A record crowd of more than 400 executives from around the world will attend the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on Friday, February 21.  Get your tickets now.

These are the world's top sales awards and customer service awards.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced, selected from the Finalists announced last month by the members of seven specialized final judging committees.

Here's the list of organizations that will be represented at next Friday's gala, as of earlier today:

(mt) Media Temple Culver City CA
60K Ltd. Sofia Bulgaria
Accenture BPO Services of BC Vancouver BC Canada
Access One Inc Chicago IL
Acquia Burlington MA
Actiontec Electronics Sunnyvale CA
Aditya Birla Minacs Moncton NB Canada
Adobe Systems Incorporated San Jose CA
Advanced Solutions Inc. Louisville KY
Ally Bank Detroit MI
AMD Sunnyvale CA
ARI Mount Laurel NJ
Assurant Solutions Atlanta GA
AVRS Petaluma CS
Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation Memphis TN
Best Western International Phoenix AZ
Blinds.com Houston TX
Bluebeam Software Pasadena CA
Bluegreen Vacations Indianapolis IN
Broadview Networks Rye Brook NY
Buildium Boston MA
Cars.com Chicago IL
CFS2 Tulsa OK
CGS New York NY
Chally Group / Sales Education Foundation Dayton OH
Clarizen San Mateo CA
Comcast Cable Philadelphia PA
Competence Call Center Vienna Austria
Constant Contact Waltham MA
CRMnext Noida India
Cross Country Home Services Fort Lauderdale FL
CSI Enterprises / globalVCard Bonita Springs FL
CubeSmart Malvern PA
DataCore Software Fort Lauderdale FL
Datapipe Jersey City NJ
Delta Air Lines Atlanta GA
DHL Express Mexico Distrito Federal
DHL Express Saudi Arabia
DHL Global Forwarding Bonn Germany
DHL Global Forwarding Miami FL
DHL Plantation FL
Discover Financial Services Riverwoods IL
DiscoverOrg Vancouver WA
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Stuttgart Germany
Elephant Insurance Glen Allen VA
En Pointe Technologies Los Angeles CA
Enterprise Fleet Management St. Louis MO
ExactTarget Indianapolis IN
Experian Consumer Services Costa Mesa CA
Extreme Networks Salem NH
eZCom Software Inc. Englewood NJ
FastSpring Santa Barbara CA
FedEx TechConnect Memphis TN
Florida Blue BlueDirect Sales Center Jacksonville FL
Forrest Performance Group Fort Worth TX
FreshBooks Toronto ON Canada
General Cable Corp. Highland Heights KY
GoDaddy.com Scottsdale AZ
Great Wolf Resorts Customer Contact Center Madison WI
Haiku Learning Tucson AZ
HotelTonight San Francisco CA
HUB International- Business Development Team Westmont IL
I-Flow LLC Lake Forest CA
IHG Salt Lake City UT
Imparta Ltd London United Kingdom
Infinite Convergence Solutions Arlington Heights IL
InfoCision Management Corporation Akron OH
Informatica Corporation Redwood City CA
InsureMyTrip Warwick RI
IntelePeer San Mateo CA
iSpeak Inc. Round Rock TX
Jobvite Burlingame CA
John Hancock Portsmouth NH
KANA Software Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Kohl's Department Stores - Credit Division Menomonee Falls WI
Lennox Industries Richardson TX
Listen Up Espanol Portland ME
LocumTenens.com Alpharetta GA
Locus Telecommunications Inc. Fort Lee NJ
Marriott International Inc. Bethesda MD
Marriott Vacation Club International Orlando FL
MasterCard WorldWide O'Fallon MO
Merchant Warehouse Boston MA
Mercury Payment Systems Durango CO
MetLife Alico Life Insurance K.K. Osaka Japan
Moen Incorporated North Olmsted OH
Monitronics International Dallas TX
Mozy Corporation Seattle WA
MSA Pittsburgh PA
NCR Corporation Dayton OH
Netchex Mandeville LA
Network Alliance Reston VA
nFocus Solutions Austin TX
Nuance Communications Burlington MA
NYCM Insurance Edmeston NY
Offerpop New York NY
Oi Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Brazil
OmniUpdate Camarillo CA
Opet Istanbul Turkey
OppenheimerFunds Inc. Englewood CO
OptumRx Costa Mesa CA
Outsell LLC Minneapolis MN
Parlant Technology Provo UT
Paycor Cincinnati OH
Phone.com Newark NJ
Photodex Austin TX
PJ Care Ltd Milton Keynes United Kingdom
PrimePay West Chester PA
Purchasing Power Atlanta GA
Rackspace Hosting San Antonio TX
Rapid7 Boston MA
RBS Citizens Providence RI
Reputation.com Redwood City CA
Safelite AutoGlass Columbus OH
Salesforce San Francisco CA
Salt Lake County Government Salt Lake City UT
Shell & Turcas Petrol AS Istanbul Turkey
ShopKeep POS New York NY
Single Digits Inc. Manchester NH
Sitel Nashville TN
SmartAction El Segundo CA
Sofica Group JSC Sofia Bulgaria
SolarCity San Mateo CA
SpareFoot Austin TX
Strategy to Revenue Buckinghamshire United Kingdom
Sundance Vacations Wilkes-Barre PA
SurePayroll Inc. Glenview IL
SYSPRO Costa Mesa CA
Telogis Aliso Viejo CA
Thismoment San Francisco CA
TradeKing Group Inc. Fort Lauderdale FL
Trifecta Communications Moore OK
TTNET Istanbul Turkey
TTNET Istanbul Turkey
United States Equestrian Federation Lexington KY
ValueSelling Associates Rancho Santa Fe CA
Verne Global Falls Church VA
Vestmark Wakefield MA
Vitacost.com Boca Raton FL
Vivint Inc. Provo UT
VIZIO Inc. Irvine CA
Vonage Holmdel NJ
Wells Fargo Bank - Treasury Management Client Services El Monte CA
Wheels Inc. Des Plaines IL
Zendesk San Francisco CA
ZoomInfo Waltham MA
Zuora Inc. Foster City CA

Final judging concluded on Wednesday for the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top customer service awards and sales awards.  More than 260 professionals around the world participated in the preliminary and final judging process this year - a record number - and we thank all of the people who participated for their time, their interest, and their insights.

Two weeks ago in this space we acknowledged the 129 executives who participated in the preliminary judging process, which determined this year's Finalists.  Now it's time we thank the members of the seven specialized final judging committees, whose scores have determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements that will be announced at our gala awards banquet on Friday, February 21 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  (Get your tickets here.)

All judges are also acknowledged on the awards' website, will be listed in the official program book that will be distributed at the awards gala and online, and will receive a certificate of appreciation, suitable for framing.

Interested in participating in the 2015 judging process?  Learn more here.

The members of the seven final judging committees were as follows.

Customer Service & Contact Center Achievement Categories Final Judges

Chair: George Orr, Vice President of Client Services at kCura in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Committee:
Steve Ankenbrandt, Cofounder & President
Milyli Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA

Bruce Blank, Director of Litigation Support
Foley & Lardner LLP, Westminster, Colorado, USA

Ye Chen, Founder
NexLP, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Ruth Diehl, Assistant Vice President
Harris Bank, Elmhurst, Illinois, USA

Anthony Digate, Senior Account Executive
SalesForce, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Jeff Gilles, Director, Product Solutions Group
Content Analyst Company, Reston, Virginia, USA

Tanya Glaser, Litigation Support Case Manager
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Joann Kay, Customer Care Director
GraduationSource, Port Chester, New York, USA

Jim LeMere, Director Customer Contact Center
Great Wolf Resorts, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Kit Mackie, Founder
NexLP, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Alicia Orr, Corporate Bookkeeper
Waterton Associates, Elmhurst, Illinois, USA

Walter Pynas, COO
George Jon Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA

John Sanchez, Executive Vice President
Advanced Discovery, LLC, San Francisco, California, USA

Taffi Schurz, Vice President, Quality Assurance
LDiscovery, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Michael Senko, Partner
Wolf & Co LLP, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, USA

Christopher Terzich, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking
Standard Bank & Trust Company, Lyons, Illinois, USA

Customer Service and Contact Center Individual Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Sanjeev Garg, Global Head of Customer Care, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit at TATA Motors in Mumbai, India

Committee:
Sumanth Badiga, Managing Director
Jasper Industries Limited, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Atul Bahel, Marketing Manager
Shell India Markets Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Bhavana Bindra, Vice President, Automotive Business
Cummins India Limited, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Angela Blevins, Vice President Customer Care
Bluegreen Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Saibal Choudhuri, Global Account Manager
Shell India Markets Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Anurag Gupta, Director
DGM-India, New Delhi, India

Phillip Horvath, Senior Vice President, Professional Services
Merchant Partners, Redmond, Washington, USA

Manish Jar, Group Managing Director
Sewells Group, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Shridhar P Joshi, Consultant Advisor
TATA Motors, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Achal Mehra, Director
Mahua Resorts Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Sanjay Passi, President & CEO
Pasco Motors, New Delhi, India

Mathew Sebastian, Managing Director
Strategic Learning Solutions Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Premanand Shenoy, Managing Director
Prerana Motors Private Limited, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Vipul Tandon, Vice President, Distribution Business
Cummins India Limited, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Customer Service Department Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Kelly Thomas, Assistant Vice President, Client Relations at OppenheimerFunds, Inc., in Englewood, Colorado, USA

Committee:
Colleen Bolton, Client Officer
National Quality Review, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Glen Colthup, Senior Director
SRS|Acquiom LLC, Denver, Colorado, USA

Andrea Daigle, Marketing Director
HindmanSanchez, Arvada, Colorado, USA

Bethany Demeter, Sales Analyst
Inspirato, Littleton, Colorado, USA

Russ DiBlasi, Vice President, Operations & Customer Care
Zions Bancorporation, Houston, Texas, USA

Vickie Friece, Vice President, Operations & Customer Care
Zions Bancorporation, Kanab, Utah, USA

Eric Head, Senior Director of Sales
Foresee, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Adam Ihrig, Business Analyst, Chase Customer Service Real Time Solutions-Card
JPMorgan Chase, Heathrow, Florida, USA

Scott Kozak, Founding Partner/CEO
KozakandAssociates, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, USA

Jason Morris, Release Manager
SRS|Acquiom LLC, Denver, Colorado, USA

Joann Orefice, Director-Human Resources
Ticketmaster, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA

Jacque Plair, Director, Network & Corporate Services
IHG, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Tonya Plumer, Sales Assistant
Strategic Benefit Services, Rensselaer, New York, USA

Steven Puckett, Vice President, Retirement Plans
Strategic Benefit Services, Rensselaer, New York, USA

Soli Schwarz, Business Analyst
JPMorgan Chase, Heathrow, Florida, USA

Afton Semon, Director Customer Service-Support Service
Franklin Templeton, Rancho Cordova, Georgia, USA

Mike Twedt, Director Finance
Miller Heiman, Aurora, Colorado, USA

Vincent Vanden Bossche, Managing Director
Call Communications, Ottenburg, Belgium

Customer Service and Contact Center Team Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Ben Herkenhoff, Customer Interaction Center Manager at Outsell, LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA 

Committee:
Teresa Allen, Owner
Common Sense Solutions, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

Ken Amormino, Director of Call Center Operations
Time Warner Cable, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Dmitry Aristarkhov, Executive Vice President
National Association of Contact Centers, Moscow, Russia

Leah Bowes, Senior Director, Customer Experience
PaySimple, Denver, Colorado, USA

Laura Fredrickson, Director of Marketing
NIC Technologies, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Peggy Heafey, Director, Intermediary Partner Care
Marriott Global Sales & Customer Care, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Tunde Hubina, Customer Care Director
UPC DTH S.á r.l., Luxembourg

Molly Kapoor, Head of Marketing
Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Meltem Karateke, President
IMI Conferences, Istanbul, Turkey

Raymond Lohr, Customer Experience Program Manager
Kabel Deutschland, Den Haag, The Netherlands

Steve Mackie, Group Manager, Workforce Management
Target Corporation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Mary Poynter, Senior Director Managed Services
Contact At Once!, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

Randy Selleck, Senior Director, EPS Call Center Operations
Assurant Solutions, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Emily Truslow, Annuity Customer Service Manager
Securian Financial Group, St Paul, Minnesota, USA

Sales Achievement and Sales Individual Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Becky Johns, Vice President of MarketBridge in Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Committee:
James Brodo, Senior Vice President, Marketing
Richardson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Nicky Brooker, Vice President
MasterCard, Purchase, New York, USA

Jason Brusa, Director, Partnership Brand Marketing
Capital One, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Jamie Clark, National Sales Coach
Forrest Performance Group, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Dean Cowell, Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy
Citi, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Fred Cremo, National Practice Leader
Humana, Tampa, Florida, USA

David deBuys, Associate Director
CEB, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Vincent DiCaro, Vice President, Development & Communication
National Fatherhood Initiative, Germantown, Maryland, USA

Christine Fludd, Loyalty Marketing Manager
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, USA

Kristi Kehr, Area Catering Sales Manager
Panera, LLC, York, Pennsylvania, USA

Howard Lewis, President
Family Heritage Life Insurance, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Kore McBride, Owner
Miss Fit, Encinitas, California, USA

April Mock, Manager, CEM & Loyalty
Panera, LLC, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Andrew Pyper, Senior Business Leader, US Merchant Marketing
MasterCard Worldwide, Purchase, New York, USA

Vicki Rollins, Vice President, Sales Operations
Angoss Software Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Matthew Smith, Program Manager
Qualcomm, Encinitas, California, USA

Melissa Steward, Vice President, Marketing
National Fatherhood Initiative, Germantown, Maryland, USA

Jason Stroot, Strategic Partner Lead
Google Inc, New York, New York, USA

Cindy Wen, Marketing Specialist-Credit & Gift Card Marketing
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, USA

Jaffer Zaidi, Head of Retail Partnerships
Google Inc, New York, New York, USA

Sales Team and Sales Department Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Mike Ortegon, Director of Global Sales Operations at HomeAway.com in Austin, Texas, USA

Committee:
Jeanne Conger, Certified Forrest PG Instructor
Forrest Performance Group, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Michael Conley, Director Operations Mid Atlantic
Wyndham Vacation Ownership, N Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

Daniel DiBona, Sales Manager
Elephant Insurance, Glen Allen, Virginia, USA

Robert Gillespie, Executive Vice President, Corporate Director Employee Development & Training
New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Linden Ingram, Executive Vice President
Imparta Inc., Austin, Texas, USA

Fred Kessler, Founder
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, Colorado, USA

Scott MacGregor, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
FloTech, Middletown, Connecticut, USA

Jason Mathias, Vice President of Sales Operations
Living Social, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

Rowena Maxwell, Senior Principle-Customer Sales & Service
Accenture, London, United Kingdom

Gene McNaughton, President
Elite Concepts, Inc., Ladera Ranch, California, USA

Julie Thomas, President & CEO
ValueSelling, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA

Solution Provider and New Product and Service Categories Final Judging Committee

Chair: Ansa Sekharan, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Support at Informatica Corporation in Redwood City, California, USA

Committee:
Jamal Ayyad, Vice President-Service Delivery
SurePayroll, Inc., Glenview, Illinois, USA

Deepak Chawla, Senior Director Global Technical Services
Nutanix, San Jose, California, USA

Andrew Curtis, Manager, Product Specialists
iCIMS, Hazlet, New Jersey, USA

Churchill Dass Prince, Founder & CEO
Sales Intellect Company, Chennai, India

David Fong, Vice President, Marketing
Accounting 4 Solutions, Inc, Los Angeles, California, USA

J Israel Greene, Director of Managed Services
Gorilla Group, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Jimmy Griffith, Director, Quality Assurance
Assurant Solutions, Forth Worth, Texas, USA

Julie Holmes, Product Manager
InsightSoftware.com, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA

Scott James, Program Manager, Member Advisory Center
Arizona State Retirement System, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Eric Johnson, Senior Vice President & CIO
Informatica, Global Customer Support & Maintenance Renewals, Redwood City, California, USA

Jesintha Rajaratnam, Managing Partner
Joje India Consultants/Finance & HR, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

Mark Repkin, Chief Revenue Officer
iPromo.com, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Rahul Sheth, Lead Strategy and Marketing
CRMnext, Noida, India

David Vasquez, Customer Care Executive
Ally Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Carla Zachman, Director, Talent Acquisition and Talent Management
Insight Software, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA

Julie Thomas is CEO of ValueSelling Associates in Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA, a sponsor of the 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top customer service awards and sales awards.  ValueSelling has associates around the globe, and recently appointed a new associate in China, so Julie is excited by the customer service awards category in the new Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.  (Get your entry kit for this program here.)  Julie recently shared with us some insight on determining the right price of a product or service.

During the objection-handling module of our ValueSelling sales training course, we ask participants: “What is the most common objection?” Nine times out of ten, the objection they get from the customer is: “Your price is too high,” or “You’re too expensive.”

The price objection is guaranteed to come up during most sales cycles. In the current economic environment, no one wants to pay more than necessary for any product or service.  In addition, buyers are more educated than ever before. Choices are plentiful. No one wants to overpay or be taken advantage of. With that said, we don’t need to lower prices to win the business … nor do we need to be afraid of discussing the cost of the products or services we sell.

Price objections are raised because the salesperson hasn’t yet demonstrated enough value for the prospect to feel comfortable in making a purchase.

Price and value are vastly different concepts, however. Price is what is paid for an item at a given time. It’s a short-term conversation. Value is an investment made in exchange for future benefits. Value is a long-term concept.

Does your product or service convey value?
Start by asking yourself these seemingly simple questions:

-What makes your company valuable to a customer?

-What is your unique selling proposition?

-Why should the prospect care?

Often a prospect gets the same pitch from both you and your competitors. Whether it’s great service, 24-hour availability, leading-edge technology, or more than 500 happy clients, they’ve heard it all. The truth is that it doesn’t matter what you think is valuable. What matters is what the customer perceives is valuable.

Once you identify what is valuable to your customer, it will be much easier to lead the prospect toward a buying decision.

Most sales professionals don’t spend nearly enough time to uncover the real value they offer the prospect. Still others don’t know how to articulate the value in a way that presses the customer’s emotional hot buttons.

Get the customer’s perspective
What’s the best way to pinpoint and promote real value? Get the customer perspective. Discover how your customer uses your product or service. Interview them by phone or in person, and find out:

-What do they like about your product or service?

-How does it make their life easier?

-How could your product or service be improved?

-How do they use your product or service?

-What causes them to use your product or service?

-How does it impact their customers?

This gives you a ripe opportunity to listen and be open to what the customer has to say. Even if the comments are less than positive, sometimes the mere fact that you’re listening helps to create a bond with the customer that is long lasting.

Become your own customer 

Believe it or not, some companies don’t even use their own products or services! First-hand experience gives you true empathy for the customer. You wouldn’t buy a car without reading the reviews, visiting various car dealerships, or taking a few for a test drive, would you? Often your product or service requires a much larger investment. So don’t just rely on information from marketing materials to fuel your sales presentations. Shop around, “test drive” the other products and services, and do a side-by-side comparison with the competition.

By being your own customer, you’ll quickly discover what’s so great about your product or service, and you’ll be able to articulate the value proposition more effectively.

Deliver value to your customer
Given that customers are faced with a vast array of decisions, opportunities, and alternatives all competing for limited funds, value matters more than ever before. Your job throughout the sales cycle is to determine the customer’s motivation for buying your product or service, and then articulate that value in such a compelling way that the customer feels comfortable making the decision to buy from you.

When it comes to decision criteria, these are the crucial measurements the customer weighs:

-Is the price worth the investment?

-Is the risk worth the reward?

-Is the effort worth the impact?

Value is in the eye of the customer
Make the effort to gain the customer perspective, passionately articulate your value, and then deliver value over and over again. Doing so will help you reduce the perceived risk, increase the positive impact you deliver, and speed the sales cycle.

For more information and insights on sales and selling, visit the Value Selling Blog.

About Julie Thomas:

Julie Thomas, President and CEO of ValueSelling Associates, is a noted speaker, author, and consultant. In a career spanning more than 24 years, she credits her mastery of the ValueSelling Framework® for her own meteoric rise through the ranks of sales, sales management, and corporate leadership positions.

Julie began her career at Gartner Group. In 1999, she became Vice President of Gartner’s Sales Training for the Americas, which included successfully managing the training of new hires in the ValueSelling process.  In 2003, Julie acquired ValueSelling Associates with the support of ValueSelling CEO and co-founder Lloyd Sappington. Since then, Julie has led the company to become an industry leader in competency- and process-based training for escalating sales performance.

Julie is a sought-after speaker at industry events such as the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conferences. She is a guest lecturer at both Babson University and the University of Michigan. In addition, Julie is on the advisory board of the eWomenNetwork Foundation Advisory Council and is heavily involved in her local public schools as well as the San Diego Children’s Hospital Auxiliary.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

About ValueSelling Associates

ValueSelling Associates, based in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is the creator of the ValueSelling Framework^®, the sales methodology preferred by sales executives around the globe. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped FORTUNE 1000 business-to-business sales organizations compete and win in markets crowded with seemingly similar products and services. ValueSelling Associates has maintained its position as a leader in the industry by continually evolving to meet the new challenges sales forces face. Clients turn to the experts at ValueSelling Associates for classroom training, online training, and consulting services that yield immediate impact, repeatable strategies, and sustainable results. For more information, visit www.valueselling.com.

Mike Ortegon, Director of Global Sales Operations at HomeAway, a Stevie® Award-winning online marketplace of vacation rentals based in Austin, Texas, will Chair the Final Judging Committee for the Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories of the 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Services, the world's premier sales awards and customer service awards. The results will be announced on February 21 at the gala awards banquet in Las Vegas. We talked to Mike about the challenges facing today’s sales teams.

“Today’s sales professionals are challenged by savvy customers and prospects,” says Mike Ortegon, Director of Global Sales at HomeAway.  “Thanks to digital and social media advancements, they have many channels of information and are consequently better informed during the purchase cycle. As a result, it is essential for sales professionals to stay one step ahead in preparation, to anticipate upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and to be consultative throughout the process.”

We asked him what steps he would recommend companies should take to establish standardized sales procedures across countries and regions. “You might be prone to think a unique product or service requires a special sales process,” Mike told us. “Some may even argue the selling process has to continually change, but my experience is that the change is occurring in the buying process, as noted above. Today’s buyers are more informed than ever.”

Simplified Methodology

“Many sales people are familiar with the ‘four, five, six, seven...sales cycle’ methodologies,” added Mike. “In reality, each of these can be boiled down to four steps: Qualify; Research; Propose; and Close. A simplified methodology enables people to focus on the sale, not the process.”

Concluded Mike: “It is always important to pay close attention to cultural differences, although just because someone speaks a different language doesn’t mean a different sales process is needed. For example, in some countries such as Southern Europe and Asia, face-to-face selling is a common practice, while other cultures are fine with a phone call. In any scenario, you still need to qualify, research, propose and close.”

Benefits of a Stevie® Award
HomeAway won a Gold Stevie® for Sales Operations Team of the Year in The 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service. As Chair of one of this year’s Final Judging Committees, he is fully aware of the benefits of being a winner.

“Winning the Stevie® Award really brought to light the effectiveness of the HomeAway team in their first year together,” Mike told us.  “It brought about an even greater appreciation for the experience, talent, and determination possessed by each individual. It was great to be rewarded for our hard work and, ultimately, the team had better camaraderie and became even more motivated to improve sales effectiveness.”

Added Mike: “Winning the Stevie® Award in 2013 showcased the HomeAway sales team’s focus on adding value to the organization through industry-leading tools and best practices.”

Creating Lasting Memories

We asked Mike what most inspired him about his role at HomeAway.  His simple answer: he gets his inspiration from the HomeAway team and product. “We have fantastic people who are passionate about their work,” he told us. “Ours is a product that helps families and groups find their ideal getaway and focus on the most important part of traveling together: creating lasting memories.”

About Mike Ortegon:

Mike Ortegon joined HomeAway in March 2012 and is the Director of Global Sales Operations. In this role he is responsible for supporting sales leaders across the globe with tools, training, and sales insights to help make well-informed business decisions; and to run effective and efficient teams while aligning to corporate strategy.

Previously, Mike worked for Harte-Hanks as Global Account Director focusing on multichannel, data-driven solutions for Fortune 100 companies. Throughout his career, Mike has been in management, operational, and sales and marketing roles in North America, EMEA, Latin America, and APAC.

About HomeAway:
HomeAway is the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, with sites representing more than 773,000 paid listings of vacation rental homes in 171 countries. Through HomeAway, owners and property managers offer an extensive selection of vacation homes that provide travelers with memorable experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations. The company also makes it easy for vacation rental owners and property managers to advertise their properties and manage bookings online.

As the final round of judging for the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service begins, we would like to acknowledge the 129 professionals worldwide who participated in the preliminary round of judging.

Recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer service offer a wide range of categories to recognize the achievements of sales, business development, contact center, and customer service professionals.

The preliminary round of judging, conducted from November through through mid-January, determined the Finalist nominations in this year's competition that are eligible to be considered in the final round of judging.

The following professionals participated in preliminary-round judging of the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  We thank them for their time, insights and interest.

Teresa Allen, Owner, Common Sense Solutions, Shreveport, LA, USA
Amal Al-Najjar, HR Manager, Fluor - Kuwait, Kuwait
Mohammad Alreeh, Lt. Col., Ministry of the Interior, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Johnny Anderson, Vice President, Bulldog Solutions, Austin, TX, USA
Dmitry Aristarkov, Executive VP, National Association of Contact Centers, Moscow, Russia
Tristan Averett, Associate Manager - Enterprise EHR Support, Allscripts, Salem, OR, USA
Sam Baddeley, Senior Manager, Sales and Customer Service - Management Consulting, Accenture, London, United Kingdom
Paul Bilodeou, VP Sales and Marketing, The Brooks Group, Greensboro, NC, USA
Jill Blankenship, CEO, Frontline Call Center, Eastsound, WA, USA
Angela Blevins, VP Customer Care, Bluegreen Corporation, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Jeanne Bliss, President, CustomerBLISS, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA
Bob Botelle, Exec VP Merchant Services, Chief Customer Officer, Litle & Co, Lowell, MA, USA
Nick Broadbent, VP Global Support, DataCore Software, Reading, IN, USA
Jim Brodo, SVP Marketing, Richardson, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Peter Bush, CEO, New Swansea Bay, Port Talbot, Australia
Lucia Caron, Manager - Customer Support, Enterprise Intelligence Solutions (EIS), Verint Systems Inc., Herndon, VA, USA
Ana Castellanos, VP, Chief Human Resources Officer, Oakwood Temporary Housing, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Patrick Cheeseman, Head of Customer Support, Hotel Tonight, San Francisco, CA, USA
Peter Chiarelli, Sales Manager - Advertising Sales, Cablevision, Woodbury, NY, USA
Jackie Coffey, Director, Government and Consumer Markets, Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida, Point Vedra Beach, FL, USA
Michael Conley, Director of Operations Mid Atlantic, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, North Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Ruth Cox, Client Support Manager, One Call Now, Troy, OH, USA
John Cushman, VP eSales & Service, AT&T, Bedminster, NJ, USA
Kelly Dantas, Media Director, SDI Distributor, Yonkers, NY, USA
Robyn Davis, Owner, When I Need Help, Columbis, SC, USA
Jim de Jager, Operations Director, UPC DTH Leasing S.à r.l., Howald, Luxembourg
Jim Dickie, Principal, CSO Insights, Denver, CO, USA
Kevin Dominigue, VP, Customer Services, TRUMPF, Inc., Farmington, CT, USA
Alan Dowler, Operations Manager, Hamilton Jewelers, Princeton, NJ, USA
LaVon Edwards, Director of Sales, Century Link, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Annette Eland, Claims Customer Service Manager, Esurance, Rocklin, CA, USA
Ted Elliot, CEO, Job Science, San Francisco, CA, USA
Anita Ellis, Director of Sales, Calderon Textiles, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Ron Essig, VP, Products & Services, Marriott Vacation Club, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Andrew J. Filipowski, Executive Chairman & CEO, SilkRoad Technology, Winston Salem, NC, USA
Laura Fischer, Customer Service Coordinator, Kohl's Department Stores, Oconomowoc, WI, USA
Simone Fojut, Chief Editor, SFO Medien GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany
Dave Forsberg, EVP Sales & Marketing, Marketstar, Ogden, UT, USA
Heisha Freeman, EVP Sales & Marketing, The Move Management Center, Dallas, TX, USA
Chris French, VP, Customer Success, Globoforce, Southborough, MA, USA
Michael Galante, Speaker, thesalescoach.com, Preston, MD, USA
Stephen Giersch, Director Instructional Design, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Orlando, FL, USA
Stephen Gill, President - Consulting, SGA, Derby, United Kingdom
Robert P. Gillespie, Executive VP, New York Community Bancorp, Cleveland, OH, USA
Stanley Goodrich, Public Relations Manager, SYSPRO, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
Robert Gregory, VP of Customer Support, Media Temple, Marina Del Ray, CA, USA
Jimmy Griffith, Director, Solution Center Operations - Extended Protection Solutions, Assurant Solutions, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Judy Guffee, Senior Manager Customer Service, med fusion/ ClearPoint Diagnostic Laboratory, Louisville, TX, USA
Heidi Guzman, MBA - Customer Service, Consorcio Kairos, Villahermosa, Mexico
Gabriel Heijmer, Innovation & Development Manager, Swedavia AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Jim Heininger, Founder, Dixon|James Communications, Oak Park, IL, USA
Phillip Horvath, SVP - Professional Services, Merchant Partners, Redmond, WA, USA
Jennifer Hrycyszyn, Vice President, Greenough Communications, Boston, MA, USA
Tunde Hubina, Customer Care Director, UPC DTH S.à r.l., Howald, LA, Luxembourg
Linden Ingram, EVP Sales, Imparta Inc, Austin, TX, USA
Tyson Jacques, Customer support manager, Hoteltonight, Dover, NH, USA
Jeanne Jalufka, Sales Marketing Consultant, Pearson, Corpus Christ, TX, USA
Kala Jarugumilli, Sr. Manager, Customer Success Operations, NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, USA
JP Jones, Owner, Collipsis Web Solutions, Tulsa, OK, USA
Meltem Karateke, President, IMI Conferences, Atasehir, Istanbul, Turkey
JoAnn Kay, Customer Care Director, Graduation Source, Port Chester, NY, USA
Chad Kestner, Director, Client Sales & Service, RCI, Carmel, IN, USA
James Koons, Chief Privacy Officer, Listrak, Lititz, PA, USA
Elzbieta Krawczynska, Quality Specialist Trainer, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A., Poznan, Poland
Suresh Kuppahally, SVP, Engineering, Operations and Customer Success, Replicon Inc, San Mateo, CA, USA
Yamini Kurup, VP Customer Experience, Aditya Birla Financial Services, Mumbai, India
Michael LeBarron, Lead Engineer, Gemvara, Rockland, MA, USA
Verna Lee, Marketing & Business Development Consultant, McTech Corp, Cleveland, OH, USA
Shane Lewis, Asst VP of Sales, Sundance Vacations, Kennett Square, PA, USA
Scott MacGregor, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Flo-Tech, Middletown, CT, USA
Jennifer Maldonado, Sr. Program Manager, Global Client Experience, Cornerstone OnDemand, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Wessam Massoud, Programme Delivery Manager, Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Center (ADSIC), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Deb Matthews, Director - Customer Experience, nexVortex, Herndon, VA, USA
Rowena Maxwell, Senior Principle - Customer Service, Accenture, London, United Kingdom
Lauren McKenzie, Customer Service Representative, JumpSport Inc, San Jose, CA, USA
Colin McKillip, Chief Executive Officer, Butcher Enterprises, Windsor, ON, Canada
Curtis McLaughlin, Customer Support Manager, AllClear ID, Austin, TX, USA
Chad O. Mills, COO, Carahsoft Technology Corp., Reston, VA, USA
Jay Mitchell, President, Mereo, LLC, Irving, TX, USA
John Monroe, Director of Communications, Stellar, Irving, TX, USA
Brian Moriarty, Vice President North America Sales, General Cable, Highland Heights, KY, USA
Jane Mullins, Sr Support Manager / Director, Technical Support Management Professional, Hayward, CA, USA
Michele Nylander, Client Relationship Director, CallMiner, Inc., Fort Myers, FL, USA
Brock Omohundro, Sr. Operations Manager - Training and Development, John Hancock, Portsmouth, NH, USA
Julius Orayo, Regional Head- Customer Services, The Jubilee Insurance Company of Kenya Limited, Nairobi, Kenya
Jacque Plair, Director - Americas Deployment & Corporate Services, IHG, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Churchill Dass Prince, Founder and CEO, Sales Intellect Company, Chennai, India
Jeanette Ramey, National Customer Service Manager, Empire Today, Northlake, IL, USA
Bryan Rand, Vice President, North American Sales, SDL International, Plano, TX, USA
Mark Repkin, Chief Revenue Officer, iPromo & Memory Suppliers, Morton Grove, IL, USA
Peter Rifkind, Director of Client Service, UltraLinq Healthcare Solutions, Inc, New York, NY, USA
Charlie Riley, CMO, PLS 3rd Learning, Buffalo, NY, USA
Nick Robertson, VP of Sales & Marketing, kCura, Chicago, IL, USA
Elizaveta Rybinskaya, Customer Care Director, OTTO Group Russia, Moscow, Russia
Megan Ritchie Saffitz, Director of LEED Support, US Green Building Council, Seattle, WA, USA
Randy Selleck, Sr. Director, Call Center Operations, Assurant Solutions, Atlanta, GA, USA
Behar Sensoz, Customer Complaint Management Specialist, Turk Telekom, Istanbul, Turkey
Tibor Shanto, President, Renbor Sales Solutions, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Ramin Shokrizadeh, Product Manager, FreshBooks, Toronto, Canada
Gary Shumaker, President, C2 Solutions Group, Inc., Reston, VA, USA
Manu Singh, Contact Center Manager, Dubai First, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Alec Stern, Founding Team, Vice President Strategic Market Development, Constant Contact, Waltham, MA, USA
Manfred Stockmann, President, Call Center Verband Deutschland e. V., Berlin, Germany
Doug Storbeck, Sr. Director of Operations, KM, Plymouth, MA, USA
Fred Stickroot, President, HomeNet, New Port Richey, FL, USA
Andrzej Szczepaniak, Deputy Director, Central Settlement Services - Santander Group, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A., Poznan, Poland
Jeff Tang, Senior Manager, Technical Support, The Active Network, The Active Network, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Will Tarrant, Co-Founder/Owner, Service Metrics Group, Plano, TX, USA
Özge Tekalp, Directr - Alternative Sales Channels, Türk Ekonomi Bankasi A.S, Istanbul, Turkey
Lucas Tennant, SE Regional Vice President, Sales - Payroll Division, Benefitmall, Franklin, TN, USA
Christopher Tepas, Chief Marketing Officer, Emkay, Itasca, IL, USA
Bob Thomas, Director of Business Development, Prorizon Corporation, Kennesaw, GA, USA
Corina Toader, Senior Associate Operations, WNS Global, Bucharest, Romania
Ron Torten, VP, WW Sales, Inphi, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Cathy Townend, Product Manager - CSA Travel Protection, Europ Assistance, San Diego, CA, USA
Tina Turnbow, Regional Scheduling Manager, Solis Women's Health, Addison, TX, USA
Abdiel Urriola, Sales & Marketing, Puma Energy, Panama
Lori Van Dyke, Manager of Customer Care, Access One Inc, Chicago, IL, USA
Vincent Vanden Bossche, Managing Director, Call Communications, Ottenberg, Belgium
Chris Vassan, Communcations Lead, Cisco Systems, Inc., Raleigh Triangle Park, NC, USA
David Vasquez, Customer Care Executive, Ally Bank, Charlotte, NC United States
Shelley Verdejo, Director, Facilities, Acquisition & Adminstrative Services, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, Washington DC, USA
Madalina Vilau, Managing Partner, Expo Media, Bucharest, Romania
Laura Walter, Corporate Marketing Manager, Enterprise Fleet Management, St. Louis, MO, USA
Jeremy Watkin, Director Of Customer Service, Phone.com, Poway, CA, USA
Tim Watson, Vice President - Mobile Applications, Parentlink, Provo, UT, USA
Matt Weston, Director, Client Services, TradeKing, Charlotte, NC, USA
Floor Wijburg, CEO, W&I Consultants, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Rusty Williams, Co-Founder, Align Sales, Wayland, MA, USA

Interested in judging the 2015 awards?  Apply to be a judge here.

Submit your entries today at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales

Tuesday, January 14 is the final entry deadline for the 2014 (8th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. These are the world's top honors for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals. All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries.

Review the entry kit now - you'll find it online, here. The entry kit contains all of the information you'll need to be able to prepare and submit entries to the 2014 awards.

There's a lot that's new and different for the awards this year, including our new Grand Stevie Award trophy.

Finalists will be announced on January 22.  All Finalists will ultimately be named Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winners.  The winners will be announced during a gala banquet at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on Friday, February 21.  (Attendance isn't required to win.)

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature categories to recognize achievement in every aspect of the worklife of sales, business development, contact center, and customer service professionals:

• Individual Sales Performers
• Sales Teams and Departments
• Sales Achievements
• Individual Customer Service and Contact Center Performers
• Customer Service/Contact Center Achievements
• Customer Service Departments
• Solution Providers to Sales and Customer Service Professionals
• New Products and Services used by sales and customer service professionals

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

P.S.  Need a few extra days to enter?  Contact us.

Newest Stevie Awards Program to Recognize the Best in Business in 22 APAC Nations

The Stevie® Awards today issued a call for entries for the 2014 (first annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the first business awards program to recognize achievement in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region.  Information about the program is available online at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com in seven languages, including Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay and Thai.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards programs, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace in programs such as The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the first new Stevie Awards program to be created in seven years.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are open to all organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region:

Australia
Brunei
Burma
Cambodia
China (PRC, including Hong Kong)
East Timor
Fiji
Indonesia
Japan
Laos
Malaysia
Mongolia
New Zealand
Philippines
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Samoa
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Korea
Thailand
Tonga
Vietnam

Entries will be accepted and judged, in all seven languages featured on the web site, in the following 18 categories:

• Technology Company of the Year
• Manufacturing Company of the Year
• Services Company of the Year
• Government or NGO Organization of the Year
• Fastest-Growing Company of the Year
• Exporter of the Year
• Management Team of the Year
• Customer Service Leader of the Year
• Technology Executive of the Year
• Manufacturing Executive of the Year
• Services Executive of the Year
• Government or NGO Executive of the Year
• Woman of the Year
• New Technology Product of the Year
• New Consumer Product of the Year
• New Consumer Service of the Year
• New Business Product of the Year
• New Business Service of the Year

The early-bird entry deadline for the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, offering discounted entry fees, is 6 November. The final entry deadline is 4 December. Late entries will be accepted through 21 January, and Stevie Award winners will be announced in mid-February. 
 

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds.  The first round of judging will determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners on a national level in each category.  Those winners will be announced in mid-February.  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 categories for the entire Asia-Pacific region.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in the region in late March.

Judging committees for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are currently being formed.  Those interested in participating in the judging process are encouraged to apply now. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives around the world as judges.

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 details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage.

 About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in five programs: The American Business 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 www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

Wednesday, October 9 is the early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, for the 2014 (8th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. These are the world's top honors for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals. All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries.

Review the entry kit now - you'll find it online. The entry kit contains all of the information you'll need to be able to prepare and submit entries to the 2014 awards.

If you miss the early-bird deadline, the final entry deadline is November 13, and late entries will be accepted through January 14 with payment of a late fee.

There's a lot that's new and different for the awards this year, including our new Grand Stevie Award trophy .

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature categories to recognize achievement in every aspect of the worklife of sales, business development, contact center, and customer service professionals. Category changes and additions for 2014 include the fact that it is now free to enter the Sales Meeting of the Year category. The following categories have been split into multiple categories based on industry:

• Sales Representative of the Year
• Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year
• Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year
• Back-Office Customer Service Team of the Year
• Contact Center of the Year (Up to 100 Seats)
• Contact Center of the Year (100 or More Seats)
• Award for Innovation in Customer Service
• Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software has been split into two categories, based on the number of employees in the entire organization

Selected winners of the 2013 Stevie Awards For Sales & Customer Service included:

• Worldwide Sales Executive of the Year
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  State Street Corp, Boston, MA: George Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Global Alternatives

• Global Sales Team of the Year
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  SecurityMetrics, Orem, UT: SecurityMetrics' World Class Sales Team

• Customer Service Leader of the Year
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  TATA Motors Ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India: Sanjeev Garg, Global Head, Customer Care

• Contact Center Professional of the Year
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  EE, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom: Karla Cagney, Business Operations Manager

• Business Intelligence Solution – New
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  Navantis Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada: Navantis Inc. NBC Learn Customer Care Center

• Sales Consulting Practice of the Year
  GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
  Richardson, Philadelphia, PA: Richardson's Sales Enablement Practice

The following professionals led the final judging committee for the 2013 awards:

• Customer Service & Contact Center Individual & Achievement
  Chair: Angela Blevins, Vice President of Customer Care, Bluegreen Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Solution Provider Chair: Robert P. Gillespie, Executive Vice President, Corporate Director of Employee Development & Training, New York Community Bancorp, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA

• Sales Team Chair: Robert Jeppsen, Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales, Zions First National Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• Sales Department and Sales Achievement Chair: Fred Kessler, Founder, Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, Colorado, USA

• Sales Individual Chair: Corbett Kull, Senior Vice President of World Wide Sales & Market Development, PacketVideo Corporation, Palatine, Illinois, USA

• Customer Service & Contact Center Team Chair: Jenifer Page, Senior Vice President of Operations, Paylocity, Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA

• Customer Service Department Chair: Alice Sesay, Director of Customer Advocacy, Capital One, Dallas, Texas, USA

• New Product & Service Chair: Mathias Strandberg, Head of Digital, Valtech, London, United Kingdom

If you'd like to apply to participate in the 2014 Stevie Awards For Sales & Customer Service judging, you can apply online.

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

We've published a short video about how to enter the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service: 

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's top customer service awards, sales awards, and contact center awards. There are even new product awards categories and categories to recognize the achievements of solution providers.

This quick informational video plus an entry kit are all any company needs to know to be able to submit entries.  The Stevie Awards are the world's premier business awards.

There are dozens of categories to recognize the achievement of individuals, entire departments and teams, as well as new products used by customer service and sales professionals, and the achievements of solution providers to these professionals.

The competition is judged each year by several hundred professionals around the world.  The sponsors are providers of products and services to sales, contact center, and customer service professionals.

The early-bird deadline is October 9.  Get your entry kit, and enter today.

We are pleased to share that video clips from the first of two award galas celebrating The 2013 (11th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the USA, are now available to view on YouTube. (The second gala honoring the tech awards categories will be held on Monday, September 16 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. Click here to order tickets.)

Watch the June 17th American Business Awards presentations here.

450 entrepreneurs, executives, and their guests from around the country attended the first of two 2013 American Business Awards Banquets on Monday, June 17th at the at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Categories celebrated at the June 17th ceremony included PR awards, live event awards, annual report awards, video awards, customer service awards, HR awards, support awards, and selected categories for company/organization awards, management awards and marketing awards.

Our American Business Awards video clips from June 17th showcase business award acceptance speeches made by individuals and organizations from around the country, including:

Charles Werhane of Enterprise Community Investment, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year - Real Estate
Charles graciously accepts the award and thanks his team for allowing him to receive the award.

College Works Painting, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Company of the Year - Materials & Construction
Taylor Duncan's accepts the award on behalf of College Works Painting and thanks his colleagues and partners

Constant Contact, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Human Resources Department of the Year
Christine Osborne gratefully accepts the award and highlights the important of her fellow colleagues.

National Football League, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year
Gracefully accepting their award, the NFL thanks the ABAs and highlights the benefits of their youth, health, and fitness campaign.

Visionista, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Awardsfor Best Sales Video for Government
Camilla Sullivan's humble speech brought to light the importance of her client's support.

Want to see more from the June 17th  celebration? Watch all acceptance speeches and view photos from the event.