2021 AUSTRALIAN ACHIEVER AWARDS
IF CUSTOMER SERVICE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU
YOU’RE IMPORTANT TO US
Our process has successfully helped small to medium sized businesses across Australia to measure and improve their customer service focus since 1998.
The best way to grow your business is for your customers to recommend you to their family, friends and colleagues.
An Australian Achiever Award gives you the opportunity to take full advantage of the loyalty and appreciation you get from your happy customers, extending their endorsement and influence to an even wider market.
AT A GLANCE
We support Australian businesses year on year in lots of ways, here’s a bit about us as a glance.
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YEARS RECOGNISING REMARKABLE SERVICE
REMARKABLE BUSINESS CATEGORIES
REMARKABLE BUSINESS ENTRIES
OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT CRITERIA
BUSINESS REFEREE CALLS
WE RECOGNISE THE VALUE OF SHOWCASING EXCELLENCE
Limited resources can make it difficult to use customer service as a convincing marketing tool. To simply make the claim “we serve you better” is more inclined to produce cynicism rather than new custom.
Australian Achiever Awards was created to address this problem and give businesses an unbiased and quantifiable way to be recognised for remarkable customer service commitment. We encourage, recognise and promote excellence in customer service.
The Award gives small to medium sized businesses that truly provide good customer service a responsible and credible way to showcase this commitment. With an overall score of 80% or more, a business can use the widely recognised and respected Australian Achiever logo in all their advertising and marketing campaigns, giving them a tangible competitive advantage.
MEET OUR TEAM
JODY HARWOOD / MANAGING DIRECTOR
Jody has been at the helm of the Australian Achiever Awards since 2016. Before that she had a successful Marketing career for over two decades, working in both the corporate and small business world. Jody has also been responsible for overseeing the customer service delivery in business to consumer operations both in Australia and overseas.
NEIL RAMSBOTHAM / ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Neil’s expertise is in Information Technology management as well as customer service delivery. He has held positions at large blue-chip organisations as well as with smaller businesses in Australia and overseas. He joined Australian Achiever Awards in 2016 and makes sure our systems are running smoothly.
GARRY BUSOWSKY / ASSOCIATE ADVISOR
Garry has held a long and successful career in the world of small business. He established his own software company in 1985 and successfully operated it with a team of over twenty staff. Since selling the company in 2017, he has been working as a small business strategist and adviser.
GEOFF HARWOOD / FOUNDER (RETIRED)
Geoff began his career in Advertising in 1967 in New Zealand, before transferring to Melbourne in 1978, where he managed the advertising of many prominent brands. He later established his own advertising consultancy which he ran successfully until the Australian Achiever Award concept took shape in 1998. Geoff retired in 2016.
JODY HARWOOD / MANAGING DIRECTOR
Jody has been at the helm of the Australian Achiever Awards since 2016. Before that she had a successful Marketing career for over two decades, working in both the corporate and small business world. Jody has also been responsible for overseeing the customer service delivery in business to consumer operations both in Australia and overseas.
NEIL RAMSBOTHAM / ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Neil’s expertise is in Information Technology management as well as customer service delivery. He has held positions at large blue-chip organisations as well as with smaller businesses in Australia and overseas. He joined Australian Achiever Awards in 2016 and makes sure our systems are running smoothly.
GARRY BUSOWSKY / ASSOCIATE ADVISOR
Garry has held a long and successful career in the world of small business. He established his own software company in 1985 and successfully operated it with a team of over twenty staff. Since selling the company in 2017, he has been working as a small business strategist and adviser.
GEOFF HARWOOD / FOUNDER (RETIRED)
Geoff began his career in Advertising in 1967 in New Zealand, before transferring to Melbourne in 1978, where he managed the advertising of many prominent brands. He later established his own advertising consultancy which he ran successfully until the Australian Achiever Award concept took shape in 1998. Geoff retired in 2016.
22 YEARS YOUNG (AND COUNTING…!)
We have been recognising and rewarding the customer service commitment of Australian businesses for over 2 decades! That’s an amazing success story for any business, and we are proud to say we are still going strong.
1998
The story begins
After working in Advertising for some time with large brands such as Dulux, Kit Kat and RACV, our Geoff Harwood had seen the huge amounts these businesses would spend to persuade customers to favour their brand over others. However, he could also see that if the customer was not satisfied, then no campaign would work, no matter how much money was invested – ultimately it was the the customers that had a major influence on business success or failure. From these ideals Geoff developed the Australian Achiever Awards concept, to recognise small to medium sized business in particular.
2004
Expanding the team
Olivia Champion and Judy Sturt joined the Australian Achiever team. Olivia championed customer service. Some entrants may remember her for her English accent and cheery demeanour. Judy was engaged to conduct the customer surveys and was the reliably friendly voice at the end of the phone allowing customers the confidential space to share their views.
2016
A family affair
As Geoff was nearing retirement, he thought about how he could keep the awards going for the many loyal business entrants. There was third party interest in the company, but Geoff was delighted when in discussion with his daughter Jody, he found she would be willing and able to take over the reins. Jody took over from Geoff and Olivia in 2016.
2000
Growth
As the awards steadily grew and reached a wider market, the Department of Justice enquired about our awards. We worked with them to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Australian achiever process as an independent and unbiased program. This year also saw the establishment of the Australian Achiever Awards logo trademark, cementing the logo as a marque of quality and valuable promotional tool.
2008
Independent & genuine
Australian Achiever Pty Ltd was created as a private independent company, with no government or corporate associations, in order not to influence results. Over the years requests for sponsorship have been received but declined because we value this independence. We continued to grow and engaged a local call centre to conduct the surveys enabling us to cement our objective position.
2020
Sky’s the limit
We are always looking at ways to improve our processes and add to the impact our award has for aspirational business owners. This year we will be launching a whole new online platform for our clients to streamline the process for entering and continue to offer new ways to raise the profile of Australian Achiever and those businesses that enter. Watch this space…
We have been recognising and rewarding the customer service commitment of Australian businesses for over 2 decades! That’s an amazing success story for any business, and we are proud to say we are still going strong.
The story begins
After working in Advertising for some time with large brands such as Dulux, Kit Kat and RACV, our Geoff Harwood had seen the huge amounts these businesses would spend to persuade customers to favour their brand over others. However, he could also see that if the customer was not satisfied, then no campaign would work, no matter how much money was invested – ultimately it was the the customers that had a major influence on business success or failure. From these ideals Geoff developed the Australian Achiever Awards concept, to recognise small to medium sized business in particular.
1998
Growth
As the awards steadily grew and reached a wider market, the Department of Justice enquired about our awards. We worked with them to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Australian achiever process as an independent and unbiased program. This year also saw the establishment of the Australian Achiever Awards logo trademark, cementing the logo as a marque of quality and valuable promotional tool.
2000
Expanding the team
Olivia Champion and Judy Sturt joined the Australian Achiever team. Olivia championed customer service. Some entrants may remember her for her English accent and cheery demeanour. Judy was engaged to conduct the customer surveys and was the reliably friendly voice at the end of the phone allowing customers the confidential space to share their views.
2004
Independent & genuine
Australian Achiever Pty Ltd was created as a private independent company, with no government or corporate associations, in order not to influence results. Over the years requests for sponsorship have been received but declined because we value this independence. We continued to grow and engaged a local call centre to conduct the surveys enabling us to cement our objective position.
2008
A family affair
As Geoff was nearing retirement, he thought about how he could keep the awards going for the many loyal business entrants. There was third party interest in the company, but Geoff was delighted when in discussion with his daughter Jody, he found she would be willing and able to take over the reins. Jody took over from Geoff and Olivia in 2016.
2016
Sky’s the limit
We are always looking at ways to improve our processes and add to the impact our award has for aspirational business owners. This year we will be launching a whole new online platform for our clients to streamline the process for entering and continue to offer new ways to raise the profile of Australian Achiever and those businesses that enter. Watch this space…
2020