The entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 28, 2012.

The submission process is easy. To start, you should:

1. Request an entry kit. The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2012 ABA categories. The ABAs have several categories that honor organizations, departments, teams, individuals and much more. Our awards categories include:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

See all business award categories.

3. Submit your entries. Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

If you have any trouble selecting categories or submitting entries, you can contact us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com.

Late entries will still be accepted through the final entry deadline of April 25 with a late fee of $35.00 per entry. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and 2012 ABA winners will be announced at one of our two awards ceremonies. Our traditional banquet will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and our second ceremony where we will honor our tech awards winners will be held in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

March 28 is the entry deadline for The 2012 (10th annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. 

If you haven't downloaded the 2012 entry kit, you can find it online here. We also recommend that you watch the video How to Enter The 2012 American Business Awards for step-by-step instructions on how to successfully submit entries.

The ABAs have categories to recognize achievement in all facets of the American workplace, including awards for individuals, teams, departments, and organizations. Types of award categories include:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards 
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

See all ABA categories here.

Entries submitted after March 28, through the final deadline of April 25, will be assessed a late fee in addition to any entry fee. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and the 10th Annual business awards winners will be announced at one of our two awards ceremonies. We will hold our traditional banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and have a second ceremony in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th where we will announce our tech awards winners. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

Need help answering  your ABA submission questions?  Email us at help@stevieawards.com  or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.

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.

More 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.

We've created a video called "How to Participate in America Means Business." You can watch it here.

The video is a recording of our March 13 webinar of the same name. America Means Business is a new event by the Stevie Awards about how to start and create a business. It will take place in New York June 13-15, and there are opportunities for your organization to speak, exhibit, and sponsor.

We're particularly looking for speakers on topics such as:

• Getting started in business, and all that that entails
• How to raise money to start a business
• How and when to hire staff
• Management issues related to business start-ups and growth
• Technology issues that should concern entrepreneurs
• How to use social media and other web media to grow a business and a brand
• The importance of branding and marketing and how to develop a marketing plan
• Why public relations and publicity should be on a start-up’s priority list
• How to develop a sales plan and supercharge a sales effort
• How and why startups should excel in customer service
• How to develop and follow a product development and management plan

Watch the video to learn how to participate.

Salesforce.com Foundation of San Francisco, California, USA received a Stevie® Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year - More Than 2,500 Employees in the company awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards. (The 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., are currently accepting entries. Request an entry kit here and submit your entries by the March 28 deadline.) Here we look at what makes Salesforce.com's CSR program stand out.

Salesforce.com's Philanthropic Model
The Salesforce.com Foundation is considered by many to be a global leader in integrating philanthropy and business through its 1/1/1 integrated philanthropy model. This ground-breaking 1/1/1 integrated model—now being replicated by companies around the world—sets aside 1% of salesforce.com’s employee time, 1% of equity, and 1% of product for nonprofits.

The founder of salesforce.com, CEO Marc Benioff, believes that creating a sustainable philanthropic model doesn’t just require monetary commitments, but rather the culmination of all that a company has to offer—most notably an employees’ time and expertise—in order to make a strong impact on each nonprofit that the Foundation serves.

The business awards winner has made tremendous strides since its inception. From a numbers perspective:

• 250,000 employee hours have been donated to nonprofits. Salesforce.com gives employees six paid days per year to volunteer for organizations of their choice, and organizes team volunteering events to help employees connect with their communities;
• 11,000 nonprofits are using donated Salesforce licenses to better serve their missions; and
• More than $23 million in grants have been awarded. Funds are dispersed via several distinct grants, including matching gifts for employee donations, employee-championed projects, and funding for technology projects focused on youth development.

American Red Cross
The 1/1/1 integrated model is what makes the Salesforce.com Foundation unique, and nowhere can this be seen more clearly than with the Foundation’s work with the American Red Cross, the U.S.A.'s leading disaster recovery organization. Through Salesforce.com’s product, time, and grants, the Foundation is helping the American Red Cross to respond to the magnitude of need created by disasters around the world. 

There are more than 60 American Red Cross Chapters across the U.S.A. using donated and discounted Salesforce licenses to run their organizations, from tracking thousands of volunteers and partners handling tens of thousands of public inquiries in the event of a disaster, to fundraising, and health and safety operations.

A large number of Salesforce.com employees dedicate their time and expertise to the American Red Cross as well as raise money through partnering with the organization. For example, the corporate award winner's employees raised $200,000 to help the Japan earthquake and tsunami victims, and raised $250,000 for the Haiti earthquake.  As a result, Marc Benioff received the Humanitarian Award from the Red Cross Bay Area Chapter March 9, 2011.
       
A New Phase
The company award winning foundation has recently embarked on a new phase to achieve not just sustainability, but also growth through its CSR awards winning approach. The company made the strategic decision to adopt a social enterprise model in an effort to scale its 1/1/1 model. The Foundation is essentially set up as a Salesforce.com reseller so it can now provide steep discounts to nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, and higher education institutions beyond the initial 10 free license donations.

Organizations that purchase discounted licenses from the corporate awards winner not only receive affordable technology to efficiently manage data and relationships, but also contribute to the growth and success of all nonprofits using Salesforce.com. The revenue from these discounted services goes right back into the Foundation to fund grants, product development, and employee volunteer programs. As a result, everyone is working together to create lasting, worldwide social change.

About Suzanne DiBianca:
Suzanne DiBianca is executive director and co-founder of the Salesforce.com Foundation.  She directs all Foundation activities and serves as the liaison to community, business and government organizations. Previously, DiBianca was a principal at CSC Consulting Group in the Strategic Services Division, where she worked with Fortune 500 companies to improve organizational performance and enhance leadership capabilities. She also served as the program and marketing director for Partners for Democratic Change, a non-profit organization that provides skills for effective conflict management and alternative dispute resolution to NGOs and government officials abroad. DiBianca serves on a number of boards and advisory councils, including the World Affairs Council's Global Philanthropy Forum, the Entrepreneurs Foundation, the Business Advisory Council to SFUSD and Goodwill Industries.

About Salesforce.com:
With 100,000+ customers, Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company that is leading the shift to the social enterprise. Social enterprises leverage social, mobile, and open cloud technologies to put customers at the heart of their business. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia.  For more information call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Donlen of Northbrook, Illinois, USA, received a Stevie® Award for Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program of the Year—Up to 2,500 Employees in the company awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards. (The American Business Awards are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and submit your 2012 ABA entries by the March 28 deadline.) Here we take a closer look at what steps fleet financer and management provider, Donlen is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As a global provider of fleet management solutions, the corporate awards winner was concerned with the following facts:

• Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are the leading cause of climate change;

• The commercial fleet industry currently manages nearly 3,000,000 vehicles, and one-third of GHG emissions in the United States come from the transportation sector; and

• The average fleet produces nearly 9,000 metric tons of GHG annually, which is equivalent to the GHG emissions produced by burning 1,012,373 gallons of gasoline.

In 2010, Donlen stepped forward as an industry leader and became a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), collaborating with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in a CGI Commitment to Action titled “Commercial Fleet 20% GHG Emissions Reduction,” and launching Fleets for Change, a fully independent website and robust reporting database.

Utilizing significant Donlen resources, Fleets for Change works with companies to help transform the environmental impact of the U.S. commercial fleet industry. This five-year commitment will help to reduce fleet emission levels by 20%, generating a reduction of more than 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Pledging Reductions
Any company that is committed to working to track and reduce GHG is welcome to join Fleets for Change. After joining, participants pledge reduction levels then upload their fuel usage and MPG data into a secure database. There, they can not only track their progress against their own goals, but anonymously benchmark against similar fleets with regard to vehicle type and/or class, industry, fleet size, and other criteria. (No company names or identifiers are ever disclosed to other participants.) Access to this cross-industry and fleet data is unprecedented in the fleet management industry.

Creating Change
The organization awards winner's commitment to creating meaningful industry change is easily recognizable through their Fleets for Change initiative:

• This is an industry-wide initiative open to any fleet that wishes to participate, whether or not they are a Donlen customer. Fleets for Change is a fully secure, independent site.

• There is no cost for a company to participate in Fleets for Change. Donlen is underwriting all associated costs of the site, database, reporting, and analysis.
  
  
• Donlen is committed to protecting the security of participant information: no individual data is identified or used for any purpose other than confidential reporting by Fleets for Change to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Best Practices
For companies needing assistance to identify their reduction goals and strategies, business award winner, Donlen offers best practices based on extensive experience helping their customers to develop and implement sustainability initiatives. For their customers, Donlen consultants provide performance metrics, benchmarking data, analytical support, facilitating discussions around lifecycle costs and cost reduction. These effective strategies, some of which are shared with Fleets for Change participants, help to measure and reduce fleet GHG.

Corporate award winner and CEO Gary Rappeport spearheads Donlen’s innovation and unparalleled success in the fleet industry. His focus on employee and customer satisfaction, corporate social responsibility, and environmental consciousness has put Donlen in the forefront of workplace excellence, and allowed Donlen to experience unprecedented growth under his leadership.

“The transportation industry is responsible for 28% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” stated Rappeport.“As a leader in the fleet management industry, it’s important that Donlen takes the initiative to help reduce commercial fleet GHG on a broader scale. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) offers us the ideal venue to address this critically important issue, and we're proud to collaborate with EDF to be part of the larger work of CGI.”

About Gary Rappeport:
Chief Executive Officer Gary Rappeport joined Donlen in 1986 and held a variety of roles prior to taking the leadership position in 1996. Named Executive of the Year-Services in The 2009 American Business Awards, Gary is committed to both employee and customer satisfaction, and developed the Donlen Service Success Chain in which annual goals are set and achievements benchmarked. Gary received a Bachelor's degree in Finance at the University of Florida and an MBA in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the World Presidents’ Organization, and serves as chairman of the American Automotive Leasing Association. Gary is on the Dean's Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin Business School. He is an active member of The Sierra Club and is diligently involved with Children's Oncology Services, Inc. Prior to joining Donlen, he held sales and management positions at NCR and HP.

About Donlen:
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ), Donlen (www.donlen.com), with headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois, is a global provider of fleet financing and management solutions. Since 1965, Donlen has offered its clients highly personalized and responsive customer service, and their workplace excellence has been recognized as one of Crain's Chicago Business "List of 20 Best Places to Work in Chicago" each year from 2009-2011, a Leader on "The Global Outsourcing 100®" list by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) for five of the last six years, a National Association for Business Resources "101 Best and Brightest Places to Work For in Chicago" each year from 2007-2011, the 2012 Gold Stevie® Award winner for Business Intelligence, and the 2012 Silver Stevie Award winner for Front Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

The entry deadline for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is quickly approaching – it’s Wednesday, March 28, 2012. You can start submitting your entries today here.

How the submission process works:

1. Request your entry kit. 
   Once emailed to you, the kit will be your guide on everything you'll need to know about how to prepare and submit your entries.
2. Review the 2012 ABA categories.
   Pick who you would like to recognize and why they should be recognized. We have categories highlighting organizations, teams, departments, and individuals, as well as:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards 
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

3. Submit your entries.
   Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

Benefits of submitting a business award entry:

1. More chances to win
   All Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will automatically be included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a public vote that will commence in July. The People's Choice Winners will be honored at the new tech awards ceremony in San Francisco on September 17. Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will have an opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie® Award, as voted by your peers, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as voted by your customers.
2. New award distinctions
   The American Business Awards banquets will showcase our three levels of award distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards. You can learn more about the new awards here.
3. Multiple awards banquets
   The 10th Annual corporate awards will have two awards ceremonies. We will hold our traditional banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and have a second ceremony in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th where we will announce our tech award winners.

Helpful resources to make your submission process easier:

1. Step-by-step video on how to submit entries
   Watch our helpful video tutorial on how to successfully enter submissions.
2. Review past winners' entries here.
   They're great models for how you should write your entries.
3. 7 tips on submitting winning entries
   Read our tips on how to submit winning entries.

If you have any questions regarding your ABA submissions, call us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll get back to you right away.

Not going to make the March 28th deadline? Don't worry, you can still submit entries through April 25 with a $35.00 late fee.   Click here to see the ABA's calendar.  

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards, has just published the third poll in our monthly poll series highlighting people, organizations, events, and products that have shaped our lives over the past decade.  We bring you these polls as part of our 10th anniversary celebration of the start of the Stevie Awards movement.

Our March poll asks, What’s the top new product or service of the past 10 years? After careful consideration, we've narrowed the choices to the following ten. Vote now for your choice on our Facebook page:

a) BlackBerry

b) Crest WhiteStrips

c) Crocs

d) Guitar Hero

e) iPad

f) iPhone

g) NetFlix

h) Skype

i)TiVO

j) Toyota Prius Hybrid

Results of our poll will be announced at the end of March.

Which do you think is the top new product or service of the past 10 years?

More than 1,000 votes were cast in response to February's poll question: Who was the top business leader of the past 10 years? As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, the Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards, has introduced a monthly poll series to help celebrate the people, organizations, events, and products that have shaped our lives throughout the past decade.

You voted Apple's Steve Jobs as the top business leader of the past decade, with 31% of all votes cast.

Other top business leaders included:

a) Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com - 5%

b) Richard Branson, Virgin Group - 5%

c) Sergey Brin/Larry Page, Google - 7%

d) Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway - 3%

e) Bill Gates, Microsoft - 23%

f) Naveen Jindal, Jindal Steel and Power - 2%

g) Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company - 2%

h) Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions - 4%

i) Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook - 20%

We will introduce March's poll question, What's the top product of the past ten years? on the Stevie Awards' Facebook page early next week.

Do you agree with the results? Leave us a comment and let us know.

The Stevie® Awards is pleased to show you the first photo of the real Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards trophies which have been introduced as part of our 10th anniversary celebration of the start of the Stevie Awards movement. The new awards are manufactured by R.S. Owens in Chicago, the longtime manufacturer of the Stevie and other major awards including the Oscars and the Emmys. 

The Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be introduced at the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which recognize the achievements of call center, customer service, and sales professionals worldwide, on February 27 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  The business awards banquet, which will confer sales awards and customer service awards, will be the first Stevie Awards program in which Silver and Bronze winners will be named. (Tickets are still available; support your organization's good customer service and sales excellence by reserving a table today.) Henceforth, all honorees in Stevie Awards programs will be Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Finalists that receive the top scoring qualifying entry in each category will receive a Gold Stevie Award. Finalists that receive a final average score of at least 8.0 out of a possible 10 will be named Silver Stevie Award winners. All other Finalists will be designated as Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Gold Stevie winners will automatically receive a Gold Stevie trophy.  Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will automatically receive a Silver or Bronze medal and will have the option to purchase their Stevie trophy. With the introduction of our new corporate awards distinctions, there will no longer be Finalist certificates.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the new Silver and Bronze Stevie Award trophies!