The Stevie® Awards are delighted to announce the seven distinguished professionals who will chair the judging committees of the 2025 (19th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service competition.

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

This year's Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the program were announced on March 6. All winners will be celebrated during an award ceremony on April 10 in New York City.

The seven committee chairs were invited to chair based on their professional experience and expertise. Judging chairs helped to form their committees, each of which is comprised of other professionals from around the globe. Learn more about the Stevie Awards judging process here. 

Here are this year's judging committee chairs:

Business Development & Thought Leadership Awards Judging Committee 
Chair: Will Milano, Principal, Paramount Professional Services Marketing, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Will has been a senior marketing leader in the corporate training and performance improvement industry for over 16 years. Most recently, he spent over 9 years as Chief Marketing Officer for Integrity Solutions, a Nashville, Tennessee-based sales training firm that has won over a dozen Stevie Awards in recent years. His focus in the industry has been growing brands that were previously "best-kept secrets", raising their market visibility and differentiation, driving demand and revenue growth strategies, and fostering customer engagement and retention.

Overall, Will has almost 25 years of experience in professional services marketing. He focuses on the four essential elements of B2B marketing strategy: brand strategy, demand generation, and customer acquisition, customer engagement & retention, and sales enablement. He is now the Principal of Paramount Professional Services Marketing, providing consulting and fractional CMO services to a variety of professional services organizations. Will has been the host of the very popular Mental Selling podcast since late 2021 and has been interviewed on a variety of other podcasts, sharing his insights on B2B marketing and thought leadership strategies.

Customer Service & Contact Center Achievement Awards Judging Committee
Chair: Mr. Yuji Hamamoto, President and CEO, Inspiro, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Yuji Hamamoto is the President and CEO of Inspiro, leading over 11,000 customer champions across 12 international locations. With more than three decades of diversified global experience with Mitsui & Co., he has held senior-level positions in sales and marketing, finance and investments, trading, project development and implementation, and operations management in the ICT and electronics business sector.

Since assuming his current role in 2020, Yuji has steered Inspiro into becoming an industry-recognized leader in global digital customer experience (CX) outsourcing. His focus on enhancing agent experience, improving customer experience, and optimizing operational efficiency in leading successful DX initiatives for network optimization, infosec augmentation, data consolidation, and analytics has driven outstanding results and significant growth. His leadership has notably earned the company global accolades for its excellence in management, customer service delivery, customer and agent experience, and innovative technology.

Educated at Keio University, Tokyo, with a BA degree in Political Science, Yuji’s professional journey has spanned multiple continents, including Asia, North and South America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the CIS countries. Today, he operates from Inspiro’s headquarters in Makati City, Philippines.

Customer Service Department & Customer Service Success Awards Judging Committee
Chair: Angela Blevins, Vice President, Club and Owner Services, Hilton Grand Vacation Club, Plainfield, Indiana, United States

Angela serves in a senior leadership role as Vice President of Club and Owner Services for Hilton Grand Vacations. She is responsible for the world-class customer service experience for close to a million customers. Prior to Hilton Grand Vacations, Angela served as Bluegreen Vacations Senior Vice President of Club Services and Customer Care, as well as a member of the Executive Committee, and was responsible for directing the induction, retention, and relationship development of all Bluegreen owners. Along with her team of contact center professionals, Ms. Blevins is focused on driving innovation and leveraging 360-degree customer data to deliver exceptional customer satisfaction and continuous product improvement.

Angela joined Bluegreen in 2003 as Director of Contact Center operations in the company’s Indianapolis office. She was promoted to Vice President of Customer Engagement and Shared Servicing in 2005 and was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Bluegreen Vacation Club in 2016. Prior to joining Bluegreen Vacations, Ms. Blevins was the Director of Contact Center and Program Management at Telamon Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she served as the company’s customer service architect, developing and implementing business processes to support client services, field sales, and delivering contract requirements. She also led contact center operations at Aspen Systems Corporation in her native Indianapolis.

Ms. Blevins has been recognized for her innovative and engaging leadership in customer service, earning a Silver Stevie Award for Customer Service for five consecutive years, 2012 – 2016. She was named an “Influential Woman of Northwest Indiana” finalist for the Northwest Indiana Influential Women Association for three consecutive years, 2014 – 2016. She also earned a Bronze Stevie Award in 2013 and was named a Woman of the Year finalist in the same year, along with various other individual and team industry awards.

Customer Service & Contact Center Individual & Team Awards
Chair: Lisa P Oswald, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Service, Travelzoo, New York, New York, United States

Lisa P. Oswald is senior vice president and global head of customer service at Travelzoo, supporting its 30 million members and client network since 2011. Previously, she was vice president of operations and customer service for Priceline, where she led sales and service for the dot com and its affiliate partner network for a decade-plus.

Lisa is an Advisory Board member with Execs In The Know, a founding and exclusive community of women executives at leading travel brands, and a strategy advisor with SOCAP International, the customer care industry’s membership association. She is a past recipient of the Gold Stevie Award® for Customer Service Executive of the Year from The American Business Awards, and the Travelzoo service team is the recipient of numerous excellence awards from the British Travel Awards and Stevie Awards®, including the People's Choice Award for Favorite Customer Service.

Sales Achievements & Sales Distinction Awards Judging Committee
Chair: Tunde Hubina, Vice President of Client Services, Startek, Miami, Florida, United States

Tunde Hubina is a visionary leader in customer experience and sales, with over 20 years of expertise spanning the Telecommunications, Healthcare, and Automotive industries. As Vice President of Client Services at Startek, Tunde drives strategic account growth and manages relationships with Fortune 500 clients.

Known for blending operational excellence with cutting-edge innovations, Tunde excels in devising and executing strategies to lead large-scale transformation programs, redefine employee engagement, elevate customer experiences, and deliver measurable business impact.

Sales Individual & Sales Team Awards
Chair: Zeki Yuksekbilgili, Founder & Trainer, Yuksekbilgili Training and Consulting Services, Istanbul, Türkiye

Zeki Yuksekbilgili, an accomplished individual, holds a doctorate degree in Business Management. He is widely recognized as the visionary behind Yuksekbilgili Training Co., one of Türkiye's largest training companies. Moreover, he serves as a distinguished lecturer at Istanbul Gelisim University.

His teachings primarily revolve around Marketing Management, Sales Management, and Research Methodology. With an extensive professional background spanning over 20 years, Zeki Yuksekbilgili has successfully delivered training programs to over 50,000 individuals across more than 500 companies in the past decade. Additionally, he has authored 20 books on marketing management, sales, and training.

Solution Provider, Solutions & Implementation Awards Judging Committee 
Chair: Paul McGee, VP Employee & Customer Success, Toco Warranty, West Hills, California, United States

Paul McGee is a business strategist with an artist’s passion specializing in customer experience, brand management, and employee retention. A 12-time judge and 2-time chairperson for the Stevie Awards, Paul brings over 25 years of management expertise spanning strategy, operations, and marketing. His executive leadership has shaped high-performing organizational cultures and driven exceptional customer outcomes.

Paul holds an MBA and three bachelor’s degrees from Boise State University, including Teaching and Theatre Arts, and is also a licensed real estate and insurance agent. An accomplished actor and director, Paul serves on the Board of Governors at Theatre 68 in NYC and LA. He draws parallels between the stage and the boardroom, believing that empowered teams—like actors free to express creativity—are the key to successful businesses.

Paul resides in Pasadena, CA, with his wife, twins, and their dog, Rocky, and is passionate about applying his award-winning strategies to elevate businesses, brands, and employee performance.

DP DHL Wins Grand Stevie Award for 13th Consecutive Year

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of Grand Stevie Award trophies in the 19th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top honors for achievement in business development, customer service, and sales.

Nominees in the 2025 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were not able to apply for Grand Stevie Awards directly. These are “best of show” honors. Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the program, with a Gold Stevie win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win for 1.5 points.

This year's Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were announced on March 6. All winners will be celebrated during an awards ceremony on April 10 in New York City.

Winners of the Grand Stevie Awards in the 2025 competition are:

1. DP DHL, worldwide, with 91.5 award points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award wins by DHL affiliates in 17 nations, is the most honored organization in the 2025 competition. This is the 13th year in a row in which the multinational package delivery and supply chain management company, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, has won a Grand Stevie in the program. They have placed first on the list of most honored organizations 11 years out of 13.

2. IBM, worldwide (71.5 award points). IBM has won a Grand Stevie Award in the program for the ninth consecutive year.

3. Sales Partnerships, Broomfield, Colorado USA (48 points). Sales Partnerships has won a Grand Stevie Award for the eighth consecutive year, as well as in 2016.

4. Intuit (34 points) earned by Intuit Canada, Toronto, Ontario, and Intuit Mailchimp, Atlanta, Georgia USA.

5. ValueSelling Associates, Carlsbad, California USA (33 points). ValueSelling also won Grand Stevies in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, in 45 nations and territories, were evaluated in this year's competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 170 professionals worldwide on seven specialized juries.

The 2026 awards will begin accepting nominations this July. Those interested in participating may request the entry kit at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Sponsors of the 2025 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include The Brooks Group, Sales Partnerships, Support Services Group, and ValueSelling Associates.

Each year, the Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognizes the world’s most innovative and effective achievements in customer contact, business development, and service excellence. In 2025, we received 2,100 of nominations from organizations in more than 45 nations, all showcasing the evolving strategies, technologies, and human-centered practices transforming the customer experience.

Winners were announced on March 6 and will be honored at a ceremony in New York City on April 10, 2025.

Behind every Stevie Award is a panel of expert judges who bring deep industry knowledge and thoughtful analysis to the evaluation process. One of those judges is Greg Salvato, CEO of TouchPoint One, who generously volunteered his time and expertise to review 100+ entries across a range of customer service categories this year.

We’re honored to share Greg’s reflections from his experience on the judging panel — observations that go beyond scoring and offer valuable takeaways for any organization committed to delivering exceptional customer service. From the role of AI to the power of internal storytelling, Greg highlights the trends and traits that distinguish truly outstanding teams in today’s competitive CX landscape.

Thank you, Greg, for your thoughtful insights and continued support of the Stevie Awards community!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

✨Over the past several weeks, I had the privilege of evaluating 100 nominations from customer service teams across industries and the globe. My purview was a mere fraction of the several hundred entries submitted, but I thought it worth sharing at least a few of the key observations that stuck out for me that might help you meet your CX objectives in 2025 and beyond. 🚀

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:

🤖 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿 — 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲. AI was in the house, but rarely as the centerpiece. The best entries used automation to enhance, not replace, human expertise.

💪 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 (𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗹𝘆). Instead, it was about elevating service, reducing friction, and making agents more effective. The best teams weren’t shrinking but rather expanding capabilities.

💲 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿! Some teams proved that contact centers aren’t just about issue resolution but driving sales, retention, and loyalty. Really appreciated these stories as they showed a clear path for an evolved, expanded agent and CX organization role.

🤝 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 = 𝗖𝗫 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. The most impactful teams invested in training, leadership development, and employee engagement, proving that great CX starts from within.

🔎 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 “𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 “𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁” 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. Some teams had incredible results but failed to tell their story effectively. The best entries were doing great work - and articulating their impact clearly. I make this point not just in the context of awards, but because the stories you tell internally (you are telling them, right?) are what equip, align, engage, and inspire your CX team - the rocket fuel for lasting success. 🚀

Every judge brings their own perspective, of course, so what stood out to me might be perceived differently by others. But if these 100 entries are any indication, the best customer service teams are building sustainable, human-centered strategies that drive real impact.

If you’re leading or supporting a customer service function, I hope these notes give you something useful and maybe even help you take things to the next level. If you have a customer contact success story to tell, and/or might like to be a judge, I can’t recommend program and staff more highly. 😁

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has announced that ValueSelling Associates will sponsor the 2025 (19th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service for the 18th consecutive year.

ValueSelling has been a sponsor of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service since 2009. ValueSelling Associates are again sponsoring the Sales Individual Categories, which include Woman of the Year in Sales, Senior Sales Executive of the Year, Virtual and Pre-Sales Professional of the Year, Sales Representative of the Year, and Sales Training or Education Professional of the Year, among others.

Complete details on the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are available at StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Winners were announced in the 2025 competition on March 6. More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, in 45 nations and territories, were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 170 professionals worldwide on seven specialized juries.

Eligible nominees for this competition include departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact centers, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2025 awards recognized achievements since July 1, 2023. Explore the full list of categories.

ValueSelling Associates is the creator of the ValueSelling Framework®, the sales methodology, training and toolset that aligns your revenue engine with a common language to enable sales professionals to compete on value, not price, and saves time in all selling scenarios. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals realize immediate revenue growth and achieve results they never thought possible. They offer bespoke training to FORTUNE 1000, mid-sized, and start-up companies to drive sales results.

“Maggie Miller, President of the Stevie Awards, shared, ‘ValueSelling has been a loyal supporter of the competition since its early years, playing a key role in the program’s impressive development. We’re thrilled to join forces with ValueSelling once again as we shine a spotlight on exceptional sales professionals and organizations around the world. The Stevie Awards depends on committed partners like ValueSelling who understand the value of celebrating excellence in the workplace.’”

President and Chief Executive Officer of ValueSelling Associates, Julie Thomas, said, “The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is an excellent platform for recognizing the accomplishments of our customers and business partners. We look forward to celebrating those sales professionals who found ways to connect, secure new business, and propel their companies forward in this tough selling environment.”

Winners will be celebrated during an awards banquet on April 10 in New York, NY USA.

View full details for the 19th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service at StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About ValueSelling Associates
ValueSelling Associates, a leading global sales training company, offers a practical methodology for selling on value, not price. The ValueSelling Framework® is a proven formula that simplifies complex B2B sales, and the Vortex Prospecting™ program provides a repeatable process that increases connections and conversions to the revenue pipeline. Once trained on the ValueSelling method, organizations grow revenue and increase productivity. Since 1991, thousands of professionals around the world have chosen ValueSelling Associates for customized training, reinforcement, and coaching to drive sales results. Learn more at ValueSelling Associates, Inc.

Winners in the 19th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, have been announced. A complete list of all 2025 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Winners will be recognized during a gala banquet at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 10. Tickets are on sale now.

More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, in 45 nations and territories, were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 170 professionals worldwide on seven specialized juries. Entries were considered in more than 60 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 60 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Business Development Executive of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers, among others.

The top winner of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards is DP DHL, worldwide with 39 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award wins.

Other winners of six or more Stevie Awards include:

IBM, various locations (31), Sales Partnerships, Inc., Broomfield, CO USA (20), Support Services Group, Inc., Waco, TX USA (18), ValueSelling Associates Inc., Carlsbad, CA USA (15), Unitedhealthcare Provider Service Operations, Minneapolis, MN USA (13), TransPerfect Translations, New York, NY USA (12), UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA USA (12), Druva Inc., Santa Clara, CA USA (9), Intuit Canada, Toronto, ON Canada (9), Blackhawk Network, Pleasanton CA USA (8), GoHealth, Chicago, IL USA (8), Tata Consultancy Services, worldwide (8), Element TV Company, LP, Winnsboro, SC USA (6), Intuit Mailchimp, Atlanta, GA USA (6), Mplus, Zagreb, Croatia (6), and Nutun, Johannesburg, South Africa (6).

Winners in one special category, the Sales Partnerships Ethics in Sales Award, will be announced in early April. The deadline to submit nominations for this prize is March 21. This award recognizes organizations for best practices and achievements in demonstrating the highest ethical standards in the sales industry.

Five winners of Grand Stevie Award trophies, for the five most-honored organizations in the competition, will be announced the week of March 17.

All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and may submit any number of nominations in a wide range of award categories for sales, customer service, solution providers, business development, solutions and implementations, and thought leadership.

Nominations for the 2026 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will be accepted starting this July.  The entry kit may be requested at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes nine of the world’s leading business award programs including the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®.

Stevie winners in these categories to be celebrated at April awards ceremony in New York City

Today the Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world's premier business awards programs, announced that The Brooks Group, a leading sales training and development company, is a sponsor of the Sales Team categories of the 2025 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Winners will be announced on March 6. Complete details about the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

The Stevie Awards are the premier business honors for sales, customer service, solution provider, and call center professionals around the globe. The sales team categories recognize the members of individual teams within overall sales departments.

The Brooks Group is a leading sales training and development company dedicated to enhancing sales effectiveness for organizations across multiple industries. Since its founding in 1977, The Brooks Group has been recognized as a leader and innovator in the sales training and performance industry. The effectiveness of its training delivery and sales process methodology is proven by continued customer success and positive reviews. Its flagship program, IMPACT Selling®, empowers sales professionals and teams with confidence and skills to generate breakthrough results.

Larissa DiStefano, VP of Marketing at The Brooks Group, shared, “The Brooks Group has a long-standing commitment to individual seller development and the overall success of sales organizations. We're proud to sponsor the Stevie's sales team awards category, which recognizes significant achievements and sales excellence."

Sales Team categories include:

Account Management Team of the Year
Recognizing the sales management team of a specific client account for their achievements.

Global Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose industry, client, or other focus has a global scope.

National Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose industry, client, or other focus has a national scope.

Government Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams whose charge is selling to government clients.

Field Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business out of the office at face-to-face meetings with clients.

Inside or Telesales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business by telephone.

Online Sales Team of the Year
Recognizing sales teams that obtain the majority of their business via online or social media.

Sales Support Team of the Year
Recognizing teams that provide administrative, logistical, or resource support to sales organizations. This category is split into four separate categories:

a. Business Services Industries: recognizes sales support teams in business services industries such as advertising, consulting, marketing, public relations, recruiting, etc.
b. Other Service Industries: recognizes sales support teams in services industries such as financial services, healthcare, hospitality & leisure, legal, media & entertainment, real estate, retail, etc.
c. Technology Industries: recognizes sales support teams in technology industries such as computer software, computer services, computer hardware, internet/new media, and telecommunications.
d. All Other Industries: recognizes sales support teams in all industries not covered by the other Sales Support Team of the Year categories.

Winners of Stevie winners in Sales Team and all other categories will be announced on March 6, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be honored during an awards ceremony in New York City on April 10.

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

Winners of the 2024 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included Allianz Services Pvt Ltd, Apexon, Ayala Land, Bank of America, Blackhawk Network, Cisco Systems, Delta Dental of Kansas, DP DHL, Everise, Hinduja Global Solutions, HP Inc., IBM Corporation, Lounge Group, Purpol Marketing Limited, Sales Partnerships, Inc., Samsung Electronics America, SAP, Splunk, Support Services Group, Tata Consultancy Services, Toco Warranty, UPMC Health Plan, VIZIO Inc., Watsons, and Weber Shandwick.

The 2025 competition was judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.

About the Stevie® Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in nine programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Each year more than 12,000 nominations from more than 70 nations are judged by more than 1,000 professionals in Stevies competitions. 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.

About The Brooks Group

We unlock sales potential. The Brooks Group is the leading sales training and development company empowering sales teams to generate breakthrough results. Notable clients include Airbus, Avita Medical, Bobcat, Hitachi Energy, Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks, SANY Americas, Texas Instruments, and the United States Air Force. To learn more about our suite of ROI-driven sales training and development programs, best-in-class assessments, and industry-leading reinforcement tools, visit www.brooksgroup.com.  

Sponsors of the 2025 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include The Brooks Group, Sales Partnerships, Support Services Group, and ValueSelling Associates.

Stevie-winner Trupanion is a leading medical insurance provider for cats and dogs in North America. With over 1,200 global employees, they help pet parents budget and care for their pet’s veterinary bills when they face unexpected sickness or injury.

Trupanion stands out for its simple, customizable plans, offering up to 90% reimbursement on eligible veterinary expenses and no annual or lifetime payout limits, making it a preferred choice for many pet owners.

In contrast to competitors, they feature a per-condition deductible rather than an annual one, meaning once a customer meets the deductible for a particular condition, they won’t have to pay it again for that condition's treatment during their pet's lifetime. Another key feature is the Vet Direct Pay system, which allows Trupanion to pay participating veterinarians directly at the time of treatment, minimizing the upfront costs for pet owners. This system is supported by their proprietary software, Trupanion Express, which streamlines the claims process and ensures fast payment.

Tactics for Telesales and Call Center Teams
With only 3% of cats and dogs having insurance in North America, they have consistently needed to scale their Telesales team to support Trupanion’s reach.

Pet parents are not required to insure their cats and dogs and often don’t realize that there are insurance options to help cover the cost of their veterinary bills. With that in mind, they have built a team of sales representatives who can explain how covering pets with Trupanion’s insurance is so impactful in extending the time families can have with their furry family members.

Trupanion has been operating since 1999, but the telesales team established itself within Trupanion’s contact center in 2011 due to the rapid growth of its member base. In 2021 the team was around 30 sales agents and has doubled in size to 60 agents.

Unique to other telesales teams, Trupanion’s only focus on warm leads. Converting leads to members in the discovery phase also ensures that members are enrolling their pets before any medical emergencies arise, contributing to the best experience they can have with any pet insurance product. 

Since 2021, Trupanion’s Inbound Sales team has been handling approximately 17,000 inbound leads per month with a consistent conversion rate of 45%. Year over year, Trupanion grows by at least 20% net new pets and the Inbound Sales team brings in over 90k of those new pets each year.

Their product covers Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and Australia, with a 150-person customer service team providing 24/7/365 support for global members and over 937,000 pets.

Some may consider the call center at Trupanion as untraditional in that they don’t use scripts or have handle time goals. They believe that team members shine the best on every call without rigid guidelines and that they need the time and flexibility to take care of the customer in a manner that feels authentic to them.

Since the pandemic, their contact center has evolved to be a remote-first environment, with team members working from home across the United Stastes and Canada. If team members prefer to have an office experience, the Seattle headquarters is open to all, including team members’ cats and dogs.

Trupanion won two Silver Stevie^® Awards and a Bronze Stevie for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - Financial Services Industries; Contact Center of the Year (Over 100 Seats) - Financial Services Industries; and Inside or Telesales Team of the Year, respectively, in the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in entering the 2025 awards program?

Request the Entry Kit

Stevie-winner Simply Contact is a customer support outsourcing company, originally founded in Dnipro, Ukraine, in 2013.

Over the past decade, the company has grown significantly, expanding its operations across Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Lviv, and Poltava, as well as establishing a presence in Warsaw, Poland. With a team of over 600 employees, Simply Contact provides multilingual and multichannel customer support services to clients worldwide, handling operations in more than 18 languages.

The company's client roster includes a diverse array of organizations, from established brands like Wizz Air and government entities such as the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Transformation to innovative startups like Bolt, Wheelshare, and Ditto Music. Simply Contact’s ability to serve such a broad range of clients is a testament to its versatility and commitment to delivering high-quality customer service solutions.

One of the key strengths of Simply Contact lies in its ability to adapt and scale its services efficiently, especially during periods of fluctuating demand. The company has implemented a blended support model, which allows for dynamic agent allocation based on immediate needs. This approach has proven particularly effective in reducing call center abandon rates and improving response times. For instance, on the Wizz Air project, Simply Contact managed to reduce the average handling time by 30%, while ensuring that 80% of calls are answered within 35 seconds and all emails are addressed within five days. This level of efficiency not only enhances customer satisfaction but also optimizes operational costs, saving clients up to 10% in total cost of ownership.

Another notable achievement is the improvement in customer satisfaction (CSAT) for Bolt, one of Simply Contact's key clients. By retraining agents, developing a dynamic monitoring system, and implementing targeted strategies for specific scenarios, Simply Contact was able to elevate Bolt’s CSAT from 64% to over 80%, surpassing the industry standard. This significant improvement is indicative of the company’s systematic and thoughtful approach to customer service, which continues to drive positive results for its clients.

Simply Contact's ability to adapt to client needs and improve operational efficiency has made it a strong contender in the customer service outsourcing industry. Through innovative practices like the blended support model and a focus on reducing handling times and increasing customer satisfaction, the company has consistently delivered cost-effective solutions. These strategies have proven successful in enhancing the customer experience for clients across various sectors, from established brands to emerging startups.

As the company continues to evolve, it remains focused on delivering tailored, high-quality services that address the unique challenges of each client, reinforcing its position as a leader in multilingual and multichannel customer service.

Simply Contact won a Bronze Stevie^® Award for Contact Center or Customer Service Outsourcing Provider of the Year in the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

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Stevie-winner Accela provides a unified suite of cloud solutions trusted by governments across the globe to accelerate their digital transformation, deliver vital services, and build stronger communities. 

The company offers agile, purpose-built solutions and the power of a platform that provides users with a consumer-like experience, shares data across departments, and ensures world-class security. With over 600 jurisdictions worldwide, Accela’s products manage critical tasks efficiently and effectively.

The Challenge
Accela implemented a Salesforce-powered community where members sought fast, relevant information. However, there were some challenges. Customers and support representatives had to juggle between multiple content repositories to find all available information. At times, they ended up with irrelevant or missing results due to the many content silos. The team knew gaps existed in their published knowledge repositories but had no way to identify all of them or understand which ones were having the biggest impact on their customers. Consequently, their support team was flooded with customer support requests. The management team wanted to reduce the load by improving the self-service experience.

All things considered, Accela was looking for an overarching solution that could not only enable users to self-serve but also provide access to all documented information from a single search point.

The Solution
Enter SearchUnify, a unified cognitive search platform. Its out-of-the-box support for 60+ enterprise platforms helped Accela index all its disparate content repositories and integrate them seamlessly with its customer community. This created a unified discovery experience for their customers within the online community.

As a result, when customers searched for help, the engine scoured all of Accela's documented knowledge to find and return every relevant answer. Support reps received the same experience in their agent console. This eliminated the need to switch tabs or login to separate systems to access the right content.

SearchUnify's ML-fueled algorithms significantly improved search relevance in the online customer community. It factored in customer data such as their activity across all touchpoints and engagement patterns. This ensured every customer only saw content relevant to their profile. Its insights engine empowered knowledge teams to immediately identify and close content gaps, which further helped improve customer satisfaction scores while reducing the load on customer support teams.

Furthermore, SearchUnify’s platform bridged the gap between multiple systems to provide a real-time, end-to-end view of the customer's self-help journey. Accela teams could now follow individual customer paths starting with search terms, to search results, content clicks, and answers read to cases submitted. This provided powerful and actionable insights that allowed Accela to dramatically improve its customers’ experiences.

Accela won a Gold Stevie^® Award for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service - Computer Industries in the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

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Stevie-winner Bigleaf Networks specializes in optimizing internet performance for businesses through a cloud-first SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) solution.

Their technology focuses on ensuring reliable internet connectivity by dynamically managing and prioritizing network traffic, which is crucial for businesses dependent on cloud-based applications. Bigleaf's solution detects and mitigates network issues automatically, providing consistent performance and reducing downtime for critical business operations.

The company serves various industries with a plug-and-play setup that requires minimal IT intervention, making it accessible to businesses without extensive technical expertise. Bigleaf's services include real-time traffic analysis, automated failover, and load balancing across multiple ISP connections. This approach ensures optimal internet performance and reliability, allowing businesses to maintain productivity and efficiency even during network disruptions or heavy usage periods.

Bigleaf has built a reputation for providing network optimization solutions. It offers dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) and intelligent internet traffic load balancing services designed to guarantee optimal performance for essential internet and cloud applications. Their commitment to innovation and excellence has led to the delivery of cutting-edge solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern businesses.

Founded on the goal of revolutionizing internet connectivity, Bigleaf has successfully optimized network performance for businesses of all sizes across various industries. Their dynamic QoS and intelligent traffic load balancing services ensure uninterrupted access to essential applications, enhancing productivity and driving business growth.

Since July 2021, Bigleaf has achieved significant milestones in customer service, evidenced by impressive G2 ratings and reviews. These ratings highlight the company's dedication to delivering exceptional customer service and satisfaction. Bigleaf boasts a 98% gross customer retention rate and an outstanding 114% net retention rate, demonstrating its success in retaining and expanding its customer base through effective service and support.

These achievements underscore Bigleaf's focus on prioritizing customer satisfaction and providing value-added solutions tailored to client needs. Through its proactive approach to customer service and commitment to excellence, Bigleaf Networks has solidified its reputation as a trusted partner and industry leader in delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Bigleaf Networks won a Bronze Stevie^® Award for Customer Service Success - Technology Industries in the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

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