Winners in the 16th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, were announced today. Stevie Award winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony on May 11.

The complete list of Stevie winners by category is available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

More than 2,300 nominations from organizations in 51 nations were considered in this year’s competition. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 150 professionals on eight specialized judging committees. Entries were considered in more than 90 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; more than 60 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Business Development Executive of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services, solution providers, and organizations’ and individuals’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New categories this year honor excellence in thought leadership in customer service and sales.

IBM of Armonk, NY USA and DP DHL, worldwide both won 11 Gold Stevie Awards, the most of any organization in the competition. Other Stevie winners with three or more Golds include Sales Partnerships, Inc., Broomfield, CO USA (eight), ValueSelling Associates, Carlsbad, CA USA (six), HP, Inc. Boise, ID USA (four), The Biz Dojo Inc, Calgary, Canada (four), UPMC Health Plan, Pittsburgh, PA USA (four), Allianz Services Pvt Ltd, Kerala, India (three), Nutrisystem, Fort Washington, PA USA (three), TransPerfect, New York, NY USA (three), and Voya Financial, Chandler, AZ USA (three).

Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards include athenahealth, Watertown, MA USA; Contact Lens King Inc., Chaplain, NY USA; Datasite, Minneapolis, MN USA; Dubai Municipality, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Empolis Group, Kaiserslautern, Germany; Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd., Mumbai, India; Michael Kors, New York, NY USA; Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA USA; Municipality and Planning Department, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; Optima Tax Relief, LLC, Santa Ana, CA USA; POWERHOME SOLAR, Mooresville, NC USA; PowerSchool Group LLC, Folsom, CA USA; Ruby, Portland, OR USA; SAP, Newtown Square, PA USA; Sber, Moscow, Russia; SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA; Spinnaker Support, Greenwood Village, CO USA; Support Services Group, Lewis Center, OH USA; Talkdesk, San Francisco, CA USA; Templeton & Partners, London, United Kingdom; VakifBank, Istanbul, Turkey; and VMware, Palo Alto, CA USA.

Other organizations winning a combination of four or more Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Awards include Abrigo, Austin, TX USA; Arise Virtual Solutions, Miramar, FL USA; Blackhawk Network, Pleasanton CA USA; CarrefourSA, Istanbul, Turkey; Clubspeed, Irvine, CA USA; EFG Companies, Irving, TX USA; Element Electronics, Winnsboro, SC USA; HireVue, South Jordan, UT USA; Intuit, Mississauga, Ontario Canada; Nuance Communications, Boston, MA USA; OpenGov, San Jose, CA USA; Optum Eden Prairie, MN USA; Princess Polly, Los Angeles CA USA; Pushpay, Redmond, WA USA; QNB Finansbank, Istanbul, Turkey; RAIN Group, Boston, MA USA; Toco Warranty, Los Angeles, CA USA; TTEC, Englewood, CO USA; Visualize, Birmingham, MI USA; VIZIO Inc., Irvine, CA USA; and WNS (Holdings) Limited, Mumbai, India.

The 10 most-honored organizations in the competition will receive Grand Stevie Award trophies. Those winners will be announced the week of March 14.

Beginning today through April 1, the public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, an annual feature of the awards. Voting is open at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards in multiple industries will be announced the week of April 4.

One category in the awards will continue to accept entries through March 11.  It is the Sales Partnerships Award for Ethics in Sales, which will recognize organizations for best practices and achievements in demonstrating the highest ethical standards in the sales industry.  Entry requirements for this category are outlined at https://stevieawards.com/sales/nominate-2022-sales-partnerships-ethics-sales-award.

Increased efficiency. Unified processes. Lower costs.

This combination of benefits has led to rapid growth for SmartLinx. The U.S.-based company provides a workforce management suite that helps organizations, including long-term and post-acute care facilities, simplify everything from hiring and payroll to scheduling and time recording.

Among the organizations that saw substantial results from the SmartLinx universal software solution is the Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation. The New York, New York, United States, senior living facility was suddenly able to make payroll more efficient and streamline employee work practices within one platform. Ultimately, this saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor costs.

Numerous organizations have experienced similar results across the United States. Oriol, a health care agency in Massachusetts, United States, was able to slash inefficient overtime costs. The Greek Rehabilitation and Care Center near Chicago, Illinois, United States, was able to reduce a process from 60 reported work hours down to just two minutes. Outcomes like this consistently help SmartLinx achieve high user retention rates and average more than 50 percent annual growth.

SmartLinx was also the first software company to offer a complete solution for Affordable Care Act compliance, and the company routinely expresses a commitment to staying ahead of all ACA regulations.

While health care and senior living facilities are a core part of the company’s business, its software also serves the needs of government agencies, hospitality programs, and manufacturing enterprises. With the SmartLinx software, companies are able to unify their processes and departments and make them more efficient, saving them significant money in the process.

SmartLinx was founded in 2000 and maintains 100 staff members. It operates from its headquarters in Edison, New Jersey, United States, and has a support center in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States.

A Focus on Customer Service

A personal approach with their partners only improves business relationships and increases success for SmartLinx, according to CEO Marina Aslanyan.

“We don’t work with ‘clients,’” she told Forbes. “We consider them our partners, and we provide services to them that allow them to transform their businesses.”

The company’s laser focus on customer service, which includes using scorecards to enable customer health monitoring and value confirmation, earned it the Bronze Stevie^® Award for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service in the Computer Industries category.

It is not, however, the first time SmartLinx has crossed the stage at a Stevie Awards ceremony. In 2017, the management team won a Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Customer Service. In 2016, the firm earned a gold Stevie for Customer Service Management Team of the Year.

The company’s commitment to creating a satisfying user experience made this latest accolade all the more special, according to Darcy Grabenstein, a content manager at SmartLinx.

“The Stevie Awards, particularly those for customer service, underscore the priority SmartLinx places on customer success,” Grabenstein says. “They validate our efforts to ensure our customers are satisfied, not only with our products but with the support behind them.”

Two SmartLinx customer support team members also earned individual awards in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service this year. Thomas VanAntwerp, a customer support team leader, won the gold award for Young Customer Service Professional of the Year in the Technology Industries segment, and Brandon Tahquette, a customer support specialist, won a silver award as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year.

The leadership team consistently ensures innovation and diversity are part of the company’s culture. Grabenstein says the team regularly evaluates and advances technology concepts; targets industry challenges, such as those evolving in the ACA, senior care, and health care fields; and encourages growth, training, and sharing perspectives in the workplace. This fosters a healthy working environment and company growth.

“We are growing rapidly, but we are committed to maintaining the level of service our clients are accustomed to,” says Grabenstein. “We are committed to their success.”

If opportunity doesn't knock, why not build a door? Entrepreneurs are always at risk of stagnation during the start-up phase. Advantage|ForbesBooks, a business-growth company based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, is focused on helping entrepreneurs overcome that hurdle. The company uses stories, passion, and knowledge of top thought leaders to help business professionals succeed in their endeavors.

Advantage|ForbesBooks has helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs, CEOs, and professionals in 40 U.S. states and 13 countries with a wealth of resources to help those customers begin their journey. These accomplishments helped them win the 2018 Bronze Stevie® Award for Customer Service Success in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Commitment to Their Community

Becoming an authority in a given field is a new way professionals can grow their businesses. Advantage takes a seven-pillar marketing approach. This deconstructs the idea of authority marketing and helps their members thrive and take advantage of opportunities in the new media landscape. Ben Coppel is the member experience manager at Advantage, and he provides world-class service to all their members through constant interaction and check-ins.

“We spend a considerable amount of time investing in a world-class service experience across all departments in our company,” Coppel states. “This achievement helps validate those efforts and reflects our ongoing commitment to our members.”
 
Founded in July 2005, Advantage consists of a full-time staff of 68 team members and all enjoy full-service support.

A Dedicated Team

Every Advantage team member understands the importance of great service and appreciates the programs the company employs to look after its members.

“The things we’ve built are integrated into our process, so they get done every time,” says Coppel. “They also act as an extension of our team and demonstrate who we are as a company, and this makes them unique and special. The success of our members is essential to the success of the company. If not for them, we wouldn't be in business.”

The company received local and national placement in New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Bloomberg, and Wall Street Journal. As a company, they’ve been honored as a “Best Place to Work” winner (2013, 2014, 2015) in South Carolina, United States, and they are a five-time consecutive Inc. 5000 list winner (fastest-growing private companies in America).
 
Better You, Better Us

Goal setting, reinforcement, and a focus on professional development comprise the DNA of Advantage. To assist goal setting, they go off-site as an entire company three times a year for a day of strategic planning.

“We set and agree on our company priorities and then craft individual priorities that align with the goal,” says Coppel. “We have scoreboards in our office that track progress, and we review where things stand each week in our company-wide, all-hands huddle.”

High importance is also placed on individual professional development. The company gives each person a $1,000 budget that he or she can use to continue growing as a professional.

Events, webinars, podcasts, certifications, and books are all fair game. The expectation is that all employees spend 120 hours each year making themselves better.

“When our employees grow as professionals, they deliver greater value to the company, which makes the company better,” says Coppel. “Better you, better us.”

Behind every large commercial property, whether it is a university campus or a shopping mall, are countless moving parts that have to work in harmony. Throw off one of those parts, and you can create major headaches for employees and customers.

When it established its Customer Care Center (CCC) in 2015, Stevie-winner Grosvenor Services tried to ensure that issues would not occur for any of its commercial clients. By centralizing its customer support function, the facility services firm has been able to reduce complaints and resolve issues as quickly as possible.

The Dublin, Ireland-based company, which provides a range of services, including cleaning, security, mechanical, and electrical, built the center to follow through on its customer-first ethos. Employees in the center review processes and systems to eliminate potential conflicts and address client needs in an effective, timely manner.

“Clients require so much more from their supplier partners, and we must continue to deliver beyond the services we provide at the front line,” says Marianne Lambert, a business unit manager who oversees the CCC.

The center is an extension of Grosvenor’s core values, summed up in the acronym “PROACT”—Pursuit of Excellence, Reliability, Openness, Accountability, Customer Focus, and Teamwork. It has proven to be a sound business decision, with the company subsequently winning a number of bids based on its commitment to customer service.

Customer Care Pays Dividends

The initiative has paid off in other ways too. The company became a finalist for multiple local awards and in February earned a Bronze Stevie® Award for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

“When our CCC was initially formed, we began researching achievements and accreditations as a method of improvement and benchmarking,” says Lambert. “In doing so, I came across the Stevie Awards and immediately I felt this was extremely relevant and worth pursuing.”

The honor naturally brings a sense of considerable pride. “This is a huge personal achievement as the manager of the CCC,” Lambert says. “I really believe in what I do and this award acknowledges the work and commitment that has been invested so far.”

Founded in 1959, Grosvenor Services now serves clients throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and employs more than 4,500 people. In addition to its core facility management services, the corporation has expanded to offer everything from reception and mailroom support to landscaping and pest control.

One constant throughout Grosvenor Services’ history is a focus on the needs of the customer. This family business has tried to distinguish itself from competitors by making clients feel like they are dealing with a much smaller organization.

The CCC has certainly helped them accomplish that goal, and now they have a Stevie Award to show for their efforts.

“This is a huge achievement and an honor for our business and our team especially,” says Lambert. “We have worked extremely hard to instill and embed our culture of customer focus and this award is an acknowledgement of all the hard work and dedication that has been committed to doing so.”

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Winners to Be Announced in Las Vegas on February 23

Finalists in the 12th 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, business development awards and sales awards categories. Organizations with five or more finalist nominations include 60K Ltd. (Sofia, Bulgaria), Albridge (Pennington, NJ, USA), Allianz Global Assistance (Richmond, VA, USA), BlueCat Networks (Toronto, ON, Canada), Carbonite, Inc. (Lewiston, ME, USA), Dell Technologies (Bangalore, Karnataka, India and Round Rock, TX, USA), Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, GA, USA), Delta Defense (West Bend, WI, USA), Delta Vacations (Minot, ND, USA), Deutsche Post DHL (worldwide), Druva Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), eMoney Advisor, LLC (Radnor, PA, USA), FIS (Jacksonville, FL, USA), GNResound (Bloomington, MN, USA), GuideWell Connect (Jacksonville, FL, USA), HomeServe USA (Norwalk, CT, USA), IBM (Armonk, NY, USA and Tokyo, Japan), iHeartMedia, Inc. (New York, NY, USA), Imparta Inc. (Austin, TX, USA), John Hancock Financial Services (Boston, MA, USA) Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, MA, USA), Mercer Consumer, (Des Moines, IA, USA), NCR Corporation (Duluth, GA, USA), nThrive Education (Los Angeles, CA, USA), Overstock.com (Midvale, UT, USA), Response (Lindon, UT, USA), Sales Partnerships, Inc. (Broomfield, CO, USA), SmartLinx Solutions (Edison, NJ, USA), Sun Basket (San Jose, CA, USA), TTEC (Englewood, CO, USA), UPMC Health Plan (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), VakifBank (Istanbul, Turkey), VIZIO Inc. (Irvine, CA, USA), VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, CA, USA), Wells Fargo Treasury Management Client Delivery (San Francisco, CA, USA) and Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Orlando, FL, USA).

For a full list of finalists by category, visit www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

All finalist nominations ultimately will be named Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. The placements will be revealed during a gala banquet on Friday, February 23, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. Tickets are on sale now.

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® and American Business Awards.

More than 2,500 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition. Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 150 professionals worldwide in seven specialized judging committees. Entries were considered in 89 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service and Customer Service Department of the Year; 60 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Business Development Executive of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers.

Beginning today through February 9, the general public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service. Voting is open at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Las Vegas on February 23.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize the achievements of contact center, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Entries for the 2017 competition are now being accepted.

October 19 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The entry deadline is November 16, but late entries will be accepted through January 11 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the eleventh annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 24 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Today we will focus on the Customer Service Success Awards categories.

If your organization doesn't have a formal customer service function - if "everyone here works in customer service" is your motto - then these are the categories for you.

 If your organization has a formal customer service function, don't enter these categories - enter the Customer Service Department categories instead.

Information required for entries in these categories include:

(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your organization's customer service-related accomplishments since July 1, 2015.
(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

140. Customer Service Success - Business Service Industries
     141. Customer Service Success - Financial Service Industries
     142. Customer Service Success - Other Service Industries
     143. Customer Service Success - Technology Industries
     144. Customer Service Success - All Other Industries

Winners of the Customer Service Success Awards categores in 2016 include:

Customer Service Success - Business Service Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
John Hancock Financial Services, Boston, MA USA: Service Success Along the Way
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
SAHOURI Insurance, McLean, VA USA: SAHOURI Insurance

Customer Service Success - Technology Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Wagepoint, Kitchener-Waterloo, ON, Canada: Wagepoint - Where customers are part of the family
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Calabrio, Minneapolis, MN USA: Calabrio's Customer Service Success
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Aplos Software, Fresno, CA USA: Aplos Builds Customer Confidence To Find Customer Service Success
Cisco Systems, Inc., Feltham, United Kingdom: Service Logistics and Operations Best Practice in the Delivery of Field Services
Patagonia Health, Cary, NC USA: Patagonia Health: Trust Comes from Providing Great Service

Customer Service Success - All Other Services and Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
IDG TechNetwork, New York, NY USA: IDG TechNetwork's Customer Service Success
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Youth Assembly, Istanbul, Turkey: IMM Youth Assembly's Successful Projects
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Selvice Service Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan: Selvice Service's Maple Halloween

Does your organization do a great job of addressing customers concerns in a timely manner, but doesn’t have a formal customer service department? The 2016 (10th Annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service has created a category group just for you – Customer Service Success.

These new categories have been designed to complement the longstanding Customer Service Department of the Year categories. Rather than focus on the performance of a named customer service department, the customer service success categories recognize customer service-related achievements across your entire company or organization. You choose the successes you wish to highlight.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the top awards for customer service, contact center, business development, teams and professionals worldwide. All organizations are eligible to be nominated, in addition to the new products and services used by those professionals.

Complete details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCCESS CATEGORIES

If your organization doesn't have a formal customer service function - if "everyone here works in customer service" is your motto - then these are the categories for you. If your organization has a formal customer service function, don't enter these categories - enter the Customer Service Department categories instead.

Information required for entries in these categories include:

(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your organization's customer service-related accomplishments since July 1, 2014.

(b) Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. At the very least you should provide a link to the organization's website.

140. Customer Service Success - Business Service Industries
141. Customer Service Success - Financial Service Industries
142. Customer Service Success - Other Service Industries
143. Customer Service Success - Technology Industries
144. Customer Service Success - All Other Industries