Many large corporations, government bodies and business groups support or organise small business award nights to show their support for small business owners that operate in their area or sector. In some instances business or industry groups organise awards to raise awareness of the quality of their membership base.
Entries can either be judged by peers, customers or an awards panel that is often made up of senior business people that support the awards through sponsorship.
There are many benefits to winning a business award, be it for business excellence, innovation, quality, customer service or any other category. Here are ten reasons why you should enter your business and how to go about it:
1. If you are successful in winning a business award in a particular category you can use that acknowledgement as part of your marketing material. Think of the business award as a formal recognition of business excellence. Use it on flyers, your website or your email signature.
2. Get your staff involved in the award process. It is a great motivator for staff to be involved and they can help contribute to the entry. Think how motivated customer service staff will feel if the company is awarded for excellence in customer service.
3. Putting together a business award entry often helps business owners reflect on their success. Putting things in writing helps to clarify the direction and strategies of the company.
4. Business awards are often covered by the media and promoted by the organisations that support them. Use your entry as a chance to raise the profile of your business.
5. When considering your entry, first decide on the category. Sometimes it is better to focus on a specific category, say, innovation or customer service rather than just small business. In our experience the small business category often has the largest number of entrants, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go.
6. Look at who is judging the awards. If the awards are being judged by business professionals who work for the award sponsors, then put your entry together as if you were preparing a formal business document.
7. Download or review the questions if the award process is online entry only. If it is, get a copy of the questions and paste them into a word document so you can build your entry from there and then cut and paste the text into the relevant boxes.
8. Start by writing your answers in point form. These points can then be developed into sentences.
9. Business award entries are often word limited, or you may not be able to include diagrams or images. That means that the words you use are even more important so consider working with a copywriter to clearly articulate your point of difference.
10. If you are unsuccessful ask for some feedback and use that feedback to try again.
Once you have been shortlisted there will usually be an interview process or you may be tested by the judges using ‘secret shoppers.’
There are many great businesses out there that don’t take advantage of the many benefits that winning a business award can bring. It is after all a formal recognition of your efforts.
If you would like assistance in putting an effective business award entry together please get in touch via contact@infodec.com.au. We have a 100% track record of helping clients achieve finalist status and our clients have gone on to win awards that they are now using as part of their marketing and promotional strategy
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