Recognizing Marketing’s Finest
Here we present all of this year’s winning submissions, highlighting a different category each week.
SELLING TOOL /
Distributor Less Than $100M
Atlantic Coast Electric Supply
The ACES Solution Guide
The ACES Solution Guide was developed to present the products and product categories represented by Atlantic Coast Electric Supply to its three primary targets: customers, associates, and suppliers. Each issue is produced in compliance with a detailed schedule of product selection, graphic design, publication, and distribution so that it is in locations and associates’ hands by the first of the month (distributed bi-monthly). A direct-mail strategy that encompasses the existing account list, along with additional distribution to specific individuals within those accounts, is utilized. The publication is displayed at each counter location and outside sales personnel are provided copies to be hand-carried to pre-targeted customers or individuals; it is also available for reference at the workstation of each inside sales associate and copies are provided to drivers for distribution at individual jobsites. The items within the publication are featured on ACES’s four Facebook sites, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram and PDF copies are downloadable from the company website.
FROM THE JUDGES: “This is a strong, well-done sales tool. Good content with solid metrics.”
Distributor $101M to $400M
Granite City Electric Supply
Residential Renovations Catalogs
Granite City Electric designed the Residential Renovations Catalogs for its residential electrical customers to keep at their jobsites or in their vehicles for quick access to products and bring brand and service awareness. Spring and Fall editions were printed (7,500 copies each), with 50 to 100 copies sent to each outside sales rep. The catalogs offered online ordering capabilities along with the ability to add catalogs to an order through Eclipse. They were promoted via the website, customer email blasts, and social media and used as event giveaways, and a URL was created for digital access.
FROM THE JUDGES: “I like how this is very focused and simple, but also innovative. I also liked the clever ‘money maker’ icon—I think users would really appreciate that feature. It’s a well-done, well-executed catalog.”
Distributor $401M to $700M
Summit Electric Supply
Southwest Lighting Guide
While not all Summit locations carry the same lighting products or brands, four of its service centers are on an interconnected, regular, one- to two- business day delivery schedule. To position this delivery service between sites as a way to showcase greater lighting product availability to local customers, Summit developed a 20-page Southwest Lighting Guide highlighting lighting stock inventory across the four service centers. For each lighting product, the catalog indicates if it is stocked or available for one- to two-day delivery based on customer location. The printed catalogs were distributed across the four service centers, and a PDF of the guide was added to the “Locations” section of summit.com for each of the four centers.
FROM THE JUDGES: “Simple but effective. I love how these are focused on the customer and customized to each location. It’s a good strategy—and as a selling tool, that’s what sold it for me!”
Distributor More Than $700M
McNaughton-McKay
In-Service Warranty Tag
McNaughton-McKay’s Channel Asset Management Program (CHAMP) repair program provides white-glove service to many of its repair customers. One of the solutions it offers is an in-service warranty, managed through in-service warranty tags. The tag originated by Rockwell Automation in 2018; in 2019 the tag was updated to a 3M removable sticky-note-type paper. In 2021, the tag was redesigned with a custom sticky-note model with adhesive at the top and bottom and the installed date information was added. McNaughton-McKay’s logo on the tag provides added branding—a quick reminder that when something needs to be repaired, the customer can call McNaughton-McKay.
FROM THE JUDGES: “This is marketing material without being overtly so. Super effective, simple, and straight for- ward. It’s not only a brilliant and wonderful service to offer, but also great customer PR marketed perfectly.”
Supplier Less Than $250M
Robroy Industries
vPlaybooks
Robroy’s vPlaybook is an interactive sales enablement tool that offers the ability to deliver a video-based experience for sales reps, helping improve their knowledge and performance. The effort involved the entire sales and marketing team along with an executive sponsor. Robroy also invited in a panel of top-performing sales rep firms to help better understand their challenges in the field. A two-day workshop was held to help define what makes the product line unique, the nuances that come along with selling the products, customer interaction tools, and more. From there the Robroy team developed training content and transformed it into engaging learning material with videos of top-performing reps and thought leaders.
FROM THE JUDGES: “So much research went into this. It’s a really well-thought-out and effective sales tool.”
Supplier Less Than $250M
Robroy Industries
Stainless Sample Kit
Robroy sought to provide a selling tool that its reps could use to help end customers select the proper conduit system to be used based on their environmental conditions. Because Robroy Stainless provides two unique product families to best fit the needs of a customer’s environment—a traditional product solution for the harshest corrosive environments and a hygienic product solution for corrosive environments with sanitary concerns—both product lines are featured in one kit to make the selection process easier. Kits were assembled and sent to each rep firm so sales reps could show how the product lines differ not only from each other, but also from other similar products on the market.
FROM THE JUDGES: “A well-laid-out kit that is so comprehensive, organized, and attractive. I love any time a manufacturer can get a product into the customers’ hands. Well done.”
Supplier More Than $250M
ABB Electrification
InControl & Technical Tuesday Webinar Series
Recognizing the demand for education, professional development, and the maintenance of professional licenses did- n’t wane in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ABB’s Electrification Products business created two technical webinar series for engineers/consultants designing and specifying complex electrical systems for OEMs and end-user clients. The InControl (OEM) and Technical Tuesday (consultant) webinar series—offered every other week in both the Spring and Fall—covered timely topics and were professional development hour eligible. Topics, including subject matter expert presenters, were detailed in the invites and on the registration site; the user-friendly ON24 webinar platform provided participation from any device; next-day, on-demand availability was available for easy sharing by sales teams and channel partners; and an online webinar center provided for access to both series. The series was promoted via banner ads, social media posts, e- blasts, and a marketing automation nurture campaign.
FROM THE JUDGES: “This is really comprehensive marketing that produces very good results. The content had staying power and I like that it was accessible from any device.”
Tagged with awards, Best of the Best, marketing