SAANICH – This email from one of our members arrived in my inbox one day. The sender had copied it to five employees within his organization. It read:
“Hi Denny
I am writing to express my most sincere gratitude to the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce for the unbelievable support you have offered to EMCS Industries Ltd (MARELCO).
From your initial support in providing us a letter of support, to the Tour of Industry, multiple informative articles in the Peninsula News Review, Facebook exposure, SPCOC website and today the Chamber Directory distributed in the Peninsula News, I cannot thank you enough for putting us out there after being anonymous locally for so long. Anodes are now a known entity, and the enormous expense they save in the shipping industry is now almost common knowledge in our seaside paradise we call home.
With a new Anti-Fouling product to be released to the recreational vessel market in the very near future, the fact that we will have a visible platform to work from is entirely thanks to the support we have received from the Chamber.
We are very excited about our future, and your support is, and will always be, paramount.
Please pass on our big thanks to all Directors and staff, we really appreciate you guys!
All the very best
Trevor Tasker
President”
Reading it made my year. The fact that it was unsolicited was the icing on a fantastic cake. I printed it out and hung it by my desk. It continues to inspire me and remind me that what we do truly makes a difference. You may be wondering if it was an isolated incident. It wasn’t.
We dropped the ball when we didn’t celebrate by sharing what our members were saying about us. When your customers tell you they love you, let people know! Testimonials send a clear signal to potential clients that your current customers trust and have faith in you. Trust is a precious commodity in business. Those unbiased, genuine opinions from the peers, friends, and neighbours of your potential clients represent a golden opportunity.
No more will we squander those precious testimonials. Taking our lead from a popular hot sauce tag line, going forward we will be sprinkling that sh*t on everything. And so should you.
Denny Warner is the Executive Director at the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at execdir@peninsulachamber.ca
