Awards Archives

No matter who you are, what you do or where you work, being recognized matters

I watched the Oscar Awards this year.

And there on the stage are some of the most successful people on the planet. And yet when they win the Oscar they kind of lose it – in a good way.

Tears, joy, expressions of gratitude.

And those emotions aren’t limited to televised stages in Los Angeles or New York.

No matter where I’ve attended any great Awards event the emotions are real and deep.

Because people work so hard.

And to have a chance to show that, talk about what they’re proud of and perhaps be recognized in a formal way – is very powerful.

Which is just one of the reasons I’m proud that my company sponsors the DACH Customer Excellence Awards.

These awards celebrate meaningful Customer Excellence initiatives by organizations that are based in, operate in or serve the DACH Region – comprised of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The 4^th year of the DACH Customer Excellence Awards & Summit was held on 13^th October 2023 in Wiesbaden Germany and here’s what I saw that reinforced my pride and commitment to this event.

The Quality of the Finalists

The quality of the Finalist entries is the absolute fundamental mark of a credible and effective Awards program.

So when the Judges across the board tell us how impressed they’ve been with the quality of the Finalists it matters.

Here are just a few quotes from this year’s Judges:

“One of my entries even showed some great numbers that prove the impact and showed how employee satisfaction is driving customer satisfaction, loyalty, renewal and up-selling. That’s the evidence we need to ensure necessary investments into EX and CX are signed off by senior management and show some real ROI.” Judge’s comment

“Couldn’t have said it better, it was a great event with impressive cases.” .” Judge’s comment

Brilliant entry! I loved the innovation! The drive to make life easy for the customers and employees alike!” Judge’s comment

“I fully support your summary of the DACH Customer Excellence Awards. And like to add the importance of Customer Centric Culture and the MAGIC the Italian Team showed us.” Judge’s comment

The Quality of the Judges

And interestingly, Judges tell us that it matters to them who else is judging and the level of conversation that naturally takes place among the Judges themselves.

“The level of the conversations I had with the other Judges was remarkable. During the judging process and afterwards at the coffee breaks and at the Gala dinner.” Judge’s comment

The Quality of the Event

These people make a commitment in time and money to participate.

So what they have to say about their experience including what they learned, who they got to meet and how much fun they had is the cornerstone of how we move forward year on year.

Here are just a few quotes from this year’s Winners, Finalists & Judges:

“A fantastic day made even better by the outstanding keynote speakers and the wealth of knowledge & passion shared by all participants!” Judge’s comment

“Extra shout out to Marcus von Kloeden for the perfect organisation and the opera singers during the Awards dinner that were the icing on the cake of a successful event.” Judge’s comment

Congratulations – Marcus, Daniel, and team – on yet another amazing award celebration, recognizing the whole CX industry. The contribution you are making cannot be overestimated and is testament to both of your passion for customer centricity! Thank you for all the effort you put into this event! Partner, Customer Institute

Experience and a commitment to the industry

The Founder of the DACH Customer Excellence Awards, Marcus von Kloeden, has years of experience organizing events including training programs, conference events and even art gallery receptions.

And that experience showed in everything from how the event was structured – including lots of time for people to meet, chat and relax – to having opera singers roam the floor throughout the cocktail reception & gala dinner event.

And in the spirit of think globally and act locally, the suppliers and providers for the Event ranging from the florists to the crafters of the handmade Awards trophies, are all local small businesses.

The Mission of the Awards

Not all Awards programs are created equal. Anyone who’s been around the Customer industry for a while knows this.

With some Awards, it seems like there’s an army of salespeople who descend to hound people into joining.

Or Customer Excellence isn’t the main focus of the Awards program – but a slight add on to other categories of Awards that are all kind of jumbled together into one event.

The mission of the DACH Customer Excellence Awards is different. Here it is:

By CX Experts, with CX Experts, for CX Experts

That’s not just a tagline – it’s a way of working. A touchstone.

Everyone involved in creating, organizing and running the DACH Customer Excellence Awards are ‘Customer people’ themselves.

So there’s a deep & innate understanding about what Customer people deserve when they invest their time & resources into such an event.

In last year’s event one of our Judges flew in from Amman Jordan, with many others coming in from Switzerland, the Netherlands and from all over Germany.

It’s a real commitment – and we honor that.

Thank you for reading!

To see the Winners for last year’s and previous year’s Awards and to learn more simply visit the DACH Customer Excellence Awards site at www.dach-cxa.com

The 2024 DACH Customer Excellence Awards is now open for participation & entry!

If you’d like to keep up to date with our posts and other information just send over your email address or update it in the contact form on our website.

Daniel Ord

[email protected]

www.omnitouchinternational.com

In this article I share CX lessons I learned judging CX Awards this year.

Judging CX Awards is a privilege

When I first began judging CX & Contact Centre Awards way back in 2006, I thought wow – this is so exciting. What a wonderful way to build my CV and experience as a Trainer and Consultant.

But what I quickly learned is that judging Awards is first and foremost a privilege. One that gives you unparalleled insight into what real world CX heros face every day in the real world.

And when it comes to who gets Gold, Silver or whatever hierarchy of Awards is in place, I’d say this.

The very fact that you entered and reached some Finalist level already indicates that you’re part of the ‘tribe who cares’. The distinction between first, second, third and so on is much less important.

Some suggestions for industry Awards entrants

The themes I picked up judging CX Awards

The lessons shared here don’t originate from any single Awards entry. To come up with the lessons, I identified themes that appeared across multiple Awards entries.

For example, in Lesson #1 on ‘Who leads Tech programs’, I encountered three different Finalist entries that incorporated or mentioned this topic in their entry.

I think that makes the lessons more meaningful and also protects the confidentiality of individual Awards entrants.

And for those of you out there who also do qualitative research, I’m sure that the detection and reporting of themes will be familiar to you!

Lesson #1 – Who leads Tech programs?

It was quite remarkable to read that when it came time to implement a new Tech program – such as a new Martech stack – it was the Customer Experience Team that led the program. Not the IT Department.

I had to re-read that a few times to make sure I had it right.

Because so often, technology leads the way.

And Customer Experience has to gallop and chase from behind to figure out what the technology is going to ‘do’ to the Customer Experience.

But putting the CX folks firmly in charge of leading Tech programs ensures that the Customer perspective is built in from the ground up. Call me impressed.

A couple of years ago I ran a large number of management workshops on how to successfully implement Live Chat into the channel mix .

And when I asked Participants why they were rolling out Live Chat, most told me that they were told they had to do it by their bosses.

Either because everyone else was doing it, or because that functionality was already in the software package and they wanted to maximize their tech investment.

Sound familiar?

Lesson #2 – Is CX really everybody’s job?

Across multiple entries I saw the following sentiment expressed.

It might be nice to say that CX is everybody’s job.

But the reality is that the art & science of CX requires experts. And the nuts and bolts of how CX gets done is through expert know-how and experience. Just like any formal business discipline.

I admit I loved this sentiment.

Platitudes – such as ‘CX is everybody’s job’ – don’t take organizations very far in their CX ambitions. And it doesn’t recognize the robust nature of the know-how required to get CX ‘done’.

Why not put CX-related responsibilities into everyone’s job role? That’s a great way to help bring CX to life.

And of course the CX-related responsibilities that I’d put into the jobs of my Finance folks will look different than those I put in for my Warehousing folks. But by taking this step, everyone knows what their role in CX is and how to bring it to life.

In my work with Clients I prefer to say that CX should be in everybody’s job. That strikes me as far more practical and meaningful.

And you can take that further – as many Entrants did – by providing a fundamental level of training in CX – not just Customer Service – to everyone in the Organization.

https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/what-i-learned-running-60-classes-on-cx-values-and-culture-for-one-client

Lesson #3 – There are different ways to build CX momentum

There’s a lot written about on how to get that CX momentum to start in your organization.

And different Awards entrants had slightly different experiences in how to do this.

One way – that was shared across quite a few entries – involved setting anywhere from a 6 to 12 month campaign to achieve as many small quick wins as possible. The principle being that the aggregated impact of many small wins ends up being significant.

In one memorable example, the focus was on eliminating 99 Customer pain points within a year. And that required a lot of cross-functional collaboration which in turn nurtured organizational excitement around CX.

A second way I noted was to tackle one relatively large project – one fully backed by senior management – and succeed at it.

That project then served as a showcase for other folks in the company. Folks who otherwise hadn’t been interested in CX but wanted to see what all the fuss was about and how such great outcomes were achieved.

Of course the risk here is that of actually succeeding.

And finally – one of my favorite submissions on this topic.

The Awards entrant shared that the very process of sharing broadly and deeply on CX and looking to Employees as a big source of insight on the current state of CX, kick started a completely new and more collaborative way of working with Employees.

And that Employees rewarded that sense of collaboration with even more effort.

CX lessons we can learn from the Contact Centre industry

CX lessons I learned – in closing

One last observation in closing.

Entrants specifically for CX Leader or Head of the Year Awards shared that they they were making an impact – and not just on Customers.

But on the hundreds and sometimes thousands of people who worked in their organizations.

And that while the first year – or even two – were hard, that eventually they became the go-to resource for CX in their organization – with folks actively seeking them out for advice and input.

It was this level of influence – and the resulting legacy they were creating – that seemed to be a big motivator for these terrific entrants.

Thank you for reading,

Daniel

[email protected]

CXPA Recognized Training Provider