Welcome to our Newest Chamber Members:

Comic Book Guy - 306.690.8765 - Town N Country Mall location
Guac Mexi Grill - 514.602.4801 - 4 Hochelaga St W
James Mitchell Realtor - 306.690.8765 - 70 Athabasca St W

CEO Message - Rob Clark

The Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce is focused on helping our members and community thrive with positive business to exchanges. We work closely within our municipality to welcome and encourage new business opportunities and development for Moose Jaw and area. We are deeply invested in the growth of community and supporting local businesses. We take pride in working alongside our exceptional board member and engaged chamber members as we continue to help, promote, advocate, educate and strengthen your community.   

The Chamber has stepped into a role to answer calls from the business community, emails from business owners and individuals to help navigate businesses to succeed. Your feed back matters! Help us identify needs and issues we can plan for a healthier business community.

Personally, I never run out of things to do in Moose Jaw with all the local activities, restaurants, and retail shops that line many of our streets. You have probably already have heard of the many developments happening, and when you stop and think about all the activity and investments as a whole it is incredible to imagine what our City will be in just a few years.

Another favourite time of year is quickly approaching—the holidays! As we get closer to the holiday shopping season, I want to emphasize the importance of keeping our dollars local. As you start to put your shopping list together, please think about supporting local.

Also, this month we also celebrate Remembrance Day, I invite you to take an hour or two out of your day in recognizing the service and sacrifices of our veterans.

On behalf of the Chamber staff, we thank all our members business for your support and contributions to our community.  

Everyone hopes it will never happen to them, but in truth, no business is immune to a crisis. Products fail disastrously sometimes. An employee can screw up on a service call and break a priceless vase in someone’s house. The question is, what can you do when your brand is compromised?

When your business experiences a crisis, it is imperative that your response is immediate AND proactive. Sitting back and hoping the situation will go away is not an option. Your customers will watch how you handle the situation and make a judgment call on whether you can be trusted in the future. But protecting your brand when trouble hits can be a challenge – especially if what happens results in a loss of consumer confidence.

The key to protecting your brand is honesty. Don’t blame someone else, or minimize the significance of what happened. Remember, when a crisis hits, your primary job is to restore customer confidence, and there’s no better way to reassure them than to tell them exactly what you are going to do to fix the situation, and to reiterate your concern for their welfare.

Here are four crisis management tips that will help minimize the damage to your brand.

Quickly develop a communication strategy – don’t wait too long to decide how you’re going to deal with the situation.

• How are you going to contact your customers?
• What will you say and what tone will you use?
• What is your primary message?
• How will you strengthen your brand after the crisis?

The quicker you can reach your customer with your message, the greater the chance you’ll be able to make amends. The longer customers and the public have to wonder and doubt, the harder it will be to convince them when you do reach out.

Make sure you prepare your employees – it’s critical that you teach your staff damage control and crisis management. They should be familiar with your communication strategy, and trained in how to support it if they ever find themselves in a position where they have to comment on the issue. An employee who is ill-prepared, or who has not bought into your strategic approach, can make an already difficult situation far worse.

Be an example – in a crisis, your leadership skills will be put to the test. All eyes will watch how you handle the situation – the public, employees, customers, even your industry if the crisis is large enough. Honesty and integrity in the face of the disaster will go a long way to regain consumer confidence.

Mention your brand often – at every opportunity, say the name of your company. When you’re being interviewed about how you are putting things right, when you’re talking to customers about what you will do for them, and when you’re promoting a solution, always ensure your brand is front and centre. People will always remember you for what happened, so when you put things right, you need them to know which company solved their problem.

 It’s your job to make sure their memory is a positive one.

A crisis is never easy to deal with, but being prepared to act quickly and strategically when it does may be the difference between drowning under the weight of bad publicity or surviving and becoming stronger.

We began this three-part series in September 2023 by bringing to light Al Siebert’s (author of The Survivor Personality) work with trauma survivors. He listed nine personal traits that seemed to be common among all people who survived major traumatic events. The article drew attention to the fact that those survivor traits were also traits we see in successful business people. Last month, we talked about the first three traits – the ability to learn from experience, mental and emotional flexibility, and empathy. This month, we’re going to look at another three – a positive outlook, results orientation, and self-confidence. We’ll conclude, in part III, with – willingness to experiment, adaptability, and playfulness.

Trait #4 - Positive Outlook

Siebert says “survivors anticipate and overcome obstacles to their success, and are adept at thinking in positive ways to surmount negative developments.” During Hurricane Katrina many people lost everything – their homes, vehicles, all their possessions, their jobs, and even loved ones – but those who were able to rebuild their lives after the total devastation of that disaster, time after time talk about the positive things that came from it. They talk about being thankful they are still alive. They talk about the kindness of others and how much they appreciated those who offered their help. They focus on building their future, not reliving their past. They look at life differently – with gratitude for family and friends, and for every new day. A positive outlook is an unstoppable force, both in life and in business. People who ask positive questions are the ones who create the lives they want. “How can I turn this around? How might this be a blessing in disguise? How can I make this pay off for me?” These kinds of questions take you from problem to positive.

In your business, you will face setbacks. Are you the type of person who knows this and expects those setbacks? Can you take a terrible situation, a downturn in the economy, an awful mistake, a significant failure – and ask the questions that will help you respond positively?

Trait #5 – Results-orientation

Survivors have an over-riding desire to make things work at all costs. They need to know that what they are doing is making a difference and they are constantly looking at new and innovative ways to make things work better. In business, we often see these people as “wave makers” because the status quo is never good enough. This trait is closely linked to the previous one. Their positive outlook propels survivors to continually look for a better way. If a hurricane destroys your house, ask how can I build one that is better, stronger, and will withstand the next storm? If your business experienced a serious setback in sales last quarter, ask what can I do to motivate my team to excel in the next three months? Business is about people, and you shouldn’t forget that, but it is also about creating success. If you don’t pay attention to your bottom line, your business won’t get very far. Focusing on the results you want with your business and determining the strategies you will use to get there can be one of your greatest tools for success.

Trait #6 – Self-confidence – this has nothing to do with ego and everything to do with an inner trust that keeps survivors grounded no matter what is happening around them. It’s all about balance. Whether they make big mistakes or have huge successes, their inner compass reminds them to stay centered. Someone once said: if your kids turn out successful, you can’t take all the credit, and if they turn out less than successful, you can’t take all the blame. This nugget of wisdom applies to other areas of life. We all have successes and failures. If something goes wrong and you get stuck in thinking that it was all your fault and that you’ll never be successful again, you will live out your own prophecy. Self-confidence is taking both your successes and failures in your stride; being grateful for the good, making the most of the bad, and learning from both. It’s knowing that you have the capacity to survive anything and doing whatever it takes to make things happen for the good; it is being able to see what IS happening, instead of what you wish was happening, and taking action to move towards what you want.

How are you doing in these three areas? Are you demonstrating a positive outlook in your business? – do you take setbacks and trials and see the positive in the difficult? Are you paying attention to results in your business? Do you continually seek ways to improve the way you do business? Finally, how’s your self-confidence – are you able to recognize your successes as the result of your hard work and effort, as well as look at your failures as opportunities to grow and learn? In part III, we’ll look at the final three survivor traits and how they can help you grow your business.

As we approach the new year, it may be helpful to reflect on this past year. It was a year with many challenges and hardships throughout the world. Although we may not want to experience it again, we will have learned some lessons that are helpful in moving our business and personal lives forward. Consider the following questions as you look back and look forward.

What lessons did you learn from your experiences in 2023? Did you discover how well you work more or less in isolation and from home, or did you realize that you really miss the camaraderie of the office or store? Maybe you felt you became more efficient and effective with your time. You may even feel that you were more productive with your meetings on Zoom or whatever platform you used.

From what you know now, what would you have done differently? 20/20 hindsight may help you look to the future with greater clarity. If faced with similar challenges in the future, how will you respond?

What is your most important resolution for 2024? Resolutions are about forming habits. When you have too many resolutions, you try to form or rid yourself of too many habits at once. Focus on the most important thing you want to change or accomplish. Having one important resolution in several areas of your life is far more realistic and attainable.

How ready are you to take action? This speaks to your commitment and willingness to take risks and it leads to further consideration. What is holding you back? What are some obstacles in front of you?

What do you need to be successful? As you figure out your primary resolution for 2024, other questions will arise that help clarify how you can be successful. For instance, what resources do you need and which are available? Who can help you with this? 

What is the first small step you can take? Sometimes a resolution may seem overwhelming. If it is, you need to break it down into manageable steps and, most importantly, get started. Ask yourself, what are three different ways I can reach my goal? When will I start?

How do you stay inspired and motivated to keep your resolution alive and successful? This is about keeping your focus on the resolution until you have succeeded. Celebrate the small successes or achievements along the way. How are you going to stay accountable? With whom have you shared your passion for this resolution? Share it with your family, friends, a coach, or mentor and ask them to help you remain accountable.

Whatever the resolution, you need to keep it front of mind every day — you need to make moving toward it a habit.

Paul Abra, Certified Executive Coach, Motivated Coaching