The 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Name Chairs for Final Judging

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jan 28, 2016 @ 11:24 AM

The Stevie Awards are delighted to announce the seven distinguished professionals who will chair the final judging committees of the 2016 (10th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service competition.

The Stevie Awardsfor Sales & Customer Service are the world's top sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, contact center awards, and more.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie placements from among the Finalists will be determined in final judging, which is ongoing  Results will be announced at the 10th annual awards dinner in Las Vegas on March 4.  Tickets are on sale now.

The seven committee chair selections are based on the categories being judged. Final judging chairs helped to form their committees, each of which will be comprised of 5-20 other executives.  Here are this year's final judging committee chairs.

SALES TEAM/SALES ACHIEVEMENT/SERVICE PROVIDER
Chair: Rob Jeppsen, Senior Vice President & General Manager, HireVue Accelerate

HireVue, Inc., South Jordan, Utah

Rob-Jeppson.jpgRob Jeppsen is a senior executive at HireVue, a fast-growth technology company that is launching a game-changing tool for Sales Leaders worldwide, and aims to revolutionize how sales leaders coach their teams and develop the world's greatest sales teams. Prior to joining HireVue, Rob was the SVP of Sales at Zions Bank from 2005 to 2015, where he helped lead a team of about 300 commercial bankers in a full-service offering of products to help grow and manage businesses.

Rob loves moving the Sales needle and has worked for, and consulted with, many organizations on sales, sales processes, leadership development, and the commercialization of new products and services, with emphasis on the technology and financial services sectors. Rob also enjoys building and driving growth of emerging organizations. He sees relationship development, business development, marketing, and corporate strategy as key ways to engineer value in organizations.

Rob is invited to speak at over 100 events each year. His 6-course training series, The Business Performance Series, was recognized as "Sales Training Curriculum of the Year"​ in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and has been successfully taught to over 900 businesses. Since 2007, Rob has received 15 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in categories such as Sales Team of the Year, Sales Coaching Program of the Year, Sales Process of the Year, Sales Director of the Year, and Senior Sales Executive of the Year.

SALES DISTINCTION/NEW PRODUCT & SERVICE
Chair: Mike Hart, Vice President, Sales, Lennox Residential

Lennox Industries, Inc., Richardson, Texas

Mike Hart serves as the Vice President of Sales for the residential division of Lennox International. Mike joined Lennox in 1994 and is responsible for leading the residential sales, business development, national account, and customer service teams in the United States and Canada.

16-SASCS-SD_NP-Chair-Mike-Hart.jpgMike has over 30 years of experience in sales, sales leadership, brand management, distribution, retail, general management, M&A, operations, and coaching with multiple brands and channels in the heating and air conditioning manufacturing industry. Mike also volunteers as a board member of the Air Conditioning Heating Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) Education and Training Committee. He also contributes as a board member on the sales advisory board and the marketing advisory board at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Mike has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing from the University of Maryland, and a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. He spends his time mentoring and developing his team, profitably growing and exceeding sales, margin, and earnings objectives, implementing effective people processes, creating a culture of growth, accountability and teamwork, improving productivity and efficiency, providing effective sales leadership and coaching, as well as exceeding market share objectives. His 762 member sales team is responsible for $1.65B in revenue.

CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCCESS & CUSTOMER SERVICE/CONTACT CENTER ACHIEVEMENT
Chair: Jo Wimble-Groves, Business Support Director

Active Digital, Lamberhurst, Kent, United Kingdom

Jo Wimble-Groves is a Director of the successful Kent-based company Active Digital, an award-winning business mobile communications company. Jo has spent the last 20 years of her career working on customer experience and team strategy. Her commitment to delivering an exceptional level of service and building her successful team has led to a number of European and global awards.

16-SASCS-CSA-Chair-Jo-Ann.jpgSince starting the company aged just 16, Jo credits her success to an innate passion, dedication, and zeal for business, along with an intuitive ability to identify good opportunities. Jo was voted “35 under 35” in Management Today magazine in 2010. Active Digital also named one of the “Top 6 Customer Service Business Leaders in Europe” at the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards in 2013. The company also won the Gold Stevie Award for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - Technology Industries in the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Established in 1996, Active Digital clients include Olympic teams and rugby clubs. Its core business is providing mobiles, tablets, fixed line, and apps to UK organizations of all sizes.

CUSTOMER SERVICE/CONTACT CENTER INDIVIDUAL
Chair: Michael Anthony, Managing Director

OnForce (a division of Beeline), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Michael_Anthony_Cus_Service_CSI.jpgMichael D. Anthony is General Manager of OnForce, a strategic business unit of Beeline. He is an innovative leader with more than 20 years of experience in the technical services industry. He is a passionate customer advocate who believes that a client-focused culture is the key to growing a successful business.

Michael joined Beeline in 2005 and recently transitioned from his role as VP, Client Services with Beeline to lead the OnForce business unit. Michael is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematical economics from the State University of New York at Oswego.

SALES INDIVIDUAL/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Chair: Jackie Coffey, CHIE, Vice President, Telemarketing
GuideWell Connect, Jacksonville, Florida

16_SASCS_SI_BDChair.jpgAs Vice President of Telemarketing, Jackie Coffey is responsible for the overall direct-to-consumer telesales capability serving numerous clients in the health care vertical for GuideWell Connect. Coffey leads the multi-channel sales contact center specializing in new acquisition, welcome programs and retention for Medicare, Under 65, small group, and ancillary products.

Prior to GuideWell Connect, Jackie worked with Florida Blue for 22 years holding leadership positions in sales, marketing, and communications with Florida Blue. Before Florida Blue, Jackie held advertising and marketing positions with Shepherd Advertising Group, Mease Hospital, and other health care companies.

Coffey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Tampa, and she is a Certified Call Center Manager through Purdue University’s College of Call Center Excellence. Coffey is a Certified Health Insurance Executive (CHIE) and a 2013-14 graduate of the Executive Leadership Program sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans. In The 2014 International Business Awards, Jackie won the Bronze Stevie Award for Executive of the Year–Health Products & Services.

CUSTOMER SERVICE/CONTACT CENTER TEAM
Chair: Kadir Mustafa Öztürk, Executive Vice President, Alternative Delivery Channels & Digital Banking Projects

Intertech A.Ş., Istanbul, Turkey

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Istanbul Technical 16-SASCS-CST-Chair-Kadir-Mustafa.jpgUniversity in 2000, Kadir worked at various companies on website development. In 2003, he started at DenizBank A.Ş. as a software engineer. In 2005, Kadir joined Intertech A.Ş. as a software engineer, fulfilling his duties in Internet Banking and Web Projects at Alternative Distribution Channels Department. He was named ADC Department Head in July 2010. In this position he has led many successful projects in Internet/Mobile Banking and CRM fields.

In August 2012, Kadir was promoted to the position of Executive Vice President in charge of ADC and Digital Banking Projects at Intertech A.Ş. He is responsible for Channel Management, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, ATM and Kiosks, Call Center, User Experience, and Design Teams under the globally awarded inter-Vision product of Intertech A.Ş. He is currently running local and international banking projects.

Kadir is married with two children. He enjoys spending his leisure time on world cinema and history of moviemaking.

 

CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Chair: Rebecca V. Eclipse, Chief Customer Experience Officer, 
Globe Telecom, Inc., Bonifacio Global City, The Philippines

16-SASCS-CSD-Chair-Rebecca-Eclipse.jpgRebecca V. Eclipse is the Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer of Globe Telecom, Inc., and heads the Office of Strategy Management and Customer Experience.  

Responding to the speed of change and evolution of the telecommunications space, Rebecca draws wisdom and insight from 5 years in consulting and over 25 years of experience in the telco industry–from financial management, revenue assurance and fraud, internal controls, and business operations to strategy development and management, process and quality management,and, more importantly today, customer experience transformation.

Topics: customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, contact center awards, business development awards, solution provider awards

Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Announce Finalists in 10th Annual Competition

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jan 21, 2016 @ 11:00 AM

Finalists in the 10th Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success, were announced today.    

Deutsche-Post-DHL.jpgA 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 Carbonite, Inc., Cisco Systems, Delta Air Lines, DHL Express, Digital Risk, eMoney Advisor, LLC, GuideWell Connect, HomeServe USA, Human Resources Development Fund, iHeartMedia, Inc., John Hancock Financial Services, Lennox Industries, Inc., LiveWatch Security LLC, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, MTM Inc., Nuance Communications, Odeabank, Revana, Sales Partnerships, Inc., SoftPro, SurePayroll, Inc., Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S., Visualize, VIZIO, Inc., Wells Fargo, WePay Inc., and Wyndham Vacation Ownership. 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 Friday, March 4 at the Paris Las Vegas 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 and American Business Awards.

More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 11% over 2015. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 115 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 59 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Consulting Practice of the Year; more than 50 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Business Development Achievement of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers.

More than 60 members of seven specialized judging committees will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, to begin January 25.

Beginning today through February 12, 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 March 4.

Sponsors of the 10th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships and ValueSelling Associates.

 

Topics: customer service awards, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, contact center awards, business development awards, Finalists

Identifying Challenges in the Asian Century: Profile of a Stevie Awards Judge

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Jan 12, 2016 @ 02:55 PM

Jim Wagstaff is the Managing Director of Jam Factory Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based consulting and education technology firm. He is also an active judge for the 2016 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. In 2015, he participated in judging for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is currently accepting entries. Find out how to enter here.

We asked Jim about the Stevie Awards judging process, what it is like running a business in Singapore, and for his insight into the contrasts between working in Asia-Pacific and the West.

1512jamfactory.jpgA Strong Endorsement

Jim would most definitely recommend being a Stevie Awards judge to others. As he told us: “I was initially invited to be a judge by someone who is a friend and colleague. The judging process really gives you a sense of the variety and creativity in how companies are approaching business challenges and opportunities in various parts of the world.”

Jim Wagstaff has called Singapore home since 2007. He had been living and working in Shanghai for a number of years when an opportunity to relocate to Singapore with Hewlett-Packard came up. Since 2010, he has been the Managing Director of Jam Factory in Singapore. We asked him about his decision to relocate to Singapore.

There were a number of professional reasons I chose to move to Singapore,” Jim explained. “The job, the breadth of the role, and a promotion … but also, from a personal perspective, I really enjoy the quality of life in Singapore: the year-round warm weather, the food, the location, and the concentration of so many businesses’ regional headquarters in one city.”

The Asian Century

Jim is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in business administration with a research emphasis on cross-cultural leadership and organizational development. We asked him if he could provide us with some insight into differences between the ways companies operate in the Asia-Pacific region that Western businesses should be aware of (and vice versa).

Commented Jim: “As an American who has spent half my career in various cities in Asia, the need for cultural intelligence and cross-cultural leadership skills has been close to my heart for quite some time.”

“As a source of research, study, and practice during my doctoral studies, there are a few important points for anyone looking to do business internationally … but especially in Asia, or moving out from Asia,” continued Jim. “The twenty-first century has often been characterized as the ‘Asian Century.’ Rapid economic growth in East Asia has created opportunities and challenges for multinational corporations, particularly Western multinationals. Western businesses have largely been predisposed to using a “one-size-fits-all” approach to management in their international locations. This strategy can pose a number of particular cultural contradictions for team members in East Asia.”

Working Outside the Cultural Comfort Zone

“My research has uncovered a number of specific areas that can be used as a model for leadership development by local, regional, and global managers,” Jim explained. “The model centers on the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to align, relate, and communicate more effectively by anyone who needs to work within and outside their own cultural ‘comfort zone’ in a multinational environment–particularly as a local subsidiary of a Western multinational company.”

Solving the Tough Issues

With the start of a new year, we asked Jim what he most looked forward to in the year ahead. “I love working with my clients,” he told us. “Since moving out of HP, I have become an entrepreneur and an active board member in a number of companies. The variety of work and its challenges really keeps me motivated. I am constantly looking for opportunities to help my clients solve their toughest issues … cost, complexity, process, organization, leadership … and to put them in a better position to be successful in their markets.”

About Jim Wagstaff:

Jim Wagstaff is the Co-Founder, Managing Director, and Content Guru of The Jam Factory in Singapore. Jim leads the consulting part of the business, and has a wealth of experience in executive roles in various companies. He loves working with clients to help them identify their learning needs and map their plans so as to positively impact their business. He also leads content development, and has designed many training programs for different customers and industries.

Jim also serves as Managing Director of Renewtrak Asia, a fully managed, white-label renewals platform-as-a-service where the business model is 100% focused on helping clients increase their service contract renewals at no additional operational cost to the client. In addition, Jim is an active board member at Up 2 Speed Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based organization focused on crafting customized learning and development approaches for multinational and global companies.

Jim was previously Vice-President and General Manager of the StorageWorks Division for Hewlett Packard in Asia Pacific and Japan. His responsibilities while leading this business unit encompassed all aspects of the organization including sales, marketing, finance, operations, public relations and analyst relations, delivering around $800 million in revenue annually.

Prior to HP, Jim was at Dell in Shanghai, where he was General Manager of the server and storage business for China and Hong Kong. Jim was also responsible for Dell's alliance with EMC across Asia Pacific and Japan.

Jim has a BSc, an MBA, and is currently a doctoral researcher in the management school at the University of Liverpool with emphasis on the practical application of cross-cultural leadership approaches in multinational corporations. He is a runner and loves to travel.

About Jam Factory:

The Jam Factory enables businesses to enhance their workforce through training and development. Jam Factory provides learning and enablement solutions to businesses and professionals. The company believes in an integrated learning approach that is interactive and engages learners. It enables businesses to leverage technology to enable employees to learn, experience and engage. For more information, go to: www.jamfactory.net

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, technology awards, sales awards, judges, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Last Chance to Enter the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Wed, Jan 06, 2016 @ 01:41 PM
 
Final Entry Deadline Is January 12

The countdown is on. The final entry deadline of the 10th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is less than a week away. Organizations and individuals worldwide have only a few days left in which to compete for the Stevie, the highest honor in the business world. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service attract more than 1,100 nominations from organizations in more than 30 nations and territories each year.

sascsentrykit.gifAll companies, organizations and individuals worldwide may participate: public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Participants may choose from a wide variety of categories for excellence in sales, business development, contact centers, and customer service.  “The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service offer more than 100 awards categories,” explains Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher. There are several new categories this year. “For example, we have an entirely new set of categories to recognize organizations that provide great customer service yet don't have a formal customer service department.  We've named these Customer Service Success categories.  We also have a new set of Sales Distinction categories.”

Gallagher emphasizes that it’s possible to create high-quality nominations in the time remaining to entrants. Interested organizations may get the entry kit and other details at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales and select the categories suitable to their achievements. “The heart of each entry is an essay of up to 650 words, describing the nominee’s achievements since the beginning of July 2014. The more precise and compelling the story of those achievements, the better.” advises Gallagher. 

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be selected during the judging process by more than 200 professionals worldwide. Finalists will be notified the week of January 18, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be announced on March 4, during a gala awards ceremony at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. The Stevie Award trophy, designed by the same company that manufactures the Oscar, is one of the world’s most coveted prizes.

Learn more about Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the benefits of entering in a short video interview with Michael Gallagher.

Categories are available in the awards to recognize

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

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

 

Topics: customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, business development awards

10th Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 @ 10:24 AM

The Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service has issued its 2016 (10th annual) call for entries. All customer service, contact center, business development, and sales departments, teams and professionals worldwide are eligible to be nominated, in addition to new products and services used by those professionals. Complete details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

The 2016 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2014. The entry kit lists all of the categories and complete instructions on how to prepare and submit entries.

SASCS-call-for-entries-1-1October 21, 2015 is the early-bird entry deadline with discounted entry fees. The final entry deadline is November 18, 2015, but late entries will be accepted through January 12, 2016 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the tenth annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on March 4 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

New categories for 2016 include:

Sales Distinction Awards Categories: These have replaced the Sales Department categories. Rather than focus on the performance of a named sales department, these new categories recognize sales-related achievements across an entire company or organization. Successes to highlight can be related to revenue growth, customer acquisition, lead development, training, enculturation of product knowledge, and more.

Customer Service Success Awards Categories: If an organization doesn't have a formal customer service function - if "everyone here works in customer service" is their motto - then these new categories have been developed to focus on spotlight on their achievements.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 140 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and call center awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories.

Winners of the 2015 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included 60K Ltd., Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., DenizBank, DP DHL, Delta Air Lines, Fastjet, FedEx TechConnect, Informatica Corporation, John Hancock Signature Services, Kohl’s Department Stores, Revana, Revenue Storm, and Time Warner Cable, among others.

The 2016 awards will see the return of a the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature in which the general public worldwide will vote for their favorite providers of customer service. All Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will be included in people’s choice voting.

The 2016 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

Review the Entry Kit Here

Topics: customer service awards, sales awards, biz del awards

Who's Coming to the Sales & Customer Service Awards on Friday?

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Sun, Feb 22, 2015 @ 08:15 PM

A record-setting crowd of more than 500 executives from around the world will gather at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on Friday, February 27 for the 9th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top sales awards, business development awards, contact center awards and customer service awards.  Tickets for the event are still on sale.

The presentations will begin at 5:15 pm with the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards in the business development, new product, and solution provider categories.  After cocktails and dinner, the awards will continue at 7:40 pm with awards in the sales and customer service categories.  The evening will conclude with the presentation of Grand Stevie Award trophies to the 10 organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the 2015 competition.

More than 1,900 entries were submitted for consideration in this year's competition, a 27% increase over 2014.  Entries to the competition have more than doubled over the past three years.

So who's coming to the event in Las Vegas on Friday?  Here's the list of organizations that have already confirmed their participation.

(mt) Media Temple Culver City CA
60K Ltd. Sofia Bulgaria
Access One Inc Chicago IL
Acquia Inc. Burlington MA
Active Digital Tonbridge Kent United Kingdom
Adobe Systems San Jose CA
Allianz Global Assistance Richmond VA
Artificial Solutions Stockholm Sweden
Asurion Nashville TN
Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Istanbul Turkey
BDNA Mountain View CA
Beeline.com Jacksonville FL
Billhighway Troy MI
Black Knight Financial Services Jacksonville FL
Blacklane GmbH Berlin Germany
Blinds.com Houston TX
Blizzard Entertainment Irvine CA
Bluebeam Software Pasadena CA
Box Inc. Los Altos CA
BTC Bahamas
BuildASign.com  Austin TX
Buildium Boston MA
Carbonite Boston MA
Cars.com Chicago IL
Cisco Systems Inc San Jose CA
Clean Power Finance San Francisco CA
ClearSlide San Francisco CA
Code42 Minneapolis MN
Comcast Cable Philadelphia PA
Common Sense Solutions Shreveport LA
Competence Call Center Vienna Austria
Comview Corporation Huntington Station NY
Constant Contact Waltham MA
Core BTS Carmel IN
Corporate360 Pte Ltd Singapore
CubeSmart Malvern PA
DataCore Software Fort Lauderdale FL
Delta Air Lines Atlanta GA
Delta Defense West Bend WI
DenizBank Istanbul Turkey
DHL EXPRESS ARGENTINA Buenos Aires Argentina
DHL Express Mexico
DHL EXPRESS NZ LTD Auckland New Zealand
DHL Express U.S. Plantation FL
DHL Global Forwarding Miami FL
Digital Risk  Maitland FL
Donlen Corporation Northbrook IL
EFG Companies Irving TX
EMKAY Inc Itasca IL
eMoney Advisor  LLC  Conshohocken  PA
eMoney Advisor LLC Conshohocken PA
fastjet  Gatwick  United Kingdom
FedEx TechConnect Memphis TN
Findasense Madrid Spain
FLOW Jamaica Kingston Jamaica
Fujairah Police General Head Quarters Al Fujairah United Arab Emirates
Gaggle Bloomington IL
GoDaddy.com Scottsdale AZ
GraduationSource Port Chester NY
GuideWell Connect  Jacksonville FL
Halyard Health Irvine CA
HomeAway Inc. Austin TX
HomeServe USA Norwalk CT
HotelTonight San Francisco CA
IBM Corporation Armonk NY
Imparta Inc Austin TX
IMVU Inc. Mountain View CA
Infinite Conferencing Springfield NJ
Informatica Corporation Redwood City CA
INTERTECH A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Invenio Solutions Austin TX
ISN Dallas TX
j2 Global Inc. Ottawa ON Canada
Janek Performance Group Las Vegas NV
Kohl's Department Stores - Credit Division Menomonee Falls WI
Lennox Industries Inc. Richardson TX
LivingSocial Inc. Washington DC
Lucernex Technologies Plano TX
Magnolia HVAC Riverside CA
MaintenanceNet  Inc.
MarketBridge Bethesda MD
Marriott Intermediary Partner Care Omaha NE
Marriott International Inc. Bethesda MD
Marriott Vacation Club International Orlando FL
MassMutual Life Insurance Company Springfield MA
Mastercard Miami FL
Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
MedCost LLC Winston-Salem NC
Mercury Payment Systems Durango CO
MetTel New York NY
Microsoft Corporation  Redmond  WA
Ministry of Interior Sharjah Police HQ Sharjah United Arab Emirates
Mozy by EMC Pleasant Grove UT
Network Alliance Reston VA
Nuance Communications Burlington MA
Nudge American Fork UT
NYCM Insurance Edmeston NY
Oi  Rio de Janeiro  Brazil
OmniUpdate Camarillo CA
OnTarget Partners Frisco TX
OptumRx Irvine CA
Paycor Cincinnati OH
PCCW Teleservices  Dublin OH
Photodex Austin TX
Picore International Calabasas CA
Police Attache  Washington DC
PrimePay West Chester PA
Pronq-by HP Sunnyvale CA
PSCU St. Petersburg FL
Rackspace San Antonio TX
Revana Tempe AZ
Revenue Storm Schaumburg IL
Richardson Philadelphia PA
Rocket Matter Boca Raton FL
Salesforce  San Francisco, CA
SalesStaff LLC  Houston TX
Service Express Grand Rapids MI
Sharegate Montreal QC Canada
ShopKeep New York NY
Sofica Group JSC Sofia Bulgaria
Sparkcentral San Francisco CA
Statewide Intake Austin TX
SugarCRM Cupertino CA
Sundance Vacations  Wilkes-Barre  PA
Swiss Reinsurance Company Zurich Switzerland
Telerx Horsham PA
Telogis Aliso Viejo California
Texas.gov Austin TX
The Coca-Cola Company Iberia + Findasense Madrid Spain
The Efficiency Sales Professional Institute San Francisco CA
Time Warner Cable New York NY
Trupanion Seattle WA
Turner Industries Group LLC Baton Rouge LA
TweetMyJobs Burbank CA
United Credit Consultants Burnsville MN
United States Equestrian Federation Lexington KY
UnitedHealthcare Minnetonka MN
UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh PA
USANA Health Sciences Salt Lake City UT
USHEALTH Advisors L.L.C. Grapevine TX
ValueSelling Associates Rancho Santa Fe CA
WCCT Global Cypress CA
Webs  Reston VA
Wells Fargo San Francisco CA
Wheels Inc. Des Plaines IL
WP Engine Austin TX
Wyndham Vacation Ownership Orlando FL
XDBS Corporation Hawthorne CA
Ytel Foothill Ranch CA
Zions First National Bank Salt Lake City UT

It's too late to submit nominations to the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, but it's the right time to plan for the 2016 competition.  Join the mailing list and you'll be emailed the 2016 entry kit as soon as it's available in July.

Join the Mailing List

Topics: customer service awards, sales awards, business development awards

How a Stevie Award Winner’s Strategy Contributed to DHL’s Success

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Nov 20, 2014 @ 09:53 AM

Strategy to Revenue, a global sales performance company, won a Gold Stevie® Award in the Sales Awards categories of the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top sales and customer service awards program. The 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are currently accepting entries. 

GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.  

Strategy to RevenueStrategy to Revenue’s Stevie Award winning nomination outlines how they worked with DHL Global Forwarding to achieve sales excellence. We talked with Matt Downes, Executive Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, about what his company is doing to help its clients, and what he brought back from his experience at the Sales & Customer Service Awards in Las Vegas last February.

To provide some background on his company’s mission and vision, Matt explained that the company was established in 2008 and named Strategy to Revenue (STR) in order to telegraph that sales training should be deployed both to support the implementation of a company’s go-to-market strategy and to deliver revenue in line with the business plan. Said Matt: “We believe sales training is important only if it improves aligned sales performance and accelerates revenue.”

The founders of STR had many years of experience in leading premier sales training companies that provided sales effectiveness solutions to global organizations in transformation. “Our collective experiences have directly informed our point of view and our approach,” Matt told us.

A True Partnership

We asked Matt what winning a Gold Stevie® Award had meant to his company.  He told us that it had been a tremendous accolade for STR.  “The award is recognition that our innovative thinking and our approach to tackling the sales performance challenge head on is working,” he said. “What makes it extra special is winning this award in collaboration with our client DHL, as we have managed to develop a true partnership in supporting their growth strategy where the sales organization is at the heart of this success.”

He added: “Without doubt, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is one of the most respected and well known awards in the sales training and performance industry, so to be ranked up alongside other leading companies is fantastic for STR.”

Innovative Thinking

We asked Matt for some insight into his company’s innovative thinking. “We think few sales enablement or training programs have delivered the intended business impact because most training providers have failed to address obstacles in sales performance improvement,” he told us.  The examples he cited include:

- a lack of individual and team motivation to learn;

- inability to transfer learning into behavioral change in the field;

- difficulty in integrating new marketing collateral and product/service information into sales activity;

- poorly implemented tools supporting misaligned processes;

- inability to adapt to different customer requirements and situations; and

- lack of sales organizational/cultural alignment. 

Collaboration is Key

Continued Matt: “We also recognize the changing role of the Salesperson and, perhaps more importantly, the Sales Manager, as well as the increasing contribution that technology makes to learning. These obstacles present challenges to be resolved. This is our mission: to accelerate revenue by addressing these issues head on and resolving them. We can only do this in collaboration with our clients and other suppliers, so collaboration is key.”

A Source of Competitive Advantage

“Our continued focus is to work with our global clients to create sales performance programs that are motivating, embrace the culture of the organization, and are seen by the Sales team as a source of competitive advantage,” Matt explained. “In the right circumstances, we believe that Salespeople will take responsibility for improving their performance and see learning as a formidable tool to help them.”

Improving Sales Performance

We asked Matt for some tips on how companies can improve their sales performance.  Following are some of his suggestions:

“Making a shift in sales behavior and productivity in the sales organization continues to be one of the hottest topics for every company out there.” suggested Matt. “What has become absolutely evident over recent years is that without sales leadership and first-line sales management alignment and com-mitment to any sales training initiative, the chances of a successful impact on sales performance are slim. 

“We have seen this happen all too often at companies that invest in high profile programs such as value-selling methodologies, value-proposition messaging, sales skills, or business acumen.  When they review the impact 12 months later, they recognize that it didn’t move the needle.”

Pipeline Management

According to Matt, there are two things that STR is absolutely focused on and which the company believes will help tackle this: 

“Firstly, investment into the sales management to ensure a consistent cadence and approach to pipeline management, and performance coaching aligned to the business metrics driving revenue and margin.  Sales Managers need to be able to anticipate potential issues in the pipeline before it’s too late, and then translate that into positive action through coaching. 

“Secondly, a ‘Certification’ approach to any sales training program that hits the field and a focus on evi-dence and observation that a change in sales behavior is taking place.”

Comments Matt: “I would argue that for every training dollar you spend, 30% should be focused on ensuring it is adopted in the field, otherwise the other 70% is being wasted. If companies can get these two things right–and at the same time ensure they have a solid customer-aligned Sales Process, sales tools automated inside the CRM, skills curriculum and effective proposition messaging, and collateral from marketing–then the chances of success are significantly improved.”

A Perspective on Sales Performance

We asked Matt if there were any online tools he found particularly useful in his work. “There are so many blogs out there right now covering thought leadership, insights, and opinions on the sales performance challenge,” Matt told us.  “I find the Top Sales World website very good as it brings together a number of thought leaders and blogging sites that all have good perspectives.  We also have our own STR Google+ site, where we comment on interesting blogs and post our own insights.  Check it out!”

Making A Difference

Finally, we asked Matt what personally motivated and inspired him about his work. “What keeps us all inspired is constantly looking to push the envelope when it comes to motivating sales organizations to improve their performance,” he told us. “The combination of talent inside STR–including our sales best practice experts, our content and creative designers, and our multimedia and learning technologies team–means we have all the ingredients to bring new thinking to market quickly and to execute these solutions with our clients to make a difference.  Not many companies can do that!”

About Matt Downes

Matt is one of the founders of STR and leads Global Sales & Marketing for the company.  Prior to STR, Matt spent eight years working for other global sales training and performance companies engaging with Fortune 500 companies.  During that time, Matt lived in the US and led a sales transformation practice before returning to the UK to launch STR in 2008. 

Outside of work, Matt is passionate about sport and is kept busy enjoying life with his wife Rosie and their three children Joe, Olly, and Bella.  Matt holds a BSc in Business Information Technology Manage-ment.

About Strategy to Revenue

Strategy to Revenue designates itself the 'Revenue Acceleration' company, delivering strategic consultation and sales execution programs that help businesses transform the way their sales forces sell. STR has created a unique position in the sales training industry by combining sales and management best practice, instructional and creative design expertise, and technology and broadcast media to make sales performance programs engaging and motivational for the sales force. For more information, go to: www.strategytorevenue.com

Topics: customer service awards, business awards, sales awards, contact center awards, business development awards

Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 @ 11:13 AM

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for entries for the 2015 (9th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Stevie Award WinnersGET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.   

All customer service, contact center, business development, and sales departments, teams and professionals worldwide are eligible to be nominated, in addition to new products and services used by those professionals. The 2015 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2013.

The entry deadline is November 19, but late entries will be accepted through January 13 with payment of a late fee. Winners of the ninth annual competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on February 27 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The 2015 program offers new categories for business development professionals including Business Development Executive of the Year, Business Development Professional of the Year (for non-executive professionals), and Business Development Achievement of the Year.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and call center 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 Operations Professional of the Year
  •     Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Field Sales Team of the Year
  •     Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Outbound Marketing Program of the Year
  •     Sales Department of the Year categories in 13 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 Customer Service Management 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 11 industry groupings
  •     New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Relationship Management Solution
  •     Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year

2015 will see the return of a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. All Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will be included in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service voting.

Winners of the 2014 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, Kohl’s Department Stores – Credit Division, OfficeDepot, SAVO, ShopKeep POS, Vestmark, and VIZIO, Inc., among others.

The 2015 competition will be judged by more than 200 professionals around the world.

The 2015 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

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

Sponsors of the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include ValueSelling Associates.

Topics: customer service awards, business awards, stevie awards, new product awards, sales awards, contact center awards

Delta Reaches New Heights with The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Oct 29, 2014 @ 04:54 PM

The Delta Air Lines Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center won a Gold Stevie® Award in the Customer Service Awards categories in the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.  Delta Air Lines also received a Grand Stevie® for having one of the five highest-scoring Deltaentries in the competition.

The 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is now accepting entries.
GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

There are even more customer service awards categories featured in the 2015 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The deadline for entries is November 19. GET THAT ENTRY KIT HERE.

We talked with David Clayton, Customer Engagement Center Director – Asia Pacific, in Singapore for Delta Air Lines. He told us what winning the Stevie Award meant to his team.

Our team takes great pride in this type of honor,” David explained. “It further validates Delta as a great place to work, motivating us to continue achieving and living our goals and celebrating successes. Building professional relationships between colleagues and customers with diverse backgrounds is a big part of our success. Affirmation of these achievements spurs us on to keep climbing, which would not be possible without the commitment of a truly dedicated and professional team.”

Broadening Awareness

David outlined the importance of winning in the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards and its significance in broadening awareness of Delta’s Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center in the region. The Stevie® Awards organization is well known in the customer service industry and the trophy is a symbol of excellence to those honored by the award,” he told us. “Winning the Grand Stevie® in Asia and the Gold Stevie® for Customer Service Leader of the Year in Singapore gave us the opportunity to meet many business partners at the awards ceremony and enabled us to build on our relationships.”

David is also aware of the added-value of the extensive social media network utilized by the Stevie® Awards. “The English-language Stevie® Awards Update newsletter, which I understand is distributed worldwide to some 25,000 subscribers, combined with a further 17,000 views on the Stevie’s social media outlets, provides us with a great opportunity to deliver updates on Delta’s leadership position in customer experience,” David said.

Multinational Team

A unit of Delta’s Global Sales Division, the Asia Pacific Customer Engagement and Sales Support Center, is a multinational team that provides support via phone, email, delta.com, and Twitter. The team supports both direct and commercial Delta customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region using various mediums in Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, and English.

Since July 2012, Delta has focused on improving the customer experience in Asia, employing a variety of strategies to drive satisfaction and establish a reputation of differentiated service.

A Better Experience for the Business Traveler
David gave us details of areas in which Delta was working to improve the business traveler’s experience in the Asia Pacific region. Our focus is on continuous improvement,” he told us.  “We have introduced a number of enhancements to the travel experience:

-   our long-haul, wide-body aircraft are equipped with 180° full flat-bed seats in Business-Elite, which come with the Westin Heavenly in-flight bedding and Tumi amenity kit;

-   we've refreshed in-flight menus, offering more food and beverage selections with a regional flair on both Business-Elite and Economy class;

-   Economy Comfort seats now provide up to 4 more inches of extra legroom, up to 50% more recline, and priority boarding;

-   and our in-flight entertainment, Delta Studio, offers an extensive selection of the latest new-release movies in international languages, popular TV shows, music and games, as well as streaming content through in-flight Wi-Fi.” 

Delta appreciates that staying connected is a priority for business travelers. “In-flight Wi-Fi is available on all US domestic and certain international aircraft,” he told us. “And it will be available on all aircraft by the end of 2015.”

Redefining the Customer Experience

By building on its divisional brand–“Listen. Care. Connect”–Delta has refreshed its incentives program, tying in behaviors that promote customer satisfaction.

The Asia Sales Support Center (SSC) serves as a Business-to-Business customer service center handling phone and email requests from travel agents and corporate travel managers representing Delta’s high-value agency and corporate accounts in China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

People
Delta has expanded its workforce in the Asia-Pacific region, and ramped up training for its customer engagement specialists. The company partnered with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency to develop an in-house training program which results in employees obtaining their Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) Certificate in Tour and Travel Services upon completion. The company’s accomplishments were recognized by the agency when, in 2012 and again in 2013, Delta was awarded the WSQ Training Excellence Award for the Tour and Travel Category. 

Results

The company’s quality assurance data from 2012 to 2013 shows average favorable scores have significantly increased. Additionally, the Asia Pacific SSC has developed a great partnership with the company’s business-to-business partners. In spite of call volume for the Engagement Center trending upward between July 2012 and November 2013, overall Average Speed of Answer improved year over year—meaning customers get through and receive the service they need much faster.

Best of all, 96% of Delta’s Asia Pacific Engagement team employees responded positively to the internal employee satisfaction question “I am Proud to work for Delta.”

Outstanding Achievements
We asked David what inspired him and made him excited about the future.I believe we have the best employees, not only in the airline business but also in the customer engagement business,” he told us. “We are a diverse team engaging our customers in six languages from all over the world. We handle customer interactions on phone calls, emails, and even on Facebook and Twitter.”

“I am absolutely inspired by the frontline Customer Engagement Specialists for their tremendous capacity for outstanding achievements,” David continued. “I celebrate the successes of my team through all levels and encourage a positive and friendly work environment.  I believe we stand on the shoulders of the great Delta employees who came before us and consider it an honor and duty to uphold only the best in customer service delivery.”

About David Clayton
David Clayton is Delta's Customer Engagement Director for Asia Pacific and is based in Singapore. In this role, he is responsible for approximately 550 employees who support the entire Asia Pacific region in over six different languages, and fulfill backend requests supporting customers across the globe. David’s team works closely with Vivien Khong, the Performance Manager of the Sales Support Center within the Singapore office, to ensure that Delta delivers the highest level of customer service across the Asia Pacific region.

A 28 year airline veteran, David began his career as a flight attendant and has held roles of increasing responsibilities during his tenure. He also serves his community as a member of the board for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Tour and Travel Industry Skills and Training Council (ISTC). Under his leadership, the Singapore-based operation has not only increased in size and scope, but successfully partnered with the WDA to support and deliver a developmental program, both for the benefit of employees and customers, and as a means of giving back to the communities they support.

About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines serves nearly 165 million customers each year. This year, Delta was named the 2014 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine and was named to FORTUNE magazine’s 50 Most Admired Companies, in addition to being named the most admired airline for the third time in four years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 318 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a newly formed joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products, services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta’s blog takingoff.delta.com.

Topics: customer service awards, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, sales awards, Delta Air lines, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Why It’s Important to Listen, from a Sales Awards Sponsor

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Aug 12, 2014 @ 11:26 AM

ValueSelling Associates, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA, is a sponsor of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s top sales awards and customer service awards. Find out how to enter the 2015 competition here.

The following article by Julie Thomas, CEO of ValueSelling, was first featured on the ValueSelling Associates Blog in Jul. (You can also read about this year’s successful salespeople in the Sales Individual Awards categories on the Stevie Awards Sales & Customer Service website.)

ThomasIt’s a commonly accepted notion that buyers often don’t like salespeople. It’s your job to overcome that initial barrier by recognizing that a successful sales relationship hinges on your personal relationship with the customer.

Trust and rapport are essential in encouraging potential buyers to share their challenges and allow you to explore different solutions. People buy from people, so a sales relationship becomes more difficult if two people can’t communicate effectively.

The greater the trust and rapport, the easier it is to get the client to share their perspective, including their personal motivations, and to listen to how your products can create value for them.

Selling Is a Multilevel Communication Process

We trust people who appear to have the same model of the world as we do. We trust people who understand our problems. Whether you are building trust and rapport, persuading, or negotiating, selling is a multilevel communication process.

But active listening is a difficult skill to practice. We are often more comfortable talking and tend to believe that the best way to sell is to make a perfect presentation. Even when we aren’t talking, we are thinking about what we’re going to say next. Every moment spent thinking is one spent not listening. We run the risk of missing buying clues or critical information. We are in danger of missing lost opportunities.

Active listeners always ask themselves these questions:

  • Did I hear what they said?
  • Do I understand what they said?

5 tips for honing your active listening skills:

  • Give your full and undivided attention to the person who is speaking and, whenever possible, make eye contact.
  • If you are speaking with someone on the phone or VoIP, avoid distractions and the temptation to multi-task by emailing or texting. The person on the other end of the line can always tell!
  • Don’t interrupt the speaker.  No one appreciates being interrupted; when you interrupt someone, you are sending the following message:  “What I have to say is more important than what you are already saying.”  Pause to gather your thoughts and respond thoughtfully. Pay attention to any lag time or delay if you’re using Skype and time your responses accordingly.
  • Clarify and confirm. Use breaks in the conversation to confirm what you heard and clarify what you understood. Trust and rapport are built through this process. Confirmation is critical to demonstrate your listening skills and abilities.  Asking follow-up questions and testing your understanding are very powerful and simple ways to prove you are listening.
  • Provide nonverbal feedback. If you are having a conversation in person, then nodding, appropriate facial expressions, and occasional verbal affirmations reassure the person you’re speaking with that you are actively listening.

While speaking well is important, our ability to listen, learn, and understand is essential. Active listening can be practiced on anyone, anywhere in an organization. It’s really about the quality of the conversations you have. The better the questions you ask, the better the answers. The more you listen to the answers, the better the conversation, and the more effective you will be as a sales professional.

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, CA, is the creator of the Value Selling Framework®, the sales methodology preferred by sales executives around the globe. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals increase their sales productivity. Offering customized training to FORTUNE 1000 companies, mid-sized businesses, to early stage startup organizations, ValueSelling Associates’ proprietary sales training tools and consulting services deliver measurable results. Clients turn to the experts at ValueSelling Associates for classroom and online training and consulting services that yield immediate impact, repeatable strategies, and sustainable results to sales productivity.  For more information, go to www.valueselling.com

Topics: business awards, stevie awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, valueselling, Julie Thomas

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