WILMINGTON, Mass. () – UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), an industry leader in the supply and servicing of uniforms, workwear, and facility service products, was presented with a Silver Stevie® Award in the Customer Service & Call Center category at the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. This is the third Stevie accolade that UniFirst has won for customer service in recent years.
The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world’s top honors for customer service, contact center, business development, and sales professionals. The Stevie Awards organizes eight of the world’s leading business awards programs, including the prestigious American Business Awards® and International Business Awards®.
UniFirst’s silver-winning entry for 2020 was for a weekly customer training program called 30 on Thursdays. UniFirst’s centralized customer service team, located in Owensboro, KY, is responsible for answering and attending to thousands of customer email and telephone inquiries each month. The program had an immediate impact on improving overall customer satisfaction, including reduced call handling times (lowered average call handling times by 26.7 seconds) and improved email response times (handled 21% more inquiries in FY 2019 compared to FY 2018).
The 30 on Thursdays program was the brainchild of UniFirst Customer Service Supervisor Lori Hoagland. “We’re so grateful for this service recognition,” Hoagland said. “The 30 on Thursdays program was a simple investment with an outstanding return. It’s allowed us to provide measurably faster quality service to our customers by empowering our (employee) Team Partners, and it’s helped us fortify our efforts to being a best-in-class service leader in our industry. We have a hard-working team that focuses on providing excellence in service to our customers with every point of contact, and this accolade confirms that.”
More than 2,600 nominations from organizations in 48 nations of all sizes and in almost every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 180 professionals worldwide on seven specialized judging committees. Entries were considered in more than 90 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; more than 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.
“Stevie Award winners from around the world should be very proud of their achievements. The judges were impressed with the vast range of nominations submitted for 2020 and have agreed that their accomplishments are worthy of public recognition,” said Stevie Awards executive chairman, Michael Gallagher.
Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the list of Stevie winners in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/sales.
About UniFirst
Headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and workwear programs, as well as the delivery of facility service programs. Together with its subsidiaries, the company also provides first aid and safety products, and manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. UniFirst manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products; and with 260 service locations, over 300,000 customer locations, and 14,000 employee Team Partners, the company outfits more than 2 million workers each business day. For more information, contact UniFirst at 888.831.1787 or visit UniFirst.com.
About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. 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 https://stevieawards.com.
Sponsors of the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include HCL Technologies, Sales Partnerships, Inc., and ValueSelling Associates, Inc.
Contact:
Adam Soreff
Director of Marketing and Communications
UniFirst Corporation
68 Jonspin Rd.
Wilmington, MA 01887
978.527.4349
ASoreff@UniFirst.com
