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Excelling in sales and customer service is essential for success in business, and the Fifth Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which were presented last night at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, recognized organizations and individuals for their recent achievements in these disciplines. 

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is the world's leading sales awards, customer service awards, and call center awards program. The awards were presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world's leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards. 

Winners of multiple Stevie Awards this year include Bulldog Solutions, CIGNA Government Services, Marsh U.S. Consumer, Overstock.com, Rosetta Stone, salesforce.com, Canada's SMART Technologies, and SuiteAmerica Corporate Housing. Other notable Stevie Award winners include Apple, L.L. Bean, the United Kingdom's T-Mobile, and Zappos.com. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.stevieawards.com/sales. 

Finalists and Stevie Award winners in the competition were determined by more than 125 judges over a three-month period.

Winners in the Second Annual People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 177,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Archipelago Learning, Macy's, Marriott Vacation Club, PetRays, and India's TATA Motors Ltd.

The event, attended by more than 200 executives from the U.S.A. and several other nations, benefited Camfed (www.camfed.org), which supports the education of girls and women in Africa.

More than 800 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted to this year's competition, an increase of more than 60% over 2010. There were 25 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; as well as 40 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Global Sales Leader of the Year to Sales Training Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year. New this year were categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

The Business TalkRadio Network will broadcast the awards presentations from 8:00 pm ET on Thursday, February 24 across the U.S.A. The broadcast may be heard worldwide on their web simulcast, at http://www.businesstalkradio.net. 

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

Sponsors of the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, the Business TalkRadio Network, Competence Call Center, Infogroup, the Sales Management Association, and ValueSelling Associates.

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Today we conducted a live webinar entitled "How to Enter The American Business Awards," and a video of that recording is now available.

Now in their ninth year, The American Business Awards are the leading business awards program in the U.S.A, with category groups including management awards, marketing awards, PR awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, video awards, and more. The entry deadline is March 31.

The hour-long video covers

• What the ABAs are, and their history
• The schedule for the 2011 ABAs
• How to review and select categories
• How to prepare and submit entries
• How the judging process works
• Best practices
• What’s new & different in 2011

If you plan to enter The 2011 American Business Awards we recommend highly that you first get and review the online entry kit, but this video offers a lot of helpful detail about the process of the awards program.

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As the U.S. economy rebounds, employees and executives are working harder than ever before. In order to shine a spotlight on the organizations, individuals and teams that strive for excellence in the workplace each day, the Stevie® Awards today officially issued the call for entries for its Ninth Annual American Business Awards.  (I say "officially" because entries have been coming in since October.)

The American Business Awards are the only all-encompassing awards program that honors outstanding performances in the American workplace. All organizations operating in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is March 31 and late entries will be accepted through April 27 with a late fee. The 2011 awards will honor work since the beginning of 2010, and the awards will be announced on June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/.

Nominations are accepted in various category groups including management awards, public relations awards, marketing awards, new product awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, and more. New categories in 2011 include Executive of the Year - Health Products & Services and Best New Product or Service of the Year - Health Products & Services, and more than 40 new Marketing Campaign of the Year categories.

"The American Business Awards offer individuals and organizations the recognition they deserve for achievements in the workplace," said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. "Each year our judges recognize organizations large and small, from the world's most famous companies to mom-and-pop startups, and I think 2011 is going to offer many stories of remarkable and inspiring achievement."

The 2011 American Business Awards will include the third edition of the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products(SM), in which the general public can vote for their favorite new products and services of the year. Each new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards will automatically be included in people's choice voting. Voting opens in May and winners of the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products will be honored at the June awards dinner in New York.

The Eighth Annual American Business Awards were presented last June to a diverse group of organizations including Accenture, adidas, Apple Inc., Boost Mobile, Ford Motor Company, Hilton Hotels, Nu Skin Enterprises, the Rubicon Project and The Timberland Company among others. For a list of winners and finalists of the 2010 awards visit: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/awards/403_2183_20410.cfm.  

To request an entry kit for The 2011 American Business Awards, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/.

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Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher interviewed Wendi Goldsmith, founder and president of The Bioengineering Group on January 27 in a webinar presented by the School of Management at George Mason University. Check out the video on YouTube.

Wendi is a multiple Stevie Award winner for Executive of the Year, Company of the Year, and more.  She talked about how and why she started the business, the obstacles she overcame, how she learned to become both an entrepreneur and a manager, and the lessons she would share with would-be business creators and managers.

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The following independent research findings came through to us today from Awards Intelligence, a UK-based consultancy.

• Smaller award winning companies were shown to have experienced a 63% increase in operating income, and a 39% growth in sales when compared to non-winners. Large award winning companies enjoyed a 48% increase in operating income and a 37% growth in sales when compared to non-award winners. Source: British Quality Foundation based on experience in the USA.

• A study compared the financial performance of 120 award winning companies across Europe that met specific criteria against comparison companies of a similar size and operating in the same industries. The financial performance was tracked over 11 years. The study found that the award winning companies showed improvements in financial performance after just a year of winning their first award. Source: University of Leicester for the British Quality Foundation and the European Foundation for Quality Management.

• Three years after receiving an award, the 120 award winning companies outperformed the comparison companies by an average of 17% for sales and 36% for share value. During the final year that performance was tracked, the award winning companies experienced even greater increases as compared to comparison companies with sales growing by an average of 77% more and operating income by 18% more. Source: As above.

These facts and figures relate to the British Quality Foundation's UK Excellence Awards and European Foundation for Quality Management's Excellence Awards.

Add to the financial benefits all the other advantages award winners enjoy such as enhanced reputation, increased trust, a higher profile and better staff moral and the question is:

Can you afford not to be an award winner?            

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The Stevie Awards have three webinars planned for the next 60 days, and they're all about the options available to you for applying for - and winning - 2011 Stevie Awards in one or more of our four Stevie Awards programs.  Registration is free.  Each will last approximately 45 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

February 8: 1:00 pm ET Webinar, How to Enter The American Business Awards. 
In this webinar we'll provide you with an overview of the ABAs - the premier business awards show in the U.S.A., honoring achievement in every facet of the workplace - including everything you need to know to have the best chance of impressing the judges.  The ABAs feature many opportunities to win PR awards, marketing awards, management awards, customer service awards, HR awards, and more, and we'll cover it all in this webinar.

March 1, 15:00 GMT/10:00 AM ET Webinar, Creative Media Awards in the 2011 Stevies
Winning a Stevie Award has become one of the top honors for organizations and professionals around the world.  There are many opportunities for creative professionals in advertising, digital media, video production, event production, and other creative industries to be recognized in the Stevies.  But how can you and your organization participate?

In this webinar we'll provide you with an overview of the creative media awards opportunities in the four Stevie Awards programs in 2011, which include The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  We'll discuss available categories, and how to review and select categories, how the judging process works, and how to prepare and submit entries.  You'll come away with a good understanding about how to compete for - and win - 2011 Stevies for web awards, advertising awards, video awards, event awards, annual report awards, and more.

March 8, 15:00 GMT/10:00 AM ET Webinar, How to Enter The International Business Awards 
In this webinar we'll discuss:

* The history of The International Business Awards, which are open to all organizations worldwide
* 2011 awards schedule
* What's new and different for the 2011 IBAs
* How the judging process works
* How to review and select categories
* How to write and submit entries

We'll review some best (and worst) practices, to help ensure that you submit the best entries possible.

All three webinars will be recorded and latest posted on the Stevie Awards Channel on YouTube, but you should plan to sit in on the live webinars so that you have a chance to get your questions answered about how your organization can participate - and win.

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The full-text of the Stevie Award-winning nominations in the 2010 Stevie Awards for Women in Business have been published on the awards' website.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world's premier awards honoring the achievements of women entrepreneurs, executives, and the organizations they run. Honorees in the 7th annual Stevies for Women were celebrated at an awards dinner in New York on November 12.

It is the Stevie Awards tradition to publish the full-text of Stevie Award-winning entries after a time in which honorees may redact any confidential or non-public information from their entries.

Reading Stevie Award winning entries is a great way to learn how other individuals and organizations are achieving success, and a great way to learn how to structure and compose entries that judges appreciate.

Just about every story in these winning entries in a gem in one way or another, but here are five we think you can't do without reading.

1. The story of Amanda Welliver, Stevie winner for Best Canadian Entrepreneur.  Amanda stirred the audience at November's awards dinner with her moving acceptance speech.

2. Ruth Elliott's (a Best Entrepreneur honoree) rise from rags to riches, which is just as riveting as her own acceptance speech.

3. A model of concise writing and achievement summarization: Teresa Poggenpohl of Accenture, a Best Executive honoree.

4. A great example of how well a PR agency can capture and express a client's achievements: Gutenberg Communications' entry on behalf of Blanca Treviño of Softtek in Monterrey, Mexico, another Best Executive winner.

5. One more rags to riches story to inspire you: Sandy Forster of WildlyWealthy.com in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, a 2010 Stevie winner for Best Overall Company of the Year.

Those are five of our favorites.  Which are yours?

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Finalists were announced yesterday in the 5th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success.  

Organizations as diverse as Apple, Capital One Financial, India’s Tata Motors, and Telecom Italia are among those recognized in the customer service awards, call center awards, and sales awards categories.  Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include CIGNA Government Services, Austria’s Competence Call Center AG, Direct Alliance, the UK’s Everything Everywhere, Marsh U.S. Consumer, PetRays, Canada’s SMART Technologies, and SurePayroll. For a full list of Finalists, visit www.stevieawards.com/sales. 

Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 21 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.  Tickets are now on sale. 

Entries were up 60% this year for consideration in more than 90 categories, including individual and team sales categories as well as individual and team customer service and contact center categories. Several new categories were added this year, including 12 categories to recognize new products and services for sales, contact/call center, and sales professionals as well as seven categories to recognize the achievements of solution providers to these professionals.    

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors will select Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists during final judging later this month.   Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.

Sponsors of the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Infogroup, The Sales Management Association and ValueSelling Associates.

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Voting is now open for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service.

Vote now for your favorite providers of good customer service at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice. 

Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in eight industry categories will be determined in mid-February and honored at the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service gala in Miami Beach on February 21.  These are the world's premier sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards.

Last year more than 87,000 votes were cast and people's choice winners included FedEx, Hilton Worldwide, and Macy's, among others.

Who should win this year? You get to decide - vote now!

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Enter the 2011 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s premier awards, with more than 90 categories recognizing call center, customer service, and sales excellence.  To enter,

1.    Review the online entry kit
2.    Choose your categories and write your nominations
3.    Submit your nominations

Questions?  Contact us at info@stevieawards.com.

Finalists will be notified and announced next week, and this year's Stevie Award winners will be announced at a banquet in Miami Beach, Florida on Monday, February 21.  (Attendance is not required to win.)