As most of us do, I take customers at face value. We talk and through the process, we find out a bit about each other but sometimes we shouldn't just take things as we see them.
Prime example. At Boatshed Sussex, I have just finalised the sale of a Rinker 246 Captiva Liberty Edition Cuddy to a man that I know as Mr Simon Daglish. He is a very pleasant guy to speak to and to deal with, but beneath this calm and eloquent exterior lies a fascinating man.
Simon is a Director of ITV, having previously been Vice President Commercial Director for Fox Media, whose portfolio houses MySpace amongst others and Sales Director for Channel 4. A succesful man in his field but there are still hidden depths. A Google search reveals that he is one of the organisers and participant in the Walking with the Wounded expedition to the North Pole earlier this year. I broached this with him whilst we were sitting on his new boat and he went on to tell me that he also took part in the walk to the South Pole and rowed across the Atlantic for charity.
For me, this is not just a customer, it is a remarkable man and one that I immediately decided that Boatshed Sussex would be proud to associate ourselves with. An instant decision was made to donate part of our commission from the sale of the boat to the charity that he has worked so hard to support and without further thought, we wrote the cheque out. OK, now the sting in the tail, if you like, we agree that people like Simon go to extraordinary lengths to help our wounded servicemen and women whilst we do very little, so please join us in making a donation to this fine cause. We have done so in the name of Boatshed Sussex and if any of you out there feel that you would like to help out, please contact me or go to www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk where details of how to contribute are fully explained.
Simon has promised us a mention in his blogs and on his facebook / myspace etc. and he will do the same for any other Boatshed that is generous enough to contribute. The very least we can do is return the favour because what you see is not always what you get. Something that we should all remember.
Keith, Boatshed Sussex