International Checkout, Inc., of Santa Monica, California, won the Stevie Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year (up to 100 employees) in the 2008 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and CEO Saskia Strick won the Stevie for Executive of the Year in a Service Industry in the 2009 American Business Awards.

Former fashion model Saskia Strick was recently recognized by The American Business Awards for single-handedly creating a business model unlike any that had existed before. 

The company that she formed in 2002, International Checkout, Inc., provides an innovative solution that enables retailers to tap into the billions of dollars spent online by international consumers each year with no associated risks or difficulties. International Checkout assumes all fraud risk, guaranteeing payment to its retail partners in US dollars. For the consumer, it means a straightforward payment and fulfillment services, and a world-class multi-lingual customer service.

Accepting the Stevie Award in New York in June, Strick said: “I am extremely honored to receive this recognition from the American Business Awards and its judges—but I couldn’t have done it without the support of my extraordinary staff, our U.S. merchant partners, and our loyal customers around the globe.”

Satisfied Customers—and Retailers
From its facility in Santa Monica, California, International Checkout provides a turnkey integrated solution that includes a full range of services for retailers and consumers. Merchants are able to open their sites to the rapidly growing world market within a few short hours of becoming a partner. Consumers worldwide can now browse and add items to the shopping cart directly on the merchant’s website. With the click of an “International Checkout” button, the contents of the cart are seamlessly transferred to the AJAX-driven single-page checkout for the fastest, easiest level of performance and maximum conversion rate. Customers receive real-time price quotes, with a currency conversion tool for convenience, and the option to include duties and taxes.

The International Checkout purchasing team places orders on behalf of the international customers directly on the merchant’s website, following the normal checkout procedures and paying with US credit cards. The merchant ships to the International Checkout facility in Santa Monica, California. Each order is then inspected, packed, and shipped to the customer’s doorstep via FedEx or UPS, traceable and insured, anywhere in the world.

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By Keith Rosen

Keith Rosen won the Stevie Award for Sales Education Leader of the Year in the 2008 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Stop. Just stop for the next several minutes that it’s going to take you to read this. Okay, now take a breath. Get off the treadmill for a moment and ask yourself some questions. Yes, these questions are that important. So important, in fact, that they could change your entire perspective of what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how much you really need to be doing in order to generate the worthwhile results you’re looking for.

Because the truth is, you just may be running so fast in an attempt to catch up on your sales numbers that you don’t recognize the blinders you’ve developed—blinders that are obstructing your view of the fuller picture when it comes to driving the right sales activity. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself (and your sales team):

With all the effort I’m putting forth in my attempt to generate as much business as possible:

- Am I aware of the activities and benchmarked proven practices (both the activities and the dialogue/message I need to communicate) that I need to engage in daily to secure my success?

- Am I measuring the numbers and the results of my efforts and allowing these statistical data points to be the driving force behind my sales activities?

- When attempting to convert a contact into a qualified prospect, do I know how much cold-calling and prospecting activity is actually enough (emails, voice mails, live calls/connections, letters, and so on), and when to call it quits and move on?

 - Do I know how many calls/contacts I need to make each day, each week, and how often I need to follow up with a qualified prospect in order to earn their business or move them to the next stage of my sales process? (And have I even defined those specific steps in my sales process to begin with?)

- Do I hold myself accountable when it comes to engaging in the right activities in the most efficient way possible through the effective use of a daily routine?

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uTest won the Stevie Award for Best New Company of the Year in The 2009 American Business Awards. uTest is the world’s largest marketplace for software testing services. The company provides real-world testing services through its community of 18,000+ professional testers from 150 countries around the world. More than 400 companies – from web start-ups to enterprise software firms – have signed up for the uTest marketplace.

		Read the full text of uTest's Stevie Award-winning entry ...

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