Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award was created by Theo Paphitis in October 2010. SBS award was a simple hashtag started by an entrepreneur, ex-dragon, chairman of Robert Dyas, Ryman Stationery, Boux Avenue lingerie and London Graphic Centre –his newest acquisition. He is also a joint owner of the Red Letter Day.

The SBS Award was his brainchild. The idea was to give small business a platform to express what makes them unique and help them in the best manner without spending a dollar on advertising costs. But how did it work and what were the requirements for businesses  to become eligible for the SBS Award? Let’s take a look!

Eligibility Criteria to Enter the SBS Award Contest

For starters, there isn’t any! Any small business looking for a big break can enter the contest. All they have to do is script a tweet explaining what makes their business different or what products or services they have to offer. Bear in mind that the purpose of the tweet is to tell the customer why it is going to benefit them. The tweet is then posted @TheoPaphitis with the all-important hashtag #SBS

The contest is open for tweet submissions every Sunday between 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM. Tweets sent in other hours of the day are not considered valid. After reviewing all the tweets sent his way, Theo Paphitis then rewards 6 lucky tweets that lived up to what was expected from them. The results are announced the next day (Monday night) at 8:00 PM. He announces the six lucky winners by re-tweeting their tweets. With his 500,000+ followers, one can only expect what would happen next. The chosen tweets get a massive boost, both in terms of exposure and free promotion.

The Prospective Benefits

The promising benefits of course include increased following on Twitter, positive recognition and publicity and even increased sales for many businesses. However, he also quotes that the success isn’t guaranteed as customers are the ones who help any business grow and not just good publicity.

His philosophy or Theo-logy –as he likes to call it

Being a successful entrepreneur himself, Theo has a strong admiration for those who are fueled by passion and a strong will to succeed. He created the Small Business Sunday slot so that more and more small businesses, who lack the resources to promote themselves in full throttle can sell their pitch to him and in return he can make it easier for them to get noticed.

Our Success Story

On the eve of June 29th, 2014, we submitted a Tweet to Theo Paphitis explaining what makes Wilsons Blinds unique. Briefing mentioned the many products we provide and the aim of the tweet was to introduce our then small business to the world in order to attract new customers.  All we wanted was some exposure in the competition-driven industry of window treatments and entering the contest and winning it seemed like the easiest way to do so.

Call it our lucky day as our tweet got selected from the thousands of others posted by other small business owners. And that was that! The next day was a busy day where the phone kept ringing. There were many small business suppliers who wanted us to work with them, many potential customers who were renovating their homes and offices in the UK and were on the lookout for reputable firms.

In the time that followed, we did receive many new orders, signed new contracts; expanded our network and our social media presence increased by thousands. For any small business, it was a dream-come-true moment. That one re-tweet by Theo instilled a respectable reputation for us and helped us gain customer’s trust.

That being said, how can we leave without mentioning the award-worthy tweet? For those looking for a similar inspiration, here is how we pitched ourselves.

“Wilsons Blinds supply made to measure window blinds of all styles including Venetian Blinds, Vertical Blinds, Roller Blinds and Roman Blinds. #SBS”