Derek Traquair: Thanks Martech! I'd like to tell a story of where a young sales entrepreneur takes his time off thanks to Martech's MVP program. Angela and I are avid snowboarders and when Martech told us that we could go anywhere for our hot button experience, we packed up the car and went to the mountains!

There was a snow storm as we drove west . We were sent through the mountains in convoys and after arriving, found out that Parks and Recreation had closed the highway behind us. Close call! Fortunately, we made it to Panorama Mountain Village safe, sound and ready for some snowboarding! The views were amazing. Especially from the mountain summit.

Getting DOWN from the mountain was another issue entirely, however. Suffice to say, I took the only blue run from the summit. This picture was followed by several falls and minor injuries. The weather was beautiful on the mountain. Lots of great powder and plenty of chances to relax. And, of course, we made a few friends on the trip as well! Thanks Martech!

Question: How did you make the progression from MVP1 to MVP2?
Answer: My MVP program requirements are weighted towards planning quarterly sales objectives and daily activities. The best point gain that I had from MVP1 to MVP2 was simply from a continued effort to work the strategic plan of pre-planned sales calls and continuing to offer value to our customers with each sales call.

The mind map continues to be an effective tool for keeping my calendar and goals organized and a useful reminder of a need to get back on track when needed. Once the goals are established, working the plan becomes easy.

Reporting on time, continued sales call value add and "changing the way customers do business" were the measures that I used to achieve the points to MVP2. Martech is now established as a resource to an additional end user and we are well positioned to aggressively grow sales with that customer for many years to come.

Thanks for the MVP award and bonus of the park passes into Disney. We had a fabulous time. Thought I would share a picture of me with the big cheese!

Each of the paths had some components were you could earn points just by doing your day to day job dilligently, however all of the roads required extra effort and growth in yourself to achieve things you had not thought of before.

I chose to look at the MVP program as a way to help me become better at my chosen profession of sales, and what becoming better at my craft would bring towards my customers, myself and my family. To achieve my CTS industry certification I picked a time that I wanted to achieve this by, Dec 2007. In order to attain the knowledge I signed up and completed online courses and worked on these 1 hour per night. This took about 4 weeks and then I challenged the exam and passed - 2 points.

To achieve my goal of 4 books in a year I started a program of getting up 1/2 hour earlier each day and starting out my day by reading sales and industry training books. In the course of a year I have already read 7 books - 2 points.

The last part of the program for me was the most difficult in that I had to ask my customers to determine what type of value I bring to the table. This ended up being a big eye opener for me in seeing how my customers truly appreciate the effort that I put in on their behalf - 4 points.

In undertaking the MVP program, I have found that it has instilled habits that are continually reaping me rewards both at work and in my personal life. Ultimately, I am finding that working towards MVP 1 has pulled me to level that I wasn't on before. What was once an effort is now a habit, and the thought process has begun that I now want to add more new and better habits into my day to day life.

Question: How did I achieve MVP 1 and how did that add value to our customers?
Answer: Very simple - by doing my job in a very pre-planned and methodical fashion.

Reviewing my quarterly planner as a working document enables me to ensure that I keep "on track" with weekly and monthly goals. This planner is the single most effective tool I have for preparing for and accomplishing my goals and objectives. Doing a quick review of the objectives I am trying to achieve for the quarter is easily transferred into a call list for appointments and to-do's for the week. As distractions occur, I continue to keep focused on the goals and objectives that are set out in the mind map.

The customer gets the most benefit by ensuring that each sales call is pre-planned with an agenda to move sales and market share up or forward. By going on each call with a goal in mind, I was able to achieve my monthly targets and goals. I believe the customers appreciated the approach of a value add call each time I met with them.

An example of how I've used the planning tool would be my success with the Edmonton Public School Board. In meeting with the management of the school board, my approach was to focus on providing true value to the customer by first understanding their goals and their problems as it related to their accomplishing their lighting goals. My focus was to detail that our value add was to put to work Martech's experience, credibility, product quality, and resources to provide options to satisfy the school boards needs. I was able to introduce the customer's management team to several options that resulted in specifications that led to two tenders.

The client appreciated having a credible option to replacing existing lighting systems and that the solution Martech provided satisfied the school board's performance objectives and produced a significant cost saving. Vincent O'Brien and Martech are now established as a resource for the EPSB and will continue to receive opportunities as a "go to"; problem solver and resource.

He was especially interested in what my "hot button" experience would be for MVP1 and what a great idea it was to have a dollar value attached to it, but have the criteria of spending the money on an experience or event.

Some of Larry's comments:
"I like the MVP Program. I see a lot of added valve from all perspectives. From your company perspective, establishing measurable attainable goals over a five step program ensures continued growth and excitement on behalf of their sales team. Attaining the 5th reward level, although attainable, would stretch the individual beyond and outside of many comfort levels. Sales people like to make money and or be awarded for their efforts. Incentives are great."

"From a customer perspective it is impressive to know that my vendors are tying knowledge base training to a rewards program. I feel the benefit as the your knowledge transfers to my knowledge either directly or through links that you forwarded to me or the recommendation of a book you have read or in Lunch & Learn sessions which we completed last week."