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bpma member selected as finalists at this years small business awards

It is a huge honour to announce that Lauren Willsdon, the newly promoted office manager at Shout Promotional Merchandise has been selected as a finalist for the employee of the year category at the FSB Hertfordshire Small Business Awards 2010.  The black tie grand final will take place at 19.00 on the 13th May 2010 at Tewin Bury Farm Hotel. 

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is the UK’s largest business organisation, set up to help protect interests of small businesses. There are over 205,000 members of which 3,000 are from Hertfordshire. The FSB Awards are the ONLY dedicated awards for small businesses. Following the huge success of the 2009 prestigious awards ceremony the FSB awards are in their second year. Over 95% of all businesses employ less than 50 people classing themselves as a small business; this is an opportunity to celebrate the very best of these businesses. 

Finalist Lauren Willsdon says: “Just a few weeks ago I was promoted to office manager, this week I was nominated for the Hertfordshire employee of the year award; things just keep getting better and better!”

Shout Promotional Merchandise source and supply innovative and memorable branded promotional merchandise to busy marketing managers for events, trade shows, conferences, product launches and staff incentives. They endeavour to fully understand their client’s marketing message so that they can act as an extension of their marketing department and source relevant gifts that make a lasting impact on the recipient.

Emma Rollason-Taylor from Visit York said “Lauren was extremely helpful when I made a last minute order for some promotional bags. As well as giving a courtesy call to ensure I had received it (something none of the other companies had done!) Lauren always came back to me very quickly. I had every confidence in the service I was receiving and the bags were a total success at our event.”

Since employing Lauren 2 years ago, Shout has expanded to a team of 5 and Lauren has been promoted to office manager. She is the first port of call whenever the directors are not in the office and covers several areas of the business including accounts.
Shout has ambition to expand and as Lauren takes on more responsibility, it frees the Directors to encourage this. Lauren is quietly ambitious and is looking forward to managing a team and taking on more responsibility. She consistently provides an excellent standard of work and is hugely popular with Shouts’ clients and suppliers, all of whom feel safe in her hands. An NVQ in customer care which Lauren achieved has helped significantly in her role.

Marketing Directors’ Carrie Benn and Francina Stobart said “We are thrilled to be finalists for the ‘employee of the year category’ we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Lauren for everything she has done for our business. She continues to exceed our expectations and is a fantastic help towards the overall running of the business. We are so pleased to have the opportunity to win such a prestigious award.”