The best in the business
Organisers of the 2024 Stella Awards, the Town Centre Taupō team, from left; Alice Thompson (left), Ken Harris and Julie McLeod. Photo / Abby Dance
Taupō's Stella Awards are back, with 47 finalists announced this week and a public vote introduced for the first time.
By Dan Hutchinson
Organiser Julie McLeod says the awards recognise businesses that deliver outstanding customer experience at every point in the process — from the first social media scroll to the time the customer walks out the door.
Judges measure the entire customer journey, from website and social media presence to how a tradie greets a customer at home.
The awards are designed to be more accessible than traditional business awards programmes, with a streamlined application process that still looks at how businesses manage the full customer journey.
Julie says this year's awards feature harder, more probing questions than in previous years, to reflect how far local businesses have come since the awards began.
A public vote is also new this year and anyone can vote for their favourite business in each category.
The catch is that voters need to write at least 20 words explaining why their chosen business deserves to win.
This feedback is sent back to businesses to help them, regardless of whether they win.
The Stellar Awards Celebration Evening is set for September 11, with comedian Ben Hurley serving as MC.
Rather than crowning an overall winner, the awards recognise the top business in each of its 10 categories, plus three specialist categories where businesses from different industries compete head-to-head.
Julie says when they started the Stellar Awards, customer experience in Tāupo wasn't great.
“People weren't telling our stories right, and we just felt there was a real lack in quality of service."
Back then, the entry questions were straightforward — did the business greet customers when they arrived? How did they farewell them?
The bar has shifted considerably since.
"Customer experience in Tāupō has just gone from strength to strength.”
As a result, the questions this year are a lot harder.
The Stellar Awards differ from the Taupō Business Chamber's Business Awards, which run in alternate years.
Where the Business Awards take a broad view of a company's performance, the Stellar Awards focus on the customer journey — from the moment someone lands on a business website or spots them on social media, right through to the final interaction.
This year's application includes questions about community contribution and cross-promotion — two areas Julie sees as increasingly important to business in Taupō.
"You sponsor a sports team, maybe you get involved in one of the marathons, maybe you're planting with Greening Tāupo. There's all sorts of different ways that businesses actually give back to the community."
Cross-promotion — actively pointing customers toward other businesses in the region — was also part of the picture.
"We just wanted to see how businesses were working with others, because that also helps create a better customer experience."
Many businesses have been doing it tough, and Julie says that pressure is sharpening how owners think about their teams and their processes.
"When times are challenging, you cannot afford to lose a single customer.”
The public vote this year serves as an alternative to a mystery shop and was a nice way to seek feedback.
