Customer Service Awards Blog

There are 11 customer service awards categories specifically for departments in the 2013 (7th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals. (All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries for sales awards and customer service awards. The final entry deadline for the 2013 awards is January 15; request your entry kit here.)

The customer service department categories recognize everyone who works in customer service in an organization, regardless of their role or location. Our customer service award categories specifically for departments include:

1. Customer Service Department of the Year – Airlines, Distribution & Transportation
2. Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Hardware
3. Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Software
4. Customer Service Department of the Year – Computer Services
5. Customer Service Department of the Year – Financial Services
6. Customer Service Department of the Year – Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Related Industries
7. Customer Service Department of the Year – Telecommunications
8. Customer Service Department of the Year – Leisure & Tourism
9. Customer Service Department of the Year – Public Services & Education
10. Customer Service Department of the Year – Retail
11. Customer Service Department of the Year – All Other Industries

Information required for entries in these categories include:

1. An essay of up to 500 words describing your customer service department’s accomplishments since July 1, 2011.
2. A brief biography (up to 100 words) of the leader of the nominated customer service department.
3. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

In addition to the possibility of receiving a peer-reviewed honor in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories, all nominated customer service departments that are chosen as Finalists will also be automatically included in the voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service.

People's Choice winners will receive a special People's Choice Stevie Award trophy allowing for honorees in these categories to have the opportunity to receive a second award, as voted by the general public. Online voting will open to the public worldwide in mid-January and will continue through early February.

Winners of the crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards will be celebrated at the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service gala on February 25, 2013 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. 2012 winners were celebrated on February 27, 2012 at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. 2012 People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service results are summarized here.  

Begin submitting your entries today! All sales and customer service entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

There are eight customer service awards categories specifically for teams in the 2013 (7th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals. (All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries for sales awards and customer service awards. The early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, is October 10; request your entry kit here.)

Our customer service award categories specifically for teams include:

1. Customer Service Team of the Year – Recovery Situation
   Recognizing service teams who have demonstrated exceptional skill in recovering either an individual case or in rebuilding an underperforming service department.
2. Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year
   Recognizing service teams whose primary focus is to address and resolve customer complaints.
3. Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year
   Recognizing service teams that directly engage customers.
4. Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
   Recognizing teams that provide service functions that do not directly engage customers, such as billing, credit and collections, payments, security and support services.
5. Contact Center of the Year (Up to 100 seats)
   Recognizing call and contact centers that have no more than 100 seats.
6. Contact Center of the Year (Over 100 seats)
   Recognizing call and contact centers that have more than 100 seats.
7. Customer Service Management Team of the Year
   Recognizing the leadership teams of customer service organizations and contact centers for their achievements.
8. Customer Service Training Team of the Year
   Recognizing teams that develop and deliver training to customer service organizations and contact center personnel.

Information required for entries in these categories include:

1. An essay of up to 500 words describing the nominee’s accomplishments since July 1, 2011. 
2. A brief biography (up to 100 words) of the nominee.
3. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

2013 honorees will be celebrated at the 7th annual awards banquet at Paris Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on February 25.

Submit your entries by October 10 and receive discounted entry fees! All sales and customer service entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

The entry kit for the 2013 (7th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is now available. 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 for sales awards and customer service awards.

Review the entry kit now -you'll find it online, here: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/entrykits/SASCS/SASCS13EntryKit.html

The entry kit contains all of the information you'll need to be able to prepare and submit entries to this year's awards.

The early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, is October 10. The final entry deadline is November 14, but late entries will be accepted through January 15 with payment of a late fee.

There's a lot that's new and different for the awards this year including new categories such as Best Use of Technology in Sales and Contact Center Manager of the Year. We've also added The Top 10 Awards, a new feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service that will honor the ten organizations that submit the best body of work to the competition. To learn more about what's new and different for 2013, click here.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature a wide variety of categories to recognize best sales practices and customer service excellence including:

• Individual Sales Professionals
• Sales Teams
• Sales Achievements
• Sales Departments
• Individual Contact Center/Customer Service Professionals
• Customer Service/Contact Center Teams
• Customer Service Achievements
• Customer Service Departments
• New Products & Services
• Solution Providers
• and More

See all sales and customer service awards categories here.

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Jerry Weinberger, Senior Director of Customer Service and Retention at Webs, Inc., is Chair of the final judging committee for the support awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A.(The final entry deadline for 2012 ABAs is April 25; request your entry kit today.) Here Jerry shares three ways businesses can attract and retain new customers through good customer service.

What are your top 3 tips to small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to attract and retain new customers through excellent customer service? 

1. Treat customers right. 
   Communicate with customers the way you would with a friend. Use conversational language in both verbal and written communications with them. Customers aren’t impressed by “corporate speak” anymore, and they don’t understand half of it anyway. Just tell it like it is, and have fun with your communication when you can. Customers LOVE it.
   
2. Listen to your customers, constantly. 
   Customers will always tell you what they want. If you decide what the customers want without talking to them, you’ll be wrong.
   
3. Hire the personality and values, not the skills. 
   Don’t hire anyone for your Customer Center who doesn’t genuinely care about taking care of customers, or who finds it difficult to smile. Empathy, passion, understanding … call it what you will, it’s either there or it isn’t. You can teach someone about procedures, guidelines, workflows, systems, or about a new product, but you can’t teach someone how to care.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why? 
I came across two different articles in the past month that highlighted the fact that customer satisfaction isn’t the right metric to measure anymore. I’ve always had the drive for high customer satisfaction levels running through my veins, so I was more than a bit shocked to see those words in print. According to these articles, the focus should instead be on loyalty, such as in the Net Promoter Score.  Definitely something to think about!

Do you have a favorite app or blog?
MakeUseOf.  It’s a constant learning experience for me.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Sports psychologist.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates? 
Integrity, honesty, and being passionate about customers.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning? 
The opportunity to exceed someone’s expectations each and every day. 

About American Business Awards Support Award Categories:
The ABA support categories highlight contributions made by support staffers through recognition awards. These categories recognize all administrative support including secretary of the year, production support, security, maintenance, and research members.

About Jerry Weinberger:
Jerry Weinberger joined Webs in 2010 and is currently responsible for Customer Service/Support and Retention for their 50 million customers. For over 20 years, Jerry has been responsible for leading Customer Care organizations. He has run single or multi-site Care operations for such powerhouse companies as Federal Express, MCI, and Fleet Bank. During his tenure with those companies, his leadership resulted in sustained service levels and customer satisfaction ratings that were among the best in the industry. Since joining Webs, Jerry’s Customer Support team has won two Stevie® Awards: one for Support Team of the Year in The 2011 American Business Awards, and the second for Customer Service Management Team of the Year in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
 
About Webs, Inc.:
Webs is the world’s most popular do-it-yourself solution to creating a free website, having served over 40 million users. Webs enables small businesses and entrepreneurs to easily make a great-looking website and project a professional image. The Webs family of products--including Webs, ContactMe, and Pagemodo--provides small businesses with simple and cost-effective ways to launch and grow their companies across web, social, and mobile platforms. Founded in 2001 by the Mokhtarzada brothers, Webs is funded by Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Columbia Capital. For more information, visit www.webs.com.