Customer Service Awards Blog

How to Excel at Customer Satisfaction From, Customer Service Awards Winner, Accenture

Posted by Liz Dean on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 @ 03:28 PM

Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Revenue Cycle Operations Team for BC Hydro in Vancouver, Canada, won the Stevie® Award for Back-office Customer Service Team of the Year in the customer service awards categories of the 2011 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service. (Entries for the 2012 awards are open through January 18 - submit your entries now.)

Maureen LachnitAs the pressure on businesses to lower risks and control costs while still achieving high customer satisfaction performance grows, so has the importance of business process outsourcing. Here we look at how Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Stevie Award-winning team has helped find this crucial balance.

What is Business Process Outsourcing?
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a valuable strategy for companies seeking new ways to achieve high performance by controlling costs, reducing risk, fostering collaboration, and increasing transparency. In its Office Support surveys of its clients, Accenture is achieving a stunning satisfaction rating of 98% overall. 

Three Ways Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Revenue Cycle Operations (RCO) Team Succeeds at BPO and Customer Satisfaction:

  1. Fosters Employee Appreciation
    Accenture Utilities BPO Services' Revenue Cycle Operations (RCO) team is made up of groups of dedicated employees from the Billing, Credit & Collections, Payments, Security, and Support Services departments. RCO team leader Maureen Lachnit is a firm believer in staff appreciation. Her motto is: “Always do the right thing. If you take care of your people, the business will succeed.” 
  2. Encourages Change from Within
    Accenture Utilities BPO Services encourages employees to create and run committees in order to drive changes in the workplace that involve both system and process improvements. The RCO team has several committees, including both the Events Committee (in charge of all in-house as well as all community-based events), and the Working Committee (which strives to enhance employee morale through the Grow BPO campaign by highlighting company achievements and focusing on areas of future growth).
  3. Cultivates Corporate Citizenship
    Community outreach is at the heart of everything Accenture’s RCO team does. On December 15, 2011, BC Hydro and Accenture held their annual Holiday Cheer Event, a joint partnership to help raise donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. BC Hydro and Accenture employees raised the grand total of $31,245 for the Food Bank in just two hours at this event. In 2010, the RCO team gave back to local charities by raising hundreds of dollars for the Union Gospel Mission and the Burnaby Christmas Bureau Angel Project.

About Maureen Lachnit
As the lead of Revenue Cycle Operations, Maureen Lachnit has dedicated over 30 years of her career to Accenture.  She started as an Application Clerk and continued her journey through various departments.  Maureen strives to keep her team focused on Accenture’s core values and fully supports initiatives like the RCO Events Committee.  She is committed to helping engage employees and to providing staff with opportunities for growth. Her keen business sense drives improvements and innovations and ensures that Accenture maintains and exceeds client expectations and satisfaction.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Their home page is www.accenture.com.

Tags: customer service awards, Accenture, Back-Office Customer Service Team of the Year, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, Customer Service

Final Entry Deadline for Sales & Customer Service Awards Approaching

Posted by Liz Dean on Tue, Nov 08, 2011 @ 02:21 PM

The final entry deadline for The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is November 18.

Submitting entries for sales awards and customer service awards is easy:Sales & Customer Service Logo

  1. Request your entry kit here.
  2. Decide what you would like your company to be recognized for. There are more than 90 categories, honoring sales excellence and customer service excellence for individuals, teams, and departments, plus new categories this year for products and service and solution providers.
  3. Submit a winning entry!

Want more sales and customer service resources? Here are some great sales and customer service tips and tools to help succeed in The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service:

  1. 10 Reasons to Enter the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service
  2. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Contact us at help@stevieawards.com, we'd love to hear from you!

Gonna miss the November 18 deadline?  Don't panic. Late entries will be accepted through January 18 with payment of $35/entry late fee.

Tags: sales excellence, customer service awards, sales awards, customer service excellence, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, Sales & Customer Service

How to Submit Winning Entries to The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Posted by Liz Dean on Thu, Nov 03, 2011 @ 11:04 AM

As the deadline for The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service approaches on November 18, we've created 9 simple tips to help you submit entries that are worthy of receiving a Stevie Award for Sales & Customer Service:

1. Request an Entry Kit
The entry kit contains everything you need to know to be able to prepare and submit your entries.  Click here to request yours.

2. Watch our How to Enter the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Video
Our brief video gives an overview of the world's premier customer service awards and sales awards, with a step-by-step guide to how to select categories, prepare entries, and submit them.

 

3. Determine Who or What You Want to Nominate, and in Which Categories
Decide which individuals or teams in your sales organization that you will nominate, then select the most appropriate categories for those entries. 

4. Prepare Your Entries
Take the time to tailor each entry for each category you apply for.

Stevie-winning entries are:

a. Well-written.  They are terse and succinct.  Their tone is modest, even when describing the most impressive accomplishments.
b. Focused on a few accomplishments.  Describe in detail just a few accomplishments, instead of listing many accomplishments in brief.

Stevie-winning entries are not:

a. Fluffy and hyperbolic.  Avoid flowery language and overblown claims.  The judges tend to deduct points for immodesty.

Want to read entries that judges have scored highly in the past? The full-text of most Stevie Award-winning entries are published on the web site. Start by looking through the 2011 winners.

5. Submit Your Entries By The Entry Deadline
The final entry deadline for The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will be November 18, 2011.  Late entries will be accepted through January 10, 2012 with payment of a $35 late fee per entry. When you're ready to enter, begin here...

6. Subscribe to the Free Stevie Awards Email Newsletter
The weekly email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about entry deadline extensions, new categories, and other announcements from the organizers of The Stevie Awards.  We have a very strict privacy policy, so we will not share your email address with anyone else for any reason.  Click here to learn more.

7. Get Social with The Stevies
Connect with The Stevie Awards on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube for latest announcements, blog postings, photos, and videos regarding our awards programs.

8. Participate in the Judging Process
Apply to be a preliminary-round judge.  As a judge you will be able to see the entries submitted by many companies around the world, and you will develop a better sense of the types of entries that judges score highly.  (You will not be allowed to judge entries in categories in which you have submitted entries, however.)  Click here to complete the application form.

If your application is accepted you will be assigned categories based on your function and experience.  As a preliminary-round judge you will be able to judge as few or as many nominations as you like, at your convenience, over the Internet in November-January.

9. Contact The Stevie Awards
Contact us with your questions about the most appropriate categories, entry fees, and so on.  Our phone number is +1 703-547-8389, and our email address is help@stevieawards.com. Note, the first question we’ll ask you is: what do you and your organization want to be recognized for?

What has helped you write successful entries for The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

Tags: sales excellence, customer service awards, sales awards, customer service excellence, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, submission process