Well we’re all over the Moon at being nominated for the 2022 Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award. They had record entries this year, so we were chuffed, delighted and proud to find ourselves shortlisted in the final three businesses.
But how does one get nominated for the Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield & Tamworth and Cannock Chase Chambers of Commerce’s annual awards?
Regular readers of this blog will remember that we moved office in the summer of 2021. This put us into contention for the Tamworth Small Business of the Year award. We were thrilled to apply, and doubly thrilled to be nominated.
PLOTT has been actively involved with the Chamber for years. It fits in perfectly with our desire to work with, network and give back to our local community, something we’ve believed in since the early days of PLOTT. The Chamber can open doors for members, yes, but we get most of our work from referrals; so the membership is, for us, much more about involvement in local matters.
We spend a lot of time advising clients how to tell their story; to tell people why they do what they do, not just what they do. During the application process it was lovely to spend time thinking about ourselves, about PLOTT. It’s not our story, per se, we tell that extensively on our website – and on this blog. But it focussed our attention on our successes. No one likes a braggart, but how often do you stop to smell the roses? How often do you think about the fruits of your labour?
So what follows is the result of this process, our ‘roses’. I guess we are bragging, a bit. But we’re proud of our achievements.
So, with bated breath we look forward to the award ceremony on the fourth of February. It’s at Drayton Manor Hotel and it’s sure to be a lovely evening. The competition is stiff, so there is no guarantee of a win. We’ll find out on the night. Now I’ve got a month to write a speech… just in case.
We believe storytelling and technology can move people to action. And we’re convinced that a company is more than just ‘a group that works together to make money.’
Our vision is to help brands uncover their purpose and build a brand that speaks to their clients, colleagues and communities. We champion creative industries in Birmingham, and we’re advocates for youth and technology as the future of creativity.
Growth.
Since 2019, we’ve grown approximately 20% each year and in 2020 we celebrated 10 years in business. We’ve grown our team steadily to create a balance between technical development and creative branding and design, merging our two passions into a one-stop shop for clients.
This slow and steady organic growth, along with a family dynamic and high employee and client retention, has created a stable business that could withstand the pandemic. We give everything to our clients, and they become part of our team. So, we’re particularly proud that almost 100% of our work comes from referrals. Which means we can concentrate on our clients and work in the community.
Relationships.
Networking has been critical to our growth. Building relationships with like-minded business owners helps us grow clients, increase business knowledge and find new suppliers and collaborators. Being a Chamber member means we can focus on giving clients the best. In turn, they give us 5 star reviews and refer us to their network.
Since it began, we’ve sponsored the Birmingham Design Festival; a peer-to-peer event supporting local creative talent. Co-founder Anna often speaks at Advisor Tech Live and is already in the line-up for the 2022 ‘Next Gen Planners’ conference.
We are staunch supporters of the Chamber’s ‘Charity of the year’ and we’ve committed significant time to help each charity with fundraising and awareness.
YMCA Sleep Easy
We were the first sponsors of the YMCA Sleep Easy initially scheduled for March 2020. We created a campaign to encourage sponsorship of the boxes we would sleep in! When lockdown hit, we supported their pivot to a virtual sofa surf and helped raise over £10k.
YMCA Young Carers Appeal
Instead of client cards & gifts, we support the Young Carers Christmas care box appeal each year to treat members of the YMCA Young Carers group.
John Taylor Hospice
As well as taking part, we created the brand identity for the Sunset Walk and also the Big Brummie Bake Off, even commissioning a special PLOTT cake to auction. We also provided a glitter artist at the John Taylor Hospice Glitter Ball which contributed to £20k raised.
NHS Hospital Trust
During lockdown we worked with a local illustrator to create a ‘Lockdown Legends’ colouring-in book. We sold the book to raise over £25k for the NHS Hospital Trust. We also donated books to local schools and charities and featured on the BBC & ITV.
Motor Neurone Disease Association
The entire PLOTT team recently climbed Snowdon to raise money for research into Motor Neurone Disease, a charity close to our hearts. We were humbled to help raise just shy of £13k. But most of all, we were supporting fellow Chamber member Katie Hale, whose world has been turned upside down.
There are lots of ways to measure success. But as we said at the start, we don’t believe it’s just the bottom line. We enjoy what we do, how we do it, and the rewards too. Here are three things that we believe have been vital to achieving our successes.
We go all-in for charities
We are constantly humbled by the incredible and selfless work done by charities in our local area and understand that our voice can help them be heard. So we don’t just raise money, we throw ourselves into events and bring our clients along for the ride, to raise that all-important awareness.
We owe so much to our team
Like many businesses, we have had to overcome numerous challenges in the last 18 months. We are proud that we haven’t lost a single team member. We’ve adapted our working style by introducing flexible working hours and a work-from-home policy.
Our clients stay with us. And recommend us.
Our clients work with us long term and we like to think that this is a testament to the work we do for them. We are so proud that so much of our new business comes from word of mouth and recommendation. And our Google reviews speak for themselves.
Despite being a small team of 7, we try mightily hard to impact our community, colleagues and clients.
We’ll be looking forward to the awards ceremony at Drayton Manor Hotel on Friday 4th February. We’ll report on the events of the night. Meanwhile we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed. Wish us luck and watch this space.
