Common mistakes in business award entries

Anyone who’s entered an award will tell you how much they benefited from the process. That’s because winning or being shortlisted for a business award has endless upsides: it grows your business’s profile; it gives staff a boost; it provides a marketing story to share with customers and targets; and it can even attract new employees and potential investment. Importantly, entering business awards gives you time to pause, to set out what you have achieved, and where your business is going. In a nutshell, preparing a business award submission is a time to appreciate your achievements. Most of all, have fun; take the opportunity to enjoy looking back at your successes and your future journey. Having said that, there are lots of common mistakes that business award entrants make that jeopardise their opportunity for success. Here we share the common mistakes that entrepreneurs, start-ups and even seasoned businesspeople and businesses make when writing business award entries in Australia and New Zealand.

1. Not being honest with themselves

Are you or is your business truly outstanding? Have you or your business genuinely achieved something deserving of a business award? Do you have real substance behind you that will make your award entry stand out? Being frank with yourself will save you time, and possibly money. That’s because your entry needs to show that what you do goes beyond what is normally expected of anyone else doing the same job or running a similar business. This is an essential point. Many entrants make the mistake of confusing being ‘standard’ with being ‘super’. You must be able to demonstrate how you’ve worked / achieved / competed / strategised / innovated differently to everyone else. What is it that you do that adds genuine value? Whether you’re writing an award entry for a local, state or national business award, it’s crucial that your own story comes across. Your story must be compelling, with facts about you and your achievements, persuasive data and authenticity.

2. Not checking all the terms and conditions first

There’s a lot to think about before you start writing. First up, read each question and its criteria very carefully, but don’t overlook all the T&Cs which will have been published with the entry requirements. Many entrants overlook important details such as ‘Submit a minimum of five images’ or ‘Upload a two-minute video explaining why you deserve to win’. So, check the award entry criteria before you start writing your response to ensure you’ve covered every base.

3. Not writing transparent award entries

The judges want to hear from businesses or businesspeople who are making progress. These are people or companies that are delivering great outcomes to others, increasing their market share, revenue and profit, launching innovative products or services, or overcoming significant challenges. Unfortunately, when writing business award entries, many entrants forget to explain why they deserve to win. They fail to set out in a compelling, interesting way the strides that they, their team, and their business are making. More often, entrants write very generally about their businesses, products or services. They don’t address the specifics of their successes. Or, they make sweeping statements about their successes but don’t provide any evidence to support their claims. When asked about challenges or successes, explain what you did and how you overcame the challenge or what you did to achieve the success. Importantly, describe the outcomes for you, your business or employer, customers or clients or colleagues. Be straightforward: it’s not about boasting, or embellishing your words; it’s about being authentically you. Equally, don’t be overly modest – you need to describe your achievements and how you’ve made a difference.

4. Not presenting hard, precise evidence

As noted above, it’s very important that your award entry does more than articulate what you have achieved. It needs to include quantitative and qualitative data as hard evidence for your achievements, results or successes. You may have increased profit, grown social media engagement, or increased employee engagement. Whatever it is doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you have evidence to support your claims. This may be figures or data, testimonials, media coverage or an explanation of what you have achieved or how you have added value to the business. The two types of evidence are:

1. Qualitative measurement is non-numerical, usually verbal data. It can be client feedback, testimonials or survey results.
2. Quantitative data is about the numbers. Including percentage increases or decreases is an effective way of presenting information.

Examples of data that you include to strengthen your award submission include:

• Product: new products and uptake.
• Financials: increase in revenue, gross margin or net profit.
• Sales: more sales, higher rate of conversions.
• Marketing: social media engagement increases, growth in leads.
• Customer service: NPS or survey results, reduction in complaints, high-scoring online ratings.
• Your people: less staff turnover or absenteeism, more new staff, more training courses.

This is what the judges really want to see – evidence of how your efforts have helped your clients. For example, rather than saying, ‘I was the top salesperson in April; I set up 43 new mortgages’, try writing: ‘I’m delighted that April saw me assist many of my clients on the road to buying their first family home by establishing 43 new mortgage arrangements at highly competitive interest rates.’ Can you see the difference?

5. Writing their business award entry at the last minute

While business awards have long lead times, it’s natural to procrastinate. And you know how quickly time passes! So do your award entry justice and make sufficient time to write it. Giving yourself enough time means you won’t have to write your entry all in one go. In fact, it’s a good idea to go through a number of drafts. Start by making a cup of coffee or tea and while you’re sipping, note down your thoughts on the answer to each question. Your notes don’t have to be full sentences – just your initial thinking on what you want to write in response to each question. Make a note too about whether you have to provide data, such as financial records, referees, or perhaps a business plan, as these things can take time to pull together.

6. Not writing award entries in the first person

No matter if you are entering a business award as an individual or an employee, write in the first person. Use ‘I’: I achieved this…, I introduced that… If it is the company that is entering, use ‘we’: we achieved this…, we introduced that… Writing in the first person makes your business award entry more personal; it’s just like talking directly to the judges.

7. Making their best point last

To catch the judges’ attention, your award entry needs to start strong. Your response to each question must open with a positive sentence, and a paragraph to back this up. The sentence will condense into a few words your main point of response to that question. In other words, your opening sentence must be, in effect, your selling point for that response. You could perhaps include an attributed testimonial to give power to your claims and set the scene as to why you should win. From there, your answers should all go on to support your opening remarks and make a solid overall case. The point is, don’t leave it until your last paragraph for each response to try to make an impact. The judges may well have made their decision long before.

8. Forgetting to double-check everything before they submit their entry

Look after all the details. Once you’ve finalised your entry, double-check that you have all the additional information requested, such as financial statements or your video. And lastly, proofread the entry or ask someone who’s not been involved in writing it to do this for you.

9. Giving up too soon

If you don’t win on your first attempt, don’t be too discouraged. Business awards are competitive. But don’t forget that there are many business and industry awards to choose from. You may have entered an industry award, but there are also general business awards to consider, too. Entering a business award is a great way to reflect on where your business has succeeded. It may also highlight where there’s still work to be done, so the effort is never wasted. Don’t forget that it takes courage to ‘put it out there’ and lay your business open to scrutiny – and that’s an achievement in itself.

10. Not getting professional help writing their award entries

Your chances of winning an award that could raise your business to a higher level of prestige improve dramatically when you collaborate with a professional award writer. And there’s a bonus: you can use written award content in other award entries, on your website, marketing materials, capability statements and so much more. For help with award writing, contact Proof Communications. With over 90% of our clients shortlisted for awards and 73% going on to win, we can make your entry as compelling as possible.

How to find out about awards or get help with writing award entries

If you are looking for extra help in crafting an outstanding business awards submission, our award writers are here to help. Contact us or ring us on 1300 776 637.