Crystal D Account Manager Tawauna Garner has been named a 2024 recipient of UMAPP’s Super Star Award.

“I have never met a more positive person who will go above and beyond for her customers and coworkers,” said Cathy Klein, controller for Crystal D. “Tawauna is always upbeat and has a can-do attitude. She will keep working until she finds a positive solution for any issue.”

In nominating Garner for the award, Klein said Garner’s customers and fellow Memory Makers adore her. Klein also noted the excitement Garner brings to her job every day.

The Super Star Awards from the UMAPP trade association recognize industry professionals who have been nominated for going above and beyond expectations. UMAPP committee members review all submissions and select just three winners annually.

Garner was presented with her award by UMAPP President Chris Babiash (pictured below) at a luncheon during this month’s UMAPP Road Show.

“I am very honored to be recognized for my serving heart and can-do attitude,” Garner said. “It means so much to me to be nominated, and especially from Cathy, as she is such an amazing person and great role model.”

Garner joined Crystal D in 2016 as an order entry specialist and transitioned to order manager three years later. In April 2022, she took on the role of account manager.

“My favorite part of the job is being able to make a client’s vision come to life! I love the creative aspect,” Garner said. “And my favorite part of my day is when I have made someone else’s.”

Crystal D Account Manager Tawauna Garner and UMAPP President Chris Babiash at the April 4 award presentation.

No celebration is complete without a sweet treat! So, when a major candy company wanted to recognize employees with special awards, we helped unwrap some fun ideas.

The winning design was both eye catching and mouthwatering: Optically clear crystal that showcases the company’s signature product — a rainbow of colorful jellybeans in an array of fun flavors.

One of the pieces from Crystal D’s Encapsulate™ Gallery the award features a hollow cylinder that can be filled with just about anything that will fit (except for liquids).

We’ve seen other customers select this piece to fit a wide variety of unique themes: recognizing safety with earplugs, celebrating groundbreakings with rocks, applauding agriculture with corn, and many more. You can even add a lighted base to make it really pop!

Don’t worry: If at any time the winners from the candy company start feeling snacky, they can flip over their crystal Encapsulate award, open the plug and sneak a few nibbles!

A menu of options
Items from the Encapsulate gallery can be personalized and customized with even more fun features, including:

• Deep Etch
• 3D Subsurface
• Illumachrome™
• Colorfill

To learn more about Encapsulate awards or get other creative ideas to share with your customers, contact us!

The next time you have a panicked customer needing awards on short notice, tell them to take a deep breath and relax — because you have access to Crystal D’s Quick Ship Awards. These pieces are guaranteed to ship out to customers in just 1-2 days after art approval!  

We have more than 120 elegant awards in our Quick Ship category, and they come with an endless array of options for personalizing and designing, with pricing to fit any budget. Hear from Memory Maker Mario, one of our artisans, about which one is his personal favorite!

Browse our full selection by visiting Crystal-D.com and clicking “Quick Ship” at the top left. Remember, our Customer Solutions Specialists are here to assist with product selection, customization ideas, questions and quotes.   

Last year marked the 30th anniversary of Crystal D, and it was a milestone made possible because of the dedication of our employees and the faithfulness of our customers. There’s a lot for us to celebrate, and yet we also know that success in the future means we must be intentional about finding ways to enhance and improve our company.  

That’s why last fall we worked with a third-party provider to conduct our Voice of the Customer survey, and more than 200 of our customers took the time to participate in it! Here’s what we know about them. 

• They hailed from 29 states and have an average of 19 years in the industry.  
• Collectively, their satisfaction with Crystal D came in at 9+ out of 10.  
• They rated Crystal D at 90 percent or higher for timely delivery, and 90 percent or higher for service and support. 
• 90 percent said they trust Crystal D to deliver on its commitments 
• Their NPS score for Crystal D came in at 90. 

We are grateful for the insights shared and are taking the opportunity to reflect on where we are doing well — as well as planning on how we can do even better.  

What we learned 

Our customers provided thoughtful and candid answers about working with Crystal D, which fell into five themes. In the months ahead, we’ll be digging into each of these themes closely and sharing more about them through our company blog.  
 

• Customer service/employee excellence — Crystal D’s customer service team stood out as a deciding factor, with many mentioning specific employees by name for providing smooth and timely service, partnering with them to make complicated orders easy, and being both proactive and responsive.  
• Simple, easy, fast (and worry-free) ordering — Customers feel guided, supported and informed through every step of the process. They appreciate always knowing the status of their order and the fact that working with Crystal D makes them look good to their clients. 
• The Home of “The WOW Effect” ® — To Crystal D, this means the recipients of our awards and gifts are blown away by the meaning and quality behind them, that they can’t help but say, “Wow.” We learned that, to our customers, “Wow” also comes to mind when they see one of our meticulous awards in person, comprehend the craftsmanship, watch people receive awards, or work with a member of our team to bring an idea to life. 
• Recommending to others — Customers say Crystal D is “personable yet professional,” (in the words of one respondent), and they are eager to recommend us because they know us to be trustworthy, detail-oriented, easy to work with, creative, communicative, time-sensitive and “like an extension of your company, a real partner.”   
• Loyalty — In noting our customer service, product selection, varied price points, high-quality workmanship, and the ability to take on both small and large orders, customers return to Crystal D time after time — some as often as every single week.   

What’s ahead this year 

To continue providing world-class customer service and keeping our promise of simple pricing, easy ordering and fast production, we’ve dubbed 2024 our year of refinement. This means we are purposefully looking across our business, in all the nooks and crannies (and systems and processes, and tools and trainings…) to remove any barriers, iron out any imperfections, and strengthen any weak areas — all so we can be in the best position to continue turning emotions into memories™ for hundreds of thousands more award recipients.  

Everything we do and every decision we make is shaped by how it will support our customers.  

As always, if you have feedback about your experience working with Crystal D, or ideas for how we can better support you in engaging with your customers, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your territory manager or contact us. Thank you for being partners in making memories for award recipients around the world!