nominations from distributors were downright effusive, is Julie Strob (at left), the key accounts manager for Counselor<\/em> Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products. Let me end the suspense: She\u2019s the real deal. With an increase in sales of 40% over 2013, Julie\u2019s sales strategy is clearly paying off. But don\u2019t take it from me; I invite you to contemplate the words of Danny Rosin, president of the Raleigh-based distributor BrandFuel, one of the distributors who nominated Julie:<\/p>\n![\"Cally](\"http:\/\/media.asicentral.com\/images\/blogs\/cally_neal.jpg\")
Jennifer McNab, manager of vendor relations and product development for Counselor <\/em>Top 40 distributor Accolade Promotions Group, concurs. \u201cOver the last three years Cally has helped us become more sophisticated with the approach we have for product placement in our programs and catalogues,\u201d McNab says. \u201cShe has provided us with industry insight specific to our various markets as well as insight into what companies in the same industries as our clients are having success with. Her professionalism has evolved and she has truly taken the \u2018let me help you\u2019 approach to managing our business. Her perceptiveness, expertise and commitment to helping our business grow is an asset, attributes that we wish more of our suppliers brought to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n