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Around April this year two important emails popped into PSDs inbox – details of how to enter two prestigious business awards, one industry specific and the other sponsored by Sussex Enterprise.

Having entered Sussex Business Awards ‘Best New Business’ category last year, successfully short listed for the judges to visit and unfortunately not made it to the next stage, PSD were determined to try again! However, we were too “old” (as a business!) to enter the same category, so we set our sights higher, aiming for the coveted ‘Best Small Business Award’.

Next came weeks of discussion, drafting, re-wording, reminiscing, laughing and most importantly feeling immensely proud of our achievements as we finished our final written submission. Then, on with the kid gloves and out came our beautiful pink suede (with embossed logo no less!) display book to complete the visual part of our entry.

An agonizing few weeks passed until the call came to say we had made the shortlist and were to be visited by two judges and a previous award winner.

I told the story of our four year journey with passion and honesty, praying at the end that we had done enough.

Well, obviously I had – as the call came to say we were through to the final five, and were invited to a ‘Dragons Den’ style judging panel for further cross examination.

On September 18th, with accounts pre-submitted for scrutiny only days before, off we went like lambs to the slaughter clutching our business plan!

33 collective years of client meetings and tough business negotiations had certainly not come close to the nerves we felt as we sat outside the room waiting to face the Dragons. We then endured an hour of tough questioning which we answered eloquently and thoroughly, apart from the occasional nervous “classic” including an infamous answer to the question “How do you find your candidates?” to which we replied “A Dream!!”(Clearly the trigger word should have been “source”!)

We left on a high (but with no offer of hard cash!) with lots of nodding and positive comments to our last answer and finally remembered to breathe when we reached the car. Followed, of course by a post mortem of the whole meeting on the way home!

More waiting ensued and finally, on Monday morning as I packed up my car to go on holiday, I took the call to tell me “We’re through!”

Our fingers remain tightly crossed now until the Oscar style Awards night on the 20th November when the winners will be announced, but regardless of the outcome at PSD we are proud to have come this far and to have survived the “Den”.

Sussex Business Awards