By Craig Zammit

SYDNEY: Fujitsu General has hosted its annual national sales conference, held at the Novotel in the Barossa Valley, with over 60 delegates in attendance during the five day conference.

Sales staff, branch managers and senior management from Fujitsu General’s Australia and New Zealand operations gathered at the conference, this year themed, ‘Don’t Hold Back’.

The company took the time to appraise its performance over the last 12 months and announced strategic plans for its plasma business as well as the domestic and commercial air conditioning markets.

Channel 7’s sports presenter Mark Beretta was the guest presenter for the week, which culminated with Fujitsu General’s annual Gala Awards night where a number of employees were rewarded for sales and performance excellence throughout 2007.

The prestigious 2007 Company Distinction Award was won by Milton Kaloudis; Salesperson of the Year was awarded to Queensland sales executive, Mark Nielsen, while fellow Queensland sales executive, Ross Balderson, received the Runner-up Salesperson of the Year award.

The State Manager of the Year award went to Queensland’s Ronnie Hinch, while Western Australia’s Geoff Gale won the Runner-up State Manager of the Year crown.

The annual ‘State Manager of the Year Award’ was this year re-named the ‘Bill Gillett Memorial Award’, in recognition of the legacy of the company’s former general manager, Bill Gillett, who passed away nearly five years ago.

Fujitsu ambassador and former Australian cricket captain, Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor, also attended the event along with owner and lead driver of the V8 Supercars Championship series Fujitsu Racing Team, Jason Bright, as well as team driver, Jose Fernandez.

Appliance Retailer magazine regular contributor, Bob Johnson, was also on hand at the conference for a group sales training program.