BRX Bond Street

Richard Houldsworth from Splatt Print (a commercial printer based in East London) showed BRX Bond Street his wears and talked through three key stages to servicing clients with print…..

Stage One – Understand what the client wants

The Splatt Print sales team offer to visit clients at there premises (taking a selection of relevant product samples) or ask them to visit the operation at E8 (especially if paper selection is important as they have a wide variety of samples available on site). By asking open questions Splatt Print can understand what the item will be used for, who the audience will be and how it will be delivered. All these factors can make a difference to the look, feel and cost of the document i.e. If a document needs to be Corporate in style and the client is up against a tight budget then they have alternative printing methods, papers and finishes that they could recommend.

Stage Two – Research & Consultation

Splatt Print go to all the major trade exhibitions (DRUPA, IPEX, DIGITAL PRINT WORLD) to understand what new print methods, materials and finishing technology is available, this information can then be used to offer clients a wider range of products to suit there needs. By talking through the various options available the client is able to make a balanced decision, ensuring they get what is right for them.

Stage Three – Production Control

Some clients require tight colour control as there product or service is relayed to the customer through the company colours. Splatt Print use highly experienced and trained print operators to ensure colour matching is as close as possible, time after time. As different clients needs vary significantly, most jobs take different lengths of time to complete. Splatt Print communicate all stages of the production process to ensure job completion is within any deadline specified in stage one.

Below is a small range of products Splatt Print have completed using these three stages

visit www.splattprint.com to know more about Splatt Print or call 020 7254 8736 to book a free consultation

Posted by Richard Houldsworth in General | No Comments

If you want good networking go to a BRX meeting – if you want great networking and lots of fun, then come to a BRX Bond Street Friday morning breakfast.

If Carlsberg did networking breakfasts……… they would be in Paris!

Members of BRX Bond Street group at the Franco Brit Chamber of Commerce

Lunch at Le Dome du Marais……… then walking off the fantastic lunch!

To top the day, drinks at a great bar……. Tres Bien!

Posted by Richard Houldsworth in General | No Comments

Employees stranded by volcanic ash – the fall-out from the volcano eruption 

 Earlier this year, heavy snow fall brought the country to a halt and employers were left counting the cost of enforced staff absences. Now, as volcanic ash drifts across Europe, grounding flights and causing travel chaos, employers are again picking up the tab when employees are not able to get back from their holidays.

In January, we sent an Email Alert looking at employers’ obligations where employees were not able to come into work due to weather conditions. The current situation is analogous and many of the same considerations apply. By way of brief reminder, the key issues are as follows:

• Take a look at your employment contracts and Employee Handbook, to see whether these deal with the situation. If they do not, then the default position is that the obligation is on the employee to get into work. If they do not come into work, even due to circumstances beyond their control, they are on unauthorised absence and they are arguably not entitled to be paid.

• Be careful if you have decided to dock employees’ pay. The employee could argue that failure to make payment is an unauthorised deduction from wages (assuming this is not covered in the employment contract). Although you would have a potential defence that there was no entitlement to pay as no work was done, it may be an argument best avoided.

• You should also assess the impact of refusing to pay employees on morale and productivity. This is particularly so if employees are trying hard to get back to the UK but this is proving impossible.

• Keep your approach consistent. If you haven’t got a policy covering the situation, meet with the employees after their return and explain to them that either:

(a) any time off will be unpaid;

(b) time off will be paid but that they are expected to make up the time later; and/or

(c) they can request the time off as paid annual leave.

• Be careful if you are trying to insist on employees taking annual holiday retrospectively. Employees will need to agree to this unless the contract specifically allows you to do this.

 The above provides a general guide to issues that might arise. However, each situation is unique and different considerations may apply in your case. We would therefore recommend that you consult a solicitor, or other suitably qualified person, about your specific circumstances.

 If you have any questions about the matters discussed above, or any other question of employment law, please contact Paul Marmor, head of Litigation at Sherrards, or one of the Employment team:-

 Joanne Perry, Tel: 01727 738920, Email: jp@sherrards.com

Mark Fellows, Tel: 01727 738976, Email: mf@sherrards.com

Posted by Paul Marmor in General | No Comments

World Cup Fever – An Employer’s Guide

Once again, World Cup Fever is gripping the nation. Windows and cars are adorned with flags and people are dressed head to toe in their national colours. The festive spirit seems to be just what the country needs after months of recession, a biting winter, travel chaos and constitutional upheaval.

However, the very words “World Cup” can strike dread into the heart of employers all over the country. Just as the tournament can help to lift morale amongst the workforce, it can also be expensive for employers as employees duck out of work early to catch the games and then come into work late suffering with hangovers. How can employers handle the situation without coming across as killjoys?

Setting Out Expectations

You should be realistic in your expectations. Making unreasonable demands will seriously damage morale and demotivate employees. Although you are not obliged to make allowances for employees who wish to watch the football, putting intentional barriers in their way will do more harm than good.

Before the tournament begins, you should consider sending a memo to staff, clearly setting out your intentions and expectations. Then, when the tournament gets underway, a consistent approach should be adopted. In this way, you can ensure that employees are clear as to what they are permitted to do, and what is expected of them. This will make it easier for you to deal with anybody who crosses the line without spoiling it for everyone else.

Handling Absences

Historically, sickness absences increase during major sporting events. It can be difficult for employers to distinguish between those employees who are genuinely sick and those who are “pulling a sickie” in order that they can watch football.

To try to avoid unplanned absences, encourage staff to take pre-booked annual holiday if they want to watch the football. Also, consider allowing them to take unpaid leave. However, be careful to ensure that it is made clear to employees that requests for leave are not guaranteed to be approved and will have to be considered on a “first come, first served” basis to ensure that there is adequate cover. Give equal priority to all requests for time off – preference should not be given to employees wanting to watch the football. Such an approach is likely to favour male staff and could therefore result in claims of discrimination.

If employees do call in sick on days when there are key games during working hours, do not assume that they are faking. Make it clear to employees in advance that absences during the tournament will be subject to closer scrutiny and hold return to work meetings with employees when they come back, even if this has not been the normal practice before. Make sure that all absences are carefully and accurately recorded. Hopefully, if employees are aware that their absences will be looked at more closely, they will be dissuaded from pulling “sickies” if they are not genuinely ill.

If you have grounds to believe that an absence is not genuine, for example if there is a suspicious pattern of days off coinciding with football games, you should consider taking disciplinary action. Bear in mind, however, that it can be difficult to establish that absences were not genuine and therefore it is preferable to try to avoid the situation arising in the first place.

Flexibility

In order to avoid employees taking “sickies”, you might want to consider offering employees the opportunity to work flexibly around games. For example, you could allow employees to work through their lunch breaks, or come into work early, then leave early in order to catch the games. Again, you should make it clear that any such arrangement will need to be pre-approved by the Company in order to ensure that adequate cover is available.

If your employees work shifts, you could also offer a “shift swap” arrangement, provided that employees can find somebody who is prepared to swap shifts. Again, all “swaps” should be subject to prior approval.

Finally, you might consider allowing employees to work at home on match days. This requires a level of trust in your employees, as you will not be able to monitor what they are doing, but this may prove to be a preferable option to employees taking unplanned absence or causing disruption within the place of work itself.

Make sure that any offers of flexible working, shift swaps and homeworking are made available to all employees, regardless of whether they want to watch the football. Limiting the offer to football fans only is likely to alienate those employees who do not wish to watch the football and potentially create tension and resentment in the workplace.

Watching at Work

You could consider showing the football at the place of work, and even making it into an “event” that all employees are welcome to attend. This can be a good opportunity to foster a team spirit and boost morale. However, you should be aware that not everybody will want to be involved and you may wish to allow non-interested employees to simply take time out rather than watch the football.

Again, you should be realistic. It will be difficult to expect people to go straight back to their desks and pick up their work where they left off after spending time socialising with their colleagues while they watch a game. Also, be alert to the fact that not everybody will support the England team – in today’s multinational workforce, there may be members of staff from all around the world. Be sensitive to the fact that they should be given the same benefits as employees supporting the England team. If you have a particularly wide spread of nationalities in your staff, this may mean that it is simply not practicable to allow the employees to watch the games on site.

Dealing with Alcohol

Football often comes hand-in-hand with alcohol. If you choose to screen the football, and perhaps turn it into an event with food and drink, make sure that employees are aware of their responsibilities. In particular, if there is any chance that employees may need to operate machinery after the event, make it explicit to them that they must not consume any alcohol. Make sure you have an up-to-date alcohol policy and consider sending a memo reminding staff of its contents.

Similarly, you should make it clear to employees that it is unacceptable for them to come into work suffering from the effects of alcohol (including hangovers) such that they are incapable of performing their duties properly.  You should spell out the disciplinary consequences that will follow if employees take time off for alcohol-related reasons or if they come into work under the influence of drink.

Internet Policies

You should also take some time to revisit and consider your company’s internet policy. You may find that employees spend significant amounts of time on the internet, either getting the updated scores or general news about the tournament. Some games are even likely to be screened in full on the internet and employees may try to watch the football from their workstations.

Again, set out your expectations to employees clearly. You may wish to state that reasonable internet browsing will be permitted, provided that it doesn’t interfere with the person’s work, but that watching full games is expressly prohibited. Alternatively, you may wish to adopt a “zero tolerance” approach and prohibit all non-work related browsing.

Conclusion

The World Cup can be an excellent opportunity to forge good relations with staff. Handled correctly, it can be a chance to encourage a real sense of goodwill and commitment from employees. However, employers should be alive to the potential pitfalls and take steps to avoid being the ones that lose out. Now is the time to revisit and update employment policies, and make sure that these are issued to staff. Overall, the key elements for success are communication, clarity and consistency. With the right approach, employers and employees alike can enjoy a happy (and hopefully victorious) World Cup.

The above provides a general guide to issues that might arise. However, each situation is unique and different considerations may apply in your case. We would therefore recommend that you consult a solicitor, or other suitably qualified person, about your specific circumstances.

If you have any questions about the matters discussed above, or any other question of employment law, please call one of our team at Sherrards:

Paul Marmor, Tel: 01727 832830, Email: pdm@sherrards.com

Joanne Perry, Tel: 01727 738920, Email: jp@sherrards.com

Mark Fellows, Tel: 01727 738976, Email: mf@sherrards.com

Kelly-Lee Wright, Tel: 01727 738943, Email: kw@sherrards.com

Posted by Paul Marmor in General | No Comments

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday’s Twitter talk by Mark Shaw.

If you weren’t able to make it or you’d like a bit more explanation on the mechanics of how it all works, I highly recommend Mark’s free beginners guide for Twitter, just send an email to: cheesesandwich@aweber.com .It’s short, only about 20 pages, easy to understand and explains things like how to follow, how to send a message, what retweets are, and what all those weird symbols mean. (To get Mark’s daily top Twitter Tips via email straight into your inbox send an email to : twitterverse@aweber.com )

Once you’re on Twitter (it really does only take about 5 mins to set up properly) if you go to http://twitter.com/BRXBondStreet and look on the right hand side of the page, you’ll see ‘members’ and ‘visitors’ under ‘Lists’. If you click on ‘members’ you’ll see all the BRX Bond Street members who I’m currently aware of as being on Twitter. If you click on ‘visitors’ you’ll see all the people who’ve visited Bond Street who I’m aware of as being on Twitter. If I’ve left anyone out do let me know. I think Twitter is a useful way of connecting with other members during the week, and it’s also an easy way of keeping in touch with the visitors we’ve had. (By the way if you go to the ‘Find People’ tab and do a search for ‘BRX’ you’ll find we’re now top of the list.)

If you need any help with Twitter or have any problems do get in touch and if I can help I will.

By the way Mark isn’t the only people who’s in touch with the Starbucks UK MD. I messaged the Starbucks corporate US account to ask about a branch they’re opening near me and got a message from the UK MD the next day answering my question, and he’s now one of my followers. So Twitter is a great way for a company to show it’s serious about customer service – and to really impress its customers. It’s also a good way of following and getting on the radar of organisations or people it would usually be very difficult to contact – for example I’m now on the Creative Review (UK’s leading magazine for advertising/design) twitter list of copywriters, which only numbers 28 copywriters out of all the thousands in the UK.

And finally – it’s nothing to do with Twitter as a business tool – but there is such a thing as a free lunch. I follow a Michelin starred chef who’s recently opened up a restaurant and sent a tweet to his followers offering a free meal for two in the ’soft opening’ week before the restaurant formally opens and the critics arrive, in return for some feedback. So I took my father for lunch and enjoyed apperitifs, amuse-bouches, two courses (I had a herb ravioli followed by wild garlic risotto) with a lovely white Italian wine recommended by the sommelier, a main course (I had some superb angus beef) with a gorgeous South of France red wine, a pre-dessert of sorbet and fruit to clear the palate, and a stunning Louis XV dark chocolate praline dessert , followed by petits fours (marmalade marshmallow, truffles and raspberry sable) with coffee ….. all absolutely free (though I passed on the ‘wafer-thin mint’). In return I had the arduous task of writing an email with my feedback and and some (extremely minor) criticisms. Though I do wish In Kilter Fitness was doing his fat burning kettle bell sessions in a park near me.

Posted by London Freelance Copywriter in General | No Comments

“How to use Twitter effectively for business”

BRX Bond Street, RAF Club, 128 Piccadilly, London, Friday 21 May, 7.15-10am

This Friday the BRX Bond Street business networking meeting has been specially extended to incorporate a 1 hour talk with Mark Shaw, the UK’s leading expert on using Twitter to grow your business. (The meeting is open to all business professionals but numbers are limited so you must RSVP by 19 May – see below)

Millions of people worldwide join Twitter every month, but is it just a social thing or does it have any uses for business? Can Twitter actually increase traffic to your website – and with it revenue for your company? To find out, visit us this Friday for a specially extended meeting that includes a seminar with Twitter ‘guru’ Mark Shaw, who has spoken to, amongst others, Microsoft, the Welsh Assembly, the BBC World Service, Cass Business School, The Independent and Chris Evans on Radio 2.

For our normal meeting fee of £18 you’ll enjoy:

• · Breakfast networking (7.15-8.45am) – With one of London’s liveliest business networking groups (includes full English breakfast)

AND

• · Twitter training (8.45-10am) – Learn from an expert how to get started on Twitter and how to use it as a powerful business tool

Mark’s talk will cover exactly why your business should be on Twitter, including:

1 – Why should you bother with Twitter?
2 – How to get started – getting the most effective name, avatar & biog
3 – What can you do with Twitter?
4 – How do you gather information?
5 – What are the 4 R’S?
6 – What are the 4 things you need to do to be successful with Twitter?
7 – What are the 3 things you need to Tweet about?
8 – What results can be generated via Twitter?
9 – How can you increase website traffic with Twitter?

10 – Where should you spend most of your time on Twitter?

Where and when

7.15-10am, Friday 21 May, at the RAF club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY (nearest tubes are Green Park and Hyde Park Corner). Map info

RSVP

Please RSVP by email only to louise (dot) hassett (at) delfont-mackintosh (dot) com before the end of Wed 19 May to secure your place. Remember to bring plenty of business cards and the £18 fee.

Follow Mark at www.twitter.com/markshaw

Follow BRX Bond Street at www.twitter.com/BRXBondStreet

Posted by London Freelance Copywriter in General | No Comments

At this week’s meeting corporate wellbeing expert Alexis Garnaut-Miller of The Happiness Centre raved about the quality of the young graduates she’s taken on for 6 months’ work experience, at no cost to her, via the government’s Future Jobs Fund Programme – the scheme pays for all their wages and National Insurance. London chocolatier Kirsty Jolie of Perfectly Tempered was also enthusiastic about the scheme and emailed details. Judging by these members’ feedback, it seems to be fantastic programme and a win-win situation for all, so I’ve summarised the details Kirsty emailed below for anyone who may be interested.

If you could offer work experience opportunities to young people at NO COST to you and with NO OBLIGATION to keep them on after, how many would you take?

Future Jobs Fund (FJF) is a new Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) initiative designed to give ‘real world’ work experience to eligible young (18-24) people with the programme paying all salary and NIC costs for 6 months. All the rules and standards are set by the DWP.

For employers wishing to expand but reluctant to invest in salary and training costs without first proving the worth of the candidates, or where new opportunities exist that would not otherwise be cost‐effective to entertain, this is an ideal solution. The young people involved have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for a minimum of 26 weeks,

Home Training CIC (HTCIC) http://www.htcic.org/ to date has been the UK’s most successful independent contract delivery provider under the FJF programme. They will offer you a number of pre-screened candidates, matched to your requirements, and it is up to you to select the one/s you would like to engage. Thereafter, they provide the candidates with in-work mentoring and 5 e-learning courses (from a choice of 360), together with ongoing support for the participating employer. In addition they will be:

- Paying candidate wages (National Min Wage) for 25hrs per week for 26 weeks

- Paying the employer’s National Insurance contributions for the candidate(s).

How the FJF programme (through Home Training CIC) works:

• The candidate is confirmed as being eligible for the FJF programme (this is determined by Job Centre Plus based on the rules set by the DWP).
• The employer commits to employing the candidate on a temporary work-placement basis for a period of 26 weeks, for which HTCIC will reimburse gross salary to a maximum of 25 hours per week at National Minimum Wage.
• If the employer would like to pay more or engage the candidate for longer hours per week, this would be a cost to the employer.
• The employer commits to training the candidate (as necessary) for the job they have been employed to do.
• The candidate is required and expected to work for the full 26 weeks to complete the programme.
• The candidate is supported throughout the 26 week period by a coach/mentor from HTCIC, to address any difficulties if and when they arise and to encourage success during their period of employment.
• The employer will also provide regular feedback to the coach/mentor and HTCIC to make sure that the candidate has integrated successfully, or to assist with any problems that may arise relating to the employee.
• The employer will provide a record of hours worked, time off (authorised or unauthorised), etc., from which the salary for the candidate will be reimbursed regularly to the employer’s bank account by BACS transfer (on dates to be agreed).

If you are interested in taking on young employees via the FJF programme visit www.hometraininginitiative.com/partners_futurejobs.htm or contact Home Training CIC by calling 0844 888 7640 or emailing b.burden@htcic.org

Posted by London Freelance Copywriter in General | No Comments

Over the past few weeks we have seen some changes in the membership at BRX Bond Street with several long standing members no longer able to commit, creating empty spaces around the table. This of course presents a great opportunity for potential members whose discipline the group lacks to come along and try the group.

Accordingly the past few weeks has seen a crop of inquisitive interesting, and interested visitors, come to try us out before making a decision to join. Several have already committed to joining BRX. This trend has also been spotted by David Coburn the Area Partner who has had an exceptionally busy month introducing new visitors and guests.

Our latest member who joined this week is Gerry Ojideagu (IFA) from English Mutual London Ltd. Gerry was offered the place after he visited and was selected by the committee among fierce competition for the slot from other IFA’s ! He is already finding his feet and has commenced one-to-one meetings with other group members.

Visitors on Friday included Tanya Rennick from Chameleon Relocation who is a property search agent, Rachel Bradman from Boss Recruit who offers a recruitment administration and CV selection service and Brad Alexander from Alexander-Tate WoodCraft Ltd who creates bespoke wooden furniture.

Paul Ffitch, Senior Tax Partner at Sayers Butterworth was away and had Maddie Carrick from Dreamcatcher Parties subbing for him. Dreamcatcher creates parties for children.

However let’s not forget other core members who have been busy looking after existing clients by developing new innovations and adding value. Richard Houldsworth our Chairman and owner of Splatt Print wants to meet companies who need to print jewelery catalogues. Christian Ingerslev of Danesoft has been expanding the e-commerce web side of his business and can save companies transaction fees when processing on-line receipts.

George Metcalfe, our long standing Coach who is himself a bit of a chameleon is now literally pulling his clients apart and gluing them together! Let’s hope they like their new persona! Sanjeev Shah from HSBC introduced us to an innovative decorated box which contains mints; Alexis Garnaut-Miller from The Happiness Centre has launched a ‘We Love Shepherd’ s Bush’ campaign which is puting Shepherd’s Bush area on the map and gaining good publicity for her growing business.

For myself, Roy Duncan of RG Duncan Accountancy Recruitment I have been busy updating our website which will shortly be relaunched. As a member of BRX for almost 6 years I enjoy both the stability of having strong and committed core members, along with the flow of visitors and gradual change of the group over time.

The frequency of visitors, gradual turnover of the membership along with added value gained from talks, training sessions, as well as expert support, knowledge and advice from fellow professionals is what keeps our group alive and makes it such good value. This dynamic also creates lots of new business opportunities and introductions.

So if you are not a member, and have a skill that is not already represented on our web site, what are you waiting for, when you can visit as a guest and try before you buy?

Posted by rduncan in General | No Comments

Another cracking meeting was had by all this week, especially our resident mortgage broker Nigel Hakkak. This week he was very specific in what he was looking for and asked for friends we know who are getting divorced. A lovely theme for Valentines Day, don’t you think? The amazing thing is, that he picked up 5 of the 39 referrals passed this week in our BRX Bond Street meeting. Well done sir.

And I suppose a key way to be specific is to go through the exercise I told you all on Friday. Do you remember what it was? Just four simple steps to improve your 60 second presentation.
Step 1. Suppose you have been asked by someone to go out and rent a movie. What would it be?
Step 2. Now suppose you were meant to bring back a movie for a loved one, would it still be the same movie?
Step 3. Now suppose that the loved one in question was not your spouse, as I am sure you were thinking it was, but it was for your nephew. Would it still be the same movie?
Step 4. Now suppose I said that your nephew has a love for a superhero. And that that the superhero wears a red and blue costume with a big “S” on his chest. Which movie would you rent now?

I do hope you all picked the same character as me and that it is Superman. That is the way to be specific. So please spend 20 minutes each week, maybe on the afternoon before the meeting, and think about what you are looking for. Write it down and be specific. You could end up as next weeks top receiver when it comes to the referral round.

As always it was nice to see visitors in the room this morning. I do believe there were 5 around the table. Which brings me on to the league table for visitors. Thanks Mike for keeping a tally. Here is an extract from his email sent out after the meeting.
—
As you are all aware we are part way through our drive to recruit new members to Bond Street. Consequently I thought it a good idea to update you all on the competition standings so far:

Lewis – 3 guests
Richard – 2 guests
Mike – 2 guest
Hiten – 1 guest
Mab – 1 guest
George – 1 guest
Louise – 1 guest

I could also add to the list those members who are yet to invite a guest but that would be harsh wouldn’t it!!!!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!! We need you help and support to build the numbers.

I know a number of you have more guests invited over the coming weeks. It would be great to see everyone with at least one invite to their name.

Your efforts are much appreciated and remember we will all benefit as the membership increases. More people round the table, more referral will be generated.

Regards and keep inviting.

Mike Nightingale
—
Well, thanks Mike for the update. If any members do have guests coming, please inform our beautiful guest coordinator Louise and she will add them to the list. If you are one of the many people who read this blog every week and don’t know anyone personally in the group and would like to attend, please email any of us and we will be more than willing to help.

On a personal note, thank you to a few of you who have already sponsored me for the London Marathon which is in 9 weeks. I am trying to raise money for an excellent cause and do need your help. It’s best to do it now so I don’t hound you in person. Just click here and it will take you to my Just Giving page.

Enjoy your Valentines Day, and if any of you are looking for proposal ideas, then click here and take your pick. If you want to add your own thats not listed, please email me through the website.

See you Friday, Lewis.
You can follow me at twitter.com/lewismalka

Posted by Lewis Malka in General | No Comments

There are a number of strategies we can use and each has its own merits, depending on where our group is in its growth cycle – being a large group we will have a different approach to a small group that might be struggling to make up the numbers.

The first thing to bear in mind – is that when you invite a person to your BRX meeting, you are not inviting them to become members (that is a decision for the membership committee).

The moment you understand that, inviting people becomes so much easier, because all your job entails is inviting them along to a networking breakfast.

The following wording might be useful: “I’d like to invite you along to my breakfast networking meeting next week – you will get to meet potential customers and learn something. On top of that the coffee and cooked breakfast is a pleasure and well worth getting up for!

Now where are you going to find these people? I am sure that we all have working allegiances not represented in the group. Invite them.

Most of us shop these days, and whether it’s Tesco, or any other supermarket, or in fact just about any DIY store, people to invite are just sitting there right in front of us at the checkout.
If you haven’t done so before, have a look at the wall behind the tills: you will find a large business card holder full of cards of companies looking for business. The companies that advertise there are spending a great deal of money to have their cards on display. They are looking for business.

And, that’s the key: they are looking for more business. That’s all a visitor is, someone who is looking for more work, nothing more. It doesn’t even matter if there are 3 people from the same category. This is called a focused approach where by more than one person from a category comes and the 2nd one feels the first one will join, so they sign up too and there is suddenly the luxury for the committee to decide which one to have. Perfect scenario.

Now in the past I have mentioned to be selfish and invite someone who you will benefit from. Lets move the goal posts slightly and let me say this.

Look for clients instead of strategic alliances. I want you to think,
1. Who do your clients use before they use you?
2. What do your clients need during their time with you?
3. Who do your clients use after they have used you?

Wouldn’t it be great to become a resource centre for your clients? Just imagine what that will do to your reputation. Those are the class of people you should be inviting.

Good luck and I hope you are as excited as I am to get our group back where it belongs. 30+ members. It’s nothing less than we deserve.

As always if there are any questions, or if anyone is struggling, please ask me for help. Only to happy. See you Friday with a guest.

Posted by Lewis Malka in General | No Comments