We have had an enormous task going through some 250 Nominations from all sectors of the regional channel industry for the Reseller Middle East Partner Excellence Awards 2012. This blog aims to review the concept of ‘Awards’ and for those in marketing or senior management the idea is to help you put down a concrete, impressive nomination that will help you win.
‘Why did I fail to win?’
Awards are given for Outstanding Achievement. Just remember those six words next time you fill in a nomination. Brad Pitt is a BIG Hollywood star, (almost 50 movies). How many Oscars has he won “for working hard, being popular and making money”?
The answer is none.
The point is again is that the Reseller Middle East Award is won for the same reason as an Oscar is won, it is won for “Outstanding Achievement”.
While going through nomination after nomination, I found that many an organisation lacked the ability to clearly articulate ‘why’ they deserved to win this Award as opposed to their competitor. What I mean by that is you did not tell us what you had done to DESERVE this Partner Excellence Award.
Ask yourself some questions
- “Were you in it to win it?” If you were, did you really believe a ‘cut and paste’ from a corporate website showed commitment to the Awards?
- Did you actually tell the judges what your outstanding achievement was? Did you share any concrete numbers?Did you offer any comparisons? Did you actually show HOW you helped your customers or vendors?
- Did you REALLY tell a Judge why you had a better Achievement than Competitors? (anybody can cut and paste from a Corporate website or list their projects)
- “Did you pay careful attention to the Awards Guidelines. For instance, did you include details of projects and accomplishments that were no older than 18 months for purpose of consideration?
- Did your Outstanding Achievement relate to The Middle East?
- Everybody has programmes, promotions, wins project business. “Did you explain why your Programmes were OUTSTANDING?” Did you give details of how they “Improved the Channel” or “How they improved Customer Experience”?
The winners told us why they were better, they showed they had adapted to the Middle East, they showed (for example) how X number of trainings or seminars had seen an average selling price increase, or an average revenue growth.They did not give away confidential information, they simply told the Judges why we should give it to them and gave supporting facts and figures.
Your Nomination HAD to tell us WHY what you did in 2011-2012 in the Middle East Channel was BETTER than your Competitors.
Many of you failed to READ the title of the Awards or failed to READ the questions on the Nomination sheet.
I’m Philip Hughes, I’ve lived in the Middle East and been a part of the region’s IT Industry since 1993. I was honoured to be your judge and believe it is my responsibility to help you hand in a better nomination form. I hope this blog has inspired you to take pride in your nomination, write it with conviction and hopefully win.
