“Region’s Business in Good Heart”

Tuesday 21 July 2015

For Immediate Release

“Region’s Business in Good Heart” says Business Awards Assessor

With entries in the 2015 Electra Kapiti Horowhenua Business Awards now closed and the assessment process underway, Assessor Graham Smellie says the overall quality of this year’s entrants is the best he’s ever seen.

Entries for the 2015 Electra Kapiti Horowhenua Business Awards, New Zealand’s longest running business awards programme, closed on 5 Juneand the assessment process is now underway for those businesses that have entered the Excellence Award categories.

And based on the highly detailed application each entrant is required to submit with their entry, Assessor Graham Smellie says it’s clear the calibre of this year’s entrants will make the Judges task more difficult than ever before. “This is my 5th year as an Assessor and I believe that the calibre of the entrants who have entered this year is the highest and most consistent in overall quality and excellence that I have experienced,” he says.

“One of the things we do is fully benchmark each entrant against the best national standards and it is gratifying to see that the vast majority of entrants are now meeting those standards,” he explains. “That’s a great effort for a relatively small region, and demonstrates that the region is in good heart with such a high level of business performance among our local businesses.”

This year has seen the introduction of a new Award category, called the “It’s Great to be Here” Award. “This new category was launched to recognise and celebrate those businesses that have made a deliberate decision to base themselves here,” explains Business Kapiti Horowhenua Chairman, Mark Ternent. “Each business has been asked to not only describe the unique benefits they feel they receive from being here, but to also demonstrate the benefits they feel they bring to the region in return. We’re delighted to report that it has been the most popular of the Achievement Awards this year.”

Now that entries have closed for the Excellence and Achievement Awards, the focus turns to the hugely popular Customer Choice Awards, and Awards Organiser Kirsten Kilmister says “the Customer Choice Awards are a popular addition to the Awards programme. The on-line voting opens on 27 July and will run until 21 August, so I’m sure the entrants will all be busy encouraging their customers to vote for them.”

Once the winners have been announced at the Awards Evening on 9 October, detailed assessor reports are sent to the Excellence Awards entrants and summary reports are sent to the Customer Choice entrants.

“This is one of the true benefits of entering the Awards,” explains Mr Ternent. “Each business that entered the Excellence Awards will be sent a detailed report providing specific feedback on their business, how it compares against national ‘best practice’ benchmarks, and areas where the Assessors feel the business could be further improved.”

“The feedback we constantly receive is that the Excellence Award report is where the real value is for many of the businesses that enter the Awards. We’ve had numerous businesses that have used these reports to improve their business, then come back and win their category in the following years.”

“For the businesses in the Customer Choice Awards, they receive a summary report that provides the anonymous feedback from every person who voted for them along with their average scores across the four questions asked,” says Mr Ternent. “This information can provide useful feedback for the businesses and some entrants use it as part of their annual customer satisfaction survey. This year the survey has included a ‘Net Promoter Score’ question that will enable entrants to directly benchmark themselves against an internationally recognised standard.”

The Finalists in each category will be announced on 10 September, with the Winners announced at the formal Awards Evening on 9 October.

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