Our sales and marketing professionals are what drive our companies to success, and when they win, the entire team wins. Every small victory is worthy of celebration when you’re driving down the bottom line but some stand out high above the rest. Here are the hardest hitting sales and marketing professionals of 2019.

Sales Professional of the Year

Andrew DeLaMare
Sales Director of Key Accounts | OptConnect

When Andrew DeLaMare joined OptConnect in 2012, he has proved time and time again to be a leader, mentor, and a respected authority in sales. Driving over 50 percent of all company sales, he has increased 2018 sales by 10 percent and increased the number of product services sold by 118 percent since 2017. For one product in particular, OptReboot, Mr. DeLaMare increased sales by 774 percent in 2018. And during the summer SIM Campaign, he outsold all other sales associates 100 to one. “I initially didn’t think I would do well in sales,” Mr. DeLaMare says, but he’s since proven himself wrong. “I doubted myself and that I could make a viable career out of this. But I’ve surprised myself in how invested I’ve become.”

On top of his own accomplishments, Mr. DeLaMare believes in taking the time to care for his team. “Andrew has truly been a pillar in the sales department here at OptConnect,” says Miranda Romero, marketing coordinator at OptConnect. “He always puts his team first, no matter what.” After meeting his own monthly quotas, he works to support the remaining team quota. “Each day I go to work, I am excited about a number of opportunities I’m working on,” he says. “It’s rewarding to see a partnership flourish and know you had a part in that development.”

Barry Roberts
Senior Business Advisor | G&A Partners

While Barry Roberts, senior business advisor with G&A Partners, believes he just woke up one morning in a sales career, he hasn’t gotten to where he is today without hard work. Not only has he been the number one salesperson for five of the last seven years, but he also holds the sales record for highest volume closed in a single year by any sales rep in G&A history. From 2011 to 2017, he closed twice as much new business as any other member of the G&A sales organization. “Sales isn’t a unique skill set. It’s innate in every interaction we have. Some of us just get paid to do it,” says Mr. Roberts.

Over the last 18 months, Mr. Roberts’ direct sales efforts have allowed his team to add 51 new clients and $54 million in payroll volume, providing new means to hire new talent, grow recognition, and even acquire new competitors along the way. “It’s all about challenging the status quo,” he says. “The challenge is acknowledging your solution isn’t designed for everyone, and the reward is finding those that you can help.”

Bryce Blanchard
Principal/Executive Director of Investments | Newmark Grubb ACRES

Bryce Blanchard began his career at Newmark Grubb ACRES in 1999 focusing on investment sales and quickly rose to become a partner at the firm. In his 20 year career, he has been Responsible for over $3.3 billion in more than 400 transactions, his productivity has landed him on Newmark’s Top 10 Agents list for the last 15 years, being awarded Agent of the Year in 2017. In 2018, he brokered one of the largest industrial investment transactions in Utah’s history ―worth just over $91 million―and has had a record setting year.

Mr. Blanchard says, “Growing up in a family with eight children, I developed the ability to be persuasive.  Later, at our graduating ceremony for my MBA program, I was voted “most likely to sell ice to Eskimos”.  Mr. Blanchard gives maximum effort in all of his ventures, from real estate investment sales to volunteer work, offering his time as a leader and coach in local youth organizations, and recently serving as President of the Utah Jazz 100 Club.

 

Claire Larson
Director of Sales & Marketing | Woodside Homes, Utah

Claire Larson started her career in sales and marketing twenty-five years ago and has no intention of looking back. “Marketing has changed so much in the last 10, 20, 30 years, and it’s so exciting to learn and grow as our industry evolves,” she says. “I’m still here after so many years because I enjoy a bright idea.” As the director of sales and marketing at Woodside Homes, her goal is to build a passionate team of professionals.

Ms. Larson has been instrumental in engaging with the community, helping to orchestrate Woodside Homes’  leap partnership with the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. She is also an active member of the Salt Lake, Utah County, Northern Wasatch, and Park City Board of Realtors. She works hard to spread her enthusiasm in sales and real estate. “I see value in growing people,” she says, referring both to employees at Woodside as well as her customers. Aside from serving on several Board of Realtors, Ms. Larson also regularly volunteers at Intermountain Donor Services, the American Heart Association, and Habitat for Humanity.

Doug Robinson
CEO | LGCY Power

With more than twelve years of experience building, leading, and motivating sales teams, Doug Robinson, cofounder and CEO at LGCY Power, knows what it takes to be a successful salesman.  But what helps him the most is believing in the value of his product. “For me, the rewards are seeing the impact on people’s lives, both employees and customers. I believe we are all far more capable than we allow ourselves to be.”

Since founding the company in 2014, LGCY Power, a leader in direct-sales for solar power, has succeeded largely in part to Mr. Robinson’s dedication. 2018 solar sales, and specifically solar installations increased more than 40 percent, and their Net Promoter Score, which gauges a customer’s satisfaction and brand loyalty, is ranked at 72, higher than other companies like Netflix or Zappos. The building that brand awareness and customer loyalty has been one of Mr. Robinson’s biggest accomplishments. And he believes that adding value and really believing in the product is what helps drives sales the most. “Dollars follow value,” he says. “People should focus on adding value, not money.”

Zachary Haycock
Manager of Client Strategy | Big Leap

“I started off selling sunglasses at the Provo Mall in high school,” says Zachary Haycock, manager of client strategy at Big Leap. “Growing up, my mom always told me I would be a lawyer because I love to debate. But a sales career has given me the opportunity to stay motivated and see results.” And since starting at Big Leap, Mr. Haycock has seen nothing but results. During his first year, he brought in $720,000 alone and in 2018 he was on track to bring in $1.3 million. He even brought on a pest control client that, after one year, receives an average of 700 leads a month with $2.20 per acquisition―rates that are practically unheard of in the pest control industry.

As the manager of client strategy, Mr. Haycock has the opportunity to meet many different business owners in many different industries. “It is so fulfilling to see how the plans my team and I implement can really affect the organizations we work with,” he says, looking forward to the opportunities they can face together. “Sales has made me completely uncomfortable with mediocrity. I will forever be grateful for that.”

Zach Richardson
Managing Director | UNIPIXEL

Over the past year managing director, Zach Richardson has changed the landscape at UNIPIXEL. Projected to break 1,000 small business clients by the end of Q1 2019, Mr. Richardson has pushed UNIPIXEL to become the number one one-stop shop for design services. “If I had to pick one thing I’m particularly proud of in 2018, it would be increasing our sales so much that we had to almost double our staff,” says Mr. Richardson. Thanks to Mr. Richardson’s efforts, they have no intention of stopping that growth anytime soon. “This has been a busy, but exciting year.”

Mr. Richardson has worked hard to grow brand recognition within the design space, working hard on major partnerships with MOO.com, Unbounce.com, and Growable.com, among others. As a result of these partnerships, UNIPIXEL is now able to offer six separate product offerings as well as a partner program. And Mr. Richardson strives to continue building solid, reliable partnerships. “I think some people outside our profession still have a bias toward people in our industry,” Mr. Richardson says. “But the truth is that good salespeople focus their effort into helping customers solve their problems.”

Marketing Professional of the Year

Francisco Terreros
Chief Marketing Officer/Head of Soccer | SBX Group

“I started my career as an intern for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games,” says Francisco Terreros, when asked where he was first exposed to sports marketing. “I’ve always been drawn to the creativity and excitement around a good marketing campaign. Those ‘aha’ moments are really exciting.” Since working with the Olympics, Mr. Terreros has continued to work with various professional sports teams, brands, and agencies. He even founded his own sports and entertainment agency in 2012, Os Group, representing soccer players around the world.

Now, as chief marketing officer at SBX Group, he oversees the firm’s marketing and PR departments, as well as managing all of the agency’s soccer professionals. And in 2018, he led the firm from ideation to execution of an extremely successful rebrand. Since the rebrand, SBX Group has increased its revenue by 47 percent, acquired prolific new clients, and has seen immediate success in its seamless transition. “In the sports industry, the biggest challenge is competing against giant firms,” Mr. Terreros says. But he’s determined to continue to disrupt the notion that only big agencies can be successful. “My daily motivation is knowing that we, a midsize shop, can do a better job than giant firms.”

Lianna Kinard
Vice President of Marketing | Buckner

Since arriving at Buckner in 2016, Lianna Kinard has proved herself to be an extremely valuable asset. Nationally ranked at number 96 in the top 100 insurance agencies prior to her joining the firm, she has been instrumental in helping Buckner jump up twenty-three spots, within just two years. “My primary goal is to help establish Buckner as one of the top insurance agencies in the West,” says Ms. Kinnard.

During her time with Buckner, Ms. Kinard has implemented several new initiatives, including Buckner Cares, a brand charity division that gives the company an opportunity to serve the people in their community, and Buckner Connect, a brand networking component. “A lot of people think insurance is boring,” Ms. Kinard says. But she’s determined to prove those people wrong. Through Buckner Connect, she works to bring executives from top accounts together to network. “I was even able to host a cyber-inspired lecture with Frank Abagnale, of Catch Me if You Can fame. We brought in a con man to help clients realize how important insurance is.” Her enthusiasm for her work even spills over to her clients and has helped her achieve national recognition.

Lindsay Bayuk
VP of Product Marketing | Pluralsight

Highly sought after for her deep SaaS expertise, Lindsay Bayuk joined Pluralsight in 2016 as the company’s first vice president of product marketing. Founding the product marketing function that now thrives at Pluralsight, she has built and leads a team of nine, transforming the company’s B2C messaging and positioning it to support a B2B model as it rapidly expands. “I’m most proud of the team I’ve built,” Ms. Bayuk says. “I love what we’ve created with the Pluralsight family.”

Responsible for the creation of customer personas and sales enablement materials across several vertical segments, she has successfully driven the adoption of Seismic to help her teams at Pluralsight optimize the sales process and she oversees Pluralsight’s enterprise sales training. Her product marketing philosophies and framework have had a dramatic impact, achieving record levels of growth, and she has been instrumental in executing Pluralsight’s successful IPO. Under her guidance, Pluralsight has also launched two innovative and popular freemium products, Role IQ and Skill IQ, which have benchmarked more than one million technology skills worldwide since its launch. “I never thought I would work in marketing,” Ms. Bayuk says. “But once I found out there was a job that required both in-depth research and storytelling, I was hooked!”

National Marketing Department
SecurityNational Mortgage Company

While the marketing professionals at SecurityNational Mortgage Company have experience across a wide range of subjects, they see each individual for the talents they bring to the team. “Our marketing success is based on team efforts,” says Drew Sanders, senior graphic designer and national marketing manager. “No one on this team works as an island.”

The National marketing department has accomplished a lot in 2018, including implementing a new mobile mortgage app and receiving national recognition by promoting their relationship with DXDT Racing and the Pirelli World Challenge. After celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary, the marketing department came together to create promotional campaigns, bringing attention to the longevity and success of SecurityNational through its first quarter-century. From small office decorating and photo contests to large social campaigns, they engaged with both customers and employees to increase engagement. They even hosted a $40,000 Choose Your Dream Sweepstakes to use for a downpayment on a new home. “That was definitely the most exciting campaign,” Mr. Sanders says. “It resulted in over 4,000 new customer leads, plus more than 200 loans closed or sold.”

Utah Digital Marketing Collective

As Utah’s largest professional association of digital marketers, the Utah Digital Marketing Collective has held monthly marketing events for the last seven years. “Our focus is to build a strong community,” says David Malmbourg, director of marketing at Number 6 and member of the board at the DMC, and by focusing on the community, they’ve been able to build strong relationships. Over 4,000 marketing professionals have walked through their doors, and they work to keep their community updated in their marketing Slack channel which boasts over 500 members.

In 2018, the Utah DMC held their fourth annual conference, which saw a dramatic increase in attendance from previous years. Hosting eighteen nationally renowned speakers, events like this have helped put Utah on the map of the marketing world. But it wouldn’t be possible without the work of the DMC’s outstanding board of directors. A fully volunteer board, they’re extremely enthusiastic about marketing. And each one is more than happy to take time away from their full-time marketing careers to help put together these events and facilitate a valuable community and network across Utah.

Best PR Launch

 

OnWatch Campaign Team
Malouf Foundation

The Malouf Foundation, the charitable arm of the premium mattress company, Malouf, has been giving sleep back to those who need it for years. But when they launched the OnWatch campaign in July 2018, they made an impact like they never had before. “The first time someone learns that 2 million children live as sex slaves worldwide, they are shocked,” says Malouf president and CEO, Sam Malouf. And the OnWatch Campaign Team has made fighting child sex trafficking their flagship cause.

With access to more than 12,000 retail partners across twenty countries, the Malouf Foundation produced and published a series of ten training videos on their website to educate visitors on the physical, emotional, and behavioral signs of sex trafficking. However,  their campaign involved more than watching training videos. 6,000 Forging Freedom event invitations were postmarked, over 10,000 inboxes received an email campaign, a permanent email signature was attached to over 300 company accounts, a landing page received more than 1,500 visitors, and a gallery-inspired event featured 18 floor-to-ceiling banners along with a pledge wall. The inspiring Forging Freedom event hosted over 200 industry partners and resulted in eighteen published reports reaching a total readership of 962,900 people.

Best Print Campaign

 

BambooHR

Preferring to rely on digital marketing, BambooHR has focused their efforts on rising to the top as the leading provider of HR software for small to midsize businesses. But in 2018, they decided to enter new territory by orchestrating a traditional nationwide direct mail campaign. Nearly a year and one million pieces of mail later, BambooHR’s direct mail campaign has produced more than 80 new small to midsize business customers and over $300,000 in annual recurring revenue.

The BambooHR direct mail campaign featured two calls to action: the first was a postcard featuring the signature BambooHR panda in battle armor asking recipients to “set your people free,” and the second was a cover letter and resume “applying” for the role of HR software. After two phases and $100,000 spent, they made their return on investment in just five months and quickly continued to grow. Through the campaign was such a success, BambooHR has proved that traditional marketing methods are far from being dead―print campaigns will be a staple in their strategy for years to come as they continue to push the envelope.

 

 

Best Social Media Campaign

 

Utah Valley Home Builders Association & Relic

The Utah Valley Home Builders Association actively works to protect, preserve, and promote Utah home builders and the Utah construction industry. And for over 40 years, the Utah Valley Parade of Homes has showcased Utah’s finest designer homes throughout the valley. Guided by the state’s top builders, designers, and modelers, this fully decorated and landscaped housing tour showcases the newest trends in Utah’s home building market.

Partnering with Relic for the 2018 parade, UVBH heavily promoted the self-guided tour on the parade’s social media accounts. Starting the month before the parade to weeks after it ended, more than 65 Facebook and 55 Instagram posts, as well as four Facebook Live and 34 Instagram stories, were created to promote new high-end homes across the valley. Throughout the course of the campaign, the Parade of Homes Instagram account increased its followers by 32 percent in only two months, and each Instagram giveaway reached up to 16,000 users. Instagram promo codes, promoted by three local social media influencers, were used 129 times and resulted in over $3,000 in ticket sales. The numbers don’t lie, and for over two months, Relic and UVBH dramatically increased the impact of the Parade of Homes through its social media campaign, connecting with local home buyers and communities.

 

Extra Space Storage

How do you make storage interesting? That was the hurdle the social media team for Extra Space Storage, a company specializing in self-storage, faced after creating their Instagram account in early 2016. After garnering only a few hundred followers after two years, they quickly realized they needed to change their strategy. By looking at how people used self-storage, and especially how people used the hashtag #home, Extra Space Storage began their Instagram rebrand.

Launching a new strategy in March 2018, Extra Space Storage began engaging real people and real spaces, collaborating with influencers to give new life to their social media campaign. By letting influencers take over their stories and creating an engaging space to talk about the needs of self-storing, they began to see instant success. In just six months of following this new strategy, their following was up 539 percent, with impressions up 673 percent and engagements up almost 200 percent year over year. If you look at their Instagram today, you see clean, inviting home spaces and real people using storage effectively. Today, their follower count has reached over 9,800 users, and in the six months since kicking off the campaign, they have only worked with 12 influencers.

Best Content Marketing Campaign

 

The Park City First Timers Campaign
RIESTER Advertising & Visit Park City

When Park City wanted to attract first-time family vacationers, they struggled to figure out where to start. While known for world-class ski resorts, Park City is more than just a ski destination. And those who live in and around Park City are able to experience a host of unique and amazing experiences year round. But how do you best showcase that?

Turning to RIESTER Advertising, together they devised the Park City First Timers Campaign, a content marketing campaign that would show all the activities available in Park City, both in the winter and summer. Creating a six-episode video series, photo galleries, blog posts, and social media posts, the campaign was hosted by families experiencing activities across the city for the very first time.

“As a way of capturing a realistic experience, we employed GoPro cameras to document each activity,” the campaign runners say. “Capturing the joy that comes with each new accomplishment was particularly meaningful.” Running from February 2017 to May 2018, and during that time reached over 1.7 million users and over 7,800 engagements. And thanks to the campaign, the Park City Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau received over 1,400 unique sessions for first-timers.

 

Best Digital Campaign

 

Chris Cahoon
Director of Marketing & Business Development | Nuterra Partners

When Nuterra Partners first brought in Chris Cahoon, it was to consult on the marketing and leasing of Center 53, an unused office park. And it proved to be a challenge. After sitting on the market for 18 months, the space was only leased at 7.8 percent. But Mr. Cahoon quickly rose to the occasion and showed he was up to the task.

Building the brand and strategy from the ground up, Mr. Cahoon designed logos and a completely custom identity for the space, targeting a new audience in a tech- and Millennial-based workforce. Creating videos, social media posts, and utilizing every avenue of digital media, Mr. Cahoon’s efforts have proved to be extremely successful. “After a little over 12 months, occupancy of the original space has jumped to 95 percent, and we’re close to having nearly 60 percent of the next building pre-leased,” says Mr. Cahoon.

By creating an engaging digital media campaign, he has elevated Nuterra Partners’ marketing team from the local to the national stage and has brought in a total of $27.5 million in total lease transactions in just the first marketing phase of the project. “I’m a big believer that hard work and a lot of grit can turn something into whatever you want it to be,” Mr. Cahoon says. “But I also believe that a night on the couch with Beto’s can make dreams come true, too.”

Best Use of Video

 

The League TV | Vivint Solar

When it comes to motivating a sales team, Vivint Solar takes it to a whole new level. Shot in a professional-grade studio, The League TV is an internal sales campaign targeted to Vivint Solar’s direct-to-home salesforce, featuring videos highlighting the week’s top sales reps and teams. Co-hosted by chief sales officer, Chance Allred and chief revenue officer, Paul Dickson, each weekly video showcases the top performers and updates the salesforce across 22 states.

“The League is patterned after a professional sporting organization,” says Jason Deelstra, Vivint Solar’s senior director of sales marketing. “We treat our sales force much like professional athletes. We’ve even launched our own sales app that’s similar to ESPN.” They’ve even brought in NFL players to give words of encouragement in their videos and it’s been extremely effective in retaining Vivint Solar’s salesforce.

Across 68 offices, each video produced by The League TV averages approximately 600 views, and many sales reps share the videos with friends and family after their weekly meetings. “We’ve created a campaign to help our team be more successful,” says Mr. Deelstra, and he’s confident this campaign is the most rewarding thing he’s worked on.

To learn more about our 2019 Sales and Marketers of the Year, please watch the videos below: