Entering awards can be a daunting task. There are so many awards you can enter, from car dealer awards such as the Car Dealer Used Car Awards, Motor Trader Awards and AM Awards, which are all well known in the industry to local events such as your local Chamber of Commerce business awards and local radio awards. But should you enter?
We know it can be a tedious task sorting out and entering awards, it can be time-consuming to put all the details together, and you may question if it is worth the effort. As humans, we always say this to ourselves, “with all the other entries, what’s the point, I will never win”. Unless you try though, you will never know, and they can certainly be worth the effort!
So what are the advantages of entering an award?
Winning…or losing
Ok – yes, winning is of course the best bit, to be able to display that shiny award at your dealership, show it on your website and shout about it on social media. That kind of attention will definitely get you noticed.
However, losing isn’t a negative; just shouting about being nominated for a prestigious award or shortlisted for a local award can be enough to help people see how good you are! It is a great bit of free marketing for you, so shout about it, create social posts for being a nominee and display it proudly in your dealership too!
Benchmarking
Awards are great for looking at your business from a different angle. Look at it from another perspective, when you are thinking about all that info and stats needed for the entries, it’s a great way to switch your thinking around. You never know what you will discover about yourself and your business just by changing your perspective.
Motivation
Winning or losing, the excitement of an award entry certainly boosts employee motivation and morale. All that joy of the event and celebrating THEIR achievements! After all, you may not have been able to enter if it wasn’t for all their hard work!
Growing Strength
Whether you win or are just nominated, it is sure to make you stronger with your competition, especially if they haven’t entered! Saying you had the criteria to enter lifts you above your rivals and puts you in a stronger position.
If you are thinking of entering an award this year, these tips may help get you off to a flying start:-
- Pick the right categories – pick the one(s) that fits you the most perfectly. Read and reread the criteria to check you fit all the requirements.
- Start early so you have time to plan everything you need for your entry.
- Research! Look at past winners, is there anything they did that you could implement too?
- Get all your employees in on it, let them shout about it and get their support.
- Don’t oversell it, keep the entry simple and relevant, give them what they need and ask for, but don’t overcomplicate it.
- Check your entries for grammar, spelling and punctuation. A badly written entry may go against you.
- Learn from it! If you don’t win the first time, try again next time, and go back to the beginning of this list. Start early, research the winner, do something different, get everyone involved, write and check your entry!
With so many awards out there, start small and look for local ones, then as you gain confidence, look at the bigger picture and aim higher!
Here at Click Dealer, we can also help you with your award entries. If you need a little help writing it or hints and tips on what you should put in it, our teams are on hand to point you in the right direction!
