Why does Award-Winning feel so good?

The UK Property Awards 2017-2018 Gala Presentation and Awards Ceremony took place at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Friday, 27 October.

Callaways Residential Sales & Lettings came away with a 5***** Award for Best Estate Agent – East Sussex, and a lot of pride and honour to go with it! 

Why does it feel so good? 

Because despite the industry as a whole being depicted at times in the press and media as those 'nasty, greedy Estate Agents', Callaways, like so many excellent, dedicated, Estate Agents, show a great deal of commitment to their clients!

Plus, I'm either a masochist or a perfectionist …

Since 2009 Callaways has taken part in the UK Property Awards sponsored over the years in association with Maserati, Google, Bloomberg TV, The Daily Mail, and Bentley. We’ve received awards from ‘nominated’ to ‘highly commended’ to ‘5 STAR’ winners in our category – Best Estate Agent, East Sussex. 

– Why do I put myself and my Sales & Lettings team through the rigorous scrutiny of industry led judges?
– Why commit our time and resources to producing the entry pack?
– Why spend £££s in printing, photography, plaques?

Because personally, and as a business, Callaways are a forward thinking marketing company, placing our clients and customers first and foremost in all we do.

And it's great to be able to celebrate with our Sales, Lettings, Property Management and Accounts teams who put in so much effort over the year to deliver exceptional service to our clients, to upskill, to attend training, to grapple with new technology, as well as to attend to our clients in resolving sales and lettings issues, repairs and maintenance.

Certainly, it doesn't get easier each year we enter these awards – in fact, the opposite is true, as you know the entries are going to push boundaries each year. And that's what they should do! Complacency is unacceptable at Callaways, and so when the time comes for our entry packs to be drawn up, it's a good time for reflection on our successes and failures over the past 12 months, giving us an opportunity to improve and plan our next year's strategies, and action plans.

There's also a desire to improve our own submission year on year, and trust that the judges recognise our achievements. As a one branch, boutique independent agency in Hove (nevertheless covering a wide geographic area, and offering Sales, Lettings & Property Management) we work in a highly competitive area, and need to have a USP to knock the socks off the competition!

I certainly feel a pit in my stomach at the awards, wondering:
• Have we done enough this year?
• Did I understand and answer all the questions fully?
• What might I have missed?
• Where there any trick questions?

In a competitive market, and being highly competitive myself, I have to be realistic and if I fall short, my resilience and resolve to do better kick in. There will always be those who try to put you down or think 'what do Awards matter?' But I say to them, be the best you can be, always look to improve, judge yourself by all means, but let the wisdom and experience of those on the judging panel decide the final outcome.

In answer to my own question at the beginning of this piece – I think I'm 50:50 masochist:perfectionist – the effort, dedication and costs to enter the awards which can be painful, plus the need to refuse to accept any standard short of perfection, describes me to a T. 

Winning is for the team who put their trust in me, it's for Callaways' clients who expect excellent services, and it's for my inner self – the dogged, determined side of me who never gives up. I'll start planning for next year's award very soon, and win, or lose, the taking part is important, but so is the pushing for greater achievements (never quite perfection, but almost)!

Heather Hilder-Darling