Questions and Answers

If would like to submit a question please use our online Enquiry Form

Is there an entry fee?

No! The North East Contact Centre Awards are FREE to enter for all.

Is there a limit to the number of entries an organisation can submit per category?

No, you can submit as many entries as you wish for categories 1 to 7, but only one entry per organisation can be submitted for categories 8 and 9.

I am looking at promoting the Awards within our contact centre, is it possible for me to use the Awards logo on in-house promotion?

Yes that is fine, please send us your email address and we will forward the logo on to your for internal use.

We have a Team Leader who would be a great candidate for the 'Best People Developer' award. However, the criteria states that you should be working as a coach, floorwalker, trainer or buddy. Would a Team Leader be considered?

Yes, Team Leaders can apply for this category.

Are call recordings an essential requirement of supporting evidence as we would not be able to supply these under data protection laws?

Yes, we are fully aware of data protection laws and we'd expect call recordings to be supplied in accordance with those laws i.e. without personal details. In the past, all call recordings we've received have been edited so the customer is in no way identifiable. This is usually achieved via editing the WAV or sometimes the recording only starts say 15 seconds into the call once customer identification is complete. Where a contact centre is unable to edit or record the calls in this way, then we may be able to look at alternatives.

The purpose of the call recording approach, is to really give the advisers the best chance to succeed, as what we want to judge is their ability to manage customer interactions day to day, rather than under pressure because a judge is sitting next to them in a quite unique scenario.

Can you advise what is the period that supporting evidence can be drawn from?

The evidence of achievements sited in the submission needs to be current, i.e. from within the last twelve months at the date of submission (June 08 to June 09).

Is it possible to request additional application packs to distribute within our organisation?

Yes, just let us know how many application packs you require and we will be happy to post them out to you.

When will the winners be announced?

Winners and runners up from each category will be announced at the black tie Awards ceremony on Friday 6th November at Rainton Meadows Arena, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear.

Is there a limit to the number of entries an organisation can submit per category?

No, you can submit as many entries as you wish except for categories 8 and 9 which are limited to one entry per organisation.

How strict are the word limits?

We have increased the word limits for this year's Awards. Individual categories (1 to 5) are limited to 1500 words, team categories (6 & 7) are limited to 2000 words and contact centre of the year categories (8 & 9) are limited to 2500 words. There is a 10% tolerance on these limits. There is no word limit on the supporting evidence that can be submitted.

What is the deadline for applications?

The deadline for all applications is Friday 4th September 2009. All completed applications should be accompanied by an Awards entry form (which can be found at the back of the application pack) which must be signed by the nominee's proposer.

In relation to category 7 - outstanding contribution to community, what are you looking for here? Our contact centre is part of a large organisation so is it a corporate and social responsibility award for the company as a whole or just the efforts from their customer service / contact centre section?

The submission should focus on the initiatives undertaken by the contact centre, as the category is exploring the sustainability of relationships between the contact centre sector and the local community. An organisation may be able to use examples of wider corporate community engagement and interaction so long as the evidence also relates to a) the local community and b) individual staff members within the contact centre.

Unfortunately we are not able to submit a call recording as part of the supporting evidence for categories 2 and 3 - is there another option?

Where call recording is technically not possible or where the removal of personal details is not possible within the call recording process, then the judges would like to see as much evidence as possible relating to customer experience and call handling expertise in line with the criteria for the category. This could include for example, testimonials, transcripts, FCR statistics, call monitoring scores. However, you will need to provide an opportunity for judges to listen to calls either side by side or remotely via a site visit, if required following the initial judging stage. Judges will sign Non-Disclosure Agreements or other documents in line with your organisational procedures.

Is it possible to submit a call recording without breaking any data protection laws?

Yes, all call recordings must be submitted in line with data protection laws. This may involve starting the call recording once personal details have been collected for example or removing any personal details from the WAV.

I am looking at putting some candidates forward in Category 5 "Team Leader of the Year". In this category it states that the name can be different (for example Team Manager) but that you "must be working at this level within the operation". I have an Operations Manager who meets all of the other criteria (in my view) and I wanted to check if the nominee has to be a first line manger or could a manager of managers be considered?

This year, category 5 is focussed on the leadership skills of Team Leaders and Managers. We recognise that titles and associated responsibilities vary across the sector according to contact centre size for example, so we have allowed for this within the rules. We use the phrase 'working at this level in the organisation' to ensure parity so we would expect the individual to be a first line manager rather than manager of managers. If the individual has recently been promoted, then the entry would be valid, so long as the evidence relating to their time as Team Manager is made explicit.

Can public sector contact centres place entries or is it restricted to private or voluntary sector contact centres?

The North East Contact Centre Awards is open to contact centres of all sectors including the public sector. We often have entries from councils and government departments and have had both winners and runners-up from the public sector. We are also very keen to encourage new contact centres to get involved each year.

Can you confirm what the following statement from the 'Workshop Summary and Submission Checklist' on the Awards website means? 'Think about how you can integrate testimonials into the main body of the submission without impacting word count i.e. through use of pull quotes' Does this mean that the pull quotes that are used in the submission are not included in the word count?

Yes, pull quotes are not included in the word count, as the point we were making at the master class was one of presentation and helping the application come alive, add emphasis & be more personal through the integration of quotes to the main body. However, a pull quote should not be confused with full testimonials.....pull quotes are short and snappy quotations (usually captured in a bubble or large font for example) rather than long testimonials, so I would doubt whether the use of pull quotes would really impact the word count anyway, especially as we have uplifted the word counts this year in the individual categories. Full testimonials referenced within an annex, will not count towards the word limit either - but to be judged, they need to be referenced from the main body.

The only category which needs slightly more clarification, is the team leader one ... as we actually ask for testimonials as part of the criteria versus back up evidence. Therefore whilst short pull quotes are still out with the word count, these would not replace the full testimonials required to meet the criteria, as by definition pull quotes are not detailed enough to do so.

What are pull quotes?

Pull quotes are small, bite-sized pieces of information (sometimes a direct quotation from an individual, sometimes a piece of data or a sentence that succinctly captures what the writer is trying to convey) that make text more visually appealing. This is typically done by making the type font bigger than the rest of the text. (You can find an exact definition of the phrase 'pull-quote', together with a visual example, at the following site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull_quote)

Essentially, the idea of pull-quotes is to draw the readers' attention to a specific point... to emphasise a particular strength, for example, or to quote an individual who has something particularly interesting to say. Because they are so short and a design feature more than anything else, they should NOT be included in the wordcount.

There's a great document online about pull-quotes that gives you pretty much all the info you need on them and how to use them! It can be found at: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/pagelayout/ht/pull_quotes.htm

Please can I check when the judges will carrying out site visits this year?

The judges will be carrying out site visits on Thursday 15^th October. Applicants will be contacted the week before to arrange appointments.