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Company: Stephen Gill Associates
Company Description: Stephen Gill Associates is a multi-award winner international HVACR Engineering Consultancy based in the UK specialising in Building Services for Food production facilities.Formed in 2004 by Stephen Gill with the conscious policy decision to be'better rather than bigger'. During 2013 SGA took the subtle but significant step-up from‘Consultant’to‘Trusted Advisor’ to business leaders and Governments
Nomination Category: Solution Provider Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service or Call Center Consulting Practice of the Year

Nomination Title: Stephen Gill Associates

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has achieved since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes: TEXT REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION

Engineering Consultancy is rarely thought of in the context of customer service. Many engineering and technical consultancies get overly focused on technical matters and lose sight of the essential customer service relationship nature of professional transactions; so few technical consultants talk the client’s language. Consultants and contractors, and clients for that matter, have a habit of speaking their own language and we end up speaking different languages which leads to confusion at best. Stephen Gill Associates (SGA) are recognized experts in their field of engineering but their success has been built upon providing exceptional customer service at all times as testimony from their clients will demonstrate.

During 2013 SGA’s work took the subtle but significant step-up from ‘Consultant’ to ‘Trusted Advisor’ to business leaders around the globe. When it comes to making those really significant decisions which effect operations and policy, it is usual for business leaders and key policy makers to turn to those that they can truly trust.

In Europe, and elsewhere in the world, one issue is dominating the HVACR industry at the moment; namely refrigerant phase-out due to environmental issues and concerns. This is a complex issue often requiring significant investment and disruption to large refrigeration users such as food producers. One of the largest Food producers in Europe – 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) (themselves multi-award Winners) employed SGA to advise them on not only their refrigerant issue but also their wider environmental impact issues. For 2SFG there were some huge decisions to be made; they turned to SGA for their professional advice.

SGA have been multi-award winners during 2013 gaining awards at the prestigious ACR News Awards and also the HVR Awards.

A conscious policy decision to be ‘better rather than bigger’ was made some years ago. SGA are never going to be able to compete with the large consultancies when it comes to resources. However, they can compete on quality. They aim to offer a world-class consultancy service which has gained them a reputation that is the envy of many of the much larger consultancies.

The range of projects undertaken in the Award qualifying period is astonishing: ranging from retro-fitting buildings to achieve award winning status to possibly the largest refrigerant phase-out project in European Food production which has the aim of drastically reducing energy consumption. This has been a ‘once in a life-time’ opportunity which will leave a lasting legacy for decades to come.

It is not easy for small Engineering Consultancies to compete with the major players. SGA have done so for the past ten years which is quite an achievement in itself. SGA’s range of ‘blue-chip’ clients speaks for itself. Small consultancies are no less deserving of an award than the larger ones.

Most importantly: SGA still put the customer experience as the highest priority. This is why they deserve to be recognized with Stevie, because exceptional customer service is the foundation of everything they do.

Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Stephen Gill is an experienced international business manager and company director with a strong engineering background, having spent much of his 30 years’ experience at senior management or board level. He has an MBA from Loughborough University and an LLM from De Montfort University.

Stephen is a high-profile industry leader in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry. Well known as a highly respected consultant and also for his work with industry bodies. He is a regular contributor to business and technical magazines and books. His blog for ACR-News on ‘Exceptional Customer Service’ in April 2013 become the most viewed page in the 10 year history of the site with more views even than their home page!