Next Monday evening we'll announce the results of the 7th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in the Versailles Ballroom of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.  If you're not familiar with them, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's top contact center awards, customer service awards, business development awards, and sales awards program.

More than 300 executives from around the world will gather to learn the Gold, Silver and Bronze placements in this year's competition.

Here are the organizations that have already booked their place for the banquet.  Interested in joining them?  Get your tickets now.

(mt) Media Temple Culver City CA
60K Ltd. Sofia Bulgaria
Acronis Moscow Russia
AllClear ID  Austin  TX
Allscripts Chicago IL
Ally Bank Midvale UT
ANCILE Solutions Elkridge MD
Arkadin Global Conferencing Paris France
Assurant Solutions Atlanta GA
Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Best Western International Phoenix AZ
Billhighway Troy MI
Black Box Network Services Lawrence PA
Blinds.com Houston TX
Campaign Group Pty Ltd Sunshine Coast QLD Australia
Capital One Bank McLean VA
Carahsoft Technology Corp.  Reston  VA
CareerBuilder Chicago IL
Cisco Systems Inc San Jose CA
Comcast  Philadelphia  PA
Competence Call Center AG Headquarters Vienna Austria
Constant Contact Waltham MA
ConsumerInfo.com Inc. Costa Mesa CA
Cortera  Inc.  Boca Raton  FL
Crucial.com Meridian ID
CubeSmart  Wayne  PA
CustomInk McLean VA
Cvent  McLean  VA
Datapipe Jersey City NJ
Delta Air Lines  Inc. Atlanta  GA
DHL Express Mexico City Mexico
DHL Global Forwarding Miami FL
Edmentum Dallas TX
EE  Hatfield  Hertfordshire  United Kingdom
EMKAY Itasca IL
EnergyCAP Inc. State College PA
Enterasys Networks Salem NH
FedEx TechConnect Memphis TN
ForeSee Ann Arbor MI
FreshBooks Toronto ON Canada
GetResponse Wilmington DE
GoDaddy.com  Scottsdale  AZ
GOT INFLUENCE?  Barrington  IL
Heartland Payment Systems Princeton NJ
HomeAway Austin TX
HomeServe USA  Stamford CT
Informatica Corporation Redwood City CA
Interactions Corporation Franklin MA
John Hancock  Boston MA
kCura Chicago IL
Kohl's Department Stores - Credit Division Menomonee Falls WI
Lattice Engines San Mateo CA
L-com Inc. North Andover MA
LexisNexis New York NY
MaintenanceNet Carlsbad CA
MarketBridge Bethesda MD
Marriott Intl Inc. Bethesda MD
Marriott Vacation Club International Orlando FL
Marsh U.S. Consumer Urbandale IA
MasterCard WorldWide O'Fallon MO
Monitronics International Dallas TX
Navantis Inc.  Toronto  ON  Canada
Navicure Duluth GA
Network Alliance Reston Virginia
NEW Customer Service Companies  Sterling  VA
nFocus Solutions  Austin  TX
Norton by Symantec Mountain View CA
Nuance Communications Burlington MA
Office Depot Inc. Boca Raton FL
OppenheimerFunds Inc. Englewood CO
Outsell  LLC  Minneapolis  MN
Paycor Cincinnati OH
Philadelphia Insurance Companies  Bala Cynwyd  PA
Phonak LLC Warrenville IL
Photodex Austin TX
PrintingForLess.com Livingston MT
Property Insight Santa Ana CA
Replicon San Mateo CA
Revima  Caudebec en Caux France
Richardson Philadelphia PA
Road America Motor Club  Miami FL
Safelite AutoGlass Columbus OH
Sales Partnerships Inc. Westminster CO
Salt Lake County Government  Salt Lake City  UT
Salt Lake County Salt Lake City UT
ShopKeep POS New York NY
SquareTrade  San Francisco  CA
StubHub  San Francisco  CA
Stylesight New York NY
Sundance Vacations  Wilkes-Barre  PA
SurePayroll Inc. Glenview IL
TeamSupport Dallas TX
Telogis Aliso Viejo CA
Texas.gov Austin Texas
The Brooks Group  Greensboro  NC
The Remi Group Charlotte NC
Time Warner Cable New York NY
Treeline Inc. Wakefield MA
Turk Telekom Istanbul Turkey
U.S. Green Building Council  Washington DC
USANA Health Sciences Salt Lake City UT
ValueSelling Associates Rancho Santa Fe CA
Veracity Payment Solutions Atlanta GA
Vestmark Wakefield MA
Vivint  Provo  UT
Visualize, Inc.  Birmingham MI
VIZIO Inc. Irvine CA
VMWare  Palo Alto CA
Wheels Inc. Des Plaines IL
Wolper Information Services  Easton  PA
Zalando Berlin Germany
Ziehm Imaging Inc. Orlando FL
Zions First National Bank Salt Lake City UT
ZocDoc  New York  NY

The Stevie® Awards are pleased to announce that the PDF of the official program of the 2013 (7th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is now available, at http://www.stevieawards.com/uploads/file/SASCS13Program.pdf. 

Recognized as the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service awards gala will be celebrated on Monday, February 25 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale.

The program will be distributed to the 350+ attendees of the February 25 awards banquet in Las Vegas, and to another 10,000 people around the world over the next year as a download from the awards' web site.

Can't make the awards gala? Download the full program here and listen to a broadcast recording of the February 25 awards presentations at 8:00 pm ET on Wednesday, February 27 on the Business TalkRadio Network. You can listen to a live stream of the broadcast on their web site, from anywhere in the world.

The entry deadline for The 2013 American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A., is quickly approaching on March 27. (If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.)

All individuals and organizations in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The ABAs feature categories to recognize achievement in every facet of worklife, including:

• App awards,
• Company / organization awards,
• Customer service awards,
• HR awards,
• IT awards,
• Management awards,
• Marketing awards,
• New product awards,
• PR awards, and
• Website awards.

See the full list of business award categories.

2013 ABA nominations should cite achievements during the eligibility period: January 2012 through April 24, 2013, the last day that late entries will be accepted. There is no eligibility timeframe for web site entries - it does not matter when the web sites were first published.

If you can't make the March 27 entry deadline, April 24 is the last day that late entries will be accepted with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on May 8, 2013. All entry details are available online, at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. 

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in The 2013 American Business Awards.

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on February 25  in Las Vegas

More than 211,000 votes were cast in the 2013 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, part of the 7th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals.

The worldwide public vote was conducted between January 24 and February 10, 2013, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 11 industry categories.  The winning organizations are:

          - Airlines, Distribution & Transportation: TATA Motors

          - Computer Hardware: Black Box

          - Computer Services: Constant Contact

          - Computer Software: Cvent, Inc.

          - Financial Services: Paycor

          - Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Related Industries: PetRays

          - Leisure & Tourism: Marriott Vacations Worldwide Owner Services

          - Public Services & Education: Salt Lake County

          - Retail: Zalando

          - Telecommunications: Portugal Telecom

          - All Other Industries: Vivint, Inc.

The crystal people's choice awards will be presented to winners at the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service seventh-annual awards banquet on Monday, February 25 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale.  More than 300 executives from around the world are expected to attend.

All organizations honored in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories of this year’s Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

Sponsors and supporters of the 7^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include the Business TalkRadio Network, PrintingForLess.com, and ValueSelling Associates.

Voting for the 4th edition of the People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, has been extended through 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, February 10.

Vote for your favorite provider of customer service here.

All companies named as Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories in the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals, are automatically included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide vote in which the general public will get to choose their favorite customer service in the following categories:

• Airlines, Distribution & Transportation,
• Computer Hardware,
• Computer Services,
• Computer Software,
• Financial Services,
• Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries,
• Leisure & Tourism,
• Public Services & Education,
• Retail,
• Telecommunications, and
• All Other Industries

Organizations will have the opportunity to win two awards: a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award, as determined by professionals on the sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards peer-review judging committees, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as determined by the public vote.

Winners of the crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards will be celebrated at an awards gala at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on February 25, 2013.

Leave us a comment and tell us about your favorite provider of customer service!

Voting for the 4th edition of the People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as part of the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals, ends in less than one week on February 8 at 11:59PM.

If you haven't yet voted, you can vote now, at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com/default.cfm?sitetype=PS.

The People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service is a worldwide vote in which the general public will get to choose their favorite customer service in over ten categories including:

• Airlines, Distribution & Transportation
• Computer Services
• Financial Services
• Leisure & Tourism
• Public Services & Education
• Retail
• Telecommunications

All companies named as Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories are automatically included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service. Organizations will have the opportunity to win two awards: a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award, as determined by professionals on the sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards peer-review judging committees, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as determined by the public vote.

Winners in the 2012 People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service are were celebrated in Las Vegas on Monday, February 27th at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. Last year's winners include Amazon.com, Apple, eCornell, Rosetta Stone, TATA Motors, and Vodafone Turkey, among others. 2012 results are summarized, at http://blog.stevieawards.com/customer-service-awards/bid/72154/Winners-Announced-in-People-s-Choice-Stevie-Awards-for-Favorite-Customer-Service.

Winners of the 2013 crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards will be announced at an awards banquet at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on February 25.

The Stevie® Awards are pleased to announce that this year's American Business Awards' new product and technology awards banquet will be held at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, CA on September 16.

Recognized as the nation's top business awards program, The American Business Awards honor all facets of the workplace, our award categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards.

Categories being celebrated in San Francisco include:

• App Awards Categories
• Information Technology Awards Categories
• New Product Awards & Product Management Awards Categories
• Web Site Awards Categories

Awards in the company / organization awards, marketing awards, and management awards categories will be announced either on June 17 at the 11th annual awards banquet, for non-tech categories, at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, IL or on September 16 in San Francisco, depending on the category. See a complete list of all ABA categories.

2013 nominations should cite achievements during our eligibility period: January 2012 through April 24, 2013, the last day that late entries will be accepted. There is no eligibility timeframe for web site entries - it does not matter when the web sites were first published.

March 27 is the entry deadline and April 24 is the last day that late entries will be accepted with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on May 8, 2013. If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.

If you have any questions regarding the 2013 ABA banquets, please email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

Wednesday, March 27, is the entry deadline for The 2013 American Business Awards, the top business awards competition in the U.S.A. (If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.)

All individuals and organizations in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The American Business Awards honor organizations and individuals in a wide variety of categories, types of business awards categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards. See the full list of business awards categories.

The 2013 ABA nominations should cite achievements during our eligibility period: January 2012 through April 24, 2013, the last day that late entries will be accepted. There is no eligibility timeframe for web site entries - it does not matter when the web sites were first published.

To help you make the most out of your entries, we suggest reviewing our past winners' entries for guidance. 2012 ABA Gold winners include Bloomberg Law (Best New Product or Service - Business-to-Business Services), Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group (Communications Department of the Year), Fazoli's Italian Restaurants (Human Resources Department of the Year), Ford Motor Company (Company of the Year - Automotive & Transport Equipment), HubSpot (Website of the Year - Computer Software), iolo technologies (Marketing Department of the Year), Northwestern Mutual (Best House Organ/Publication - Print), SquareTrade (Customer Service Department of the Year - Financial Services), and Vemma Nutrition Company (Best App of the Year - Lifestyle), among others. You can see the complete list of 2012 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners here.

If you have any questions about the 2013 ABAs, please email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Winners to Be Announced in Las Vegas on February 25

Fairfax, VA – January 24, 2013 – Finalists in the 7th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success, were announced today.    

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized in the customer service awards, contact center awards, and sales awards categories.  Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include AllClear ID, Turkey’s Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Delta Air Lines, DHL Express, the United Kingdom’s EE, Heartland Payment Systems, John Hancock Signature Services, L-com Inc., Marriott Vacation Club, OppenheimerFunds, Richardson, Sundance Vacations, SurePayroll, Inc., VIZIO, Inc., and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, among others. For a full list of Finalists by category, visit www.StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 25 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Tickets are now on sale. 

The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

More than 1,100 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2012. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 120 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 30 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 41 categories for sales and business development professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

More than 100 members of eight specialized judging committees will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, to take place January 28 - February 8.  

Beginning today, the general public will be able to cast their votes for their favorite providers of good customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service Department.  Voting is open at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice.  Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Las Vegas on February 25. 

About The Stevie Awards
The 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 www.StevieAwards.com,  and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.   

Sponsors and supporters of the 7^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include the Business TalkRadio Network and ValueSelling Associates.

Today, January 15, is the final entry deadline for the 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals.

All entries are submitted online. You can begin your submission process by requesting your entry kit here. The entry kit contains all of the instructions you need about how to prepare and submit your entries.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 125 sales awards, customer service awards, and call center awards categories honoring sales excellence and best customer service practices for individuals, teams, and departments, plus categories this year for products and service and solution providers.

Information generally required for 2013 entries include an essay of up to 525 words describing the nominee’s achievements since July 1, 2011; links to any online materials that support the nomination; and a brief (125 word) biography of the nominee.

To make the most out of your entries, we suggest:

1. Reviewing past winners' entries.
   Winners of the most recent edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (Customer Service or Call Center Training Practice of the Year), Rob Jeppsen, Zions First National Bank (Sales Director of the Year), International Checkout Inc. (Telesales Team of the Year), Office Depot, Inc. (Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year), OppenheimerFunds Inc. (Contact Center of the Year), and SquareTrade Inc (Customer Service Department of the Year - Financial Services), among others. A complete list of 2012 honorees is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.
   
   
2. Downloading our 5 Tips for Winning Sales Awards in the 2013 Stevie® Awards tipsheet.
   Our tipsheet will provide helpful tips and tools for making the most out of your entries.
   
   
3. Watching our short video, How to Enter the 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
   The brief video offers a comprehensive overview of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Finalists will be notified on January 23 and winners of the 2013 edition will be announced at an awards banquet at Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on February 25, 2013.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any last minute questions regarding the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.