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RECOGNISE & REWARD SUCCESS IN SALES



CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN SALES

The National Sales Awards recognises, rewards and celebrates the very best performing individuals and teams across the Sales profession. The Awards exist to not only recognise the metrics, but also the dedication, perseverance and passion that drives growth within every successful business.

Our ten individual and team categories range from Sales Director of the Year, Sales Team of the Year, Sales Manager of the Year, SDR of the Year, Rising Star and more!

At the heart of the National Sales Awards is fairness, transparency and integrity. To ensure the highest standards of ethics, nominees will be judged by a panel of independent Sales Leaders who will evaluate objectively, free from internal bias and will score based solely on merit.

The judging process will be managed remotely & online, but the celebrations are very much in person! The nominations will be scored remotely and then finalists will be asked to showcase their achievements (online) to an independent panel of judges. The eventual winners will be announced live on stage at the awards ceremony on 13 November (Birmingham), ensuring everyone celebrates in style!

There is no fee to nominate and the returns for being recognised on a national stage are boundless!


OUR SPONSORS


THE CATEGORIES

Account Manager of the Year

An individual award for a professional who can demonstrate excellence in the support of existing customers which has led to exceptional retention and growth.

To enter, the nominee should demonstrate:

✔ Effective approaches to maintaining & expanding relationships with existing accounts leading to retention of the main contract.

✔ Decisive approach to solving problems within an account - be analytical and methodical while being able to act quickly & efficiently. What was your approach to gaining support from across your business?

✔ Effective approaches to expanding an existing account, creating new opportunities within existing accounts leading to revenue growth.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders

Inside Sales Rep. of the Year (SDR or BDR)

This individual award is to recognise the best SDR or BDR who can show how they effectively manage the initial stages of the sales cycle. From prospecting to qualifying leads and starting to build pipelines.

Nominees should give evidence of:

✔ Your approach to successful prospecting which has led to you hitting your KPIs. Explain what tools, data, messaging, strategies you use.

✔ How you engage new prospects from cold, what research do you carry out? Provide evidence as to how your activities have led to qualified pipeline creation.

✔ How you uncover a prospect's pains and qualify/ quantify them?

✔ How you have overcome an objection/s which contributed to the prospect eventually closed/won?

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders

Rising Star of the Year

This award recognises an exeptional individual early in their Sales career who demonstrates outstanding potential, rapid personal growth and significant contribution to their team.

To enter, the nominee should give evidence of:

✔ Attitude to role and training/ onboarding received.

✔ Individual achievements/recent sales successes.

✔ Impact on organisation.

✔ Commitment to ethical selling.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders

Sales Development Prog. of the Year

This award recognises an outstanding Sales training programme that have been designed and implemented by a Sales and or L&D department within a business, not an off the shelf programme from an external provider.

To enter, the nominee should give evidence of:

✔ A unique approach to developing and implementing a customised programme.

✔ Clear ROI for Sales teams.

✔ A senior operational sponsor championing the programme.

✔ Improvements to strategy, process, skill, behaviours and/or motivations for selling.

Sales Director of the Year

An individual award for Directors responsible for creating and delivering sales strategy. The statement should give evidence of:

✔ Effective strategy: develops and implements sales plans and profit targets.

✔ Excellent leadership: inspires and motivates the sales team.

✔ Delivering results: achieving targets for revenue, profitability & sales growth.

✔ Describe what makes the nominee exceptional.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders.

This category is sponsored by:

Sales Employer of the Year

This award recognises organisations that demonstrate exceptional commitment to creating an outstanding environment for sales professionals to thrive. This award celebrates companies that prioritise employee development, foster a positive culture, and implement innovative strategies to attract, retain, and support top sales talent.

✔ Why is your company such a great place to work?

✔ What do you think makes it stand out from your peers?

✔ How does company culture help generate results?

✔ How has this enhanced the staff morale? Give examples of best practice.

✔ Engagement of staff through social policy.

✔ How does your company empower staff to do their jobs better? Give examples. Can you give examples of CSR activities?

✔ How do you motivate staff and reward loyalty? This can include innovative bonus/ commission schemes, extra leave, holidays, prizes etc.

✔ Please provide testimonials from sales colleagues.

Sales Manager of the Year

This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, strategic thinking and performance in managing and developing a sales team.

✔ Excellent planning: Develops, communicates and implements an effective team plan including realistic targets.

✔ Excellent management skills: Inspires, supports and motivates the sales team.

✔ Achieves consistent results across their team.

✔ What makes the nominee exceptional.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders

Sales Professional of the Year

The winner of Sales Professional of the Year will need to showcase their ability to effectively manage and execute the full 360 sales cycle over the year.

They will demonstrate their ability to:

✔ Consistently achieve and exceed sales targets and wider KPIs. Describe how these were achieved with contextual examples.

✔ Conduct a robust discovery process.

✔ Communicate their approach to expediting the sales process.

✔ Show evidence of their negotiation skills leading to closing a sale.

✔ Apply ethical conduct as part of their interactions with prospects.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders

Sales Team of the Year

A group award for sales teams in organisations.

The nomination should give evidence of:

✔ Sales focus: strong commitment to professional and ethical selling throughout the team.

✔ An effective team: works closely together, supporting each other, identifying common goals and finding common ground in order to adopt the best ideas for taking forward sales initiatives.

✔ Achieving results: demonstrates excellent sales results.

✔ What makes the team exceptional.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves, peers, or senior leaders.

Sales Training Provider of the Year

This is an Award to recognise Independent Training Providers who run/design and deliver Sales Training courses for their clients.

To enter the nomination should give evidence of:

✔ How you tailor your offer to meet client's specific requirements.

✔ How you support, inspire and motivate learners while providing evidence of how you embed continuous learning.

✔ Evidence what makes the Training Provider exceptional and how their provision has impacted on increased revenue and sales skills within the learner base.

Nominations can be submitted by the nominee themselves or their client/s.

Top Sales Influencer of the Year

This unique award recognises individuals across the sales profession who leverage Linkedin to provide thought leadership, innovation and inspiration surrounding pertinent issues within the sales profession.

To nominate yourself or a colleague CLICK HERE

This category will not be part of the wider qualitative judging process, nominees' social profiles and activity will be assessed through independent data analysis, based on the following metrics:  

Followers: Number of people following you/the nominees

Engagement: Number of mentions, shares, links and impressions of your/the nominees' posts

Reach: How many people have seen your/the nominees' posts

The ranked 'Top 100 Sales Influencers Index 2025' will be announced at the London National Sales Conference (3 July) and recognised again at the National Sales Awards ceremony (13 November), with the ultimate winner announced on stage and presented with their trophy.


YOUR JUDGES | Independent Panel

YOUR JUDGES | Panel of independent Sales Leaders

Will Matthews

Sales Ops &
Effectiveness Director

Sue Preston

Vice President,
WW Advisory

Gareth Jones

Head of
SOHO Sales

Candice
Arnold

Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

Tony Hughes

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Mike Farrell

Director of
Protection Sales

Chris Brindley MBE

Elite Sports
Business Mentor

Joel Markham

Head of Schemes Sales, Marketing & Operations

Ben Turner

Director of Membership
& Registrations

Stella Round

Performance Coach & Mental Health Ambassador

Mel Bunston

Senior Capture
Manager

Lucy Davis

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Charlotte Preston

Head of Mid Corporate Sales, London & South Regions

Will Matthews

Sales Ops &
Effectiveness Director

Sue Preston

Vice President,
WW Advisory

Gareth Jones

Head of
SOHO Sales

Candice Arnold

Chief Revenue Officer

Tony Hughes

Chief Executive Officer
(CEO)

Mike Farrell

Director of
Protection Sales

Chris Brindley MBE

Elite Sports
Business Mentor

Joel Markham

Head of Schemes Sales, Marketing & Operations

Ben Turner

Director of Membership
& Registrations

Stella Round

Performance Coach & Delegate Representative

Mel Bunston

Senior Capture
Manager

Lucy Davis

Chief Executive
Officer

Charlotte Preston

Head of Mid
Corporate Sales


DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY | Important dates for 2025

28 MARCH

Nominations Open:
(No admission fee to nominate)

30 APRIL

Webinar Bootcamp: "How To Create A Winning Nomination"

11 JULY

Nominations Close

18 JULY

Finalists Shortlist Announced

AUG - SEPT

Judging process commences to review & score the finalists' submissions.

29-30 SEPT*

Finalists will showcase their achievements (online) in an interview with the judges.

*Time slots will be allocated in advance.

13 NOV, 13.00hrs

- Networking Lunch for finalists & judges in the VIP Lounge at the National Sales Conference, Birmingham


DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS | FAQs

What period of success can be considered for submission?

The nominee's achievements considered for evaluation should be based on a 12 month period, anytime from 1 January 2024 to the present day.

What is the judging process?

Stage 1 - Following the 11 July deadline, all the nominations will be reviewed to create a shortlist of finalists. To become an awards finalist, you will need to meet specific criteria including but not limited to: relevance to the category, impact & results, innovation & creativity, supporting evidence as well as presenting your entry in a well-structured and easy-to-understand format, adhering to word count limits.
 
Stage 2 - In August & September these finalists will be scored by an independent panel of judges, out of a possible 100 score.
 
Stage 3 - To review and ensure these scores are both valid & fair the final stage will be an online interview process (approx. 30-45mins), taking place on 29-30 September. You will be allocated a time slot, but for now please block both these dates out in advance. This final stage of the judging process is compulsory.
 
The Team of Judges
  • Lincoln West will appoint a team of judges who will make an assessment of all the nominations and score each entry according to the guidelines & criteria.
  • The Judges decision is final and binding, and no correspondence will be entered into.
  • By submitting a nomination you agree to supply any additional supporting evidence or other information requested.
  • The Judges may also reallocate an entry to a different category.

Why is the judging process remote & online, as opposed to in person?

We can attract a wider pool of judges, as well as give the judges more time to review & consider the nominations. We can also mitigate factors out of the judges control for an in person judging experience, such as train strikes, weather, unforeseen personal and/or professional commitments etc.
 
In addition, by removing the costs involved with an in person judging day(s), i.e. venue, travel, catering, staffing, AV etc, we can allocate more resources to the awards ceremony itself. Thus reducing the cost to attend, providing a more enjoyable and value for money experience to everyone involved.

What networking opportunities are there?

All judges & finalists will be invited to a Networking Lunch on 13 November (13.00hrs), in the VIP Lounge at the National Sales Conference. This will provide a more relaxed opportunity to connect with peers, away from the pressures & limited time typically experienced during an in person judging experience.

At the evening Awards ceremony, we've broken tradition to combine, the Welcome Drinks & Dinner to allow more time for attendees to connect & relax, before officially taking their seats for the awards presentations. There will be a selection of themed Street Food stations to provide more choice & time to connect with other guests.

When & where is the National Sales Awards taking place?

From 18.00hrs on 13 November 2025 at the National Motorcycle Museum (Birmingham), co-located with the National Sales Conference which is taking place during the day. Carriages will be at midnight. There is free car parking at the venue and complimentary shuttle buses to official hotels. The venue is also 5mins taxi ride from Birmingham International Airport & Train Station.

How much is it to get involved?

We understand 'budget' is a consideration, but we also believe it is important to celebrate success and wins together as a team. So to help minimise resisitance from your CFO, the nomination process is FREE TO ENTER and the Awards Ceremony attendance is priced at cost - only £1,000 for a table of 10. So if you're interested in sponsoring to help support this community event, please get in touch.

Terms & Conditions

The awards will be administered by Lincoln West & National Sales Conference Team

  • All nominations are FREE to submit.
  • Deadline for submitting your nomination form is 11 July at 23.59hrs
  • Please submit your completed nomination via the online form, which you will receive confirmation of receipt. Hard copy nominations will not be accepted.
  • Lincoln West will not be liable for delayed, lost or damaged/corrupt entries, documents or files.
  • ​After the nomination’s deadline, our Judges* will review your submission and select the shortlist of finalists.
  • Finalists shortlist will be announced on 18 July. If you have not heard from us by the 1st August your nominee has not been short-listed.
  • All finalists will be invited to an online interview, to present and talk about their entry in front of three category judges within a 45 min time allocation. This will take place on 29-30 September 2025.
  • Please be sure that your nominee can attend the online judging days of 29-30 September 2025.
  • By submitting your entry you are confirming that the information it contains is correct. If the information submitted is found to be inaccurate your nominee will be disqualified.
  • Finalists are obliged to commit to attending the awards ceremony on the 13th November 2025 in Birmingham. If a finalist is unable to attend the awards ceremony, a representative from their company must attend in their place. Book your table HERE
  • All winners will be announced on stage and invited to collect their trophy at the awards ceremony.

*All judges are independent to the National Sales Awards team to ensure ethical and impartiality standards are upheld. Also, our Head judge will oversee the whole judging process to maintain quality and fairness.


SUPPORTING PARTNERS


YOUR PINK CARPET AWAITS

National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, 13 November 2025