Top Sales Awards and Customer Service Awards Winners to Be Recognized in Las Vegas

The Stevie Awards has issued a call for entries for the 2020 (14th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Eligible nominees include: departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact center, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2020 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2018.

The early-bird entry deadline with reduced entry fees is October 16, 2019. The final entry deadline is November 13, but late entries will be accepted through January 9, 2020 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced in mid-January, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed during a gala awards banquet on February 28 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 150 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

• Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
• Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
• Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
• Sales Distinction categories in 14 industry groupings
• Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
• Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
• Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
• Customer Service Department categories in 12 industry groupings
• Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings
• New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
• Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year
• Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure

New this year, nominees may submit a video of up to five minutes in length instead of the 650-word essay describing their achievements since July 1, 2018.

New categories for 2020 include Customer Service Training Professional of the Year, Customer Service Training Team of the Year – External, Customer Service Training Team of the Year – Internal, Best Customer Engagement Initiative, Customer Service Training or Coaching Program of the Year, Sales Enablement Program of the Year, Sales Incentive Program of the Year, and White Paper or Research Paper of the Year.

2020 will see the return of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in which the general public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service, from among all finalist nominations in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories.

Winners of the 2019 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included Allstate, American Airlines, Birevim, Cvent, DP DHL, Deliveroo, Dubai Police, HomeServe USA, IBM, iHeartMedia, Inc., Michael Kors, Oi, Salary.com, Sales Partnerships, Inc., SolarWinds, Texas Instruments, VIZIO, Zappos, and more.

The 2020 competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.

Riva CRM Integration earned top customer service scores, ranking with 98% client satisfaction across thousands of ZenDesk support tickets and retaining 95% of their clients in 2017!

This tangible success has earned them two Silver Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service in the Department of the Year - Computer Software division and Frontline Customer Service Team of the Year categories. 

Riva CRM Integration is based in Edmonton, Canada and services the international technology market. Launched in 2008, the company has found popularity with growing organizations to globally operating companies, including 50 Fortune 500 companies and 15 of the world’s largest banks.

Over the last few years, Riva has made investing in customer support development a major part of its ethos.  The goal is to offer multifaceted customer service to continually meet or exceed customer expectations.

“We strive for customer delight every day,” says Riva’s Tawny Mergel, Content Marketing Manager. “It’s one of our core values.” 

Recent customer service initiatives include:

• Hiring additional staff and investing in more and better training resources and processes
• Using technology, including Microsoft Office 365 groups and Microsoft Teams, to improve internal communications
• Increasing access to internal test environments and demonstration accounts for nearly all supported systems
• Sharing product release notes consistently
• Releasing website enhancements frequently
• Investing in advanced tools to improve troubleshooting and project management capabilities
• Improving priority support and escalation through ZenDesk triggers and documented processes
• Increasing support coverage hours (currently 22 hours per day globally, from Sunday through Friday)
• Refining team management processes including annual reviews, monthly check-ins, clear communication, performance metrics

The company has also fostered a team-based environment to ensure every member is working together toward the same goal. Riva’s practices prove little things help glue a team together. For example, several members of Riva’s Customer Success Team helped form a hockey pool to introduce some friendly competition. “It’s a lot of fun and helps build camaraderie and team spirit among our members,” says Mergel.

Striving for “Customer Delight”

The result of Riva’s customer-first message is an unusually high level of loyalty among clients. This is evidence that making clients happy is not only the right thing to do, but a sound business decision.

“Winning a Stevie Award allows us the opportunity to show our customers that we are dedicated to their success and achieving our goal of customer delight,” says Mergel. “Our entire team takes great pride in this achievement.”

Used by more than 1,200 companies around the world, Riva’s platform connects dozens of customer relationship management systems to popular software applications like Microsoft Office 365 and Exchange, G Suite and Gmail, IBM Notes, GroupWise and Marketo. This enables advanced CRM data integration and provides a broad view of customer data.

“Technology is advancing at a very rapid pace,” Mergel says. “Customers and prospects live in an ‘always on’ world, where the Internet of Things, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and artificial intelligence are no longer buzzwords, but reality.”

“Companies are applying these new technologies to better serve their customers,” she adds. “As these tools evolve, there’s more and more demand for solutions like Riva that are designed to quickly surface relevant information from multiple sources in order to deliver a smarter, faster, and more personalized customer experience and make the most of every customer interaction.”

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 highlight we the Sales Distinction Awards categories.

Rather than focus on the performance of a named sales department, these categories recognize sales-related achievements across your entire company or organization. You choose the successes you wish to highlight. They can be related to revenue growth, customer acquisition, lead development, training, enculturation of product knowledge, etc.

Information required for entries in these categories include:
(a) An essay of up to 650 words describing your organization's sales-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.

40. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Hardware
41. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Services
42. Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Software
43. Sales Distinction of the Year – Distribution & Transportation
44. Sales Distinction of the Year - Financial Services
45. Sales Distinction of the Year – Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries
46. Sales Distinction of the Year – Hospitality & Tourism
47. Sales Distinction of the Year - Industrial & Manufacturing
48. Sales Distinction of the Year  - Media & Entertainment
49. Sales Distinction of the Year – Public Services & Education
50. Sales Distinction of the Year - Services
51. Sales Distinction of the Year - Telecommunications
52. Sales Distinction of the Year – All Other Industries

Winners of the Sales Distinction Awards in 2016 include:

Sales Distinction of the Year - Computer Services 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA: SoftPro Shatters 2015 Sales Goals
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Oildex, Denver, CO USA: Oildex: A David vs. Goliath Deal
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Yesware, Boston, MA USA: Yesware - Ahead of the Pack in Sales Software

Sales Distinction of the Year - Distribution & Transportation 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express, Beirut, Lebanon: DHL Service Point Team, in Beirut Central District
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express, Arnhem, The Netherlands: DHL Express NL Spotdesk
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
DHL Express - Saudi Arabia, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia: DHL Express - Saudi Arabia - A Journey from Good to Great

Sales Distinction of the Year - Financial Services 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
WePay Inc, Redwood City, CA USA: WePay's Amazing Sales Achievements
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
HealthEquity, Draper, UT USA: HealthEquity
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Elephant Insurance, Richmond, VA USA: Elephant's Sales Department: Growing, Growing, Growing!

Sales Distinction of the Year - Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: High Performers Rise to the Occasion
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: ‘MOR' assures Guidewell Connect is not 'Middle of the Road'
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, FL USA: Time for a Do Over

Sales Distinction of the Year - Telecommunications 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Vodafone Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey: Vodafone Turkey's 'Pusula'
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Internet leader shines with SPI

Sales Distinction of the Year - All Other Industries 
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Sales Partnerships, Inc., Westminster, CO USA: Cutting Edge Blue Collar Sales
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Orlando, FL USA: Marriott Vacation Club - Sales Center Technology - Dynamic Customization and Personalization
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
Campaigner Email Marketing, Woburn, MA USA: Campaigner Email Marketing's Distinctive Sales Achievements