Newest Stevie Awards Program Recognizing the Best in Business in Germany Now Accepting Entries through February 11

By popular demand, the Stevie Awards have announced a general entry deadline extension for its new German Stevie® Awards.  Entries will now be accepted through February 11.

All organizations operating in Germany are eligible to submit nominations to the 2015 German Stevie Awards. The awards will recognize achievements made since July 1, 2013.  Complete information about the awards process is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition over the past 12 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Stevie Awards programs attract more than 8,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations.  The Stevie Award trophy is among the world's most coveted prizes.

The German Stevie Awards welcome nominations from all organizations operating in Germany – large and small, for-profit and non-profit, publicly-held and privately-held - with a wide range of categories to choose from, including

• Company of the Year awards
• Management awards
• Marketing awards
• Public relations awards
• Customer service awards
• Human resources awards
• IT awards
• New product awards
• App and website awards
• Video awards
  and more 

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds by dozens of executives across Germany.  The first round will take place the week of February 16 and will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category.  Those winners will be announced the week of February 23.  All of the Gold Stevie Award winners will then compete in the second round of judging for the right to be named the Grand Stevie Award winner in their category groups.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in Berlin on March 27.

Many German companies have been recognized in Stevie Awards programs over the years, including adidas Group, Bertelsmann AG, DP DHL, Lufthansa, and Siemens AG, among the more prominent winners.  “With the German Stevie Awards, we are able to recognize the achievements of many more German companies and executives,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “This will mean that many more German businesses will be able to benefit from the brand-building and employee-recognition benefits of winning the major business award, the Stevie Award.”

Questions about the German Stevie Awards?  Contact us at help+deutschland@stevieawards.com.

Dale E. Gerstenslager is General Manager, Public Relations & Communications for Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam Co., Ltd.  He has been a judge for the Stevie Awards for Women in Business for the past two years, and plans to to assist with the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards judging early in the new year.

Entries are now being accepted for the 2015 edition of the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, which are open to all organizations operating in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region.
(REVIEW THE ASIA-PACIFIC STEVIE AWARDS ENTRY KIT HERE.)

We talked with Dale about his company, working in Vietnam, and judging the Stevie® Awards. He told us he’d learned some useful things from his judging experience: “First and foremost I’d have to say that as a judge for the Stevie Awards for Women in Business I’ve learned a great deal. It has been an opportunity to see some amazing Public Relations and Communication campaigns.  The entries spanned the globe and covered a wide spectrum of categories.  Many times I found myself taking notes and thinking: What a great idea.”

A Virtual Think-Tank

Dale is now looking forward to reviewing the Corporate Communications Awards, Investor Relations Awards, and Public Relations Awards categories of the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.
“The Stevie Awards create a virtual think-tank that provides fertile ground where creativity can blossom and grow,” commented Dale.  “Rarely in life do true ‘epiphanies’ occur; so anytime people share ideas, doors in the mind begin to open and possibilities expand, with one idea leading to the next.  That’s how programs like the Stevie Awards help business leaders find new opportunities to increase market share and expand their business.”

An Unbeatable Package

We asked Dale why The Doosan Group, an international company headquartered in South Korea, was operating in Vietnam.  “The Doosan Group chose Vietnam for its $330M investment because of a unique set of incentives and circumstances offered by the leaders of Vietnam,” Dale explained.  “It began with a set of critical criteria followed by a lengthy global search and an extensive due diligence of the many proposals put forth by countries from all over the world. Doosan ultimately selected Vietnam because of the outstanding support and stability of the local, regional, and national governments, an unbeatable package of financial incentives, an eager labour force, and a coastal location that allowed us to build a dedicated port that would give us ready access to major sea lanes.”

Be Flexible

Since Dale is a specialist in communications in the region, we asked him for some tips for companies thinking of doing business in Vietnam. “First, do your homework,” advises Dale. “And that should involve consulting with those that have ‘been there, done that,and have the T-Shirt to prove it.’ That will save a ton of time and money in the exer-cise and get you into production much faster than would happen otherwise.
“Second, Vietnam is evolving at such a rapid pace that you should be prepared to be flex-ible—like you’ve never been before or even imagined possible—then double that.”

Future Potential

We asked Dale what excited him most about his work. “Communications is foundational to all that we do in life,” he told us. “So finding a new, more effective way to reach someone—be it a customer, co-worker, or community—is both challenging and exciting. It keeps my wheels turning and my mind working.  Here in Vietnam, the communications industry is morphing on an almost daily basis. It is still developing, but to look back just a few years and compare it to today, I see tremendous improvement and even greater potential.”

About Dale E. Gerstenslager:

After a 25 year career in the media, living and working in six countries and 14 U.S. states as an award winning editor, journalist, and publisher, Dale Gerstenslager moved from mass communications to public relations and communications.  He accepted a position In Vietnam with Doosan in 2008 where he planned, launched, and now leads the Public Relations and Communications function for the Doosan Group’s $300 million investment in Vietnam.

About Doosan Vina:

Doosan Vina is a high-tech industrial complex in the Dung Quat Economic Zone of Central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai Province.  It covers 110 hectares, employs 3,000, and has shipped over $1 billion U.S. of product to global markets.  The company supplies the mega infrastructure products that make modern life a reality. Doosan Vina’s products include: boilers for thermal power plants; heat recovery steam generators that increase the efficiency of a typical power plant by over 30%; 4,500 ton desalination plants that are the size of a football pitch and turn 95 million liters of sea water into fresh per day; material-handling systems like the cranes that are the heart of logistics at ports around the world; and chemical processing equipment that turns the earth’s natural resources into the useful products we use every day.  

About The Doosan Group:
The Doosan Group is a global multinational focusing on power, water, and other infrastructure developments worldwide. The company is Korea’s oldest business operation, tracing its roots back to 1896 with the opening of the Park Seung-jik Store. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and has operations in 37 countries, over 35,000 employees, and $22 billion in annual revenue.

F&H Porter Novelli in Munich Germany won a Silver Stevie® Award and two Bronze Stevie® Awards in the Communications Awards, IR Awards, and Public Relations Awards categories of The 2014 International Business Awards.

Freiherr Helmut von Fircks, CEO of F&H Porter Novelli, is a regular judge for the International Business Awards. We talked to him about what winning a Stevie® Award means to him, and for his view on the upcoming German Stevie Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

On winning a Stevie® Award, Helmut von Fircks had this to say: “Winning an award is a big honor both for the client and for the account team. And it not only motivates the dedicated team, the whole agency also benefits from a real boost to morale.”

Raising Awareness
We asked Helmut for his thoughts on the new German Stevie® Awards.  “Having a German Stevie Awards program will attract even more German businesses to attend and be part of this wonderful awards program,” he commented. “Having a German Stevie Awards is recognition of the importance of the German market and its role in the communications world. It will raise the awareness of the Stevie Awards tremendously.”

Think Global-Act Local
For companies already operating, or considering expanding into the German market, Helmut offers the following advice: “We suggest companies adopt the rule: Think global–act local. Even though we are part of the EU, Germans expect a tailor-made personal approach. So a campaign that might work in the U.K. does not necessarily work here in Germany.”

A Bright Future
Helmut is optimistic about the future. “Communications is an evolving industry, always at the heart of future trends and innovation,” he told us. “Learning something new every day keeps us excited and motivated for future challenges.”

About Freiherr Helmut von Fircks:
Helmut von Fircks founded the F & H agency whilst studying economics. Even though he started his career in advertising, he soon discovered the power of public relations within the communications mix. He has built a team of creative strategists who love consulting for large global organizations as well as medium-sized businesses. His heart beats communications, especially in challenging situations, and he is a proven crisis-communications specialist.

In his private life this father of four enjoys long walks with his Labrador Lady Mercey.

About F&H Porter Novelli:
F&H Porter Novelli was founded in 1980 and currently employs 60 people in its Munich office. The agency is exclusive German brand partner of Porter Novelli. F&H is amongst the top 20 PR agencies in Germany. The full service agency offers all parameters within a modern communication mix from PR to advertising. F&H Porter Novelli is a strategic communications consultancy supporting com- panies, organizations, institutions, and people in a variety of communications needs. Areas of expertise include traditional and social media public relations, crisis, special situations and long-term stakeholder communications. F&H offers international communications consulting from creative strategists. Bold and pas- sionate, the F&H team develops successful high quality solutions. More information via http://www.fundh.de/

The Stevie Awards, the world's premier business awards programs, have just published a brochure about 2015 sponsorship opportunities.

READ THE BROCHURE HERE

The brochure outlines the opportunities associated with our six awards programs in 2015, including the newest program - the German Stevie Awards.

Among the benefits that are available through Stevie Awards sponsorships are:

• The ability to submit an unlimited number of entries to the sponsored program without having to pay entry fees. This benefit can be extended to sponsors’ clients as well

• The right to name and confer one or more honorary Stevie Awards upon your customers

• A full-page ad in the official program of the event

• Up to 100,000 banner ad impressions on the sponsored program’s web site and in the weekly Stevie Awards Update e-newsletter

• Tickets for the sponsored awards banquet

• At least 10 minutes of stage time to present awards at the sponsored event

• Logo identification in all photographs and video clips of the sponsored event

• Hospitality and display privileges, before, during, and/or after the sponsored event

• Editorial coverage, in the form of an interview or profile, in the Stevie Awards blog and e-newsletter

We welcome the opportunity to customize sponsorship benefits to suit your needs.  Contact Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher for details.

Strategy to Revenue, a global sales performance company, won a Gold Stevie® Award in the Sales Awards categories of the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top sales and customer service awards program. The 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are currently accepting entries. 

GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.  

Strategy to Revenue’s Stevie Award winning nomination outlines how they worked with DHL Global Forwarding to achieve sales excellence. We talked with Matt Downes, Executive Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, about what his company is doing to help its clients, and what he brought back from his experience at the Sales & Customer Service Awards in Las Vegas last February.

To provide some background on his company’s mission and vision, Matt explained that the company was established in 2008 and named Strategy to Revenue (STR) in order to telegraph that sales training should be deployed both to support the implementation of a company’s go-to-market strategy and to deliver revenue in line with the business plan. Said Matt: “We believe sales training is important only if it improves aligned sales performance and accelerates revenue.”

The founders of STR had many years of experience in leading premier sales training companies that provided sales effectiveness solutions to global organizations in transformation. “Our collective experiences have directly informed our point of view and our approach,” Matt told us.

A True Partnership

We asked Matt what winning a Gold Stevie® Award had meant to his company.  He told us that it had been a tremendous accolade for STR.  “The award is recognition that our innovative thinking and our approach to tackling the sales performance challenge head on is working,” he said. “What makes it extra special is winning this award in collaboration with our client DHL, as we have managed to develop a true partnership in supporting their growth strategy where the sales organization is at the heart of this success.”

He added: “Without doubt, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is one of the most respected and well known awards in the sales training and performance industry, so to be ranked up alongside other leading companies is fantastic for STR.”

Innovative Thinking

We asked Matt for some insight into his company’s innovative thinking. “We think few sales enablement or training programs have delivered the intended business impact because most training providers have failed to address obstacles in sales performance improvement,” he told us.  The examples he cited include:

- a lack of individual and team motivation to learn;

- inability to transfer learning into behavioral change in the field;

- difficulty in integrating new marketing collateral and product/service information into sales activity;

- poorly implemented tools supporting misaligned processes;

- inability to adapt to different customer requirements and situations; and

- lack of sales organizational/cultural alignment. 

Collaboration is Key

Continued Matt: “We also recognize the changing role of the Salesperson and, perhaps more importantly, the Sales Manager, as well as the increasing contribution that technology makes to learning. These obstacles present challenges to be resolved. This is our mission: to accelerate revenue by addressing these issues head on and resolving them. We can only do this in collaboration with our clients and other suppliers, so collaboration is key.”

A Source of Competitive Advantage

“Our continued focus is to work with our global clients to create sales performance programs that are motivating, embrace the culture of the organization, and are seen by the Sales team as a source of competitive advantage,” Matt explained. “In the right circumstances, we believe that Salespeople will take responsibility for improving their performance and see learning as a formidable tool to help them.”

Improving Sales Performance

We asked Matt for some tips on how companies can improve their sales performance.  Following are some of his suggestions:

“Making a shift in sales behavior and productivity in the sales organization continues to be one of the hottest topics for every company out there.” suggested Matt. “What has become absolutely evident over recent years is that without sales leadership and first-line sales management alignment and com-mitment to any sales training initiative, the chances of a successful impact on sales performance are slim. 

“We have seen this happen all too often at companies that invest in high profile programs such as value-selling methodologies, value-proposition messaging, sales skills, or business acumen.  When they review the impact 12 months later, they recognize that it didn’t move the needle.”

Pipeline Management

According to Matt, there are two things that STR is absolutely focused on and which the company believes will help tackle this: 

“Firstly, investment into the sales management to ensure a consistent cadence and approach to pipeline management, and performance coaching aligned to the business metrics driving revenue and margin.  Sales Managers need to be able to anticipate potential issues in the pipeline before it’s too late, and then translate that into positive action through coaching. 

“Secondly, a ‘Certification’ approach to any sales training program that hits the field and a focus on evi-dence and observation that a change in sales behavior is taking place.”

Comments Matt: “I would argue that for every training dollar you spend, 30% should be focused on ensuring it is adopted in the field, otherwise the other 70% is being wasted. If companies can get these two things right–and at the same time ensure they have a solid customer-aligned Sales Process, sales tools automated inside the CRM, skills curriculum and effective proposition messaging, and collateral from marketing–then the chances of success are significantly improved.”

A Perspective on Sales Performance

We asked Matt if there were any online tools he found particularly useful in his work. “There are so many blogs out there right now covering thought leadership, insights, and opinions on the sales performance challenge,” Matt told us.  “I find the Top Sales World website very good as it brings together a number of thought leaders and blogging sites that all have good perspectives.  We also have our own STR Google+ site, where we comment on interesting blogs and post our own insights.  Check it out!”

Making A Difference

Finally, we asked Matt what personally motivated and inspired him about his work. “What keeps us all inspired is constantly looking to push the envelope when it comes to motivating sales organizations to improve their performance,” he told us. “The combination of talent inside STR–including our sales best practice experts, our content and creative designers, and our multimedia and learning technologies team–means we have all the ingredients to bring new thinking to market quickly and to execute these solutions with our clients to make a difference.  Not many companies can do that!”

About Matt Downes

Matt is one of the founders of STR and leads Global Sales & Marketing for the company.  Prior to STR, Matt spent eight years working for other global sales training and performance companies engaging with Fortune 500 companies.  During that time, Matt lived in the US and led a sales transformation practice before returning to the UK to launch STR in 2008. 

Outside of work, Matt is passionate about sport and is kept busy enjoying life with his wife Rosie and their three children Joe, Olly, and Bella.  Matt holds a BSc in Business Information Technology Manage-ment.

About Strategy to Revenue

Strategy to Revenue designates itself the 'Revenue Acceleration' company, delivering strategic consultation and sales execution programs that help businesses transform the way their sales forces sell. STR has created a unique position in the sales training industry by combining sales and management best practice, instructional and creative design expertise, and technology and broadcast media to make sales performance programs engaging and motivational for the sales force. For more information, go to: www.strategytorevenue.com

World's Top Honors for Women Entrepreneurs, Executives, Employees and the Organizations They Run Were Presented in New York Before More than 400 Accomplished Women From Around the World

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business announced the results of its 2014 competition on Friday, November 14.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With more than 400 businesswomen and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced at a gala dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Nations represented at the event include Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, India, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and Venezuela.  The presentations were broadcast live across the U.S.A. by Biz Talk Radio.

More than 1,200 nominations from organizations and individuals in 22 nations were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Best New Company of the Year, among others. More than 160 professionals around the world participated in the judging process to determine the Finalists and then the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to the seven organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition.  The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

•     Accenture, Chicago, IL U.SA. (#1)
•     NEI Global Relocation, Omaha, NE U.S.A. (#2 – tie)
•     iFinance Canada, Toronto, ON Canada (#2)
•     Nerium International, Addison, TX U.S.A. (#4)
•     MWW, East Rutherford, NJ U.S.A. (#5 – tie)
•     Jeunesse Global, Orlando, FL U.S.A. (#5)
•     LLORENTE & CUENCA, Madrid, Spain (#5)

Notable Gold Stevie Award winners from this year’s competition include:

• Century 21 Real Estate, LLC, Boston, MA U.S.A. -  Social Media Focused Campaign of the Year
• Michelle Dennedy, VP and Chief Privacy Officer with McAfee, Redwood City, CA U.S.A. - Woman of the Year – Technology
• Prime Therapeutics, Eagen, MN U.S.A. - Best New Consumer Service of the Year
• JuE Wong, CEO of StriVectin, New York, NY U.S.A. - Female Executive of the Year - Consumer Products
• Ffyona Dawber, CEO of Synergy Vision Ltd, London, United Kingdom - Female Entrepreneur of the Year - Business Services
• IBM, Armonk, NY U.S.A. - Online Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Justine Curtis, CEO of Inspired Adventures, Darlinghurst, NSW Australia - Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand
• Propeller Resources, Portland, OR U.S.A. - Startup of the Year
• Christina Smedley, VP Global Brand and Communications with PayPal, San Francisco, CA U.S.A. - Female Executive of the Year - Consumer Services

The 2014 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include Accenture, Bitsy’s Brainfood, Dubai Police General HQ, LLORENTE & CUENCA, MWW, Nerium International, Newberry Executive Solutions, LLC, and Xceed Financial Credit Union.  For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Entries for the 2015 edition of the awards will open next May.

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for entries for the 2015 (9th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. 

GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.   

All customer service, contact center, business development, and sales departments, teams and professionals worldwide are eligible to be nominated, in addition to new products and services used by those professionals. The 2015 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2013.

The entry deadline is November 19, but late entries will be accepted through January 13 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the ninth annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 27 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The 2015 program offers new categories for business development professionals including Business Development Executive of the Year, Business Development Professional of the Year (for non-executive professionals), and Business Development Achievement of the Year.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and call center awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•     Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Operations Professional of the Year
•     Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Field Sales Team of the Year
•     Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Outbound Marketing Program of the Year
•     Sales Department of the Year categories in 13 industry groupings
•     Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•     Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Customer Service Management Team of the Year
•     Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•     Customer Service Department categories in 11 industry groupings
•     New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Relationship Management Solution
•     Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year

2015 will see the return of a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. All Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will be included in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service voting.

Winners of the 2014 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, Kohl’s Department Stores – Credit Division, OfficeDepot, SAVO, ShopKeep POS, Vestmark, and VIZIO, Inc., among others.

The 2015 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

The 2015 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About The Stevie Awards:
The Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. 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 http://www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

Sponsors of the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include ValueSelling Associates.

The Delta Air Lines Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center won a Gold Stevie® Award in the Customer Service Awards categories in the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.  Delta Air Lines also received a Grand Stevie® for having one of the five highest-scoring entries in the competition.

The 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is now accepting entries.
GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

There are even more customer service awards categories featured in the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The deadline for entries is November 19. GET THAT ENTRY KIT HERE.

We talked with David Clayton, Customer Engagement Center Director – Asia Pacific, in Singapore for Delta Air Lines. He told us what winning the Stevie Award meant to his team.

“Our team takes great pride in this type of honor,” David explained. “It further validates Delta as a great place to work, motivating us to continue achieving and living our goals and celebrating successes. Building professional relationships between colleagues and customers with diverse backgrounds is a big part of our success. Affirmation of these achievements spurs us on to keep climbing, which would not be possible without the commitment of a truly dedicated and professional team.”

Broadening Awareness

David outlined the importance of winning in the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards and its significance in broadening awareness of Delta’s Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center in the region. “The Stevie® Awards organization is well known in the customer service industry and the trophy is a symbol of excellence to those honored by the award,” he told us. “Winning the Grand Stevie® in Asia and the Gold Stevie® for Customer Service Leader of the Year in Singapore gave us the opportunity to meet many business partners at the awards ceremony and enabled us to build on our relationships.”

David is also aware of the added-value of the extensive social media network utilized by the Stevie® Awards. “The English-language Stevie® Awards Update newsletter, which I understand is distributed worldwide to some 25,000 subscribers, combined with a further 17,000 views on the Stevie’s social media outlets, provides us with a great opportunity to deliver updates on Delta’s leadership position in customer experience,” David said.

Multinational Team

A unit of Delta’s Global Sales Division, the Asia Pacific Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center, is a multinational team that provides support via phone, email, delta.com, and Twitter. The team supports both direct and commercial Delta customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region using various mediums in Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, and English.

Since July 2012, Delta has focused on improving the customer experience in Asia, employing a variety of strategies to drive satisfaction and establish a reputation of differentiated service.

A Better Experience for the Business Traveler
David gave us details of areas in which Delta was working to improve the business traveler’s experience in the Asia Pacific region. “Our focus is on continuous improvement,” he told us.  “We have introduced a number of enhancements to the travel experience:

-   our long-haul, wide-body aircraft are equipped with 180° full flat-bed seats in Business-Elite, which come with the Westin Heavenly in-flight bedding and Tumi amenity kit;

-   we've refreshed in-flight menus, offering more food and beverage selections with a regional flair on both Business-Elite and Economy class;

-   Economy Comfort seats now provide up to 4 more inches of extra legroom, up to 50% more recline, and priority boarding;

-   and our in-flight entertainment, Delta Studio, offers an extensive selection of the latest new-release movies in international languages, popular TV shows, music and games, as well as streaming content through in-flight Wi-Fi.” 

Delta appreciates that staying connected is a priority for business travelers. “In-flight Wi-Fi is available on all US domestic and certain international aircraft,” he told us. “And it will be available on all aircraft by the end of 2015.”

Redefining the Customer Experience

By building on its divisional brand–“Listen. Care. Connect”–Delta has refreshed its incentives program, tying in behaviors that promote customer satisfaction.

The Asia Sales Support Center (SSC) serves as a Business-to-Business customer service center handling phone and email requests from travel agents and corporate travel managers representing Delta’s high-value agency and corporate accounts in China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

People
Delta has expanded its workforce in the Asia-Pacific region, and ramped up training for its customer engagement specialists. The company partnered with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency to develop an in-house training program which results in employees obtaining their Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) Certificate in Tour and Travel Services upon completion. The company’s accomplishments were recognized by the agency when, in 2012 and again in 2013, Delta was awarded the WSQ Training Excellence Award for the Tour and Travel Category. 

Results

The company’s quality assurance data from 2012 to 2013 shows average favorable scores have significantly increased. Additionally, the Asia Pacific SSC has developed a great partnership with the company’s business-to-business partners. In spite of call volume for the Engagement Center trending upward between July 2012 and November 2013, overall Average Speed of Answer improved year over year—meaning customers get through and receive the service they need much faster.

Best of all, 96% of Delta’s Asia Pacific Engagement team employees responded positively to the internal employee satisfaction question “I am Proud to work for Delta.”

Outstanding Achievements
We asked David what inspired him and made him excited about the future.”I believe we have the best employees, not only in the airline business but also in the customer engagement business,” he told us. “We are a diverse team engaging our customers in six languages from all over the world. We handle customer interactions on phone calls, emails, and even on Facebook and Twitter.”

“I am absolutely inspired by the frontline Customer Engagement Specialists for their tremendous capacity for outstanding achievements,” David continued. “I celebrate the successes of my team through all levels and encourage a positive and friendly work environment.  I believe we stand on the shoulders of the great Delta employees who came before us and consider it an honor and duty to uphold only the best in customer service delivery.”

About David Clayton
David Clayton is Delta's Customer Engagement Director for Asia Pacific and is based in Singapore. In this role, he is responsible for approximately 550 employees who support the entire Asia Pacific region in over six different languages, and fulfill backend requests supporting customers across the globe. David’s team works closely with Vivien Khong, the Performance Manager of the Sales Support Center within the Singapore office, to ensure that Delta delivers the highest level of customer service across the Asia Pacific region.

A 28 year airline veteran, David began his career as a flight attendant and has held roles of increasing responsibilities during his tenure. He also serves his community as a member of the board for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Tour and Travel Industry Skills and Training Council (ISTC). Under his leadership, the Singapore-based operation has not only increased in size and scope, but successfully partnered with the WDA to support and deliver a developmental program, both for the benefit of employees and customers, and as a means of giving back to the communities they support.

About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines serves nearly 165 million customers each year. This year, Delta was named the 2014 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine and was named to FORTUNE magazine’s 50 Most Admired Companies, in addition to being named the most admired airline for the third time in four years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 318 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a newly formed joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products, services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta’s blog takingoff.delta.com.

The newest Stevie Awards program, the German Stevie Awards, is now accepting nominations from all organizations operating in Germany at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

Recognizing the best in business in Germany, the program is offering the lowest entry fee of the year at 99 euros for all entries submitted by the November 5 deadline. Entry fees will rise substantially on November 6, through the final entry deadline of December 10.

The German Stevie Awards opened for entries in mid-August and have received an impressive number of nominations thus far from a wide variety of organizations.

The Stevie Awards are considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition over the past 12 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards. Stevie Awards programs attract more than 8,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations.

Harald Oberhofer, Director of Corporate Communications at optivo and a Stevie Award winner, shared his thoughts about the new German Stevie Awards. “German companies are acting more and more internationally,” Harald added. “The German Stevie Awards might help to deepen our global mindset. At the same time, I think it’s great that German business achievements are going to be recognized through these new Awards, and that German innovations and product highlights will get the visibility they deserve.”

The German Stevie Awards welcome nominations from all organizations operating in Germany – large and small, for-profit and non-profit, publicly-held and privately-held - with a wide range of categories to choose from, including:

• Company of the Year awards
• Management awards
• Marketing awards
• Public relations awards
• Customer service awards
• Human resources awards
• IT awards
• New product awards
• App and website awards
• Video awards
  and more

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds. The first round will determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives as judges. Those winners will be announced on February 23.

All of the Gold Stevie Award winners will then compete in the second round of judging for the right to be named the Grand Stevie Award winner in their category groups. Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in Berlin in late March.

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

To learn more about the German Stevie Awards, visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/gsa/about/514_2923_24742.cfm.