A Stevie Award Winner Expands Network in Asia-Pacific Region

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Mar 24, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

The Executive Centre in Hong Kong, China, won a Gold Stevie Award for Services Company of the Year-China (including Hong Kong) in the Company Awards categories of the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. The Executive Centre also won a Gold Stevie for Company of the Year-Business Services Asia & Oceania in the Company Awards categories of The 2014 International Business Awards.

The final deadline for the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is March 25. Get the entry kit here.

The 2015 International Business Awards early-bird deadline is April 15.  Get the entry kit here.

1503ExecCenterBased on a core concept of providing best-in-class service in every city it serves, The Executive Centre offers businesses an opportunity to "Work Smarter, Not Harder" and to achieve office space flexibility, cost effectiveness, and productivity.   A business looking to have a presence in Asia can benefit from The Executive Centre’s fully furnished and well-equipped serviced workplaces, virtual offices with prestigious business addresses, a regional network of meeting rooms in a professional business environment, state-of-the-art productivity and communication tools, and a variety of local business support services.

We asked Paul Salnikow, Chairman and CEO of The Executive Centre, for an overview of business trends in Asia-Pacific, what winning a Stevie Awards has meant for his business, and what makes him hit the ground running in the morning.

The Challenges of Expansion

“The Asia Pacific region has enormous potential for growing businesses,” Paul Salnikow told us. He also offered some words of caution: “Whilst expanding into a new market is a huge milestone for any company, it is also very challenging. Different legislation, customs, business practices, and workplace expectations are all important factors that a company must consider. Prior to devising strategies for business expansion or marketing penetration, it is always good to gauge the local business executives’ perceptions of current and future economic conditions on the local, regional and global level as how business peers perceive what lies ahead can be a genuine barometer of business activity and the overall business climate.”

According to a 2015 Business Outlook Survey conducted by The Executive Centre among 800 companies in Asia Pacific, the top three challenging issues for all markets are intensifying competition, pressure on prices (from raw materials,commodities, and services), and uncertain market demand. Paul’s advice: “Focus more on implementing effective business management practices, from cost control and improving working capital, to product innovation, service quality improvement, and customer retention.”

International Recognition

“We are delighted to be recognized on the international business stage,” Paul said about winning the Stevie Awards. “We will use this accolade as a benchmark for how we intend to continue running our business and serving our customers to the highest possible level.”

According to Paul: “At The Executive Centre, creating customer value is the fundamental foundation of our business and we put our customer’s needs and interests at the centre of everything we do. Both the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and The International Business Awards are a testament to our continuous commitment to the delivery of premium-standard serviced office solutions, and our dedication to innovation and service excellence.”

A High Benchmark

Commenting on how winning in the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is helping to broaden awareness of his business in the region, Paul acknowledged that the Stevie Awards were often referred to as the “Oscars” of the business world. “They honor—and generate public recognition for—the efforts, accomplishments, and positive contributions of companies and business people worldwide,” he added. “Winning these two awards undoubtedly validates The Executive Centre’s success in setting a high benchmark for premier service delivery on a global scale, and affirms its leadership in the marketplace.”

An Expanding Network

We asked Paul whether he had plans to expand his own service business into other areas of Asia-Pacific. Because of the continued growing demand for premium serviced office space driven by companies seeking the advantages of flexible workspace solutions, I am confident of the business growth at The Executive Centre in the coming years both in terms of capacity and revenue,” Paul told us. “We will continue to expand our network in both existing and new Asian markets, as well as look into establishing presence in emerging markets such as the Gulf States and Russia.”

Personal Mantra

According to Paul: “To be average is simple, but to be the best requires continual focus on improvement, constantly setting the bar higher and higher.” It is Paul’s opinion that there is always room for improvement. “So I improve myself in one way every day.”

About Paul Salnikow:

Paul Salnikow is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of The Executive Center, which he founded in 1994. As he likes to put it: “The best leader is the one who is smart enough to choose a talented team to do what he wants done, and then have the self-restraint to allow them to do it. The Executive Centre is populated by highly talented leaders who create successful teams that are given the freedom to succeed. Outstanding leaders work to boost the self-belief of their teams. When people believe in themselves, amazing things are accomplished. In 12 years we have grown the revenue of The Executive Centre from less than $500,000 annually to over $110,000,000 annually. All through the belief and accomplishment of our teams.”

About The Executive Center:

Founded in 1994, The Executive Centre is Asia Pacific's leading premium serviced office provider, with 70 centers across 21 major cities including Hong Kong, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Jakarta, Mumbai, Chennai, Gurgaon, Pune, Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney .

At the cutting edge of the serviced office industry, The Executive Centre provides the highest quality of on-demand serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting facilities, video conferencing and a broad range of business concierge services in the most prestigious Grade A office buildings in the central business districts of every city in which it operates. It is deciated to serving the business interests of multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises, and start-ups locally, regionally, and internationally by providing the most flexible and dynamic workplace solutions.

Who's Coming to the German Stevie Awards in Berlin This Friday?

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Mar 23, 2015 @ 12:23 PM

GSA_LogoThis Friday, March 27 will mark the historic occasion of the presentation of the very first German Stevie Awards, the newest Stevie Awards competition.  The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards to recognize the best in business throughout Germany will be presented during a gala event at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Berlin.

The 2015 German Stevie Awards accepted nominations in a wide variety of categories, including

* Management Awards
* Company of the Year Awards
* PR Awards
* Marketing Awards
* New Product Awards
* Website & App Awards
* HR Awards
* IT Awards
* Customer Service Awards
* Video Awards
and more

All organizations operating in Germany were eligible to submit entries. Nominations of more than 200 organizations were considered for the awards this year.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners, selected by more than 50 executives who participated in judging, were announced on February 26.   The Grand Stevie winner, presented to the organization that submitted the best body of nominations to the awards, will be announced at the March 27 banquet in Berlin.

The Stevie Award trophy, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, is among the world's most coveted prizes.

Here are the organizations who've already booked their place at this Friday's awards banquet.

affilinet GmbH München Bayern
aok teleservice marketing- und callcenterdienstleistungen der defacto GmbH Erlangen Bayern
Arkadin Frankfurt
AVL Emission Test Systems GmbH Neuss
Blacklane GmbH Berlin
CB-PraxisBeratung, Heidelberg
CCC Berlin
CocaCola GmbH Berlin
COMBITEL GmbH München Bayern
Deutsche Post DHL Bonn NRW Deutschland
E2open AG Karlsruhe Baden-Württemberg
Emanate PR München Bayern
Epicentrum de Colonia Köln
F&H Public Relations GmbH München Bayern
Feingold Technologies GmbH Unterföhring München Bayern
fischerAppelt Hamburg
Hamburger Software GmbH, Hamburg
Hewlett Packard CDS GmbH Bad Homburg Hessen
Integration Matters - Faiz & Siegeln Software GmbH Essen NRW
Inventorum GmbH Berlin
JUNIQE (Kollwitz Internet GmbH) Berlin
Kemper Kommunikation GmbH Frankfurt Hessen
Ketchum Pleon Dusseldorf
Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Berlin
METRO Cash & Carry Deutschland GmbH Düsseldorf NRW
MID GmbH Nürnberg Bayern
mobilcom-debitel GmbH Erfurt Thüringen
optivo GmbH Berlin
Packsize GmbH Herford NRW
The Phone House Telecom GmbH, Münster
promio.net Gmbh Bonn Nordrhein-Westfalen
RheinBrücke IT Consulting GmbH Köln NRW
Sky Deutschland Unterföhring Bayern
trio-group GmbH Mannheim Baden-Württemberg
uberMetrics Technologies GmbH Berlin Deutschland
Vocalcom GmbH Mannheim Baden Württemberg
Weber Shandwick München Bayern
Zebra Advertisement Dudenhofen Germany
ZIEHL-ABEGG SE Künzelsau Baden-Württemberg

Entries for the 2016 edition of the German Stevie Awards will open this August.  Add your name to the mailing list, and you'll receive the entry kit by email as soon as it's available.

Topics: German Stevie Awards, germany, German Business

Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards Final Deadline Extended to March 25

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Mar 13, 2015 @ 12:18 PM

By popular demand, the final entry deadline for the 2015 (2nd annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards has been extended to Wednesday, March 25.

APSApic3-1All individuals and organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards now feature a wide range of categories to recognize achievement in every aspect of the workplace. In the 2014 awards, only 18 categories were offered. This year there are over 250 industry specific entry categories including:

  • Customer Service Awards
  • Company/Organization Awards
  • Human Resources Awards
  • Information Technology Awards
  • Management Awards
  • Marketing Awards Categories
  • New Product Awards
  • Corporate Communications, IR, and PR Awards
  • Support Awards
  • Website Awards and Smartphone and Tablet App Awards

See the full list of Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards categories.

Nominations should cite achievements since July 1 2013. There is no eligibility timeframe for app and web site entries - it does not matter when they were first published.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced on April 1. The 2015 winners will be celebrated at the second annual awards banquet on May 15 in Shanghai, China.

Contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The website at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com is available in, and entries may be submitted in, seven languages: Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay and Thai.

 

Winning a Stevie Award Highlights Achievements of Jamaican Sales Leader

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Mar 12, 2015 @ 11:30 AM

Beverley Thompson, Residential Sales Director at FLOW Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica, won the Silver Stevie® Award for Sales Training or Education Leader of the Year in the Sales Awards Individual categories of the 2015 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

JamaicaThe 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will begin accepting entries in July. See the customer service awards categories in The 2016 American Business Awards.

Since winning the Stevie® Awards last week, Beverley has been in the limelight in the corporate world in Jamaica. It’s the first time anyone representing a Jamaican company has won such an award. On Sunday, March 8, the Jamaica Observer ran a lengthy feature on Beverley’s story in recognition of International Womens Day.

Beverley’s nomination in the Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service was submitted by ValueSelling Associates, and afterwards she commented: “I’m thankful to ValueSelling for the nomination. I believe this award validates my passion for people development, coaching, and training!”

Prestigious Award

Continued Beverley: “This is a really prestigious award. Companies from around the world participate in the Sales & Customer Service Awards. There were over 1,900 nominations from around the world in different categories, presided over by experienced judges who narrowed it down to Finalists. We were Finalists in two categories: Leader of Sales Education, where I won the Silver Stevie; and Sales Coaching Program of the Year, for which the Flow retail team won the Bronze Stevie.

“The retail team trained with Value Selling, which nominated us, and as far as I am aware, no other Jamaican individual or company has ever won or been nominated for the Stevie Awards.”

Commenting on the awards ceremony, held in Las Vegas on February 27, Beverley had this to say: “In one room you have over 500 people from all over the world, including India, Australia, Dubai, Turkey—and some of the biggest companies in the world, like Marriott, DHL, Lennox, Wyndham. Winning these awards means a lot for my own organization.”

Service-based Sales Culture

When sales veteran Beverley Thompson assumed the role of leading FLOW Jamaica’s retail sales team in 2010, the company’s focus was to transform it’s thirteen retail stores from being primarily service outlets to revenue-generating centers for its triple-play services. The company was keen to leverage its service skills to create what Thompson describes as a “service-based sales culture.”

To effect this culture change, Beverley knew she first had to start with equipping the retail team with new skills. No stranger to leading skills development, she took on the task of creating and delivering a “Sales 101” curriculum relevant to her team’s environment. She did this while maintaining her own responsibilities for a team of over 100 persons and delivering her sales targets.

ValueSellings Retail Program

Beverley’s next area of focus was to enhance the team’s skills to create value for every customer interaction. The objective was to have retail customers leaving the store feeling they had received more than they expected. By doing so, the customer would be inclined to retain FLOW’s services, increase their spend, or recommend FLOW to someone else.

Beverley brought in ValueSelling Associates to work with her to create a common retail sales approach built around a conversational framework that would be used by each retail representative.

Beverley liked ValueSelling’s B2B sales process and tasked the company with adapting it to fit a retail environment. She was very clear that any sales process implemented should also include the tools and reinforcement framework to enable her team to embed it post workshop-delivery.

ValueSelling Associates created the ValueSelling Framework for Retail, built around a five-step approach for engaging the retail customer. It was designed to move the FLOW team from pitching products and promotions to engaging the customer to uncover what value meant to them–and then delivering it.  

Core Team

Beverley created a core team within the organization who were tasked with becoming experts in the ValueSelling Framework. The aim was to ensure that the process was adopted and yielded results in several areas of tracking, including:

-   a reduction in disconnections;

-     an increase in ‘add-on’ services; and

-     qualitative metrics such as customer feedback on the overall quality of the interaction with FLOW’s retail representatives.

The team used creative techniques to ensure the Retail representatives were properly utilizing ValueSelling. These included incentives such as gift cards for the winners of quizzes on the sales methodology; team meetings with presentations on key aspects of the ValueSelling Framework; and an essay contest describing the retail representative’s best ValueSelling experience with a customer and the results it yielded.

In addition to wallet cards provided to retail representatives to remind them of the ValueSelling Framework process, the back office of each store was equipped with a poster-size version to provide visual reinforcement. Actively involved in the process of embedding the program, Beverley traveled with her core team to each retail outlet to ‘mystery shop’ and do spot observations on the team’s use of the retail sales approach.

Embracing the Process

FLOW’s retail team responded to the efforts of Beverley and her core team by embracing the ValueSelling process. Their commitment was not only evidenced in their willingness to attend workshops on Sundays, but also with the enthusiasm and competitive spirit which they displayed in showcasing each store’s use of ValueSelling and the impact on the metrics being tracked.

The results followed: Within six months of adopting the ValueSelling Framework for Retail, FLOW saw a significant decrease in disconnections and a 10% increase in ‘add-on’ services. The FLOW team recognizes that because of the value of the techniques and its reinforcement, the ValueSelling Retail Approach is used in every conversation. In Beverley’s words: “The core concept of value became part of our DNA–because value isn’t just about sales, it involves the entire customer experience.”

About Beverley Thompson:

Beverley Thompson is the Director of Consumer Sales and Retail Services at FLOW Jamaica. She was the Sales Director at FLOW Jamaica for two and half years, primarily focusing on field sales operations, before leaving to work for the Royal Mail in England in 2008. She rejoined FLOW in October 2010. Beverley’s experience spans the strategic level, as well as the creation and management of multi-channel sales operations across retail, enterprise, and SME. She has had a career steeped in playing key roles in startups, the launch of new technology, and business units.

The former member of Youth Opportunities Unlimited plans to focus on assisting the schools which laid the foundation for her rise–Unity Primary, and Oberlin High–a quest that is being assisted by the supporting hand of her husband. The main life lesson for this lover of football, one-day cricket, and track & field, is: "knowing what you want, sticking to it ... and not being derailed by distractions or bumps along the way."

Beverley has an MBA from the Mona School of Business & Management in Jamaica. She and her husband live in Kingston, and she enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, and watching television.

About FLOW Jamaica:

Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd. is wholly owned by Columbus. It markets its broadband triple play (cable‚ internet, and telephony) under the brand name FLOW. FLOW is the only company in Jamaica providing true broadband triple-play. FLOW's technology is cutting-edge and its people are experts in the field. FLOW aims to revolutionize the way Jamaicans watch, talk, and click.

Twelfth International Business Awards Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Mar 11, 2015 @ 03:18 PM

Stevie Awards to Be Presented This Fall in Toronto

The Stevie® Awards today issued the call for entries for The 12th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from SteviesLogo2015organizations in more than 50 nations and territories each year.

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is 15 April. The final entry deadline is 13 May and late entries will be accepted through 10 June with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Toronto, Canada on 16 October.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

A variety of new categories are introduced for the 2015 competition including Woman of the Year, Startup of the Year, Energy Industry Innovation of the Year, Best Email Newsletter, Best Use of Instagram, and more. Several of the new categories have no entry fee.

Stevie Award winners in the 2015 IBAs included Accenture (USA), Advanced Bionics (USA), AECOM (USA), Akbank (Turkey), ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller (United Arab Emirates), AT&T (USA), CallidusCloud (USA), DHL Express (worldwide), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Jack Morton Worldwide, Kanyon (Turkey), LLORENTE Y CUENCA (Spain), Maras Group (Australia), MSLGROUP worldwide, MWW Group (USA), Odea Bank (Turkey), Oxford City Football Club (USA), Plasenta Conversation Agency (Turkey), PS Communication (Denmark), Quality Systems, Inc. (USA), and StarHub Ltd (Singapore), and Weber Shandwick (worldwide), among others.

9th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Announces Winners

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Mar 02, 2015 @ 11:12 AM

Winners in the ninth annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, were unveiled on Friday night at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada attended by more than 520 executives from around the world.

The complete list of Stevie winners by category is available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

groupphotoDP DHL, with Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award wins for operations in Bolivia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, the U.S.A., and other nations, won the Grand Stevie Award as the winningest organization in the competition for the second year in a row. Other organizations recognized with Grand Stevies for the overall quality of their nominations and the total number of awards won include Delta Air Lines, DenizBank A.S., Fareportal, GuideWell Connect, John Hancock Signature Services, Lennox Industries, Marriott Vacation Club, Visualize, and VIZIO Inc.

Among the winners of Gold Stevie Awards, Turkey’s DenizBank was the top individual winner, with six Gold wins, while various DP DHL locations worldwide won a total of seven. Lennox Industries, Marriott Vacation Club and VIZIO won three each. Winners of two Gold Stevies include Blinds.com, Cisco Systems, Competence Call Center, Delta Air Lines, Fareportal, FedEx TechConnect, HomeAway.com, HomeServe USA, iHeartMedia, Invenio Solutions, Kohl’s Department Stores, Trupanion, United Credit Consultants, Wells Fargo, Xactly Corporation, and Zions First National Bank.

Winners in the sixth annual People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by a worldwide public vote, were also awarded at the event to organizations including AllClear ID, CubeSmart, Rackspace, and Turkey’s Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., among others.

The presentations will be broadcast by the Biz TalkRadio Network (http://www.BizTalkRadio.com) at 7:00 pm ET on Monday, March 9.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business award shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and the new German Stevie Awards.

More than 1,900 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 27% over 2014. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 139 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 54 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 50 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Business Development Achievement of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. The Business Development categories were new for 2015.

Members of seven specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging that took place January 26 - February 4.

Sponsors and supporters of the 9th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Biz TalkRadio and ValueSelling Associates.