Based on the call centers SQM benchmarked between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010, we recognize the following Service Quality Award of Excellence Winners for 2010.

Vernon, BC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/07/2010 -- SQM benchmarks over 450 leading North American call centers on an annual basis and has been conducting first call resolution (FCR), employee satisfaction (Esat) and customer satisfaction (Csat) benchmarking studies since 1996. On an annual basis, SQM conducts over 1 million surveys with customers who have called a call center. SQM also conducts over 25,000 surveys annually with employees who work in call centers. Based on our call center benchmarking studies, SQM awards excellence in customer and employee satisfaction for the call center industry. We have recognized top performing call centers for customer and employee satisfaction since 1998. For each call center that participated in our customer benchmarking study, SQM completed 400 post-call phone surveys, conducted by SQM's telephone survey representatives. SQM uses an in-depth post-call customer survey approach that consists of both rating questions and follow-up customer feedback questions that can be used to help the call center improve their FCR and Csat performance. SQM awards are based on customers who have used a call center and employees who work in a call center. SQM conducted the benchmarking studies for the period of October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010. SQM has 37 different awards that recognize the top performing call centers. Based on the call centers we benchmarked, SQM recognizes the following Service Quality Award of Excellence Winners for 2010.

Call Center of the Year Award Winner

SCOTIABANK

Criteria used for Call Center of the Year are based on having the highest combined customer and employee overall very satisfied (top box response) rating.

Certified World Class Csat Call Centers

• Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas
• Canadian Tire Financial Services (RA)
• Citi Client Services - Dealer Support (Ontario)
• Citi Retail Services - Credit Operation (Arizona)
• Davis + Henderson (Ontario & Quebec)
• Insurance Corporation of BC (Claims Division)
• Jackson National Life Insurance Co. (Michigan)
• Marriott Systems Support Center (Maryland)
• Rogers Business Support Group (Central)
• Scotiabank (Alberta, Dominican Republic & Nova Scotia)
• Sun Life Financial Group Retirement Services (Ontario)
• VSP Vision Care (California & Ohio)

Criteria used for Call Center World Class Call Certification is 75% or higher of the calls are at the world class level for 6 months or more in 2010.

http://www.sqmgroup.com

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Call Center Industry Leader for Customer Satisfaction Research and Best Practices

Vernon, BC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/04/2010 -- SQM Group a Vernon, British Columbia company is the call center industry leader for benchmarking, improving and certifying world class first call resolution (FCR), employee satisfaction (Esat) and customer satisfaction (Csat) performers. SQM Group is honored to be recognized by PROFIT Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada. In their June 2010 issue, PROFIT Magazine published a case study on SQM's ability to achieve a 401% revenue growth over the last five years while maintaining a 95% client retention rate.

"We are extremely proud of our revenue growth and client retention rate and being recognized for our accomplishments by PROFIT Magazine, especially considering the fact that the 200 companies that PROFIT Magazine ranks are the fastest growing companies in Canada. Also, SQM's revenue growth is notable because our revenue growth was achieved the old-fashioned way of acquiring one client at a time with an exceptionally high client retention rate and without taking on any debt to help grow our business", says Mike Desmarais President and Founder of SQM.

Our growth is the result of providing our call center clients with products and services that help reduce their operating cost, improve their customer satisfaction, reduce their customers at risk and increase their opportunities to sell to customers. The bottom line is that our secret ingredient is our clients' success.

Since 1996, SQM Group has been the call center industry leader for benchmarking, improving and certifying sites, managers and CSRs for their FCR, Esat and Csat performance. Over 70% of our tracking clients improve their FCR performance year over year and for those clients that have improved they have experienced on average a 5% FCR improvement. For the average call center SQM benchmarks, a 1% improvement in their FCR performance equals $276,000 in annual operational savings. When you improve your FCR, not only do you achieve operational savings, you also reduce customers at risk which is typically a 5-10 times greater savings opportunity than the operational FCR improvement savings.

About PROFIT Magazine
PROFIT Magazine: Your Guide to Business Success is Canada's preeminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For 28 years, Canadian entrepreneurs and senior managers across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it's a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them achieve business success and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change.

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