What a fantastic week it has been!   The week started with a smell of spring in the air, which put a huge smile on my face - and as the week went by the smile got bigger and bigger.  On Monday we were notified by 702 that we had been nominated by a customer of ours for the SBA.  We were required to complete a document and give them a short explanation of what we do.  I must confess that although I was thrilled, I repeated my learned behaviour of “Yeah right! Like we could ever win something like that”.  On Wednesday I emailed the documents back and thought that would be the end of that.  Late on Thursday afternoon I was doing some paper work - my least favourite job - when I received the call “Kindly hold the line for David O’Sullivan” my heart stopped, I blinked twice and the live interview was done.  We were finalists!

The days that followed have been crazy; the listenership of 702 is beyond amazing. I would go as far as to say there are fewer people who have heard the interview than have not.  The spinoff is multifaceted - from people who have driven past the shop on numerous occasions but never stopped, who came in to meet us, telephonic orders from new customers who heard the interview and tons of congratulations from friends of Country Flowers.  The most fun was a recipient's husband who I phoned to arrange a time of delivery for his wife’s birthday flowers arranged by her best friend, he recognised our company name straight away from our radio spot and asked to be added to our data base. Then there was the call from a girlfriend of my father’s who he hadn’t spoken to for 20 years. “It’s all about spreading the love Dad!”.

The competition will run for the next two weeks and on the 10^th September the finals will be held in the form of a “speed -dating event” which will help the judges determine the winner and runners up. The winner will be announced on the 11^th September at a gala evening held at the Michelangelo. Softline Pastel will award the winner and runners up with a laptop pre-loaded with Accounting, Payroll, HR and other software.  They will also receive a free Pastel training course or seminar of their choice as well as a year’s worth of software support. The winner will also be awarded R100 000 in airtime on 702 Talk Radio. How amazing would that be?

In closing, never again will I doubt what we are capable of, we work hard, are passionate and committed to our customers, our community and our industry. We are in it to win it!  Your comments on the 702 Small Business Awards page would be appreciated http://www.sba.702.co.za/Home/Profile/17.

Written by Jackie West-Evans owner of Country Flowers “Living My Dream”