How to Start Winning More Business Awards

Content so good that they’ll give you a trophy for it

Salesforce

Published in

Grow: For Growing Companies

5 min readJul 17, 2015

By Kim Honjo

You already know you have a terrific product, now it’s time to get honored for it. For a small business, winning awards is a great way to build credibility, differentiate themselves from competitors, and generate some positive PR buzz. Sure, it’s time-consuming to cobble together a polished submission package, but the benefits are so worth it.

So where do you start? What if you don’t have a PR team to guide you through the process? No worries. These steps below help you stay organized and give you practical tips on how to present your case.

Be selective

It’s tempting to want to cast a wide net, participating in many competitions in the hopes of winning something. However, being very selective with the competitions you enter is a better strategy since you’ll be able to: 1. target the awards and categories that you’re strongest in, and 2. devote more attention and resources to creating a quality awards package. Now check out this post which details some of the best competitions for small businesses to enter. Also look into industry-specific competitions via industry associations or publications.

Read the fine print

This one seems like a no-brainer, but I’m sure entrants get tripped up by all the cumbersome rules and regulations. Some competitions are simple to enter, others have complex rules. You don’t want to find yourself disqualified from the competition just because you went way over the word limit, or because you mixed-up the deadlines. Read the entry instructions carefully and note all important dates. There’s category selections, fees to pay, registration dates, submission dates, and then the actual submission guidelines to track, so stay sharp.

Draft an outline

Even the best writers need this. Instead of just going for it and jotting down your thoughts, draft a simple outline to stay organized and on point. An outline will help you figure out how you want to tell your story in a way that compels the judging panel; it also helps you gauge how many words to write per section. This is especially helpful when you have a word count limit, yet you want to maximize the value of your product or service. It will also probably mean you will spent a lot less time on your first draft since you’ve already got a roadmap laid out.

Show them what you’ve got

This is not the time to be modest about company achievements. This is persuasive writing — you’re trying to build a case for the judging panel piece-by-piece, so bring out your shiniest metrics, and the customer stories raving about how they can’t live without your business. Remember, when you’re writing your entry, pretend that nobody on the judging panel has ever heard of your company or knows anything about your products or services. Just like when you’re pitching to prospects, educate the judges and convince them that you’re winning.

There’s bragging and then there’s ugh …. bragging

Having said all that, if you’ve got a sales background, you know that you’re rarely going to persuade a prospect through shameless self-aggrandizement. Try to strike a sincere and authentic tone when crafting your entry. How are helping your customers? How are you solving their problems? How are you unique in your field? As English teachers always say: show, don’t tell. Try to frame your own company’s success by showing how your products and services have brought value to your customer’s lives.

Include hard numbers

Don’t forget to include solid data to back up your claims. Use metrics to support your arguments as to why you’ve achieved something special, or what makes your product successful. Now’s a good time to reiterate the fine print:, Make sure that you don’t include any sensitive information you wouldn’t want to make public. Some organizations will publish parts of submissions or use excerpts when promoting the contest. If all entries are private, you have more leeway, but just use caution.

Let your customers do the talking

Including a strong customer story or two can help build your credibility. However, be sure that you your customer signed off on that first. You can condense existing customer success stories or case studies that fit the story or theme of your award category. If you don’t have any existing case studies or success stories, you can put together an endorsement section made up of customer quotes.

Include supporting extras

Your job is to give the judges the most information you can, and sometimes visual materials helps the process. Include demo videos, slides, graphics — whatever you think will strengthen your case or help tell your story. Stick with the educational content, rather than fluffy marketing collateral. Also, double check the rules to see if slides or written extras are included in the word count limit. They often are, so you’ll have to adjust your entry submission to stay within the parameters.

Pick a winning presentation team

You may be required to present live in front of the judges. Congrats! Usually, this happens later in the process if your company has been shortlisted or are finalists for the award. Your presentation team should be a mix of affability and knowledge, so select your team wisely. During your presentation, support key takeaways from the written entry and then use the live element to your advantage, by bringing your company, products or services to life.

Receiving recognition for all of your hard work is gratifying. Aside from the promotional aspects from which you’ll benefit, winning awards and competitions can help build credibility for your company, unlock new growth opportunities, and attract new customers. If you don’t win this time around, get feedback from the judges on what you could have done better and try again next year.

Before you know it, you’ll be trying to figure out how to display all of your accolades!

Speaking of competitions, did you know that Salesforce is holding a contest for small businesses? Click here to enter Small Business, Big Impact today.