Article contributed by Heather Douglas.
Do you remember starting your business?
You got excited about your business idea. You bit the bullet and got it off the ground. You’ve worked hard to get it to where it is. The day-to-day challenges of starting and running a business keep you on your toes, and there’s a lot of satisfaction to be had in having done it all yourself and got to where you are.
Having been both an entrant and a judge in a number of other awards programmes before starting The David Awards, I know firsthand that entering an award takes a good bit of preparation and care. It also pays to tailor an entry to the category or award you are entering. If you are going to spend the time, it makes sense that it has to be worth your while. Now that BNI is a partner to The David Awards, it’s a great time to think about entering.
So why bother entering an Award?
Isn’t it just a time-consuming exercise which will take your eye off the ball for a bit and serve no real purpose? At best, isn’t it just a bit of ego-stroking for the competitive business owner?
Not so, say previous entrants of The David Awards.
Following last year’s event, we asked entrants what they thought the most important benefits of being named a finalist or winner were. A whopping 81% of respondents cited the credibility the business gains as a major benefit of entering. Other benefits included:
- Getting individual feedback from the judges
- Gaining a profile for the business
- Having to think objectively and write down information about the business
The overwhelming majority also welcomed the ease of entry, with many valuing this highly and identifying it as the thing they least wanted to be changed about the Awards. However, there’s no denying a good entry still takes time. So, is it actually worth the effort?I’ve come to realise that entrants enter awards for different reasons, but the 3 top ones tend to be:
- Taking time to think objectively about the business and get it down in writing It often strikes me how easy it is to get caught up in the everyday need to just get the work done – whatever that is. We tend to be so busy fulfilling clients’ requests, bringing in new business, keeping stock levels right or dealing with issues, that it can be hard to take a step back and assess the business overall. Ideally, all small businesses would do a regular business and marketing plan, and revisit it regularly. In reality, that is often done in the early stages of a business (in varying degrees of detail) but it can be overlooked when things get busy. It can be very motivating to be made to take a moment to think objectively and see how far you have come.BNI member Blair Ashdowne, Director of last year’s Supreme Winner, Heat Pumps NOW, says, “Just entering The David Awards was an opportunity to reflect on what our team has done in our short time as a company, and celebrate many small achievements where we have helped people. It’s brought our team closer together and reminded me personally why I started this business.
Heat Pumps Now Team at The David Awards 2015
- Benchmarking and credibility It can be hard to measure yourself against other businesses, but the fact that the judges are given some insight into all the entries and are able to rank them according to some criteria is one way to determine how you are doing compared to others. Being selected as a finalist, winner or supreme winner is a great way to build credibility for a business – especially one which may not yet be well known. Being upheld as a leader in your field is satisfying, and if you have staff, can be a great way of giving them recognition.Blair agrees, “To be a finalist was an honour in and of itself. To win Most Outstanding Fledgling Business and Most Community-Minded Business is so humbling. To win the Supreme Award as well… I’m almost at a loss for words.”
- Publicity Over the years, we’ve built opportunities for recognition and promotion into The David Awards process, with partners such as BNI working closely with us to raise awareness of the awards and promote finalists and winners to their networks and NZBusiness Magazine doing a cover story on the Supreme Winner every year, along with a lot of other promotional activity. Media releases, web site coverage and social media activity by all three partners work together to provide opportunities for winners to enhance their profile – and winning businesses are usually quick to leverage these opportunities too.
NZBusiness Cover Pure Seo December 2013
Another BNI member and winner of The David Awards Supreme Award in 2013, Richard Conway, of Pure SEO, agrees. He says, “I would recommend any small business to enter the David Awards. Winning the Supreme Award was
both an honour and surprise, it’s great to be recognised for doing what you love every day. The whole Pure SEO team gathered in the boardroom to watch the results on the big screen, the reaction when we won was amazing – the
entire team were extremely proud. We have since used momentum from the win to build and grow our business even more.”
And that’s really what The David Awards are all about – recognising and rewarding the small, ordinary “David” businesses which are doing sometimes extraordinary things as they take on, and often outperform, the Goliaths in their fields. Entries are open now, and there are plenty of categories to suit everyone, and a People’s Choice Award. Visit www.thedavidawards.co.nz and get your entry in.
Heather Douglas, Founder, The David Awards
