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KEY POINTS
- Include examples of your team’s excellence.
- A great morale boost for all concerned.
- Winning an award can give your team the edge.
Have you ever wondered why it’s always someone else who wins things? Prizes often do not seem to be shared out equally, even though usually it is all down to chance.
Take, for instance, a colleague who has a win on the premium bonds seemingly every month – nothing massive, but a hundred pounds or so.
He also wins £10 on the Lotto several times throughout the year, and to finish it off, the day he won the office sweepstake, it was the biggest amount (let’s get this into perspective – about £300) ever to be won.
Some people just seem to be born lucky.
However, luck is not always the crucial factor. When it comes to winning awards, usually it is the work done by the winner that is key. Certainly, a lot of effort goes into the entries submitted for the annual Taxation Awards, but is there a secret ingredient that helps mark out the winner?
Perhaps not, but Taxation editor Mike Truman, who also chairs the judges panel, has a few words of advice for entrants: ‘Don’t make general marketing claims, for example, that you are the best at… or give superb customer service, without providing evidence to back it up.’
The 2010 Taxation Awards are launched today, so perhaps now is the time to start thinking about how to garner testimonials to aid your entry. This will be the tenth award ceremony and, as always, it promises to be an enjoyable and glamorous night.
Described by people who attend as a relaxed, friendly and sociable occasion, there is always a top-notch entertainer (last time it was Michael McIntyre) and a well-known presenter for the awards, as well as lots of other entertainment: e.g. a disco, casino and bar.
The first move
The awards cover a range of categories, something suitable for everyone! There are numerous entries to each category, although some are at least partially self-selecting, for example, the best VAT team or international team.
But even these provide variety – the best VAT team can be from a big four firm or a niche business.
But what drives a tax team or firm to enter and how do they decide what to include in their entry?
First, the decision to enter has to be made. Steve Collins of Francis Clark (2009 winner of best general tax practice) said he had considered taking the plunge for two years before making the decision to do so.
Having decided to do so, he used the entry as ‘a strategic plan for the tax team’ which meant that the team gained a lot even before submitting the entry.
He says also that ‘having the idea of the possibility of winning an award at the back of the team’s collective thoughts, gave an incentive for each member to have ownership’.
The main reason why Milestone International Tax Consultants (2009 winner of best international tax team) entered was because the firm’s PR consultant suggested it.
As this seemed a good idea, Andrew Murray then set about completing the entry.
He says this ‘was quite challenging’ as he had not really thought about the firm’s unique selling point before. It took some time but was ‘a helpful process’ bringing out what the firm has to offer over other competitors in the market.
Having attended the awards for several years as a guest, Clive Fathers of Grant Thornton’s employer solutions team (2009 winner of best tax team in a large firm) had seen the occasion really take off in terms of recognition in the industry generally.
He thought it must be great to win and had detected in Grant Thornton teams that had has success in previous years a ‘noticeable increase in morale’. So when it was suggested to him within the firm that perhaps he should enter his team, he decided it would be a good idea.
Clive found the entry process ‘really interesting – it makes you take a step back to consider what it is that your team represents to clients’.
The team spent some time brainstorming what to include in the submission, and wanted to show that as well as doing serious work for clients, the team had fun doing it.
He mentions how this had a really positive impact on the team, even before it was shortlisted.
Persistence
Another winner from last May, for the best tax investigations team, Baker Tilly tax, risk and investigations management, had been shortlisted on two previous occasions but never won.
Far from deterring Mike Down from trying again, however, it drove him on. Mike found the entry quite hard, as getting testimonials from clients who had undergone investigations was not ideal, so instead he got members of the team to say what they had learnt from doing the work.
He says the team does ‘excellent work’ and he wanted to emphasise that. A couple of meetings were held to discuss the entry, and it was generally helpful to think about what you do as a team.
Climax
The evening of the awards was agreed by all to be extremely enjoyable. Mike Down comments that he was ‘astonished at the number of people’ and how well run the occasion is – things happen to time which is not always the case with similar events.
Winning the award, of course, made the evening. ‘It was a great feeling to win’, says Mike. ‘Everyone was really elated.’
Francis Clark had taken a table of ten and, says Steve Collins, ‘we used the occasion as a celebration in itself’.
Although the whole team could not come, a democratic way of selecting was used to decide who would attend, so that everyone had a chance. ‘It was an excellent evening, rounded off by winning.’
Winning the award was ‘a great feeling’, says Clive Fathers. It is really rewarding to have the recognition of your peers. He was especially pleased to win because, having been seated on a table right near the back of the room, he thought the team was probably out of the running.
So everyone sitting at the table jumped up in delight when their team’s name was announced as the winner.
The aftermath
When the hangover’s worn off and the evening is but a distant memory, does anything remain of the glory? The consensus is that it undoubtedly does. Mike Down says the team ‘uses all opportunities’ to mention the win.
The trophy is on show in reception at Baker Tilly’s Guildford office, and the awards logo is included on the website and in marketing literature. Fellow professionals, clients and even HMRC people have come to him to congratulate the team. Overall it has brought ‘nothing but good’, he says.
Likewise, Steve Collins says Francis Clark has made ‘much of the win’. The award tours the different offices and he believes that it helps give the firm a competitive edge over others when tendering for clients. He says the value of the award ‘is impossible to measure’.
It really is special to have ‘external recognition’, says Milestone’s Andrew Murray. The win lends gravitas and, bearing in mind that Milestone consists of four people and competes for work mostly with big four firms, helps show that you are a serious contender.
‘I would definitely recommend that anyone with a unique proposition in the marketplace enter the awards’, advises Clive Fathers. But make sure you are honest to yourself in the entry – ‘don’t just write what you think the judges want to hear, put forward a true image of the team’.
He says the ‘feel-good factor from winning’ was particularly valuable in the current economic climate and that it has ‘made a huge difference in terms of our recognition in the marketplace’.
Take action
At the foot of ths article you will an entry form for the 2010 Taxation Awards, along with the terms and conditions of entry. Don’t just leave it sitting there. Why not take a good look at it and see if there is a category that your team could enter?
You never know, this could be your year.
