Winners of Stevie Awards in The 11th Annual International Business Awards, the world's top honors for achievement in the workplace, will be celebrated and presented their prizes during a glittering banquet on Friday, October 10 at the Westin Paris – Vendôme Hotel in France.  Close to 400 executives from over 30 nations will attend.

The event will sell out.  Only 50 tickets remain, and by this time next week they will be sold.  Purchase your tickets now by first logging into your IBA entry submission account.

Here is a list of the organizations that have already purchased their tickets for the October 10 banquet.

ABS-CBN Corporation Quezon City Philippines
ADCO
Agency for Defense Development
Akbati Shopping Mall Istanbul Turkey
American Medical Response
Anadolu Efes Istanbul Turkey
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller Dubai United Arab Emirates
ASTRO MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BERHAD
Azercell Telecom LLC Baku Azerbaijan
boogy the event company
Çalik Enerji Ankara Turkey
Cathay Century Insurance
Cisco Systems Inc. San Jose CA U.S.A.
City Health Care Partnership CIC Hull United Kingdom
DenizBank A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Designated Editor Newport RI USA
DHL Express Egypt Cairo
Diamantis Masoutis S.A. Thessaloniki Greece
Doha Bank
Domino's Pizza Istanbul Turkey
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority Dubai United Arab Emirates
ECOPAINT ANGOLA LDA Angola
Egyptian Steel
Entrepreneurial Business School
Eriksen Translations Inc.
FeatureCraft (FC Bilisim Iletisim LTD) Istanbul Turkey
Flytxt Dubai United Arab Emirates
Foresight Corporate Communications Inc. Toronto ON Canada
Freelancer.com
Garanti Pension and Life Istanbul Turkey
GetResponse Wilmington DE USA
Good Relations London United Kingdom
Graebel Companies Inc.
Grupo Máquina PR São Paulo Brazil
GSD® United Kingdom
HANAROADCOM
Hanwoo Board
HAVELSAN INC. Ankara Turkey
HomeAway Inc; Austin TX USA
Hooper Consulting
HR.com Aurora Ontario Canada
HRsmart Paris France
Hyundai Steel
iFinance Canada Canada
inVNT
iPai Shanghai China
ITOPF Limited London England
Jo Su Hee Photo Exhibition
Josiethomson.com Brisbane Australia
Kanyon/Istanbul Turkey
KEPCO KDN
KEPCO Nuclear Fuel Company(KNF)
Kim Hung Ki Mentor Team
Korea Student Aid Foundation
Korea Energy Management Corporation
Korea Gas Safety Corporation
Kosovo Energy Distribution and Supply Company
Land Department of Dubai Dubai United Arab Emirates
Lotte Department Store
Maras Group Adelaide SA Australia
Market Edge Limited Dhaka Bangladesh
MetaMoJi Corporation Tokyo Japan
Millward Brown London United Kingdom
MindZet Kolding Denmark
Ministry of Interiors Dubai United Arab Emirates
Movitel, SA
NATEL EMS Los Angeles CA USA
NNG LLC. Budapest Hungary
Nongshim Communications
Nord Stream AG Zug Switzerland
NU SKIN KOREA
Octavian Security Nottingham United Kingdom
Odea Bank A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Office of the Police Attaché United Arab Emirates Embassy London United Kingdom
Oi Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Brazil
OMSAN Logistics Istanbul Turkey
Ooredoo Group Doha Qatar
Opet Petrolculuk Istanbul Turkey
other
Oxagile LLC New York NY USA
Oxford City Football Club Lake Worth FL USA
Pathways Community Interest Company Crewe United Kingdom
Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. Muntinlupa City Philippines
Portugal Telecom Lisbon Portugal
PS Communication Denmark ltd
PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk Jakarta Indonesia
Quality Systems Inc. Irvine CA USA
Ryan LLC Dallas TX USA
sahibinden.com
Scale Focus AD Sofia Bulgaria
ShoreTel Australia
SK hynix
Soohyun
Strategic Public Relations Group Hong Kong
Synergy Hill+Knowlton Strategies Seoul Korea
TATA Consultancy Services Ltd
TELUS Communications Edmonton AB Canada
Teradata Corporation Dayton OH USA
Theresa Bradley-Banta Real Estate Consultancy Denver CO USA
Tmob Mobile Technology Istanbul Turkey
TRACCS
TranslateMedia London United Kingdom
TTNET Istanbul Turkey
Türkiye Garanti Bankasi A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Türkiye Is Bankasi A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Uijeongbu City
Unite Communications Ortakoy Istanbul
Velie Law Firm Norman OK USA
Viettel Group
Viettel Timor Leste Unipessoal
Vipnet Zagreb Croatia
Virtual Piggy Inc. Hermosa Beach CA USA
Virtusa Corporation Westborough MA USA
Vodafone Istanbul Turkey
Weber Shandwick

Other Grand Stevie Winners Include AMD, Makovsky, MWW, and Slack and Company

The Stevie® Awards held one of its awards galas for its 12^th annual American Business Awards competition on Friday night, and announced the winners of its Grand Stevie Award trophies.

Quality Systems of Irvine, CA received the Grand Stevie for organization of the year, for earning the most award points in The 2014 American Business Awards.  Other top ABA Grand Stevie winners include Makovsky for interactive services agency of the year, Slack and Company for marketing agency of the year, and MWW for public relations agency of the year.  This is the second year in a row that Makovsky, Slack and Company, and MWW have won those awards.

The Grand Stevie Awards were presented to the organizations that submitted the best body of entries to The American Business Awards this year, in their own name or in the names of one or more clients.  The organizations with the most points won, with a Gold Stevie Award win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win counting for 1.5 points.

Besides Quality Systems, Makovsky, MWW and Slack and Company, Grand Stevies were also awarded to the 10 other organizations with the most points in the 2014 competition.  They are

1. AMD
2. USANA Health Sciences
3. AT&T
4. Accenture
5. CallidusCloud
6. Engility
7. PAN Communications
8. Lewis PR
9. Jeunesse Global
10. John Hancock Signature Services

Friday’s gala, focused on new product awards, website awards, and other tech awards, was the second of two American Business Awards ceremonies this year.  The first ceremony took place in Chicago on June 13 and honored winners in disciplines such as customer service, human resources, corporate communications, live events, publications, and selected categories for company/organization, management and marketing. 

The American Business Awards honor an all-inclusive spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, product developers, marketers and web development teams.

More than 260 executives attended Friday’s event at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.  Stevie Awards were conferred in three levels of distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  See the blog post issued earlier today for a summary of the other Stevie Award winners.

For a complete list of all 2014 American Business Awards’ Stevie Award winners visit  www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

More than 3,300 entries were submitted to The 2014 American Business Awards and more than 240 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Entries for The 2015 American Business Awards will be accepted starting in October.

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie 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 http://www.StevieAwards.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Sponsors and partners of The 2014 American Business Awards include Biz Talk Radio, CallidusCloud, Citrix Online, Cvent, Engility, John Hancock, LycaMobile, PetRays, and Softpro.

AT&T Tops Gold Stevie® Winners; Quality Systems Wins Grand Stevie for Company of the Year

The 12^th Annual American Business Awards^SM announced Stevie® Award winners on Friday at its event focused on outstanding new products and services and on achievements in technology industries.

Friday’s gala was the second of two American Business Awards ceremonies this year.  The first took place in Chicago on June 13 and honored winners in disciplines such as customer service, human resources, corporate communications, live events, publications, and selected categories for company/organization, management and marketing.  Winners in all new product awards and technology-related categories were announced at the event in San Francisco on Friday.

The American Business Awards honor an all-inclusive spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, product developers, marketers and web development teams.

More than 260 executives attended Friday’s awards banquet at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.  Stevie Awards were conferred in four levels of distinction: Grand, Gold, Silver and Bronze.

The Grand Stevies were awarded to the organizations who received the most awards overall – Gold, Silver or Bronze – in the ABAs this year.  Quality Systems of Irvine, CA was presented with the Grand Stevie for Organization of the Year.  The winners of the other Grand Stevie Awards will be named in a followup press release today.

AT&T, Inc. was the top Gold Stevie winner on Friday, with four.  Winners of two Gold Stevies include Accenture, Agiliance, Akavit, Engility, Haneke Design, MarketLive, MicroStrategy, Spingo, VeriFone, Vimeo, and WillowTree Apps.

Notable Gold Stevie Award Winners announced on Friday include:

­   Information Technology Executive of the Year: Jake Dominguez, CIO of AMD

­   Company of the Year - Computer Software - More Than 250 Employees: Bigcommerce

­   Fastest Growing Tech Company of the Year - Up to 2,500 Employees: BrightRoll

­   Best Training App: Microsoft Corporation’s FY14 Standards of Business Conduct Training

­   Best Pharmaceuticals Website: The Navicor Group

­   Executive of the Year - Computer Software - Up to 500 Employees: Jahangir Mohammed, Founder & CEO of Jasper

­   Tech Innovation of the Year - At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees: Newlight Technologies commercial scale-up of carbon-negative plastic

­   New Health & Pharmaceuticals Service of the Year: Optum’s ACO Solutions Market Launch

­   New Peripheral Hardware Product of the Year: Epson America’s BrightLink Pro

­   New Industrial Product or Service of the Year: World Water Work's DEMON Process

­   New Content Management Solution of the Year: AirWatch’s Secure Content Locker

For a complete list of The 2014 American Business Awards winners announced Friday visit  www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, which were determined by more than 57,000 votes in July and August, were announced in August and presented their crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards on Friday.

More than 3,300 entries were submitted to The 2014 American Business Awards and more than 240 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Entries for The 2015 American Business Awards will be accepted starting in October.

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie 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 http://www.StevieAwards.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Sponsors and partners of The 2014 American Business Awards include Biz Talk Radio, CallidusCloud, Citrix Online, Cvent, Engility, John Hancock, LycaMobile, PetRays, and Softpro.

The second part of The 12th Annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., will take place this Friday evening in San Francisco.  Tickets are still on sale.

A few years ago the ABAs were split into two ceremonies.  The first ceremony this year took place on June 13 in Chicago, where Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Awards were conferred in categories for human resources awards, customer service awards, most of the marketing awards, PR awards, video awards, live event awards, publication awards, and many of the management awards and company awards categories.

This Friday evening, September 12 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, we'll present Stevies in the categories for websites, apps, IT, new products and services, and for management and organizational excellence in all technology-related industries.

We're expecting more than 250 executives from nominated executives to attend.  Get a PDF of the awards banquet program book here.

The results will be published at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA late Friday night.  The ceremony will be taped for broadcast by the BizTalkRadio network on the following Friday, the 19th, at 8:00 pm ET.

So who's coming this to this Friday's awards gala?  Here's the confirmed list as of this moment.

Acxiom Corporation
Adgistics
ADTRAN
Agiliance
AKQA
Altitude Digital
AMD
American Express Global Business Travel
Anametrix
AOL Inc
Applause
Articulate
AT&T
Automotive Research and Design
Avention
Bloomberg BNA
Bloomberg LP
Blue Wheel Media
Boeing
BP Logix
Brainshark, Inc.
CallidusCloud
Capital One ShareBuilder
CD2 Learning
Celtra Inc
Cigna
Cisco Systems
Citrix
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Company
Connect2 Communications
Constant Contact
CoverMyMeds
Credit Sesame, Inc
CyrusOne
DataRPM
Dell Software
Digital Life Group / WillowTree Apps
DISYS LLC
Domo
Drawbridge Inc.
EffectiveUI
Engility
Experian
Fieldglass
FlightScope
General Electric
GPS Insight
Graco Inc.
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies DBA HeBS Digital
Innography
INSZoom.com
Interactions
Internap
Intrepid Learning
ion interactive
Jeunesse Global
John Hancock Signature Services
KEO Marketing Inc
KidoZen
Makovsky
MarketLive
Marvell Semiconductor
Merchant Warehouse
MicroStrategy Inc.
Mohu
Navicor Group
NetScout Systems, Inc.
NuCompass Mobility Services
OmniTI Computer Consulting Inc
One Eighty/Leisure Care
OrionVM
OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc.
Peel
PGi
Pluralsight
Prism Skylabs
ProcessPro
ProProfs.com
Protection 1
Qless, Inc.
Quality Systems, Inc.
QUEsocial
Responsys
Sales Intellect Company
SciQuest
SCRA
Secure Cloud Systems
Signet Interactive
SoftPro
Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
SpinGo
Stoneware, Inc.
SunGard Availability Services
SYSPRO USA
Talari Networks
Tanis Communications
Telerik
Temperature@lert
The Hybrid Shop
ThinkTank
Thomson Reuters
TIAA-CREF
Tire Business / Crain Communications
Tollgrade
TriNet
UberConference
UBM Tech
UnitedHealthcare
USANA Health Sciences, Inc
VeriFone
VerticalResponse
Videology
Vinci Education Corp
wefi, inc.
Wheels Inc
Workiva
Workplace Answers
World Water Works, Inc.
Xora, a ClickSoftware Company
Zendesk Inc.

Questions about the ABAs?  Don't hesitate to contact us. 

The 2015 American Business Awards will open for entries in October.  Get the entry kit!Get the entry kit!

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on September 12 in San Francisco

CD2 Learning is the top winner in the 2014 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards, the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, which are now in their 12th year.

The nationwide public vote was conducted this summer, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 42 product categories. More than 57,000 votes were cast.

CD2 Learning, the Overland Park, KS –based developer of a cloud-based learning architecture, is the winner of People’s Choice Stevie Awards in four categories.  NetScout Systems, Inc., the Westford, MA –based provider of integrated computer network performance management products, won People’s Choice Stevie Awards in three categories.  Winners of two People’s Choice Stevie Awards include CardioVet, Dell Software, MicroStrategy, Inc., Other World Computing, and Telerik.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The American Business Awards’ new product and tech awards banquet on Friday, September 12 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Tickets for the event are now on sale. There, the winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be announced and presented their awards. More than 250 nominees and their guests are expected to attend.

All new products and services recognized as Finalists in the new product awards categories of this year’s American Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

The winners of the 2014 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are:

Business-to-Business Product: NCR Small Business’s NCR Silver Small Business Platform
Business-to-Business Service: Dealer.com Unified Advertising Exchange
Consumer Electronics: Other World Computing's DIY Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for PlayStation 4
Consumer Product: LIMU's BLU FROG 2
Consumer Services: The Hybrid Shop
Financial Services: Engility's Secure Payment System for the U.S. Treasury
Hardware - Networking: NetScout Systems’ nGenius 3900 series packet flow switch
Hardware - Other: NetScout Systems’ nGenius InfiniStream 4500 series appliance
Hardware - Semiconductor: Marvell 88EM8187 LED Controller
Hardware - Storage: Other World Computing's Envoy Pro EX USB 3.0 Portable SSD Storage Solution
Health & Pharmaceutical Product: CardioVet
Health & Pharmaceutical Service: CardioVet
Industrial Product or Service: Graco Inc.'s InvisiPac® Tank-Free' Hot Melt Delivery System
Media & Entertainment: Signiant SkyDrop
Software - Asset Management: Raritan Asset Management DCIM Software
Software - Big Data: MicroStrategy Analytics Desktop
Software - Business Intelligence: MicroStrategy Analytics Desktop
Software - Cloud Application/Service: Rackspace DevOps Automation Service
Software - Cloud Infrastructure: OrionVM Wholesale Cloud Platform
Software - Cloud Platform: SDL Customer Experience Cloud (CXC)
Software - Cloud Storage: Bitcasa
Software - Collaboration/Social: CD2 Learning Collaboration Cloud
Software - Content Management: CD2 Learning’s Innovator Interaction Engine
Software - Financial Management: Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Pocket Assistant
Software - Governance/Risk: Dell Software's Change Auditor Compliance Solution
Software - Human Capital Management: CD2 Learning Toolkit
Software - Lead Generation: TIAA-CREF Annuity Cost Savings Tool
Software - Learning/Workforce Development: CD2 Learning’s Leadership - Blanchard Essentials Edition
Software - Marketing/PR: Acxiom Audience Operating System
Software - Mobile On-Demand: Brainshark's SlideShark 3.0
Software - Mobile Operations Management: Aternity for Mobile App Developers
Software - Other: Telerik Kendo UI
Software - Project Management: Upland Software’s Tenrox Cloud Project Management Solution
Software - Relationship Management: Experian Marketing Services' Cross Marketing Platform
Software - Security: Unisys Stealth
Software - Software Development: Telerik DevCraft
Software - Supply Chain Management: SYSPRO 7 Enterprise Resource Planning Software
Software - Systems Management: Dell Software's Recovery Manager for Active Directory Forest Edition
Software - Web Services: ion interactive's Marketing Apps Platform
Telecommunications Product: NetScout Systems’ nGeniusONE Unified Performance Management platform
Telecommunications Service: AT&T Mobile Security
Transportation: VeriFone's Way2ride

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie 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 http://www.StevieAwards.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Newest Stevie Awards Program to Recognize the Best in Business in Germany; No Entry Fees Through 30 September

The organizer of the world’s leading business awards programs announced today that Germany will be the setting of its newest program, the German Stevie Awards, which is now welcoming nominations from all organizations operating in Germany at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition over the past 12 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Stevie Awards programs attract more than 8,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations.

The German Stevie Awards will be only the second national Stevie Awards program, after the 12-year-old American Business Awards.  “Germany is a huge, vibrant economy with many outstanding companies in a wide variety of industries,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “It has been our goal to establish another national Stevies program in a major economy, and Germany is the ideal choice, as it’s the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest by GDP in the world.”

The Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, are among the world's most coveted prizes.

The German Stevie Awards welcome nominations from all organizations operating in Germany – large and small, for-profit and non-profit, publicly-held and privately-held - with a wide range of categories to choose from, including

• Company of the Year awards
• Management awards
• Marketing awards
• Public relations awards
• Customer service awards
• Human resources awards
• IT awards
• New product awards
• App and website awards
• Video awards
  and more

To celebrate the inauguration of the awards, no entry fees will be charged for nominations submitted through the early-bird entry deadline of 30 September.  From October 1, the entry fee will be just €99 for entries submitted through the second deadline, November 5.  Entries submitted after November 5, through the final deadline of December 10, will be assessed the standard entry fees, which can be as much as €400 per entry.

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds.  The first round will determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category.  Those winners will be announced on February 23.  All of the Gold Stevie Award winners will then compete in the second round of judging for the right to be named the Grand Stevie Award winner in their category groups.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in Germany in late March.

Judging committees for the German Stevie Awards are now being formed.  Those interested in participating in the judging process may also apply at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives as judges.

Many German companies have been recognized in Stevie Awards programs over the years, including adidas Group, Bertelsmann AG, DP DHL, Lufthansa, and Siemens AG, among others.  “With the German Stevie Awards, we’ll be able to recognize the achievements of many more German companies and executives,” Gallagher said.

Uwe Krummenoehler, CEO of AVL Emission Test Systems GmbH of Neuss, Germany, winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in The 2013 International Business Awards, said, “Winning a Stevie Award demonstrated that we are doing a lot of things right.  Our performance was validated by many leading executives in the judging, and that is very important to our management team and our employees.”

Gallagher said there are many reasons why companies participate in Stevie Awards programs.  Chief among them, he said, are the brand-building benefits of winning a major national or international award; the goodwill generated with employees when they are nominated for awards; and the opportunity to network with other business leaders at the annual awards galas.

To learn more about the German Stevie Awards, visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/gsa/about/514_2923_24742.cfm.

About the Stevie Awards
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 www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

      Business Awards Program to Celebrate Excellence Worldwide at Paris Event

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been announced as Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 11th Annual International Business Awards, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

Nicknamed the Stevies from the Greek word "crowned," the awards will be presented at a gala event on Friday, 10 October at the Westin Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France. Tickets for the event are on sale now at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA. 

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,500 nominations received from organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations. All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards, and can submit entries in a wide range of categories, including management awards, company of the year awards, marketing awards, public relations awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, new product awards, IT awards, web site awards, and more.  

More than 250 executives worldwide participated in the judging process this year.

The top Gold Stevies winners this year are Weber Shandwick, worldwide, with eight, and Quality Systems, Inc. (USA) with seven. Accenture (USA), Akbank (Turkey), LLORENTE Y CUENCA (Spain), MSLGROUP worldwide, MWW Group (USA), and Plasenta Conversation Agency (Turkey) are winners of five Golds each. Winners of four Gold Stevies are AT&T (USA), CallidusCloud (USA), Jack Morton Worldwide, Maras Group (Australia), and Oxford City Football Club (USA). 

Among the winners of three Gold Stevie Awards are Advanced Bionics (USA), AECOM (USA), ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller (United Arab Emirates), DHL Express worldwide, Globe Telecom (Philippines), Kanyon (Turkey), Odea Bank (Turkey), PS Communication (Denmark), and StarHub Ltd (Singapore).

A complete list of all 2014 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

 “The entries we received this year were some of the most noteworthy we have ever seen,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “We congratulate all of the winners, and we look forward to recognizing them for their achievements at our gala event in Paris on 10 October.”

Next week the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes, will be announced.

For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or International Business Awards logo, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/press/172_701_3120.cfm. Other information and resources for press are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/press/172_701_3121.cfm

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The sixth program, the new German Stevie Awards, will open for entries on 18 August.  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 on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

The following professionals participated in preliminary judging of The 2014 International Business Awards, the worlds top business awards program, in May-July.  Their average scores determined the entries that were eligible to be included in final judging.  We thank them for their time, insights and support.

Dr. Mamdooh Abdelmottlep, Founding President, International Police Sciences Association, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Nicole Y. Adams, Translator & Consultant, NYA Communications, Brisbane, Australia
Hazem Adawie Senior Manager-Corporate Performance Management Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Bora Aksoylu, Event Manager, NIKE Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Shadi Al Hroub, Creative Director, Freelance, Amman, Jordan
Ahmad Alhai, Drilling Services Automation Project Manager & RTOC Project Member, ADCO, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Mahmoud Alhayek, Quality Expert, Abu Dhabi Police, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Dr. Mohammed A. Alkhozai, Director, Bahrain Management Society, Manama, Bahrain
Amal Al-Najjar, HR Manager, Fluor Kuwait, Kuwait
Col. Mohammed Alreeh, Ministry of the Interior, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ani Atanasova, CEOPixelhunters, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dr. Christina Augustine, Global Strategic HR, Virtusa Corporation, Chennai, India
Heather Barton, Head of Human Resources, American Institute for Foreign Study (UK) Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Israel Bonequi, Creative Director, Birds Nest Foundation, Montreal, QC, Canada
Ted Bridgwater, President, Foresight Corporate Communications, Toronto, ON, Canada
Oana Bulexa, Managing Director, The Practice, Bucharest, Romania
Connie Bullock, Director, Marketing, NuCompass Mobility, Manassas, VA , USA
Mark Burton, CEO, International Armoring Corp., Centerville, UT, USA
Peter Bush, Doctor, Response Ambulance Services, Port Talbot, United Kingdom
Jorge Cachinero, Director Corporativo de Reputación e Innovación, Llorente y Cuenca, Madrid, Spain
Venkata Rajesh, Cheerla    Group Senior Manager - HR Strategy, Policies & Compliance, Etisalat Group, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Tore Claesson, Director, Tio Agency, New York, USA
Sally Clubley, Senior Consultant, IHRDC, Stourton, United Kingdom
Dorothy Crenshaw, CEO, Crenshaw Communications, New York, NY, USA
Kate Darcy Hohenthal, Founder, The Birthday Club, Manchester, CT , USA
Karla Davis, General Manager, Plantation Resort, Surfside Beach, SC, USA
Saraida De Marchena Kaluche, President and CEO, Markatel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Lelanie de Wet, Web Content & Social Media Manager, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa
Teresa DeFelice, Account Executive, RCI, Orlando, FL, USA
Danielle Di-Masi, Managing Director, The Interactions Lab, Coogee, Australia
Richard Dixon, Owner/Administrator, Home Helpers and Direct Link of North Texas, Keller, TX, USA
Sheryl Dobson, Director of Customer Contact, J2 Global, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Michal Dunin, Managing Director, WebTalk, Warsaw, Poland
Stacey Edmonds, Founder and MD Lively, Lively Coogee, NSW, Australia
Rochelle Ekanayake, Managing Director UK/SRI LANKA, MrPierce Studios International Asia (PVT) Ltd, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kristina Garcia, Managing Director, German State of Hessen U.S. Office for Economic Development, New York, NY, USA
Sergio García, Creative Director, Doctor Jekyll, Barcelona, Spain
Manoj Gautam, Om shiva, shakti herbal company pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu, Nepal
Constantinos Grivas, CEO and Founder, Swiss Nutraceuticals MIKE, Athens, Greece
Naresh Gupta, Associate Partner, IBM Global Business Services, Gurgaon, India
Danita Harn, VP of Operations, Harn & Associates Bookkeeping Firm, Woodstock, GA, USA
Robin Harris, Principal/Creative Director, Harris Design Inc., McLean, VA, USA
Aida Hernandez, New Business Development, Marco de Comunicación, Madrid, Spain
Jesse Hertstein, Senior CSR Specialist, Amway, Ada, MI, USA
Jamie K. Holt, MBA, President/CEO, JMK Notary And Services, Miami, FL, USA
Giles House, VP Marketing, CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, CA, USA
Yvonne Howie, CEO, NSW, The CEO Institute, Neutral Bay, NSW, Australia
Richard    Hu, Senior Editor, China Advertising, Beijing, China
Elif Ildeniz, Employer Branding Project Leader, TOFAS-FIAT, Istanbul, Turkey
Echo Ilott, Director, Boost Marketing, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Leo Indarwahono, Public Health & Educational Executive, The Indonesian Business Coalition on AIDS (IBCA), Jakarta, Indonesia
Petr Jares, Member of the Board, Etnetera, Prague, Czech Republic
Parag Jaripatke, Senior Systems Administrator, AOL Inc., Dulles, VA, USA
Monika Jaslowska, Senior Head of Brand Public Relations Department, Polpharma Biuro Handlowe Sp. z o. o., Warsaw, Poland
Beverly Jensen, President/CEO, WomensMedicineBowl.com, Greeley, CO, USA
Özgür Karaçak, Managing Partner / Founder/ Creative Director, SesliHarfler Digital Advertising Agency, Istanbul, Turkey
Hakan Karamanli, IT Manager, GARANTI TEKNOLOJI, Istanbul, Turkey
Samitha Karunarathne, CEO, Aryans Engineering (Pvt) Ltd., Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka
Mazin Khoury, CEO, Middle East, AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c), Manama, Bahrain
Elzbieta Krawczynska, Quality Specialist & Trainer, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A, Poznan, Poland
A.J.Lawrence, CEO, the JAR group, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Andreea Leonte, Senior PR Consultant, MCCANN PR, Bucharest, Romania
Chris Litherland, International Snr Director HR, Intermec by Honeywell Heinsberg, Germany
Ke Je Tony Liu, Greater China Partner, Creative Chairman, MC Saatchi aeiou, Shanghai,  China
Denis Looney, Vice President, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Cork, Ireland
Anil Machado, Managing Director, Tnell, Sieradz, Poland
Morag Malloy, Managing Director, Fission Creative, Paisley, United Kingdom
Kristin Marcell, Vice President Public Relations, SmartMark Communications, Newtown, PA   USA
Wessam Massoud, Programme Delivery Manager, Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Center (ADSIC), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Chris McConnell, Senior Manager, Accenture, Chicago, IL, USA
Colin McKillop, Chief Executive Officer, Butcher Enterprises, Windsor, ON, Canada
Jennifer, McQueen, Managing Partner, Ausnindo-Asia/Pacific, Croydon, VIC, Australia
Jeremy McWilliams, Managing Director, Bang TV, London, United Kingdom
Ronald Meske, President, Training Systems Design, Camarillo, CA, USA
Eric Mosely, CEO, Globoforce, Dublin, Ireland
Rajesh Kumar Mudiakal, SAP Project Manager, CMC Limited, Mumbai, India
Motomasa Murayama, Professor, Tokiwa University, Mito City, Japan
Rajiv Noronha, AVP, Location HR Leader & Head -Org., Effectiveness, Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore, India
Charles Olsson, Managing Director, Stockfeed Purchasing Pty Ltd, Crestmead, Australia
Pierluigi Orati    Head of Country Analysis, SENEL SPA, Rome, Italy
Diego Otero Rodríguez, Creative Director, Suigeneris Communications SL (A Save Your Numbers Holding), Barcelona, Spain
Alper Afsin Özdemir, President, Krombera Digital Marketing Agency, Istanbul, Turkey
Cem Cabbar Özdemir, Creative Director, Project House, Istanbul, Turkey
Parveen Panwar, CEO, PMI 5, Media LLC, Los Altos, CA, USA
Anne Patterson, VP Client Delivery, FreeFlow, Kerry Ireland
Katarzyna Pawlikowska, Managing Partner, Garden of Words, Warsaw, Poland
Guy Perry, President, CEO & Founder, Salt Lake Running Company, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Donald Pillai, International Marketing Executive, Bumbo (Pty) Ltd, Rosslyn, South Africa
Churchill Dass Prince, Founder & CEO, Sales Intellect Company, Chennai, India
Rammesh Rajagopal, Senior Manager IT, Cisco Systems Inc., Morrisville, NC, USA
Fanjarivo Rakotonirina, President, Tropical Items Madagascar, LLC, Boulder, CO, USA
V.S. Ramachandran, Senior VP, Emarat, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mohamed A. R. Rashed, Director of Strategic Planning, Ahlia University, Manama, Bahrain
Dennis Reno, Vice President, Customer Experience, New Relic, San Francisco, CA, USA
Pamela Robinson, CEO, Financial Voyages LLC, Atlanta, GA, USA
Linanne Sackett, Principal Investigator, Verizon Next Step Program, Albany, NY, USA
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amr Sadik, VP - Curriculum Development, INTEX, Cairo, Egypt
Sasan Saeidi, Managing Director, FP7, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Göktug Sahin, Lecturer, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
Hande Sarantopoulos, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Director, Kale Group, Istanbul, Turkey
Gauri Sharma, Head of Business, Modest Inc, Chicago, IL, USA
Keira Shein, Partner, WilkinsonShein Communications, Stevenson, MD, USA
Pelle Sjöqvist, Creative Director, Dahlheim & Sjöqvist, Stockholm, Sweden
Asuncion Soriano, Vice President, INFORPRESS, Madrid, Spain
Leslie Stretch, President & CEO, CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, CA, USA
Julian Stubbs, Senior Lecturer, Marketing (retired), The University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
Begum Susar, Digital Marketing and Design Assistant, Vice President, ING Bank Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Andrzej Szczepaniak, Deputy Director, Bank Zachodni WBK S.A, Srem, Poland
Pinar Tuba, Temizkan, HR Senior Consultant and Co-Active Coach, Elemental-Value (official provider of The Coaches Training Institute-CTI), Istanbul   
Meera Tenguria, Founder & Director, Aarrohan Communications, Mumbai, India
Wailaya    Tiningsih Bravyanto, Corporate Relations, PT Unilever Indonesia, Tbk, Jakarta, Indonesia
Han Tjan, VP Corporate Communications, Daimler, New York, NY, USA
Aigerim Tulepbergenova, Business Analyst, Morgan Stanley, Eugene, OR, USA
Noel Unciano, Research Specialist, Industrial Technology Development Institute, Taguig City, Philippines
Aykut Ustun, Group Manager - HR and Management System, Opet Petrolculuk, Istanbul, Turkey
Rob Vandenberg, President & CEO Lingotek, Draper, UT, USA
Kirti Vashee, Vice President, Enterprise Translation, Asia Online, Santa Monica, CA , USA
Nicole Vaughn, Account Supervisor, Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., St. Louis, MO, USA
Vincent Verdi, Art Director, CUNY-TV, Staten Island, NY, USA
Robyn  Vogels, Founder, Managing Director, Personnel Relocations, Cheltenham, SA, Australia
Mike Voznick, National Business Consultant, Harn and Associates, Smyrna, GA, USA
Clara H.Y. Wang, Account Director, KAI Communications (China&UK), Beijing, China
Floor Wijburg, CEO, W & I Consultants, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Silvana Xhaferi, General Secretary, Albanian-British Chamber of Commerce and industry, Tirana, Albania
Mimi Young, Principal, Behavior Design, New York, NY, USA
David Zapata, President, Zapwater Communications, Chicago, USA                            
Joseph Zitzelberger, Director of Manufacturing Development, PACCAR Inc., Chillicothe, OH, USA                                                                                                                          

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.)

It’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

Once a month in this space we highlight apps and websites that we think might help to make your workday a bit more productive or enjoyable.  Here are this month's suggestions.

Repic

Get early access to this new app that lets you see people's reactions to photos you send to them.

Dragon Dictation

An app that allows you to speak and instantly see the text transcription for everything from email messages to blog posts on your iPad™, iPhone™ or iPod touch™. FREE

eFax

The fax may become a popular tool again with this app which enables fax-sending from your iPad, iPhone or Android.  From $12.95.

SugarSync

An app that allows users to share and continuously back up files in real time, providing access to files and folders anytime, anywhere, from any PC, Mac, iOS, or Android device. From $18.95.

Have a favorite app, blog, or website? Nominate it for our app awards or website awards in the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.