How Can Awards Help Your Business?
"The Gateway Buildings" by Joan Campderrós-i-Canas
Interiorscapers know better than anyone that buildings are much more than the architecture you see from the outside. Buildings are made up of owners, tenants, common spaces, working spaces, areas that provide a sense of place for those that interact with them everyday. There are awards that take all of these factors into account and reward those building owners and managers that create excellent spaces. As you seek to show new clients the benefits of Interiorscaping, nothing helps your business shine like awards. When your former clients gain recognition, your interior landscapes gain recognition as well. Also, when you are aware of the awards that are available to business and building owners, you can help them understand how your services could help them achieve those awards.
The TOBY Awards
The TOBY awards are one such award that building owners can achieve and your services could help them earn it. TOBY stands for The Outstanding Building of the Year. The TOBYs are awarded by BOMA, the Building Owners and Managers Association. The TOBYs are presented in various categories at several different levels. Each spring, building owners and managers can enter their properties in the competition at the local association level. The winners then advance to the regional level, and those buildings that win at the regional level, advance to the international level. This year’s international winners will be announced between June 26th and 28th. There are fourteen different categories ranging from size of the building to building use, building location to renovations and environmental impact. All of the building categories and the entry requirements for each can be found here, on the BOMA website.
How interiorscaping can help earn a TOBY
There are a number of criteria involved in judging the buildings where interiorscaping can make a positive impact. The first and most obvious is the building owners must provide pictures of their properties, including common spaces and tenant spaces. Buildings that have well managed plantscapes in these areas will display the care they have taken in providing beautiful, healthy spaces for their tenants. There is also a criterion for indoor air quality. In previous posts, we have discussed how indoor landscapes can significantly improve indoor air quality. Another criterion is community impact. Within that criterion includes, how many local businesses are supported by providing services to the building. If you are local, your business would be included in that number. Also within that criteria, are any public spaces that are beneficial to the community. If your interiorscapes include any public spaces that benefit and welcome the larger community, this will be an advantage.
Advantages for Everyone
Earning a TOBY award will create positive recognition for not only building owners and managers, but also for the greater community. BOMA international says this regarding the TOBY awards,
More than 700 buildings have been recognized as Regional winners and more than 200 of those have been recognized as International winners. The resulting press coverage and public relations opportunities have been nothing short of spectacular for the participating teams and their cities. The TOBY Awards have drawn attention to hundreds of office buildings across the United States and Canada, and to the owners, managers and architects who conceive, operate and design them.
When the businesses you design plantscapes for earn positive recognition, so do you.
What awards and recognition have properties that you have designed for won? How have you used recognition and awards to show potential clients the significance of well planned and maintained plantscapes?
Image “The Gateway Buildings” courtesy of Joan Campderrós-i-Canas
Tags: Awards, BOMA, client relations, TOBY