Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce

The Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce inaugural Small Business Awards will be held again in 2012.

The awards will recognise and encourage excellence in business in Jurien Bay. There will be a submission process where businesses will be invited to answer questions based around their customer service, marketing strategies and financial success. They are an excellent tool to help business owners analyse their current methods and enourage them to think of new ideas to improve them.

Categories for the 2012 Awards will be:

Best Small Business
Customer Service Medal (for any individual - $1000 prize)

HOW TO ENTER

The business must

Conduct business in the town of Jurien Bay, and have no more than 20 full time or equivalent employees at the close of entries.
Be registered in Western Australia
Have been in operation at least 12 months at the time of entry of the awards

ENTRY TIPS

Judges base their decisions solely on the documentation provided. When writing a submission, keep the following in mind:

Clearly communicate the complexities of the business
Keep it clear and concise
Demonstrate growth, include financial ratios or statements
Look at judging criteria and try to address each point
Show why your business should be business of the year, what makes it special?
Tell a story and capture the business character
Make sure the format is clear and easy to read

FORMATTING HINTS

To make the submission easy to read, it’s a good idea to do the following:

Use size 12 font in an easy to read typeface such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Myriad or Times New Roman
Use clear headings
Keep paragraphs short ie:2-3 sentences
Make sure the document is well spaced and not cramped on the page
Use bullet points
Make sure the submission is easy to photo copy – please do not stick images or samples to the pages

The Closing Date for nominations is Friday 26th October 2012

The Closing Date for submissions is Friday 30th November 2012

The winners will be announced at the Chamber's December end of year celebration.

The following needs to be included:

The official entry form
Award Submission – preferred length of 8-10 pages
If relevant, support materials such as financial statements, brochures, or photos of product or service
Photos of the business owners, or business owners with staff, products or on their premises supplied in Jpeg format.

THE JUDGING PROCESS

The judging panel will be chosen the Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards committee.
Nominees will be judges against the following criteria:

Business Model 50% of total assessment
Customer Care 25% of total assessment
Business Performance 25% of total assessment

Business Model
In assessing the Business Model criteria, four essential elements should be considered:

Products and Services 10%
Does the business have innovative products and services?
Does the business use innovative business practices?
Has the business clearly identified a market need for its products and services?
Marketing 10%
Does the business have an understanding of its target market?
Does the business have a marketing strategy and is it effective?
Is the business aware of the features that give it a competitive advantage or unique selling point?
What is the unique selling proposition?
Staffing 10%
What sort of strategies does the business employ for recruiting staff?
What sort of strategies does the business employ for retaining staff?
What sort of programmes and strategies does the business have for the ongoing training and development of staff?
What sort of programs does the business have for recognising and rewarding staff?
Vision 20%
Does the business have plans for growth?
Does the business have systems for reviewing and improving its business processes?
Does the business have processes in place for ensuring products/services meet market demands and to identify new markets?
Is the business developing new products/services?
Has the business put in place a strategy or plan to enter new markets?
How does the business determine the strategic or long term direction of the business?

Customer Care

Some of the issues to consider include:

What sort of strategies does the business use for attracting customers?
What sort of strategies does the business use for retaining customers?
Does the business have a formal Customer Service Plan or Strategy?
How does the business measure customer satisfaction?
How does the business differentiate products/services from its competitors?

Business Performance

Some of the issues to consider include:

Growth in business turnover
Growth in profitability
Expansion into new markets
Expansion into new products and services
Does the business monitor its performance against its business plan?

Winners of 2011 Jurien Bay Small Business Awards and Customer Service Medal

The Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce announced the Customer Service Awards and Best Small Business on December 21st . Jurien Bay Soul Beauty won the award for Best Small Business and Barbara Johnson won the Customer Service Award, which included $1000 worth of prizes from Jurien Bay businesses.

The Award for Best Small Business was the result of a submission completed by the applicant as a kind of business health check. The submission process is an extremely useful tool to catalyst new ideas and improvements in business procedures. Also, highly commended for their submission is Jurien Bay Charter n Dive. The small business awards submissions were by judged by Tony Lambert from Cervantes Lodge and Pinnacles Beach Backpackers, and the Chamber would like to thank Tony for his assistance. The Chamber would like to congratulate Felicity Chitty and her team at Jurien Bay Soul Beauty.

The Customer Service Award was hotly contended again, and congratulations to Barbara Johnson from BP Service Station. The judging process for the Customer Service Award was different in that it called for nominations from the public., and the winner was judged on the amount of nominations, how detailed the descriptions were of the services, and what they had done to deserve to win.
Also to be commended for the number of nominations for the Customer Service Award were Felicity Chitty from Jurien Bay Soul Beauty and Denise King from the Community Resource Centre. Some of the comments below show that Customer Service is alive in Jurien Bay.

Penelope Normington, nominating Barb Johnson:
Barb, the attendant at BP is friendly, helpful and caring. It is a pleasure to drive into this service station because Barb cheerfully fills up my car, will check the oil and tyre pressure as well as having a genuinely friendly conversation. Barb’s customer service is outstanding.

Sam Nunn, nominating Felicity Chitty, Jurien Bay Soul Beauty:
As a male, Felicity always makes me feel comfy and welcome and realise beauty treatments are not just for females. Thanks Flick, once again.

Sandra Berk, nominating Denise King, Community Resource Centre:
I feel Denise King should definitely be the winner this year, because Denise has an exceptional calming personality with her professional customer service.
Denise can always be relied on to solve any question or problem that I have ever asked her. She has a beautiful radiance about her, professionalism that reaches every person she deals with. Her smiling face makes everybody smile too.

Norma Crommelin, nominating Thuc Tran Nguyen, Jurien Bay Newsagency:
What a gem Thuc is to Jurien Bay, always has a smile and a pleasant manner. When you see him in the shop or street he always addresses you by name. He is never too busy to spend time to assist you. We need more like him in Jurien Bay.

Bev Taylor, nominating Thao Tran, Jurien Bay Pharmacy:
She always remembers who you are, she smiles and has always been so helpful with anything I’ve ever had a problem with. Nothing seems too much bother with her and her staff.

Lester Marston, nominating Steve from Home Hardware:
He know his stuff.
He can see when you need help and he provides it.

Kim White, nominating Joan Armstrong, Jurien Bay Bakery:
She is always so lovely to our two year old son, always going out of way to serve him.

Judy and Alex, nominating Rob Francis, R & J Creations:
Rob Francis did a good job on our garden landscaping. Very professional and helpful in all aspects of the above. He came back and cut bricks to shape for the patio at no cost, he was here for three hours. Well done Rob.

Brian “Buzzer”Bitter, nominating Kevin and Amanda from Thriftylink Hardware:
Nothing too much trouble. Very friendly and efficient service. Heaps of laughter. No waiting, clean and well run business.

A reminder about nominations for the Customer Service Award for 2012….
The Customer Service Award goes to an individual, not a business, so please put the name of the person you would like to nominate, not just the business, which may have several staff.

The Chamber of Commerce would like to encourage all businesses in Jurien Bay to find a little bit of time to fill out the submission questionnaire for this year. The reward is not just in the recognition of your hard work, but the improvements you can make which the process will cause you to recognise.

Congratulations again to Jurien Bay Soul Beauty and Barbara Johnson.

Jurien Bay Soul Beauty's Felicity Chitty, winner of the Small Business Award, with Shane Love and Pete Lonnon

Jurien Bay Business

Winner of the 2011 Customer Service Award, Barb Johnson from BP with Pete Lonnon

chamber of commerce

2010 Customer Service Award Winner, Hayley Sumpton with Shire President Shane Love and JBCC Chairman Pete Lonnon

Jurien Bay Small Business Awards