The awards that rebuilt trust – and helped a city outperform its peers

Formed in 2005, Lincoln BIG is one of England’s longest-standing Business Improvement Groups, voted in for five consecutive terms by the city’s levy payers. “We’re clearly doing something right,” says head of operations Lee Roberts, pointing to the Group’s role as “the touchpoint for information, ideas, moving the city forward and bringing businesses and other stakeholders together”.

Its decision in February 2024 to allocate one of its city-centre wardens to dealing with shop theft and business crime, working in partnership with the police, is now one of its flagship schemes. Handling over 400 cases to date, the warden helps local businesses collate information and prepare witness statements, already saving over 500 hours of police time and speeding up case processing. The result: “A pretty high conviction rate, as well as a ripple effect as it transpired that many repeat offenders were likely also linked to bike thefts on the university campus and so on.”

Quite rightly, there is a great deal of pride in this hugely successful scheme – recognised by the Association of Town and City Management in its 2025 awards – which brings tangible benefits to Lincoln’s levy payers.

Yet Lincoln BIG’s other headline scheme – its own Going the Extra Mile (GEM) Awards, which recognise local businesses for excellence in customer service – had not hit the same heights in its inaugural year of 2023, with the third-party assessor falling short in the accuracy and consistency of its data.

“We were reinvesting money that businesses had paid us via the levy, but the data the awards were based on in that first year was not good enough. It was undermining local businesses’ trust in us,” says Roberts.

“We knew the GEM Awards had great potential to improve the Lincoln visitor experience and drive economic activity across the city, in line with the council’s Vision 2030. We saw in them a wonderful opportunity to create a buzz and showcase Lincoln as a remarkable place to visit, work and live.

“However, to improve business engagement in the awards, we needed to raise standards.”

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New approach, renewed engagement

For the second year of the awards, in 2024, Lincoln BIG therefore switched provider, appointing mystery shopping expert Proinsight.

Instantly, the difference was clear, says Roberts: “From Proinsight’s responsiveness and collaborative approach to the quality of its reports and data portal, we immediately knew we had found the partner who could help us win back levy payers’ trust in the awards.”

Active steps were taken to re-engage businesses, with in-person visits to explain the switch of provider. In response to feedback from businesses, there were also some changes to survey questions and even categories to bolster perceptions of a level playing field.

Robert Brocklesby, senior client success manager at Proinsight, explains: “We heard from independent restaurant owners that they felt disadvantaged compared to national chains, for example.

“And so, in our first year of assessing and judging the GEM Awards, we created additional categories – namely, independent restaurants and independent retailers – alongside the existing categories of national restaurant brands, national retailers, accommodation, bars/pubs/clubs, coffee shops and tea rooms, experience and entertainment, health/beauty/wellness and professional services such as banks and building societies.”

Over the period of a month – in July 2024 and, in year two, June-July 2025 – Proinsight conducted mystery shops at all participating businesses. These had either nominated themselves or been nominated by a neighbouring business, all at no cost and with no onerous form-filling.

Each business was mystery shopped and assessed against a list of pre-determined questions and criteria. These were nuanced by category, but universally reflected four key pillars: friendliness of service, speed of service, knowledgeability of the customer service team and general environment.

Every business was then ranked in its respective category and given an NPS (Net Promoter Score), with the first-placed businesses presented with their GEM Awards at a special awards night – an event that has become increasingly popular since Proinsight took over and the awards have gained gravitas.

“Crucially,” says Roberts, “this isn’t a popularity contest, nor a set of awards where the same familiar faces are almost guaranteed to win each year. Judged impartially by Proinsight on the basis of robust and reliable data, they truly do recognise best-in-class customer service.”

The process will repeat again in 2026, potentially with an additional ‘memorability’ dimension for tie-breakers. “Standards are getting so high that we have a fair few photo finishes!” confirms Roberts.

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Actionable insights to raise the bar

For Roberts and the BIG team, Proinsight’s online portal is invaluable, allowing for the monitoring of surveys as they come in. It offers full details of individual business performance and rankings by category, with enhanced reporting tools also unlocking analysis of ‘trends by question’.

For individual businesses, the benefits are arguably greater still. Every participating business is given its report for free, providing detailed insights into its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for customer service improvement.

“Moving forward, we may also offer optional wrap-up sessions with Proinsight, for businesses that wish to dive deeper into their reports,” says Roberts. “There may even be an opportunity to have Proinsight run customer service workshops for our local businesses, as it already has for Liverpool BID, to share key findings and discuss exciting opportunities for further development.”

He believes these add-ons would be welcomed by local businesses because, he explains: “We’re already seeing that businesses want to improve. They’re very keen to get hold of their Proinsight reports so they can identify where to make changes. They visit the businesses that performed well in their categories to see what best practice looks like. There’s a nice competitive rivalry now, which can only be beneficial to businesses, consumers and the city as a whole as we work to raise the bar together.”

“Lincoln has consistently performed above the GB retail sales average since July 2024, when Proinsight took over the GEM Awards”

One great example comes from Lush, as UK&I training store manager Vicky Storey explains: “We use our GEM mystery shop as a valuable tool to ensure we always give 100 per cent. The report highlights any areas of opportunity, giving us insights around where we can improve and ensure we consistently meet the Lush brand values. We then train and develop our store team accordingly.

“The GEM Awards are always something we look forward to and we are proud to have won in 2023 and again in 2025. We believe this shows how much we value our customers and want to go the extra mile for them.”

“Businesses absolutely want to win,” confirms Roberts. “There’s no sense of sour grapes at the awards – everyone wants the best for the city and the atmosphere is always great – but since the awards have been in place, and particularly now with Proinsight’s excellent reports, we consistently see businesses going the extra mile to push for a win.”

With feedback like this, it’s unsurprising that participation in the awards is growing strongly, from 89 businesses in 2023 to around 150 assessments in 2024 and 2025.

Yet this still represents only around 16 per cent of all levy-paying businesses taking part in the awards so far. The hope and expectation is that this number will continue to rise in 2026 and beyond, as more and more businesses recognise the value of taking part.

Good for business, good for the city

“Average NPS has risen six points in the space of one year among local businesses taking part in the awards: from 53 in 2024 to 59 in 2025”

Beyond the benefits for individual businesses, the GEM Awards are having a positive impact on the city of Lincoln as a whole.

Since the awards began, Lincoln has outperformed both the GB benchmark and comparable cities in terms of average revenue per customer and average transaction value. Of particular note, having previously tracked closely to the GB benchmark for retail sales – fluctuating slightly above/below the average – Lincoln has consistently performed above the average since July 2024, when Proinsight took over the GEM Awards. (Source: Beauclair)

It has also significantly outperformed national average footfall, based on Proximity Futures Geo-Sense sensors and compared with like-for-like towns and cities (size and demographics).

“Of course, we can’t attribute this performance solely to the awards,” Roberts reflects. “However, by encouraging local businesses to raise their customer service standards to the highest possible levels, the GEM Awards – and Proinsight’s stewardship of them – are certainly positively contributing to the way people experience the city. In turn, they are boosting people’s likelihood of recommending Lincoln to others and coming more frequently themselves.”

Equally satisfying – and even more directly attributable – is that among local businesses taking part in the awards, the average NPS has risen six points in the space of one year: from 53 in 2024 to 59 in 2025.

“This is clear evidence of improved customer service standards across the city, with an NPS that compares favourably to those of other BIDs and retail centres we have assessed,” confirms Brocklesby. “Equally exciting, as Lincoln’s awards continue to grow and evolve, we believe there is scope for further improvements in the NPS.”

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Building better relationships

“I believe the awards contributed to us winning our fifth term, with a record turnout and the highest ever vote in favour: 91.3% by rateable value”

Lee Roberts, head of operations, Lincoln BIG

Meanwhile, says Roberts: “The GEM Awards have become a door-opener with local businesses, deepening their engagement with Lincoln BIG. It’s great for our team to have such a positive scheme to approach people with.

“Once businesses get to know us, they also start to appreciate all the other things we can do for them: the car and bus deals we can offer their employees, the connectivity to CCTV and our wardens which can help them with antisocial behaviour and so on.

“In short, the awards play a vital role in helping local businesses see the value of the levy they pay us.

“I therefore believe they contributed to us winning our fifth term in 2024, with a record turnout and the highest ever vote in favour at 85.6 per cent. By rateable value, the figure rises further to 91.3 per cent.”

He concludes: “And of course, Proinsight is instrumental in all of this, its robust data and sought-after reports reinforcing Lincoln BIG as a trusted voice. To quote the chair of our board: ‘Why didn’t we work with them sooner?!’

“We’re really looking forward to continuing our relationship with Proinsight over the years to come and we’re delighted to see it has joined the Association of British BIDs as a trusted supplier to the framework. I would unhesitatingly recommend Proinsight to everyone.”