How the COSA Winners Are Chosen
1. To become a COSA winner, individuals and teams must first be nominated by a peer, vendor or retailer. For each submission, we ask for specific anecdotes illustrating how the nominee delivered superior customer service, as well as how they overcame a negative situation. For 2016, we received nearly 1,200 nominations.
2. Our judging panel independently reads the entries over the course of nearly one month, selecting the most impressive nominees. Votes from the group are used to determine the finalists, the top five contenders in each category.
3. The finalists are secretly visited on the job by independent mystery shoppers over a period of three weeks, each time by a different individual who completes a standardized report on the experience.
4. To assess the few categories where mystery shopping is not possible (such as Best Service by a Trainer), we request that multiple colleagues fill out a detailed questionnaire, attesting to each finalist’s exceptional abilities.
5. Judges review all of the material independently, then cast their votes for the ultimate winner in each category. With this multi-level process, we make the COSAs as fair and accurate as possible.
About the COSAs
Every year, Cosmetics and leaders in the beauty industry come together to honour the best customer service in Canadian beauty retail. The inspiring winners of our annual COSA Awards not only help their clients, but go above and beyond—consistently exceeding expectations, developing lasting relationships and striving to ensure the success of this business.