Writing Success: Telstra Business Awards Nominations

This week's lead article comes from one our Heart Harmony writing team - Melinda Hutchings. Melinda is the author of "Fighting for Life; Anorexia the Road to Recovery", (Hale & Iremonger 2000) and How to Recover from Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders (Hale & Iremonger 2001). She has another book due to be released later in the year and is truly an inspiration.

Melinda is also fantastic when it comes to writing Telstra Business Awards nominations - which is why I have asked her to be our guest author for the week.

The journey to build a successful business can often become lost in the passage of time and buried in ‘to do’ lists. Yet when the journey itself is acknowledged, how far you’ve come is revealed.

Part of my responsibility as co-founder and marketing director of the company I helped build into a business with 26 employees and an annual turnover of $5million, was to compile the Telstra Business Awards submission document. After three consecutive years of writing and compiling this document, imagine my excitement when the company was chosen as a Finalist.

But it wasn’t just the accolade that was exciting. It was the process we went through as a team, to put the company’s journey on paper, acknowledge our achievements and how far we’d come, not only as a company, but as individuals and professionals.

The Telstra Business Awards provides a platform from which to delve into the infrastructure of your business and view it from a different perspective.

Having been involved in this process for several years, I would like to share some tips when compiling your entry submission.

First, check your eligibility by following the link at the base of this article, then fill out the nomination form online.

When putting your submission together, here are some steps to consider:

Assign a team of employees to the task. It’s a good idea to bring in people from different areas of your business to allow diverse perspectives.
Once you have chosen your Telstra Awards Team, hold an open forum to discuss questions and brainstorm. Designate one person to take notes and ask that they circulate a review of discussions to the team.
Set a timetable from the outset of weekly meetings to ensure every team member locks these dates and times in their diary.
Use these weekly meetings to monitor progress. This will motivate the team as they see the submission document start to take shape.
Have each person allocate a certain number of hours per week in advance to ensure workloads are managed.
Share the load. Allocate questions to different team members depending on their areas of expertise (eg. marketing, financial) and ask that they write a draft response. As written expression differs from person to person, it is important that one person ‘owns’ the copy to preserve the flow.

Tips for the entry submission:

Identify the key strengths of the business as a whole, then break it down to your product/service and unique selling points.
Show, don’t tell. Wherever you can, give concrete examples to back up your claims. For example, if you mention you provide support for employees undertaking external studies by providing flexible hours and study leave entitlements, list examples of employees’ academic achievements. Include statistics to show how your business is filling a niche e.g. for a recruitment agency ‘the unemployment rate is currently x% and therefore our company’s aim is to place candidates in the fastest growing categories we have identified as…’ or for an online dating agency ‘online dating has increased x% since the year 2xxx, and our company has firmly established its place in this market by…’
This may sound like an obvious one, but do not exceed the page limit. It’s tempting to want to include more information because you’re so passionate about your business, but you don’t want to risk having your hard work overlooked.
Show how you established credibility in your field by naming any awards your company has been shortlisted for or won, or listing corporate affiliations.
Communicate messages in a positive way i.e. instead of using the word ‘don’t’, take the opposite context.
Separate the copy into headings, as this makes it easier to read and follow, and use bullet points where necessary. This will keep the information concise.
Ensure the format is consistent throughout, including heading and sub heading fonts.
Have someone read through the final draft backwards. This is one of the most effective ways to proof read.

As the entry submission comes together, the sense of pride and level of staff motivation will be enormous. So, if you don’t make the cut, throw a party to celebrate how far you’ve come. And if you do, the opportunities to network and gain exposure for your company will offer another amazing journey.

To nominate your business (or to nominate your favourite business), visit:

http://www.telstrabusinessawards.com/

Melinda Hutchings is a Freelance Writer and Business Consultant. If you would like Melinda to help compile and write your entry submission for the Telstra Business Awards, email her at: info@melindahutchings.com

HR Tip of the Week - Award Ceremonies are Great Motivators

award ceremonies If your business is nominated for an award, the temptation for many companies is to limit the attendance to just the Executive team. But bringing some of your key employees can be amazingly motivating for both you and the team.

At the ceremonies, usually the achievements of the finalists are read out. This will give your employees some different ideas for success and productivity improvements based on others' achievements.

When your company's achievements are read out it can help your employees realise that many of the things they may take for granted are in fact seen as pretty special by other people. Sometimes it is enough to shake the "ho hum" feeling and put the sparkle back in to their work.

The actual act of sitting and chatting with the boss in a social setting is also a great motivator for many people. They love to be able to "have the bosses ear" at times. For you having your employees join you will give you a window into your business that you often don't get.

So the next awards night - invite a few of your top performers along to celebrate with you. Even if you don't win an award - you could win in terms of team motivation and productivity.

Book of the Week - How to Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get to Heaven

Continuing on the series of influential books, this one by Dr John Demartini is one that I often refer people to. It looks at the whole concept of how you can be spiritual and still make money in business.

Dr John Demartini is one of the most well-read of all the current spiritual teachers - with his wisdom well grounded in practical application. He was one of the first people to teach me the link between self esteem and net worth. He also teaches principles such as fair exchange, the power of appreciation, and evolutionary investing.

If you are on a spiritual path and want to know how to blend your path with your business this is a must read.

Deceptively simple - easy to apply - life changing.

Blog Post of the Week - Are You A HOT Communicator

Many people struggle with putting pen to paper. In this post I look at what makes HOT communication and how you can boost the sizzle of your communication.

Next Week ...

How to Write Resumes that Win Interviews.

(Special guest post by Beverley Neil)

exuberantly yours

Ingrid

Heart Harmony

heart harmony

PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog also included On-line Branding is not just for business and SEO copywriting - how many keywords are too much?

There are no comments yet