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Darren Garland

ProVu Named Distributor of the Year 2022

We were ecstatic to be awarded the Distributor of the Year (SMB) award at the Comms Business Awards recently . We’re incredibly proud of our team and wanted to share some of the key achievements which helped us to secure this prestigious gong.

A part of ProVu’s marketing strategy is to enter the various awards that are open to the Comms and IT Channel. As a company that is committed to working and supporting the Channel, we view it as a great way to get our brand out there. The other obvious benefit is that myself and the team get to put our glad rags on and meet and socialise with our customers, our industry friends and hopefully meet poitential new customers too. On occasion we win an award and that makes the whole thing all the sweeter!

2022 has been an extraordinary year for ProVu so far, we have attended 3 award ceremonies and won 4 awards, in my 12 years at the helm of ProVu I cannot ever remember us being this successful before. These awards have been judged by a mixture of judging panels and some by members of the Channel; taking the time to vote for us.

We commit a lot of time and effort into submitting our award entries and clearly, right now we are doing something right and striking a chord with the Channel and the judges. I thought it would be good to share in this blog post some of the things we have been talking about. You might be reading this as a customer, potential customer, a supplier, or even a future employee, whoever you are, let me share with you a snippet of what’s contributed to our success over the last 12 months.

For those who don’t know us, we have been distributing VoIP hardware for 23 years, so we’ve been around a while. We’ve come a long way in our over the years but we still stay true to our company values; our customers, suppliers and our team.

Our Customers

We are constantly raising the bar when it comes to the services we provide to our customers. We know that our partners’ needs and requirements differ between each other. Therefore, we work closely with them to develop the services which add true value to their business.

We have a wide range of additional services that we offer to our customers and over the last 12 months we have supplemented those with the following new services:

  • Hold customer owned stock
  • Secure 0% flexible finance options
  • Develop bespoke API features to enable a seamless integration of systems
  • Design and source bespoke packaging for orders to be shipped in
  • Host a series of new virtual training courses
  • Assist with the design and installation of full-scale solutions
  • Provide remote technical support for complex installs and interoperability testing
  • Take new product sets and brands on-board

+ much more

Since the shift to hybrid working, it has become increasingly important for resellers to be able to maintain their brand through every step of the customer journey. This includes shipping orders in branded packaging, including customer-owned flyers, gifts in parcels and developing unique ordering codes for our customers to let us know what to include in their packages. This personalised approach enables our partners to create the journey they desire.

Our Suppliers

We hold long-standing relationships with many of the world’s leading manufacturers. These relationships have proved invaluable over the last 12 months. The global chip shortage has affected stock levels of many products throughout the world. Through our excellent relationships with our vendor partners, we have not only minimised disruption to our customers but also allowed us to understand the market and how it will be affected .

Our People

I am the biggest fan of the team at ProVu, they work incredibly hard to keep our customers happy, going beyond what is expected without hesitation. They all contribute to the services and performance of the company. Our low churn rate of staff is testament to the environment we have created, the opportunities we provide and their dedication to the Channel and our customers. ProVu customers don’t only get to deal with people who are incredibly knowledgeable, they also get to speak to the same people which is an important contributing factor to the overall experience and the relationships we hold with both our customers and vendor partners.

Despite the challenges the chip shortage and pandemic have caused, our team’s knowledge has enabled our customers to make more informed decisions and ensure a continued supply.

It’s been an amazing year so far and none of it would have been possible without our customers, suppliers and most of all our Team. So to you all, I would like to thank you for your continued support.

Not yet a registered partner? We’re all ears! Get in touch today to discuss how we can support you and your business. Whatever your requirements, we’ve got your back.

ProVu Celebrate Double Award Win!

Last year our Sales Director, Ian Godfrey and I attended the Comms Dealer Sales and Marketing Awards for the first time. ProVu had been nominated for the Distributor Channel Account team of the Year, unfortunately we did not win but I had a moment of clarity whilst there; if we entered more award categories we would probably stand a better chance of winning an award. Not rocket science, I know but sometimes the obvious isn’t immediately clear.

Roll forward a year and after much hard work and many re-writes and alterations we had strong entries in three different categories. April arrived and we found out we had been shortlisted in all three categories, Distributor Channel Account Team of the Year, Distributor Channel Marketing Team of the Year and Distributor Channel Marketing Campaign of the Year. So far so good, my theory was working. Never being over confident about these things we then made lots of PR noise about our treble nomination as I told the team it will be “old news” when someone else has won them.

Did I really think we stood a chance, to be honest no. ProVu is a very successful company that is growing at a pace, but we are still a minnow on the distribution landscape. The figures we talk about in our award submissions I am certain could be delivered by one department in a quarter for the larger distributors. On the plus side we are recognised as experts in our field with our fairly unique product mix and value added services. Was that going to be enough, we would have to wait and see.

So the big day came, Marketing Manager, Kate Stolworthy and Sales Account Manager, Anna Marzec-Smith and I travelled down to London to attend the awards. The awards took place at the Park Lane Hotel where we shared a table with our friends from Voiceflex and had a very pleasant lunch. The awards were hosted by sports presenter, Dan Walker of Football Focus Fame and latterly Breakfast TV. I have to say, he was good, he kept what was becoming a loud crowd in order with some great banter and put downs. He informed us that the hotel’s gents toilets had been part of the film set for the Bond film Casino Royale and then regaled us with a story of immense courage of a Japanese Gymnast called Shun Fujimoto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shun_Fujimoto).

The Distributor category awards were the first to be announced. Much to my absolute surprise we won the first award for Channel Account Team of the Year. We went up on stage, grabbed the award, had our photo taken and I was a happy man – it had all been worthwhile. On the way back to my seat I came across various customers and vendors who were passing on their congratulations and were shaking my hand. I had literally just sat down when ProVu were called up again as winners of the Marketing Team of the Year award and we did the whole thing again. I was asked to say a few words this time on ProVu’s success, I waffled on for about 20 seconds and then the microphone was firmly, but politely taken from me. I cannot really remember what I said except that it was all down to the superb team at ProVu. By the time they announced the third category Dan teased us with the name of the winner beginning with a ‘P’, we didn’t manage the hat-trick, but we were named ‘Highly Commended’ in the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award, which was won by Pragma Distribution – congratulations to them! The remainder of the day passed in a flash of fun and laughter, we took a tactical call to extend on the celebrations and not return home that evening, returning to the office the next day and I am delighted to say still with our awards in hand.

So why did we win, there is clearly something to my law of averages theory, but I think ultimately you need good facts and figures that demonstrate a successful story. The successful story comes from having great staff that are dedicated to the company and make that success happen. It is also made a great deal easier if you have good vendors that support you and a great customer base who help you along the way. We are fortunate at ProVu to have all three of these elements.

So to everyone involved in ProVu’s success be it the great team at ProVu, our vendors or our customers I would like to express my sincerest thanks.

Darren

provu-team_r

Distributor of the Year award

A few months ago ProVu were nominated along with 25 other companies for the Comms Business Distributor of the Year Award. ProVu have never really been involved in anything like this before and there was a ripple of excitement around the office when we were nominated. We decided that we should ask our customers if they would be kind enough to vote for us to give us the best shot of being short listed for the award. Unlike most of the awards at this event the winner is decided by a readers vote and not by a panel of judges.

I have to say I was extremely sceptical about our chances of winning. If you do not know, ProVu are a niche distribution house specialising in VoIP and although we are successful and growing we are a relatively small company compared to some of the fellow entrants for the award. Because of our size I felt it was an extremely long shot for us to be able to out gun the competition on customer votes.

To our surprise and delight a few weeks ago we found out we had been short listed into the finals along with 4 other distributors. There was much talk in the office about what are chances were and who was going to get to go to the awards to see Jimmy Carr! I was working out the best way of leveraging any PR we could make out of being short listed. I think at one point I said to the team; we have only a few weeks to make the most out of this news as when someone else wins it will be very old news.

So on Thursday evening last week, Ian Godfrey (ProVu Founder and Sales Director) and I were sat in the ball room of the Lancaster Hotel in London for the awards. Much to the disappointment of some of the team we had pulled rank and decided we were going. For both of us it was our first time at the awards, I was a little surprised at the scale of the event, there was a lot of people in the room and it looked just like the type of awards ceremony you see on the TV, with big screens, auto cues, a camera crew etc etc. We had a great meal, Jimmy Carr did a great set and then we won, for those sat on our table they can probably verify that it was a bit of a surprise. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but we managed to get the trophy back to the office the next day and raise a glass with the team.

I have spent the weekend mulling over how we could have possibly won and I have come to a rather pleasing conclusion and that is we must care very much about our customers and in return they care enough about us to make this award happen for us, which makes me very happy indeed.

I did not get the chance to make a speech when we picked up our awards and so I have chosen this blog post as the vehicle for my thanks, so:

To the ProVu Team I would say a huge thanks for all your commitment, dedication and hard work and if this award teaches us one thing it is to remember our business is all about the customers, because without them we would be nowhere. So please keep it up.

To our customers I would just like to say – Thank you, we are very grateful.

Darren