Cisco, Cvent, RW Murray, CapRelo, immixGroup Win Institute for Excellence in Sales & Business Deve

VIENNA, Va. - May 7, 2014 - PRLog -- The Institute for Excellence in Sales & Business Development (IES&BD) announced today the five winners of the 2014 IES&BD Awards, often referred to as the “Oscars” for corporate and organizational sales & business development operational excellence. The awards were presented at a breakfast event on Thursday, May 1 at the Gannett/USA Today building in Tyson’s Corner, Va. Best-selling author Ian Altman was the keynote speaker at the breakfast event.

The annual lifetime achievement award went to Bruce Klein, senior vice president of Cisco’s Worldwide Partner Organization. Cisco’s global partner ecosystem, which includes systems integrators, value-added resellers, distributors, services partners, independent software vendors, and technology partners, accounts for more than 80 percent of Cisco’s revenue. Anne Altman, general manager for IBM’s Federal Sales Division and the 2013 IES&BD Lifetime Achievement Winner, presented the award to Klein.

Carahsoft President Craig P. Abod received the IES&BD Executive Director’s Award in recognition of his firm’s remarkable revenue growth. In just 10 years, Abod has grown the company from $0 to $1.8 billion, generating more than $6.7 billion in total revenue over that period.

Both Klein and Abod were honored with a Congressional Order by Congressman Gerald Connolly that recognized her achievements. Over 220 sales and business development leaders in the Mid-Atlantic region were in attendance.

“We are honored to recognize the 2014 IES&BD winners who have demonstrated operational excellence across the sales and business development lifecycle,” said Fred Diamond, founder of the IES&BD and president of the noted marketing consulting firm DIAMOND Strategic Marketing. “The winners and finalists ranged from Fortune 50 companies to high-growth, high-energy firms. We were very impressed by the level of commitment and excellence these firms had in the operational areas of sales and BD.”

The winners are:

Excellence in Sales Innovation: Cisco
Excellence in Sales Training: Cvent
Excellence in Team Building, Management and Development: RW Murray
Excellence in Customer Partnering: CapRelo
Excellence in Alliance Management: immixGroup

The winners were selected from a large pool of nominees by an independent panel of expert judges for their commitment to excellence in the above sales & business development categories. Diamond also announced that a portion of the proceeds from the event would be donated to the Northern Virginia Family Service (NVFS). The IES&BD also announced that its monthly workshop program for sales and BD professionals, as well as service professionals and business owners who need to sell better, will continue on June 13 with Jill Konrath’s  "Fresh Sales Strategies for Today’s Crazy-Busy Buyer"at the Gannett Conference Center in McLean. For membership information, please visit http://i4esbd.org/membership/.

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About the Institute for Excellence in Sales & Business Development

The IES&BD was co-founded by marketing guru Fred Diamond of DIAMOND Strategic Marketing to recognize corporate and organizational sales & business operational excellence, and promote best practices and thought leadership. Diamond is recognized as the leading go-to-market strategy consultant in the Mid-Atlantic Region to growing high-tech and professional services firms and has helped numerous organizations grow their sales efforts through excellence in go-to-market strategy at organizations ranging from Apple, Compaq and Microsoft to growing stars such as Contact Solutions, Clovis Group, and PVBS.

The IES&BD promotes best practices across all operational areas in Sales & Business Development. IES&BD provides education, recognition, research, thought leadership, insights, and strategies for enabling Sales & Business Development leadership, development, and excellence. The keystone program is the annual IES&BD awards, which recognizes achievement in corporate and organization sales initiatives, such as training, team building, sales management, and customer partnering. Learn more about the IES&BD at www.i4esbd.org or by calling 888.443.9943.