“Sales, technical and software performance, as well as support are all essential factors to any successful installation and ongoing relationship. When you package this into the bizhub brand, which has a strong presence in the South African market, you are already at an advantage,” says Richard Townsend, sales executive at Bidvest company, Konica Minolta South Africa. He should know.
As the top sales performer in Africa and the fifth top sales executive in the world, Townsend has been acknowledged for his outstanding performance in colour bizhub sales, at Konica Minolta Business Technologies in Kyoto, Japan.
Townsend, who has been with Konica Minolta South Africa for six years, says he has learnt that it takes time to develop accounts, build and cement relationships, and succeed with repeat and new orders. “It is never an individual effort either. One works within a team, which provides a resource of skills and experience to draw on from different fields and management levels.”
Konica Minolta Business Technologies has been recognising top performers in sales for the past four years. In all four years, Konica Minolta South Africa has produced a winner in the colour bizhub incentive programme, which runs from 1 October to 31 March each year to coincide with the second half of Japan's financial year.
Thirty-six countries from around the world are represented in the incentive programme, and Japan rewards the top 100 with a gift and certificate.
“As a company, we perform at the very top in terms of product, people, support and effort. We are extremely proud that Konica Minolta South Africa can once again boast with nine top performers in the top 100 club - in fact, we had two in the top 10 - especially when considering the tough financial year experienced by South Africa and Africa, owing to the lag effect of the recent economic crisis. An outstanding achievement, indeed,” says Konica Minolta South Africa MD, Alan Griffith.
He adds: “Townsend's dedication and attention to detail set him apart from the others, in that any implementation he takes part in, you can rest assured, it will be flawless.
“Being singled out as one of the top performers in an international company was a real honour, and the opportunity to travel to Japan was a wonderful reward. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” concludes Townsend.
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Konica Minolta South Africa
Konica Minolta South Africa, wholly owned by the Bidvest Group, stands at the forefront of business solution providers as the principal importer and distributor of the innovative and award winning Konica Minolta range of bizhub digital multifunctional colour and black-and-white devices, laser printers, fax machines and business solutions, into South Africa as well as Namibia, Malawi, Botswana and Swaziland. Konica Minolta South Africa's head office is based in Johannesburg and its distribution network is supported by 14 branches and 43 dealerships. With an operational stance of consultative business partnering, the group provides clients with holistic document management solutions: through pre-sales analysis, audits to sales, installation, ongoing onsite technical and software management as well as the supply of spare parts and consumables.
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