Heartland Payment Systems
Company: Heartland Payment Systems Princeton, NJ
Company Description: HPS provides bankcard payment processing services and Payroll Services to merchants in the US. This exchange of information and providing end-to-end electronic payment processing services to merchants, including merchant set-up and training, transaction authorization and electronic draft capture, clearing and settlement.
Nomination Category: Best Individual Performance
Nomination Sub Category: National VP of Sales of the Year
Nomination Title: Sanford Brown, National Sales of the Year, Heartland Payment Systems
1. How many people are in your organization's entire sales department?
1291 W-2 Sales Employees
2. What were your organization's sales during the eligibility period? If this figure is confidential, simply enter "Confidential" in this space:
2006 - 9 months year to date through 9/2006:
Gross Revenue - $808,600,000
Net Revenue - $186,482,000
2005 - Calendar year total:
Gross Revenue - $834,577,000
Net Revenue - $191,350,000
3. Describe the nominee's top 3 accomplishments during the eligibility period (up to 100 words):
1.Launch of the Merchant Bill of Rights (www.merchantbillofrights.com), the first and only industry standard proposed to protect the interests of, and
promote fair and equitable treatment to, all small and mid sized businesses accepting bank card payments in the U.S.
2. Maintained growth rate as one of the fastest growing organizations in the payments industry, with year over year sales growth in excess of 20%, exceeding a $45 billion dollar run rate in annual bank card processing volume as the nation's 6th largest payment provider, and 15th largest in the world.
3. Maintained a significant increase in cash compensation for sales increasing the livelihood and wealth of Heartland Sales Professionals:
Total sales compensation:
Through September 2005 - $46,170,000
Through September 2006 - $58,400,000
Increase - $12,230,000 - 26.49%
4. List the nominee's top 3 lessons learned during the eligibility period (up to 100 words):
1. That a regionalized sales and service support structure and call center is much more effective and efficient than a centralized national sales and service support structure and call center. Creating regionalized teams in our call center to match sales regions has been extremely successful at bonding sales and service into a unified organization.
2. Traditional means of advertisements for recruiting are not effective in our organization. Removing them increases our recruiting
effectiveness by over 100%.
3. We have concluded that sales to new merchants, and the servicing activities for existing merchants, must be separated in order to maximize sales
and improve service quality.
5. Briefly describe the qualities that distinguish the nominee from other National VPs of Sales (up to 100 words):
Sanford Brown is one of the most respected individuals in the company as well as industry. His focus is more than managing a large sales force, he creates a positive leadership culture where potential leaders are formed. Sanford invests time on building each member of his team, gives them incentives and encouragement to reach levels they never believed possible. He knows when to push and when to back off. Sanford transfers the exact vision of our CEO to the last new hire. Heartland's growth and success is due to his commitment and leadership!
6. Provide a brief biography of the nominee (up to 100 words):
Sanford C. Brown was integral in the build out of the Heartland sales organization and ultimately selected as one of their own to carry on, manage and
further improve the sales centric environment at Heartland. Embodying the principals of the HPS sales model he was one of the first sales employees in the Western U.S. and has climbed trough the ranks with first hand experience in every sales and sales management role. In less than 10 years Mr. Brown, moved from street level sales and entry level management to his current role as Heartland’s CSO which he assumed January 2, 2006, at just 34 years of age. Prior to accepting this role, Mr. Brown served as Heartland’s Senior Vice President of Sales Management and was responsible for our sales infrastructure, sales policy, and formulating business development strategies. From late 2000 to 2003 Mr. Brown, served as the SVP of Hospitality Marketing and was responsible for strategies to develop and acquire relationships with trade associations nationally. Mr. Brown has served in a variety of other sales including District, Division, Regional and Vice President positions. Mr. Brown attended Northern Arizona University where he studied Marketing.