Customer Service Awards Blog

3 Tips for Winning Customer Service Awards in The 2012 IBAs

Posted by Liz Dean on Fri, May 18, 2012 @ 11:41 AM

The final entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition is 27 June. (All individuals and organizations worldwide may submit nominations to the IBAs. If you haven't already done so, you can request your entry kit today.)

Here we highlight three customer service awards tips to help you showcase your organization's customer service excellence.

1. Review the business awards categories.
There are three customer service award categories being celebrated at the 2012 IBAs including:The Stevie Awards

  • Customer Service Department of the Year
  • Customer Service Team of the Year
  • Customer Service Executive of the Year

There are a number of other IBA categories that may be of interest to customer service professionals, including many of the annual report awards and other literature categories, website awards categories, and live event awards categories.

2. Review the entry submission criteria.
Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories include:

  • An essay of up to 500 words describing the nominee's accomplishments since 1 January 2011
  • A biography of the nominee or the leader of the nominated company, department, or team of up to 100 words, and
  • Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files, work samples, and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

3. Contact us.
If you have any questions about the 2012 IBAs, email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

The 2012 International Business Awards will include the Second Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, in which the general public worldwide will vote for their favorite companies. Each company honored with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award in The International Business Awards’ company of the year categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting, which will open in late July.

Winners of the competition will be celebrated at the ninth annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea.

Leave us a comment and let us know how our
corporate awards categories will help you to highlight your organization's successes.

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, corporate awards, live event awards, website awards, corporate literature awards, International business awards, customer service excellence, annual report awards, customer service award

3 Customer Service Awards Categories in The 2012 IBAs

Posted by Liz Dean on Thu, Apr 19, 2012 @ 09:51 AM

There are three customer service awards categories in The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, to help you showcase your organization's good customer service. (The entry deadline for the 2012 IBAs is 16 May. All organizations and individuals worldwide may submit nominations, request your entry kit here.)

Our customer service award categories include: International Business Awards

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories include:

  • An essay of up to 500 words describing the nominee's accomplishments since January 1 2011,
  • A biography of the nominee or the leader of the nominated department or team of up to 100 words, and
  • Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

The 8th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. 2011 honorees for excellent customer service included:  

2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

How will you highlight your organization's best customer service in the 2012 IBAs?

Tags: best customer service, customer service awards, business awards, International business awards, good customer service, excellent customer service, customer service award

4 Tips for Winning Customer Service Awards in The 2012 ABAs

Posted by Liz Dean on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:16 AM

The entry deadline for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is April 25, 2012, and we want to help you highlight your organization's good customer service. If you haven't received an entry kit yet, you can request your entry kit here.

To make the most out of your customer service awards entries, we suggest the following four tips:

1. Review the business awards categories.
There are three customer service award categories:

  1. Customer Service Department of the YearThe American Business Awards
  2. Customer Service Team of the Year
  3. Customer Service Executive of the Year

2. Review the entry submission criteria.
Showcase your organization's excellent customer service by including all of the required information in your submissions. You can review all entry requirements here.

3. Watch our video, How to Enter The 2012 American Business Awards.
Get step-by-step instruction on how to submit your 2012 entries.

4. Contact us!
We are happy to answer any last minute questions you may have. Contact us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703 547 8389 and we'll help direct you to categories that are right for your organization.

How will you recognizes your organization's best customer service practices in the 2012 ABAs?

Tags: best customer service, customer service awards, business awards, American business awards, good customer service, excellent customer service, customer service award

3 Tips on How to Attract and Retain Customers, From a Stevie Awards Judge

Posted by Liz Dean on Fri, Apr 06, 2012 @ 09:05 AM

Jerry Weinberger, Senior Director of Customer Service and Retention at Webs, Inc., is Chair of the final judging committee for the support awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A.(The final entry deadline for 2012 ABAs is April 25; request your entry kit today.) Here Jerry shares three ways businesses can attract and retain new customers through good customer service.

What are your top 3 tips to small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to attract and retain new customers through excellent customer serviceJerry Weinberger

  1. Treat customers right. 
    Communicate with customers the way you would with a friend. Use conversational language in both verbal and written communications with them. Customers aren’t impressed by “corporate speak” anymore, and they don’t understand half of it anyway. Just tell it like it is, and have fun with your communication when you can. Customers LOVE it.
  2. Listen to your customers, constantly. 
    Customers will always tell you what they want. If you decide what the customers want without talking to them, you’ll be wrong.
  3. Hire the personality and values, not the skills. 
    Don’t hire anyone for your Customer Center who doesn’t genuinely care about taking care of customers, or who finds it difficult to smile. Empathy, passion, understanding … call it what you will, it’s either there or it isn’t. You can teach someone about procedures, guidelines, workflows, systems, or about a new product, but you can’t teach someone how to care.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why? 
I came across two different articles in the past month that highlighted the fact that customer satisfaction isn’t the right metric to measure anymore. I’ve always had the drive for high customer satisfaction levels running through my veins, so I was more than a bit shocked to see those words in print. According to these articles, the focus should instead be on loyalty, such as in the Net Promoter Score.  Definitely something to think about!

Do you have a favorite app or blog?
MakeUseOf.  It’s a constant learning experience for me.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Sports psychologist.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates? 
Integrity, honesty, and being passionate about customers.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning? 
The opportunity to exceed someone’s expectations each and every day. 

About American Business Awards Support Award Categories:
The ABA support categories highlight contributions made by support staffers through recognition awards. These categories recognize all administrative support including secretary of the year, production support, security, maintenance, and research members.

About Jerry Weinberger:
Jerry Weinberger joined Webs in 2010 and is currently responsible for Customer Service/Support and Retention for their 50 million customers. For over 20 years, Jerry has been responsible for leading Customer Care organizations. He has run single or multi-site Care operations for such powerhouse companies as Federal Express, MCI, and Fleet Bank. During his tenure with those companies, his leadership resulted in sustained service levels and customer satisfaction ratings that were among the best in the industry. Since joining Webs, Jerry’s Customer Support team has won two Stevie® Awards: one for Support Team of the Year in The 2011 American Business Awards, and the second for Customer Service Management Team of the Year in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
 
About Webs, Inc.:
Webs is the world’s most popular do-it-yourself solution to creating a free website, having served over 40 million users. Webs enables small businesses and entrepreneurs to easily make a great-looking website and project a professional image. The Webs family of products--including Webs, ContactMe, and Pagemodo--provides small businesses with simple and cost-effective ways to launch and grow their companies across web, social, and mobile platforms. Founded in 2001 by the Mokhtarzada brothers, Webs is funded by Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Columbia Capital. For more information, visit www.webs.com.

Tags: support awards, business awards, American business awards, stevie awards, Inc., stevie awards for sales and customer service, good customer service, excellent customer service, Jerry Weinberger, Webs, recognition awards, customer service management team of the year, secretary of the year, support team of the year

Watch Video of the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Posted by Liz Dean on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 10:28 AM

The Stevie® Awards is pleased to announce that videos clips of the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s leading sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards program are now available to view on YouTube.

Watch the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service awards presentations here.

Stevie Awards 150 resized 600More than 350 professionals attended the business awards banquet which took place on Monday, February 27th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our 2012 sales award & customer service award video clips showcase business award acceptance speeches made by individuals and organizations from around the world, including:

Rob Jeppsen of Zions Bank, Winner of the Gold Stevie Award for Sales Director of the Year
Rob's speech started the night off by recognizing the team effort behind all individual awards.

MarketBridge, Winner of the Gold Stevie Award for Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
MarketBridge's enthusiastic team accepts the Gold Stevie Award and expresses their gratitude for their strong partnerships.

Joey Romaine of Groupon, Winner of the Gold Stevie Award for Young Customer Service Professional of the Year
Honored for his efforts as a young professional, Joey Romaine keeps the awards show lively and the audience entertained.

Vodafone Turkey, Winner of the Gold Stevie Award for Sales Department of the Year, Telecommunications
Traveling from Istanbul, Turkey, Vodafone Turkey's humble speech brought to light the importance business awards have globally.

International Checkout Inc., Winner of the Gold Stevie Award for Telesales Team of the Year
Jackson Strobel, VP of Sales & Operations at International Checkout, and his "lean machine" sales team show the audience that size doesn't matter.

The 6th annual corporate awards banquet was the first to showcase our three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze as part of our 10th anniversary celebration. Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards.

Want more sales and customer service awards celebration? Watch all acceptance speeches, listen to the live recording and view photos from the event.

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, corporate awards, business award, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, sales awards, contact center awards, YouTube

Winners Announced in People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Wed, Feb 15, 2012 @ 10:07 AM

People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer ServiceMore than 250,000 votes were cast in the 2012 People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, part of the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s top honors for contact center, customer service, and sales professionals. 

This worldwide public vote was conducted between January 26 and February 10, 2012, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 11 categories.  The winning companies, which will each receive the coveted crystal People's Choice Stevie Award at the gala ceremony in Las Vegas on February 27, are:

-      Airlines, Distribution & Transportation: TATA Motors

-      All Other Industries: eCornell

-      Computer Hardware: Apple Inc./Apple Stores

-      Computer Services: Rosetta Stone

-      Computer Software: Photodex

-      Financial Services: SquareTrade

-      Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Related Industries: PetRays

-      Leisure & Tourism: IHG

-      Public Services & Education: Finding Freedom Team

-      Retail: Amazon.com

-      Telecommunications: Vodafone Turkey

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to honorees at the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service awards banquet on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Tickets for the event are now on sale.  More than 300 executives from around the world are expected to attend.

All organizations honored in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories of this year’s Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Sponsors and supporters of the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Coloredge Los Angeles * New York, Competence Call Center, SDL and ValueSelling Associates.

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, stevie awards, good customer service, excellent customer service, people's choice awards

How a Customer Service Awards Winner IMPACTs Millions of Lives

Posted by Liz Dean on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 10:03 AM

CGS Administrators, LLC in Nashville, Tennessee USA received a Stevie® Award for Customer Service Department of the Year in the customer service awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards.  (Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 ABAs. The entry deadline is March 28 - get your entry kit here.) Here we show how this provider of services for Medicare beneficiaries is exceeding goals in customer satisfaction.

An IMPACTful Provider Contact Center
CGS has provided services to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since Medicare began in 1966. CGS Administrators’ core values have enabled its Provider Contact Center (PCC) to positively impact the lives of millions of government health care beneficiaries, providers, and suppliers every day. These core values are:

  • Integrity,
  • Making a Difference,
  • Passion for Excellence,
  • Always Improving,
  • Customer Focus, and
  • Taking Risks.

These values combine to form the acronym IMPACT. IMPACT is represented in the company’s mission as: “We IMPACT lives”, and in its vision as: “To IMPACT the future of our communities and nation by being the premier administrator of government health care programs.”

Providing Medicare & Medicaid Services
In June 2007, CGS was awarded the largest of four Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Medicare Administrative Contracts to provide claims processing, a Provider Customer Service Program (PCSP), and administrative services to more than 80,000 DME suppliers in 17 U.S. states and territories.

The CGS PCSP is a multi-tiered customer service organization responsible for Congressional inquiries, beneficiary complaint screening, written correspondence, and the Provider Outreach and Abbey DyerEducation (POE) team, which offers providers education and clarification of CMS regulations.

Exceeding Goals
Abbey Dyer is the CGS Director in charge of the PCSP, overseeing fewer than 100 employees in the customer service team.  Their role is to ensure that the over 13 million Medicare beneficiaries they serve receive the medical equipment they need;, and that the over 80,000 suppliers of that medical equipment receive payment—all while meeting or exceeding federal performance standards.

 “Our department may be small but it does a terrific job for a very large number of people,” says Dyer. “Recognition by The Stevie Awards is gratifying proof that there is awareness of our hard work beyond the health care industry.”

The agents in the CGS PCSP customer service team respond to approximately 56,000 customer inquiries per month from Medicare providers. Throughout 2010, including during the Nashville flood in May 2010, this team demonstrated unparalleled customer focus by not just achieving the goals set by CMS, but exceeding them.

Making an IMPACT on Customers
The CGS Provider Contact Center was ranked first in Provider Satisfaction in the 2010 CMS Medicare Carrier Provider Satisfaction Survey. The monthly results in Quality Call Monitoring, Direct Call Monitoring, and Quality Written Correspondence Monitoring evidenced exceptional customer service, as shown by the following examples:

  • The CGS PCC team has implemented a concierge level of service to educate CGS customers and reduce excessive inquiries. CGS now designates individual points of contact to customers who routinely land on its “heavy hitter” list.  These designations have successfully helped to reduce call inquiries through effective education and support.
  • A Tracking History & Online Reporting (THOR) system enables the PCC team to track and trend all telephone data, to proactively identify potential operational issues impacting customer satisfaction, and to identify the need for additional external customer education and internal agent training.
  • During 2010, the CGS Provider Outreach and Education team—consisting of just six staff members—conducted 286 webinars and educated 2,719 providers. The team also hosted 32 contractor-sponsored, face-to-face workshops for more than 1,100 participants. The provider satisfaction for these education opportunities in 2010 was a staggering 97.8%.

About Abbey Dyer
Abbey Dyer is the DME Provider Customer Service Program Director. She has been with CGS for more than 13 years and in the health care field for 19 years. Abbey is an experienced professional with expertise in government contracting, provider enrollment, customer service, claims, and operations management.  Prior to joining CGS, Abbey worked for a physician in general practice and an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. 

Abbey has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee. She enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors with her camera, then sharing her work on her website and as a member of the Tennessee Art League. 

About CGS
CGS Administrators, LLC provides a variety of services for Medicare beneficiaries, health care providers, and medical equipment suppliers in 33 states, and supports the needs of over 16 million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. As a Medicare Part A, Part B, Home Health and Hospice, and Durable Medicare Equipment contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CGS processes and pays Medicare claims according to Congressional laws and CMS rules and regulations.  For more information go to www.cgsmedicare.com.

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, American business awards, stevie award, Abbey Dyer, Medicare, Medicaid, CGS Administrators

How to Enter the World's Top Customer Service Awards

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Tue, Sep 27, 2011 @ 04:53 PM

We've published a 13 minute video called How to Enter the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Do you provide excellent customer service?  The video covers the steps you should follow if you're at all interested in winning the top customer service award on the planet.

Entries are now being accepted for the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  You'll find the entry kit online, here.

If you have questions about how to submit nominations after watching the video, write to us at help@stevieawards.com.  We're here for you!

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, stevie awards, call center awards, customer service award

3 Tips on How to Be Successful in Customer Service: Q&A with Art Gairo

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Apr 04, 2011 @ 10:38 AM

  

With the final entry deadline for The 2011 American Business Awards coming up on April 27, we asked Art Gairo, Senior Vice President for Broadview Networks, for his top tips about what makes for great customer service.  Art will chair and form the final judging committee for the customer service awards categories of the 2011 ABAs.

Art GairoWhat are your top 3 tips on how to be successful in customer service?

  1. Listen to your customers’ feedback and use their suggestions to improve—the customer does indeed know what’s best!
  2. A company is only as good as its employees, so it’s important to imbue your employees with a sense of purpose and make sure that they both understand and believe in their mission. Having talented and engaged employees can make all the difference in providing excellent customer service. 
  3. Never be satisfied in the pursuit of customer service objectives—go over and above what’s required. Whether it’s call-center service levels, mean time to repair, or overall customer satisfaction, always press to be better, faster, and stronger than your competitor, and strive to get it right for the customer as much as possible.  

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
I keep seeing TV commercials where people turn to “the cloud” to accomplish something, whether it be for some type of collaborative work, or for family picture albums, etc. This is the new mantra for accessing software and applications remotely, and it just so happens it aligns very nicely with the new line of Cloud Computing products and services that Broadview is rolling out to small- and medium-sized businesses. So all things “cloud” have been resonating with me lately.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a doctor, particularly a neurologist. I’ve always been fascinated by the field of medicine.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates? Trust and respect are a given, but I would add that I also value people who are positive thinkers and who bring innovative ideas to the table. These are the people who help me to step outside the everyday comfort zone and to grow as a teammate and colleague.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work? Procrastination ranks right up there as one of the least desirable habits to have—especially at work. Every day I come into the office and look directly at a sign on my desk that says: “Be Proactive!”

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I think it’s important to like what you are doing, and to be challenged by your job every day. If you don’t love what you do, it’s going to be difficult to be really successful at it!  I begin every morning with a game plan for the day.  As I move through the day, I check off my completed tasks, while also adding short- and long-term tasks to the list.  This gives me a real sense of accomplishment about what I do.

About Art Gairo
Art Gairo is the senior vice president of Operations for Broadview Networks, with responsibility for all Service, Repair, and Care Centers; the Enterprise Customer Support Division; Field Operations; and the Agent and Wholesale Support Divisions.  Gairo has more than 18 years of leadership experience in operations management in the telecommunications industry. He joined Broadview Networks as a vice president of Customer Operations (previously ATX Communications) in May 2004.  Prior to that, Gairo served as vice president of Customer Operations for Allegiance Teleco, now part of XO Communications.  Before that, Gairo worked as Team Leader of Field Engineering for MCI Communications.

About Broadview Networks
Broadview Networks is a network-based business-communications provider serving customers nationwide. It provides the total solution for business communications, including all distance-voice communications, premises-based and patented hosted VoIP systems and data services encompassing VPN- and MPLS-enabled applications, traditional telephone hardware, high-speed Internet services, a full suite of managed services, and a range of professional services. Broadview also provides an innovative portfolio of bundled, hosted IP phone and cloud computing services designed to meet the unique application requirements of diverse workforce groups. Its customers benefit from award-winning customer service, including a web-based account-management tool and a primary point-of-contact for real-time, personal customer care.

Broadview is a control investment of MCG Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: MCGC). Its largest investors are MCG Capital, Baker Capital and New Enterprise Associates.

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, good customer service, excellent customer service

Why MVCI Won a Call Center Award in the 2010 Stevies

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 @ 04:13 PM

With December 31 looming as the final entry deadline for the 2011 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, we take a look back of one of the 2010-winning entries.  Marriott Vacation Club International, based in Orlando, Florida, has been a leader in the timeshare industry for more than 25 years.  MVCI won won of the customer service awards, for Contact Center of the Year (Up to 100 Seats), and here's their Stevie Award-winning nomination, entitled :Marriott Vacation Club International Owner Services - Making Vacation Dreams Come True!"

At MVCI Owner Services, the term “Spirit to Serve” reflects our genuine desire
to provide the highest standards of service to almost 400,000 timeshare Owners
representing more than half-a-million weeks.; It’s a philosophy we inherited
from our namesake and founder—Bill Marriott, Sr.—who believed that our
company’s success depends on our ability to understand our Customers and
exceed their expectations.;

Whether planning a perfect vacation or helping an Owner keep their maintenance
fee and loan accounts on track, each interaction between an MVCI Owner
Services Associate and our Owners is supported by this deep-routed Spirit to
Serve philosophy.; This standard operating procedure distinguishes us from
every other brand in the timeshare industry and enables us to establish and
maintain unforgettable relationships that last a lifetime.
;
2009 Year-to-Date Successes

MVCI Owner Services main call center is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and
employs almost 500 associates.; Examples of 2009 year-to-date successes
include:

MVCI Timeshare Owners and Weeks;391,217 Owners ¦ 527,231 Weeks
MVCI Owner Services Associates in Salt Lake City, Utah; 481
Overall MVCI Timeshare Owner Satisfaction; 93.6% out of 100%
Phone Calls Handled; Almost 1 million
Average Speed of Answer; 36 seconds
Marriott Hotel Reservations Made; 72,122(over and above timeshare reservations)
Marriott Hotel reservations revenue generated from MVCI Owner Services; $8.3M
New Timeshare sales generated from MVCI Owner Services;;;;;; $2.6 million
Associate Engagement Survey results administered by the Gallup Organization
 4.67% out of 5.0% (Considered World-class)
Turnover Rate;19% compared to 65% industry standard

Read the rest of this article...

Tags: customer service awards, business awards, stevie awards, sales awards, contact center awards, call center award, marriott vacation club, mvci