Direct Alliance

Company: Direct Alliance, Tempe, AZ
Company Description: Founded in 1993, Direct Alliance is a business process outsourcing (BPO) company. We provide marketing services and professional inside sales teams to accelerate sales for our Fortune 500 clients.
Nomination Category: Best Run Sales Organizations
Nomination Sub Category: Computer Hardware Sales Organization of the Year

Nomination Title: Direct Alliance Computer Hardware Sales Organization of the Year

How many people are in your organization's entire sales department?

Size of Sales Organization
For more than a decade, Direct Alliance has been a leader in providing 
integrated sales and marketing solutions to extend market coverage, accelerate 
sales, and build customer relationships for its Fortune 500 clients.  The 
company represents many of the world’s top technology brands and employs over 
700 people.  It has approximately 350 inside sales representatives and 54 
professional sales managers across its sales-driven organization.

What were your organization's sales during the eligibility period? If this figure is confidential, simply enter "Confidential" in this space:

Annual Sales Volume
Annually, Direct Alliance sells over $2 billion on behalf of its clients.  
Direct Alliance’s proven track record of growing revenue quickly through inside 
sales account management and electronic direct marketing gives clients the 
confidence to entrust Direct Alliance with the care of their best customers.

Describe the nominated sales organization's top 3 accomplishments during the eligibility period (up to 100 words):

Top 3 Accomplishments 

Client Program 1:  Major manufacturer of electronic equipment increased the 
conversion rate of their inside sales reps to over 25% through Electronic 
Direct Marketing and the use of triggered emails.  

Client Program 2:  World's leading document management technology company 
enjoyed tremendous growth in its ecommerce channel which now represents about 
16% of its direct business.  Additionally, customer survey scores exceeded 
monthly targets for the previous 12 months.  

Client Program 3:  A leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and 
information technology products employed “save” call-backs to cancellation/ 
reauthorize/decline customers on orders over $500 in value (~30% conversion).

List the nominated sales organization's top 3 lessons learned during the eligibility period (up to 100 words):

Top 3 Lessons Learned
The deepening of account penetration can be achieved through timely, targeted 
messaging and disciplined testing of integrated sales and marketing tactics to 
increase overall sales effectiveness.

Integrating sales reps through “web chat” results in a more satisfactory 
customer experience.  

Proactively driving daily outbound saves or call-backs can produce incremental 
sales revenue and retain customers.

Briefly describe the qualities that distinguish the nominated sales organization from other sales organizations in your industry (up to 100 words):

Distinguishing Quality that Sets Direct Alliance Apart
Through identification and qualification of prospects through acquisition and 
onboarding of new customers to retention and development of existing accounts, 
Direct Alliance executes each phase of the sales process with quality, speed, 
and efficiency.  Direct Alliance’s unique integration of analytics and 
electronic marketing with inbound and outbound sales programs boosts 
performance for our clients. The bottom line for its clients is increased sales.

Provide a brief biography of the leader(s) of the nominated sales organization (up to 100 words):

Biography of Sales Team Leader
Mike Houghton - Vice President of Program Service Delivery 
Having begun his career with Insight Enterprises, in Tempe, Arizona, Mr. 
Houghton has an extensive background in business process outsourcing (BPO). His 
executive-level responsibilities have included sales and marketing, product 
management, and supply chain management. In his current role, Mr. Houghton has 
complete responsibility for the excellence of client sales programs.  He holds 
a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and supply chain management from 
Arizona State University.

Briefly describe your organization's customers, including the industry or demographics you sell to, the job titles you sell to (if applicable), and the products and/or services you sell (up to 100 words):

Description of the Customer Base
The end-user customer largely consists of the SMB and Mid-market customers in 
the U.S. commercial market who prefer a direct relationship with their hardware 
manufacturers.  These are very competitive market segments that are difficult 
to cover cost-effectively with a field sales force, especially at the lower end 
of the SMB space.  Direct Alliance effectively penetrates these critical 
markets with its direct sales channels, marketing services, and proprietary 
tools–a key premise to their value proposition. It also represents a number of 
consumer electronics brands and retail clients, serving as the inbound sales 
arm and e-commerce engine for their varied go-to-market needs.

Briefly describe how your sales department is aligned with your marketing department (up to 100 words):

How are the Sales and Client Marketing Departments Aligned
Direct Alliance positions its sales professionals to create account value 
during every transaction, with the alignment of sales strategies, marketing 
analytics and electronic direct marketing.  Using a proprietary combination of 
data elements and customer modeling components, Direct Alliance allows sales to 
target and engage prospects with the highest propensity to buy. Dynamically 
triggered electronic direct marketing tactics augment the sales process, 
building relationships between end customers and telesales agents.

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Direct Alliance