Monday 2nd December 2019
Bestway scoops three awards at the FWD Gold Medal Awards
Bestway Wholesale is on a winning streak, scooping three awards at the prestigious FWD Gold Medal Awards in London, on 28th November.
The company also had a further two colleagues shortlisted in the top three for their category, having come out top during a country-wide selection process.
The awards took place at Old Billingsgate, with over 700 people from across the wholesale industry turning out to celebrate.
The first win of the night was for ‘Wholesale service to retailers’ with the winning entry stating: ‘Bestway’s hub structure has given depot managers flexibility with localised promotions, while online sales are boosted by the new best-one website with individual homepages for each store. A multi-million-pound investment in store refits saw 273 best-one stores and many others benefit from new standards.’
This followed with two awards where Bestway colleagues made the top three, travelling down from the Edinburgh Newbridge depot and telesales team in Perth to celebrate on the night:
‘Telesales Star’ – Pamela Whytock– ‘Dealing with a vast quantity of calls, Pamela can be relied upon to turn a negative customer experience into a positive one, with the personality, communications skills and product knowledge to keep everyone happy. Making over a hundred calls a day, she upsold over £25k this year.’
‘Star Driver’ – Derek Simpson – ‘Newbridge-based Derek goes well beyond the role of delivery driver – he’s sales driver too, looking after the interests of both his company and his customers. customers phone in specifically to request him for their deliveries, his product knowledge is a great asset and he combines an instinctive commercial approach with tireless enthusiasm.’
Moving on to ‘Depot manager of the year’, Atif Raza of Bestway Leeds made it to the top and was crowned the winner, described as ‘Completely transforming the Bestway Leeds depot resulting in an incredible uplift in performance and additional sales over the last year. New ways of working have driven category growth and increased customer numbers significantly.’
The final award for the whole evening was for ‘Young wholesaler of the year’. Perhaps the most sought-after award, with all winners since the awards began being listed in a ‘hall of fame’ at the Federation of Wholesale Distributors head office.
This prize went to Salih Sheikh for his work as Head of Marketing and Digital over the past six years. ‘Salih oversaw the launch of Bestway’s first CRM system and introduced apps for the pet and foodservice divisions and relaunched the wholesaler app and website. Digital revenue has grown by 20% in the last year, taking it to 235 of total business. He is described as a ‘shining star who has revolutionised an entire function and become the go-to voice for digital within wholesale.’’
A full list of winners can be fund here; www.fwd.co.uk/events/fwd-gold-medal-awards/