Why I entered the Business Excellence Awards...

The 2013 Shoalhaven Business Excellence Awards are now open. Previous winners tell us how entering, and winning, has made a real difference to how they and others see their business.

Brian Bramble
Clifton Accountants

• 2012 Winner:
Excellence in Professional & Commercial

Can you briefly describe your business?
Clifton Accountants are Accountants and Business Advisors with offices in the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands. We engage with our clients to help them develop their business to be all they want it to be, to their level of success and satisfaction. We take a team approach, working with our clients to help improve their profitability, increase cash flow, grow at a greater rate than their competitors, structure for asset protection, move towards succession or a sale, whilst minimising tax and retiring financially secure.

What made you decide to enter the Shoalhaven Business Awards?
We saw the business awards as a chance to benchmark ourselves against other professionals in the Shoalhaven. And equally as an opportunity to promote our business amongst a gathering of the best businesses in the area.  We really enjoy mixing with successful people and finding out what they do in their businesses.  We’re also a bit different to other accountants in that we’re active self-promoters!

What did you learn about your business or industry from the process of entering the awards?
We were forced to think about our service offerings and how we engage with our clients.  This ”just happens” on a day to day basis, so it was good to actually analyse why we do what we do to make sure our actions are in line with our goals and philosophy.

Could you outline some of the positive outcomes from having entered the Business Awards?
Well naturally, winning gave us brag points.  To be able to use that in our promotions and marketing was really beneficial.  It was surprising and a great feeling to have people contact us that we normally may not have had contact with.  And the dinner and awards night was a great opportunity to have a relaxed catch up with a whole host of businesses.  It made us also realise that to be doing the best for our clients we had to keep raising the bar.

What advice would you give someone who was considering entering this year?
Don’t let doubt about whether you’re good enough or embarrassment about putting yourself forward stop you. Take the focus off winning. The process is, to our thinking, more important.  See it as a challenge and use it as part of your planning and goal setting.