Applying for and Winning Awards

Nothing makes a business owner or professional look quite as trustworthy or attractive to potential clients as one who has won awards and recognition. MMI client Cynthia Anderson is a good example. Cindy is managing partner of CD Anderson, P.A., a full service CPA firm that sets itself apart from others by establishing personal relationships with each of its clients.

In these days when accounting irregularities can bring down entire companies and ruin employee retirements, an upstanding and ethical accountant like Cindy Anderson draws clients who want to feel they are in safe hands. As an executive advisor first and an accountant second, Cindy exercises sensitive professional and moral judgments with her clients, always upholding the highest standards.

Cindy recently was awarded recognition in the 2006 Class of Business Leader’s Women Extraordinaire. This is one of a string of awards Cindy has won since she signed with MMI Associates, Inc. In 2004, Cindy was named North Carolina’s “Business Woman of the Year” by the Business Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. She was also recognized in 2005 when she won the Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Award for her exemplary leadership skills. Prior to being named a Woman Extraordinaire in 2006, Cindy was recognized when she received the Triangle Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award, which honors successful business leaders under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the community.

As a result of these awards, Cindy has seen steady increases in the number of referrals from her existing clients plus a growing stream of new clients. Cindy’s awards are testimonials to her excellent standards and professionalism.

Applying for and winning awards and recognition is an art that has a snowball effect, gathering momentum with every new award you win. Although your nomination letters will be signed by other individuals who recommend you for the particular award, you will use variations of the information contained in your bio to write these nomination letters yourself, or at the very least, provide your nominators with written copy to which they may add their own ideas about you.

Here is where the story elements of your bio become important. In an earlier post, we said that a story describes how a “hero” overcomes adversity? People always root for someone who has passion for what they do, takes risks, overcomes great odds to succeed.

You are the “hero” of your bio, and the information you include in your bio becomes fodder for almost any business award. For example, the esteemed Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award asks the following three questions, among others, about the nominee:

• Discuss the nominee’s high standards relating to him/herself, the business and his/her determination to be successful.
• How does the nominee demonstrate perseverance in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles?
• Describe how the nominee is an independent thinker and is willing to take risks in the face of uncertainty.

Extracting this information from your bio is a straightforward matter if you’ve given the document proper time, thought and effort.