- Paul’s innovative approach to business, challenging traditional models earns him a place in the ‘Outside the Box’ category -

Solihull, UK - July 7th, 2009 - sales-i, (www.sales-i.com) the sales intelligence service for front line sales people today announced that its co-founder, Paul Black has been announced as a finalist in the Switched On awards. Paul has been selected in the category ‘Outside the Box, which recognises business people who have challenged industry accepted practices, used new delivery mechanisms, or have found different routes to market; descriptions that fit Paul Black to a tee.

Delighting investors isn’t easy in the current climate, especially in the IT software industry, so Coventry-born co-founder of sales-i, Paul Black, has plenty to be proud of. The software service company he co-founded, sales-i, is doing phenomenally well, both in the US and here in the UK, when many rivals are experiencing very dark days.

This success is no coincidence. Industry veteran Paul, 37, co-founded the business – just 18 months ago – with a very timely idea: to provide busy sales people at high-volume product suppliers with easy, affordable, flexible access to rapid snapshots of customers’ recent buying patterns.

But not using the traditional software delivery model. Jaded by the mainstream software industry, which so often ties customers in to hefty licence arrangements, sales-i decided to employ a hosted, pay-as-you-go delivery model. Controversially, this would give businesses access to the very latest tools in a very flexible way, freeing them from the hassle and expense of owning and running the systems themselves.

sales-i’s customers describe the decision to subscribe as a ‘no-brainer’, such is the timely value of the functionality they are gaining, and in such an affordable and easy way. The solution allows field sales teams to quickly identify early signs of customer defection to a rival supplier, as well as opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell – gold dust in today’s market.

A visionary through and through, Paul was the driving force behind this transformational idea, which he has successfully delivered to market thanks to his exemplary approach to leadership. Being an excellent reader of character, Paul has managed to surround himself with the very best local talent, knowing exactly when to step back and let them get on with their jobs. Paul has also been instrumental in forging a strategic relationship with Microsoft which is paying dividends in increased brand awareness and promotion.

The gala dinner and award ceremony will take place on Thursday 1st of October.

About sales-i

sales-i© is a real-time sales acceleration service for frontline sales people. Through sales-i, sales professionals are empowered with real-time customer buying behaviour alerts which are delivered by email and text messaging, empowering them to make better informed, personalised and faster decisions which maximise repeat sales and reduce customer slippage.

sales-i is a true Software-as-a-Service solution charged on a per-user, per-month, basis.

Sales and marketing organisations rely on sales-i to accelerate their sales intelligence. This delivers protected customer share, better margins, visible cross-sell and up-sell opportunities and increased customer buying behaviour know-how resulting in more intelligent, profitable selling.

sales-i is a privately held company with offices in California, USA and Solihull, UK. For more information about sales-i visit www.sales-i.com or email tellmemore@sales-i.com

Copyright© 2009 sales-i. All rights reserved. sales-i and the sales-i logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of sales-i and/or its affiliates in the UK. All other brands, names or trademarks mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.