There’s value in the process: Why you should enter business awards, and seven winning strategies

It’s award season, can you tell?

Have you been getting all the emails asking you to nominate a successful business that you know deserves to be the winner? Who do you think of automatically?

Why isn’t that you?

Business owners have survived year one of a global pandemic, and that is award-worthy. Say yes, enter, then nominate a friend you know that also runs a good business.

If you have never entered an award, the first one is terrifying. There are masses of information that are going to come at you fast. The simplest thing you can do is to read it and make a mind map. Most of the big awards are going to want similar information. Once you’ve gone through writing for one submission, it is a simple re-write to suit another and then upgrade it from year to year.

The submissions pack will come in many different shapes and sizes; breathe and read. Copy all of the forms you receive in one folder on the computer and label them wisely so you can find what you need when you need it.

You will have a user guide for online submissions on how to use and upload to the award portal, an entrant guide book, rules and regulations, and the category questions that you must answer. When I receive the submissions pack, I start a Word document, and I paste all the relevant criteria in it and then colour it red. 

My word document has the questions that I need to answer, and any hints or tips suggested to help me answer them. Then I type in my thoughts in bullet point form in black. These bullet point thoughts become the paragraphs and final answers. 

Make a start when you get the pack, even if the Word document is all you do. It will be set out in your mind and the brilliant thoughts will start coming to you. When they do, you will be ready to jump in and add them. They come like bolts of lightning at 3am and I find that’s an excellent time to write, in the quietest part of the day. Research is much quicker when you have the whole internet to yourself.  

Write the answers like you were talking directly to the judge, be creative, be funny, and stand out from the crowd. There’s only one you, so be you! Toot your horn, wave the flags, and raise the banners. Now is your chance to be boastful.

Be diligent about the writing process and less so about making it pretty in the early stages. I have spent hours making a beautiful document featuring bullet points with no meat on their bones. Don’t do that!

Allow yourself the reward of making it pretty after the work is done.

Why go through all this trouble?

Going through this process makes you look at your business differently; just going through the motions of an awards submission is an excellent business practice. You will see where you can improve your business, and you will see the things that you can be proud of, which will give you more energy to work on your business.

When I made my first submission, we had been in operation for 16 years; I was tired and didn’t have the directions to drive forward. I was getting through each day, doing what I always did. Writing the submission gave me a real sense of pride, and it reminded me of all the things that I had achieved in those years. It also pinpointed the places where I’d like to go next, and it laid out a sensible road map forward.

You can write a thousand business plans and miss the mark entirely, but you pick up on things that you wouldn’t naturally consider on your own when you write an awards submission.

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Read the questions and the judges’ hints, write the answers before you pretty up the layout.

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Covering your ‘Ws’

The first question is usually the history and description of your business. I call this the ‘W’ question; you need to cover when, where, why, what, and who.

Ask yourself these types of questions, and then ask your staff to answer them as well. Put the most common answer in the mind map.

The W’s

1. When

   When did you start? When did you make a difference to the community?

2. Where

   Where are you located? Where do your products or services go?

3. Why

   Why did you start? Why should you win this award?

4. Who

   Who are you? Who are your staff and who are your clients?

5. What

   What product or service do you offer? What did you do to improve this year?

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Write each answer as a whole. You will feel like you are repeating yourself but sometimes the submissions are split up so that one judge is reading all of the Question 1 answers while another judge is reading all of the Question 2’s. You will want each answer to stand on its merit.

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Proof of success

The questions following your ‘Ws’ will be determined by the type of award you are entering, but they mostly follow a similar format. Some business awards will ask for your financials, but not all of them. You will have to prove that you have documented processes to back up what you are saying.

A letter from your accountant is usually enough, along with a table of contents of your business plan. Usually, there will be a site visit, and a judge will ask to look at the documents, but they will not read them or copy them in any way. If you are asked for your financials or whole business and marketing plans, ask who will be receiving them. Don’t get caught in a scam.

The business section is my biggest challenge as it bores me senseless, so I use many colourful graphs and charts to tell the story. I am sure your judge would prefer that too.

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Get savvy with a graphic design tool. I use Canva to make my business section colourful.

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How you sell your business

Marketing is the fun part. The judges will want to know that you can tell a good story and that you know your customer. Use your best images to tell your company story, or better still, have a professional photographer come and capture some new ones. 

When was the last time you photographed your business and staff? Images are everything in my business; it’s pretty hard to explain an off-road motorcycle tour without them. While we are constantly receiving images from our riders, I never seem to have a perfect shot that explains the story in my head.

Don’t be fooled to think that the judges will only be looking at your submission. They are curious humans, too, and any good judge will be stalking your website and your social media profiles, so you better be who you say you are. Tidy up that website and make it shine. Add some business to your social profiles and be proud to share it with your friends and family.

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Clearly define your best image and display that everywhere. What is your business? Get that answered in professional photographs.

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The people factor

Then there could be questions along the lines of staff training, customer service, community service, sustainability, business ethics and environmental issues. Where does your business shine in each of these categories?

Tell the story, and don’t forget to answer each question.

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Most awards will have a total word count. I like to divide the word count across each question; for example: if the word count is 8000 words and there are four questions, I will aim to write 2000 words in each answer.

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Writing an awards submission is business planning.

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Something to look forward to

The final bonus is that you get an invitation to the best business party of the year. You’re going to be in the room with all the people that are just like you. You’re going to be in the room with people who’ve succeeded before you, and those stories are inspiring fodder for your business. It will give you something to look forward to and a reason to go out and buy the dress! 

Enjoy your night, and best of luck.

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Make sure you answer each question. Don’t lose points because you didn’t answer one.

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