6th May 2008

 

 

It was good to see everyone looking very refreshed after such a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend.

Apologies from Liz Copeland, she was still having to endure doing a 7hr lecture, Mark Thornhill, Warren Gilbert, Patrick Cunningham and Andrew Browne, subbed by Helen Tapley ,

Education:
Patrick Cunningham handed his education mantle over to Graham Hathaway who fully maintained our attention. He impressed upon us all how important it is to use our listening skills in order to gain the most from everything being expounded within each meeting.

Graham reminded us all how we have been perfectly designed to have two ears and one mouth! It is of value to everyone within the chapter to listen in particular to what people are saying at the end of the meeting, when they are handing out their referral slips.

Many tips and hints can be gleaned from hearing how members have managed to gain referrals from people. Graham noted that many people use the end of the meeting to talk rather than listen. Something we can all learn from!
Thank you Graham

60 Seconds:

• Another set of fun and informative 60 second presentations with Kate Bellinger telling us all how she is going to shoot the Sandhurst soldiers…photographs that is of course…she is also looking for referrals from people getting married in 2009.
• Scott Georgiades informed us of the episodes of Jewish lightening and on the subject of different races
• Joe Nathanail talked of the Romans, Venetians, Londons and Ottomans (blinds and blanket chests in her world!)
• Nic Howard admitted he is bold in coming forward with his opinion and ideas, where architects are not so willing to make suggestions to their customers. Feedback says that many people are grateful for his forthright honesty.
• Despite his little sigh, Laura Downton still managed to capture David Munday’s attention with her B.I.D.W.E.L.L.S. meanings!
• Mark Hynes stated that often people don’t know what they will end up with after contributing to pension plans etc, he has planning tools to help calculate how much financial  provision they will have when they retire.
• Graham Hathaway’s bread and butter in this climate is remortgaging, he is looking for people requiring commercial loans; shops, hotels etc and also people needing to release equity in particular elderly folks with loads of ‘dosh’ yet nothing to feed their cat!
• David Munday stated that this morning he had a ‘moron of a job’ fitting valves on 19 fire hoses in a school…’a long, dirty, cold job for loads of money’
• Whilst one David lamented about valves another David’s eyes were lighting up as he animatedly talked about his boilers and fitting appliances. David Dunnigan continued to announce how much he enjoys looking for problems and how pleasing it is when he fixes them…making him feel clever! He was a very deserving winner of the Star Speakers Award!!

Reports:
Laura Downton reported that last month 99 referrals were passed totalling in £23.435 worth of business for our members On the leader board Graham Tapley is first with 9, Bob Bullen and Scott Georgiades joint second with 7 and Nic Howard, Brian Harris and Patrick Cunningham joint third with 6.

10 Minutes:
A great 10 minute slot from Matthew Baker beginning with him stating how important it is to ‘stand out from the crowd’ He also reminded us all to ensure that our advertisements are clear and informative with all the correct detail (telling us of a Beauty Parlour who had no contact details within an expensive newspaper ad) Caterham Link is now 3 yrs old and delivered to 13.500 homes, it is not a corporate company but run efficiently by Matthew, his wife Chantal and Carol in sales.

Their distribution is smaller and therefore more manageable, newspapers are often thrown away where the Caterham Link is held onto within households. Matthew closed by offering many tips about what to think of when placing an advertisement; it is important what you put in the ad, clear print size, you need a headline pointing out differences with competitors, don’t waste words – if you don’t need it, get rid of it! Make sure the reader knows what to do next, ensure you are easy to find, with a correct telephone number and local!

Referrals for Matthew  would be: old and new businesses, anyone trading in the area and leaflets for local events looking for distributors.

What happens if you don’t advertise?..........NOTHING!  

Thanks Matthew

Events:

1) Friday May 9th. 6:30pm onward at the Pilgrim, Caterham
Clearly the majority of our members enjoy each other's company and on the mornings of our meetings we all stand around chatting, laughing and generally getting on (or so it seems to the untrained eye). It's unclear how much 'proper' networking is done during that time but it's good to catch up with each other all the same. With that in mind, the first semi-organised event is a relaxed, social gathering at the Pilgrim in Caterham on Friday 9th May from 6:30pm. Nothing structured, just meet for a drink and a chat in a more social environment than the BNI meeting.

Those of us who want to go on for something to eat afterwards can but nothing is booked or arranged. It would be nice to see a good show of us there as it's important to be sociable and not just always meet in a business environment so please do come along and by all means invite whomever you choose. Ashley will hopefully be coming and I'm sure one or two other 'old' faces may too.

Be there or be square.

2) Friday 23rd June. 6:30pm - 8:30pm, Reigate Garden Party
The second event will be bigger and more organised. We've arranged to have a garden party at the house one of Nic's friends/clients in Reigate on June 5th. It's the Friday before the Bank Holiday weekend so we'll all be relaxed and ready to be sociable after a long week's work, and with a long weekend to look forward to. An outstanding buffet will be provided by Sue (& Vanessa) from their new Ladybird Catering business so that we can all sample the the quality and standard of the service she and Vanessa provide. The cost of the food will be covered by a meagre charge of £10 per head. If we get a good turn-out and there's money left over we will put it towards the next event which will be..... (very exciting - watch this space...).

The garden party event will be early evening, around 6:30pm to 8:30pm and is for everyone - partners, friends, ex-members etc., so please invite people as the more we have the better and more fun it'll be.

Clive will DEFINITELY be collecting your £10 from next Tuesday as we need to get a clear idea of number ASAP so please come armed with some crisp, clean £10 notes for yourself and each person you think will be coming too.

Please contact Clive direct for any more information on either of these events (0845 456 0442 / This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Thought for the week:
You can have everything in life you want, if you just help enough people to get what they want
Zig Ziglar

Have a lovely week