Chairman’s Blog Thursday 20th January 2022

22 members were present today including Howard Bullock in full view and Richard Reed for the first time since the New Year. I took comfort from the fact that it was so cold that had there been a meeting at our usual venue there would have been a lot of ice scraping from windscreens.

The Performance League

Stuart Smallcombe is way out front with 101 points, Scott and myself we’re in pursuit, if not close pursuit.

Education Presentation

Ben Golding is back in charge and he treated us to this week’s offering, Nothing if not useful he gave tips on inviting visitors along when you first meet someone. Given the general acceptance that the more members you have the more referrals you get, we should be putting his suggestions into practise.

New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal

Terry Maylin reported on the renewal of Mike Skinner who surprisingly has put in a year of hard graft with us. The good news is that he has renewed.

The 60 Second Round

The now inappropriately named round was kicked off by last week’s Oscar winner Ben Golding who pitched at Ovo Energy customers who are to be subjected to a 300% increase and be forced to eat porridge and cuddle their pets more to mitigate the effect of this swingeing higher charge.

Howard Bullock had so placed his laptop but he looked as if he was towering over us when he delivered his 90. And it is perhaps worth mentioning at this stage the background of some of our members. Tina as always shows off her Halo, Paul Booth gives the impression that he is speaking from a tax haven complete with beach and palm trees and a new background was added this week by Nick Cooke. It somehow seems appropriate that the San Francisco bridge with all of its steel beams etc should be his choice. Phrase of the week definitely goes to Nick who euphemised his efforts in advising on matters structural as ‘structural interventions’. It sounded slightly surgical. Even Sarah Steele had one this week with an uncomfortable-looking chair and a pink theme that was quite fetching.

Good news award of the week must of course go to Alison Bean whose organisation have won a contract with Essex and Suffolk police which has resulted in two new counsellors being taken on and further support staff. Coming a close second was Neil Bellham who has received requests for so many quotes that he has now introduced a minimum spend to maximise his profitability. Toby will be proud of you!

The man himself, Toby Acton used his screen to demonstrate a business plan book showing lists questions, targets, and competitor analysis pages and something called a client avatar. I was looking for a blue coloured creature but failed to spot it.

Talking of blue the Mayor of a certain bucolic village that is situated at the end of the A12 was talking leaflets, many of which were coloured blue and which were intended to illustrate the various types of fold that you can have. There is a one-fold, two-fold, cross fold or gatefold and half fold to mention but a few. Enough is as good as a feast.

Prop of the week goes to John Hammond with his weird and wonderful door handles.

Self-description of the week should perhaps go to Paul Dulieu who has more enthusiasm full telling stories the Max Bygraves.

As far as the Oscar is concerned, that went of course to Alison.

Meeting Secretaries Report

With Scott’s absence through moving, not only was he showing us the site of his new office, which looked very smart indeed, but he was able to grace us with some statistics. The average value for recent referrals is £560 although we certainly need to pass more as we get into the New Year.

Questions & Answers Session

Following our new format there was a  lively Q and A session followed by a referrals round that appears to indicate an upturn in referrals

With the prospect of live meetings looming in the near future I look forward to seeing you all at next week’s Zoom meeting