In Scotlands Business Awards
Taking part in the awards is an exciting time not just for you but your staff and customers too. There is soon a lot of discussion locally about which businesses are in the running and of course who might win.
Staying at the top of your game locally is not easy. There are constantly new businesses opening and new products and services coming to the market. Lockdown has been particularly harsh on most business sectors.
But what does competing involve and what can you expect to happen next ?
Nomination
Nominations are open all year round to encourage people to put forward businesses for consideration. There is no restriction placed on who or what kind of business may be nominated because we will ask the business if they wish to register for the competition and then visit the business in person before any final decision is made. Since 2018 online nominations have included the option to say why you are nominating a business.
Votes
Any member of the public can vote for a business but it is only one factor. The are also some businesses where voting or asking customers to vote is simply not appropriate. So of greater importance are the mystery shopper visits and our own visits to your business.
Registering
Once a business has received notification from us in writing that they have been nominated they are invited to register for assessment by completing registration details and paying a registration fee. In the past open registration caused half hearted entries and a lot of running about for our awards staff running around businesses who had no intention of competing. Registering for assessment reduces this happening and adds more value to our awards process.
Street Team checks
During this stage we are assessing how easy is it for customers to contact or meet you, your opening hours, availability and presentation of the business premises together with the products and services you offer. We do have businesses registering who we struggle to find in business so it’s important to respond to our attempts to contact you.
Window Badge System
From August 2020 as a registered nominee your business will receive a Scotlands Business Awards nominee or winner badge. The badge system is promoted by in-store awards, certificate, door and window point-of-sale material supplied by us. It can also be used online on websites and in social media. It is our long term aim that the public will recognise this rating system.
Mystery shoppers
Mystery shoppers can, phone you and make internet and facebook enquiries to test some of the customer experience. Some can call in to test your products and services.
The Decision
Through a combination of nominations, mystery shopping and discussion with you, a regional winner is decided.
Categories
In general the awards are considered as follows,
New Business Awards
Community Awards
Independent Retailer Awards
Licensed Trade Awards
Consumers Awards
Innovation Awards
Hair Salon Awards
Barbers Awards
Beauty Awards
Nail Awards
Restaurant, Cafe, Eatery and Takeaway
Health & Fitness Awards
Craft and Creative Awards
Hotel and B&B Awards
Lifetime Achievement in Business Awards
This list is not full and may vary from year to year reflecting the public nominations which are random.
We are very proud of the strict conditions the competition is guided under.
Its not possible to win by number of votes, the human element and our feet-in-the-street approach means categories are considered fairly.
As time moves on employees who have been in the competition as part of another business in previous years are setting up on their own and returning to the competition. Its fantastic to see the development of young businesses across Scotland, know the story behind them and watch their further development.
The Annual Grand Final
If you have won in your regional awards your business can compete in the highly anticipated national Grand Final held annually in Glasgow. Always sold out, it brings together the winners from our 16 regional qualifying award competitions to find out who will win the national awards.