Finalists in the 8th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world’s top honors for customer service, contact center, business development, and sales professionals, were announced today.

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized in the customer service awards, contact center awards, and sales awards categories.  Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include AllClear ID, Bluegreen Vacations, Cars.com, Delta Air Lines, DHL Express, EMKAY, FedEx TechConnect, Canada's FreshBooks, John Hancock, Lennox Industries, LiveAnswer, Marriott Vacation Club, Marsh U.S. Consumer, Parlant Technology, PetRays Veterinary Telemedicine Consultants, Property Insight, Richardson, Salesforce, SoftPro, SurePayroll, Inc., Turkey's Turk Economy Bank, ValueSelling Associates, VIZIO, Inc., Turkey's Vodafone, 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, February 21 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Tickets are now on sale.

More than 1,500 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 36% over 2013.  Finalists were determined by the average scores of 129 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 43 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; 43 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

More than 100 members of seven specialized judging committees will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, to take place January 27 - February 5.  

Beginning today, the general public will be able to cast their votes for their favorite providers of good customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service Department.  Voting is open at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Las Vegas on February 21.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in five programs: the Asia-Pacific 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.  A sixth program, the German Stevie Awards, will debut later this year.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

Sponsors and supporters of the eighth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include the BusinessTalkRadio Network, Competence Call Center, and ValueSelling Associates.

The following seven executives have been appointed to head the final judging committees that will determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in the 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  (All the category groups can be viewed in more detail here.) The winners will be announced at the awards gala on Friday, February 21 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Becky Johns, Vice President of MarketBridge in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, is Chair of the Final Judging Committee for the Sales Achievement and Sales Individual categories.

Becky Johns works with clients to improve marketing and sales productivity by developing and executing integrated data-driven marketing and sales strategies. At MarketBridge, a global provider of digital marketing, sales enablement, and customer analytics solutions, her experience centers primarily on building brand loyalty through customer acquisition, engagement and retention programs and developing online and social media communities. Becky recently led her MarketBridge teams to win back-to-back Gold Stevie Awards for Sales Training Program of the Year in the 2012 and 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service Awards, as well as a Silver Stevie for Brand Experience of the Year in The 2013 American Business Award.

George Orr, Vice President of Client Services at kCura in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is Chair of the Customer Service & Contact Center Achievement Final Judging Committee.

George Orr is vice president of client services at kCura, a developer of web-based e-discovery applications for managing large volumes of electronic evidence during litigation or investigations.  A member of the kCura team since 2007, George’s department is responsible for much of the company’s client-facing activity. Over the past few years, George has helped the team’s processes evolve from “brute-force problem-solving” to a set of polished procedures that ensures a positive customer experience every time. Prior to taking the reins of kCura’s client services department, George worked as the messaging systems manager for Rotary International, a Chicago-based non-profit organization specializing in humanitarian funding programs.

George is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to being a Relativity Certified Administrator, George also has extensive Microsoft and infrastructure training and is certified in both arenas.

Mike Ortegon, Director of Global Sales Operations at HomeAway.com in Austin, Texas, USA, Chairs the Final Judging Committee for the Sales Team and Sales Department categories.

Mike Ortegon joined HomeAway in March 2012. As the Director of Global Sales Operations, he is responsible for supporting sales leaders across the globe to help them make well-informed business decisions and to run effective and efficient teams while aligning to corporate strategy.  Throughout his career, Mike has been in management, operational, sales, and marketing roles in North America, EMEA, Latin America, and APAC. 

Sanjeev Garg, Global Head of Customer Care, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit at TATA Motors in Mumbai, India, is Chair of our Customer Service & Contact Center Individual Final Judging Committee.

Sanjeev Garg has been the Global Head of Customer Care for the Commercial Vehicle Business Unit of Tata Motors since December 2011. His customer care group is spread across four continents and supports more than 3 million Tata Motors vehicles through 2,300-plus service touch points and over 33,000 retail networks of spare parts. In 1996, Sanjeev joined General Motors Ltd and was instrumental in launching new initiatives for the customer satisfaction index and new Competitive Intelligence processes. His work at GM encompassed global geographies including South East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Under his leadership, GM was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction in the Middle East, ahead of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

The Chair of our Customer Service Department Final Judging Committee is Kelly Thomas, Assistant Vice President, Client Relations at OppenheimerFunds, Inc., in Englewood, Colorado, USA.

Kelly Thomas began working with OppenheimerFunds 29 years ago and currently is assistant vice president of Client Relations at its Denver Campus.   Her leadership philosophy is to act with integrity and pursue excellence.  She believes a leader should be able to take risks, to challenge the status quo, to inspire others, and to create a healthy work environment that will encourage and foster team collaboration. In addition to her leadership role within OppenheimerFunds, Kelly serves as the president of the City of Centennial Chapter for the National Association of Professional Women. 

Ben Herkenhoff, Customer Interaction Center Manager at Outsell, LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Chairs our Customer Service & Contact Center Team Final Judging Committee.

Ben Herkenhoff has been the manager of the Customer Interaction Center at Outsell for the past two years.  Outsell LLC is a digital marketing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that is transforming the way brands engage with consumers. Its Digital Engagement Platform offers clients the ability to consistently engage with consumers across distributed sales networks from the national to local level. Ben’s team at Outsell won the Stevie® Award for Contact Center of the Year in the 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Ben tells us he is “excited to get started” on the final judging, and has worked hard to put together a great committee.

The Chair of our Final Judging Committee for the New Product & Service and Solution Provider categories is Ansa Sekharan, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Support at Informatica Corporation in Redwood City, California, USA

Ansa Sekharan is senior vice president of Global Customer Support at Informatica Corporation, an independent provider of data integration software and data masking technology. He is responsible for establishing Informatica as a trusted partner for customers worldwide by ensuring their success with Informatica's products.  Ansa has a very busy schedule, dividing his time between Redwood City, California and Bangalore, India, as well as other global Informatica locations.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We're pleased to share that the full-text of the Gold Stevie® Award-winning entries in the 2013 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals, is now published online. (Entries for the 2014 edition of the customer service awards, contact center awards, and sales awards will open in July. You can join the mailing list here and the entry kit will be sent to you by email when entries open.)

We encourage you to read the 2013 Gold winning entries for three reasons:

1. Read inspiring successful business stories.  
   Learn how other companies and individuals are achieving success and confronting challenges.
   
   
2. Review past winners' entries to help you make the most out of your submissions.
   The full-text of business award winning entries are great models for how you should write your entries. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 125 sales awards, customer service awards, and call center awards categories honoring sales excellence and best customer service practices for individuals, teams, and departments, plus categories for products and service and solution providers.
   
   
3. Get an inside look of successful companies and individuals from across the world.
   All individuals and organizations worldwide are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Find out how these award winning companies are achieving success.

The 2013 Stevie Awards winners were announced at our annual awards gala at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, on Monday February 25.  Learn about the event and read all Gold winning entries here.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the entries submitted in 2013.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

          - Airlines, Distribution & Transportation: TATA Motors

          - Computer Hardware: Black Box

          - Computer Services: Constant Contact

          - Computer Software: Cvent, Inc.

          - Financial Services: Paycor

          - Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Related Industries: PetRays

          - Leisure & Tourism: Marriott Vacations Worldwide Owner Services

          - Public Services & Education: Salt Lake County

          - Retail: Zalando

          - Telecommunications: Portugal Telecom

          - All Other Industries: Vivint, Inc.

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

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

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

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

Vote for your favorite provider of customer service here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About The Stevie Awards
The Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com,  and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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