With busy staff frequently pulled in all directions, you may not think that putting your business forward for business awards is a good idea. Entering any award requires efforts and time: it’s a fact.You may ask yourself: ‘will they match any possible benefits we may achieve?’.

There are a huge variety of awards around – from regional to national, industry based or with specific criteria. It makes no difference how big your business is: size really does not matter. Even charities and not for profit organisations can enter. Here are five reasons why submitting a business award could be good for your firm:

Reputation and trustworthiness

When your business is judged by a third party panel, a win, a short-listing or even a nomination can improve credibility and assurance. A business award win can give a seal of approval that your prospect, existing clients or even suppliers need.  Award wins portray a sense of quality and you may even use them as part of your sales pitch or on your website. It’s a great way of differentiating your company from competitors and will send out positive signals to customers. 

Staff Retention

Motivating and retaining staff may be daunting. Winning awards helps to acknowledge constant and diligent work and may boost morale, energy and improve motivation. It is important to feel that you are part of a great team and be proud of it. Celebrating winning is also another great way to boost internal communications. It does not have to be a pricey or stuffy ceremony. Cakes and drinks can do the job.

Self-promotion

Awards can be treated as free PR tools. They are a great way to increase brand visibility and create awareness around your organisation. Your company details will be included in any promotional material sent out buy the awards organisers (e.g.: your logo, website, social media channels). Recognition pre and post awards are always good ways to engage with your customers, suppliers or even internally with your staff. So, if you are finalist or a winner, they are both equally exciting times to blow your own trumpet so to speak. Hard work that is rewarded through the form of an award is another way to open doors to getting contracts, networking, finding new supply channels and breaking into new markets.

HR and Recruitment

Particularly if you work in a niche industry, recruitment can be a hard job. However winning business awards can endorse your company and its prestige within the job-seekers arena. This also helps to expose yourself as the best in your market or in the region and as a result you may captivate people with the right skills you were after. Increased staff morale will also help you with retention and less staff turnover. Let’s face it: we all like to be part of a great team, so my advice is not to be shy when it’s time to celebrate hard work and success.

Business Appraisal

The application forms you need to fill in require you to examine your business from another viewpoint and seeing it from another perspective. You almost feel you need to compare yourself to your competitors. You need to see this as a good bench marking exercise. Other elements come in that will force you to look at your business’ growth, creativity, innovation, sales, marketing and customer service, as well as HR and personnel. These are crucial elements of self-analysis and honestly identifying things that we could do better.

Written by Claire Spillane, Finance Director, Westermans International.

Recognised for its continued growth and industry excellence, Westermans International supplies refurbished welding equipment, CNC Plasma cutting systems and positional machinery around the world. Founded over 50 years ago by MD Peter Westerman, who received a special merit Lifetime Achievement Award this year, in recognition of his lifetime contribution of his outstanding business significance within the welding industry.