Why a customer service award win means more than any other

According to recent research, 60% of organisations cite good customer service as a key target for their business over straightforward profit – good to know (and how long before the other 40% catch up?).

It’s a decision that makes really good business sense in today’s global society. As customers, we have a huge choice of where to spend our money, often finding identical products at different prices online and on the high street. Where a business can really make a difference is in their customer interaction.

And it’s a fairly logical assumption that high standards of customer care lead to happier customers, who in turn are more likely to bring you repeat business as well as recommend you to other potential customers. Ergo more valuable to you commercially.

This particular type of award is also useful as an indicator of success for your business internally – happy customers are more likely to be the product of a well-trained and helpful workforce. Employees who work with contented customers are themselves likely to be far happier in their job, and more productive.

As a result, customer satisfaction is frequently the focus of brand advertising  – “buy our product, and you could be this happy too!”. It’s often also used in internal communications programmes, rewarding staff for excellence in service delivery. Objective endorsement of your approach by winning an award specifically for your strength in this area is a great way to highlight it to your audience, and gives reassurance that you really do achieve high standards.

Which awards should I enter?

It’s no surprise then that customer service categories are nearly always the most popular category for entries at any awards series. So much so, that there are now whole awards series specifically to reward excellence in this area with categories for specific industry sectors, The largest and best known in this country are the UK Customer Experience Awards, for which shortlisted candidates will be announced this Friday, June 22^nd.

But there are plenty of regional business awards, and industry-specific series to consider too – they will nearly all have a category for customer care, or customer service. If you’re a member of a Chamber of Commerce, you’ve got until 29^th June to tell them why you should win their Customer Commitment award in this year’s Chamber Awards. Reflection PR Awards’ ‘home’ business awards, the Norfolk Business Awards

is currently open for entries and looking for a new business to take the honours for best customer care in the region, after we helped steer client, Hilltop Outdoor Centre to success last year. In 2018, could it be you?

You’re likely to be up against a larger pool of competition than in other categories, so it’s particularly important that you submit a first-rate entry including strong evidence through client testimonials, online feedback results, customer surveys or similar. (Worth also taking a look at our checklist for award success as a starting point).