The true costs (and benefits) of entering business awards

With any business decision you need to weigh up the pros and cons before you set any wheels in motion, and the same approach should also apply when you’re considering entering professional awards.  

When thinking about entering a business award, in addition to ensuring you have the internal (or external) resources to complete the award entry to the required standard, you also need to consider the financial costs too. Let’s take a look at the real costs that an award entry can represent – along with a little balance by exploring the benefits too.

Costs associated with award entries and being on the shortlist

Not all business and professional awards come for free – in fact, many of them require an entry fee, so check this straight away. Then you also need consider the following additional costs if you want to attend the ceremony, or are invited to do so to celebrate your shortlisting and potential win…

• Tickets – how many people are you going to take? How much is each ticket? Does it include anything, such as dinner or drinks, or do you need to account for this too?
• Food and drink – see above! Unless it’s a local event, all attendees will need to be fed and watered (or fizzed) while you’re away, so it’s worth calculating approximate costs and working out a budget ahead of time.
• Travel and hotels – again, unless you’re staying local, you’ll need to cover transport and accommodation costs.
• Time out of work – the time your staff members spend travelling to, attending and returning from the ceremony is time they’re not spending at work doing their jobs, so you also need to be aware of any potential slow-down in productivity or any specific project deadlines that can’t afford to be missed.

Any time taken by your team to complete the award entry will also impact on day-to-day work activities – although you can balance this by investing in an external award writing company instead if this makes more sense from a business perspective.

The benefits of entering awards

While it might seem that the cost of entering awards may outweigh any benefits, there’s lots of evidence that businesses profit hugely from award wins and shortlist placements. It’s long been known that recognition for their work brings out the best in employees, making them more motivated and productive, and creating a much better working environment for everyone.

This ‘feel good’ factor can have a tangible impact on performance and profits: an American research paper by Hendricks & Singhal of the University of Western Ontario and Georgia Institute of Technology, revealed that more than 600 quality corporate award winners had 37% more sales growth and 44% higher stock price return than their peers. The same study also identified that the medium term impact of winning an award was improved brand identity in the company’s network and community, which led to enhanced sales revenue.

An award win or place on the shortlist can improve your visibility, reputation, recruitment leverage and provide lots of networking opportunities – all of which can soon make up for any costs you invested in your entry.

If you’d like more information on the costs and benefits of entering business awards, or if you’d like to find out how we can help you to develop a compelling entry to increase your chances of success, please call us on 0208 720 7307.