The team at the Bang & Olufsen store in Colchester is celebrating after beating off competition from 60 other dealerships to be named as the audio equipment firm’s UK Partner of the Year.

The trophy was presented during Bang & Olufsen’s European Dearlership Conference, which was this year held in Budapest.

Assessment for the award included aspects such as brand and showroom management, client relationships and promotional events.

The Colchester-based business also includes the Bang & Olufsen store in Norwich, which dealership principal Robert Smith also took on earlier this year.

Ben Dalrymple, Bang & Olufsen’s area retail manager, who presented the award, said: “Everyone who knows about, or owns, Bang & Olufsen products recognises the meaning of true quality and this has to extend to absolutely every aspect of anything to do with Bang & Olufsen.

“To select the winner for this award, we consulted mystery shoppers, made our own ongoing observations and referred to the Customer Satisfaction Index.

“Robert Smith, dealership principle of Bang & Olufsen of Colchester and Norwich, together with his team, were rated as outstanding again and again and again. Colchester and Norwich should be very proud to have such dynamism, professionalism and sincerity in action on their high streets.”

Michael Francis, Colchester store manager, said: “Obviously, we were absolutely delighted to win the award, but it was credit to the team that the moment we sat down we were already thinking how this achievement could help us to improve our service even more.

“We are all so proud of what we have done, and would like to thank everyone who supported us, but we will not be resting on our laurels – we now have the very highest standards to maintain and we want our customers to have the best retail experience possible.”

Robert Smith added: “This has been an incredible year. As everyone knows, retail in general has suffered knocks over the past few years, but my team has stood firm throughout and we have never, ever compromised on the quality of our products or service. We must provide the very best of everything or, in my view, there is no point being in business at all.”

Besides Robert Smith and Michael Francis, the Bang & Olufsen Colchester and Norwich team includes Leigh Brooksbank (product specialist, Colchester), Emmanuel Greffier (store manager, Norwich), Duane Price (sales advisor, Norwich) and Nigel Raven (installation specialist, Norwich).