If your business has done great work or if you're a customer who's gotten great service, you'll want to fill out a nomination for this year's Pinnacle Business Awards, a program of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. Nominations are due Feb. 26; nominate yourself or another business in eight different categories.
The Awards Celebration on May 4 at the Raleigh Convention Center, with expected attendance of more than 500, will honor at least 25 businesses – large and small, new and long-established – for their innovation, leadership and community involvement. Through this prestigious awards program, the Chamber recognizes both emerging companies as well as companies that have exhibited a substantial history as an established business.
"It's an honor to be recognized with this prestigious award – a tremendous boost to our employees and myself, because we have worked with a focused and strategic diligence to build our business," said Denise Bennett, owner of DS Bennett Business Strategies, which won a Pinnacle Award in 2009. "Celebrating 10 years of valued service to our community, The Pinnacle Award has motivated us to even higher standards of excellence as we enter into our second decade."
Twenty of the awards are presented to companies exhibiting steady profitability and growth over the past three years. Three awards will go to companies with 1-25 employees, one to a mid-size company, and one to a company with more than 100 employees.
Additional awards are as follows:
First Citizens Bank Exceptional Customer Experience Award
Integrity in Business Award Sponsored By Greene Resources, Inc.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Wellness Works Award
The Regina M. Crooms Employer Excellence in Workforce Development Award
Smith Seal of North Carolina Sustainable Business Award
Small and Large Business Awards to five entrepreneurs whose companies have exhibited staying power, innovation and community involvement.
Steady Growth and Profitability Awards to companies that have exhibited steady profitability and growth over the past three years.
Steady Growth and Profitability Master Awards to past winning companies exhibiting steady growth and profitability.
Gold Sponsors
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Capital Area Workforce Development Board
Creative Visions
First Citizens Bank
Greene Resources, Inc.
Smith Seal of North Carolina
Silver Sponsors
Center Line
Daniel's Florist
Progress Energy
The News & Observer Publishing Co.
Ward and Smith, P.A.
Bronze Sponsors
ambius, formerly Initial Tropical Plants, Inc.
Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina RailHawks
John Costigan Companies
The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce is the Triangle's largest non-profit business membership organization made up of more than 2,500 member firms representing two-thirds of the private sector employment in Wake County. The Chamber has represented the interests of the local business community since 1888.
Sep. 06, 2010 - (by Olalah Njenga, Columnist, Marketing Strategist & Author Marketing Strategist; and owner of YellowWood Group) Too often, our enthusiasm to simply close the sale clouds our perspective. Not only are we leaving money on the proverbial table, but we are leaving something far more important on it. Opportunity! When we sell collaboratively, we roll up our sleeves and get a little dirt under our finger nails. We ask both the finite and the broad sweeping questions. We probe. We reflect. We engage. In the end, we, as sales professionals, position ourselves as the non-expendable resource that our clients are craving. We become the catalyst of opportunity making.
Don't assume that collaborative selling is merely the evolution of consultative selling. You would be mistaken. In a consultative selling relationship, sales professionals offer value, steer dialogue and uncover issues that could impede progress. In collaborative selling, sales professionals are highly involved in the interworkings of the clients' businesses. Collaborative selling demands that we work lock-step with a variety of people within the companies were we collaborate. Selling collaboratively is not for the faint at heart. It's not for the sales professionals who are happy to close the deal. Collaborative selling is for "sales rock stars". If you don't know whether you are a sales rock star or not, you probably aren't, but that doesn't mean you can't be one . . . eventually.
If you're interested in selling collaboratively, then take note, here's 3 ways to jump start the journey.
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Sep. 06, 2010 - (by Olalah Njenga, Columnist, Marketing Strategist & Author Marketing Strategist; and owner of YellowWood Group) Too often, our enthusiasm to simply close the sale clouds our perspective. Not only are we leaving money on the proverbial table, but we are leaving something far more important on it. Opportunity! When we sell collaboratively, we roll up our sleeves and get a little dirt under our finger nails. We ask both the finite and the broad sweeping questions. We probe. We reflect. We engage. In the end, we, as sales professionals, position ourselves as the non-expendable resource that our clients are craving. We become the catalyst of opportunity making.