Brentwood business networking review -7th October

Chairman’s Business Networking Blog 7th November 2013

The first meeting of November and all in all very successful.

21 present.

The last chance for members to bring the guest that will help prevent the forfeit required by our “New Member November in October”.

Peter Hood and Brian Painter duly obliged with, in the case of Peter Hood, plasterers Shane Flatt and John Jones in the case of Brian Painter, roofer Robert Neil.

Those members arriving at the meeting who had not brought a guest eyed with great suspicion the 2 dresses on offer and promptly opted for the £10.00 donation to charity. Amount payable and outstanding will no doubt be supplied by Scott in his comment to this Blog.

And so our first meeting of November opened with an Ed Slot delivered by our Education and Development Officer himself with the theme of consistency. The need to cultivate good habits and be consistent in practising these, trying to avoid bad habits. Something to do with synaptic changes and having to do something 30 times before it became a habit. So perhaps the quote of the meeting “If you keep doing the same thing; don’t expect different results good or bad”

It emerged that Scott Griffiths has been a member for 18 years. Presumably that’s a good thing that has produced good results. We will revisit this theme as I continue with this blog.

The Performance League winner for October was, by a substantial margin, Kevin Brooks. Other statistics for October were that we recorded in excess of £140,000’s worth of business passed, a record – well done everybody.

And so November beckons, heralded by a very entertaining 60 second round.

Alan Shaw, back from holiday showed flashes of his old genius. Without letting on where he had been on holiday, he told us of a beautiful climate, a romantic stroll down to the beach (might this have been hand in hand with the tolerant Mrs S?), only to be confronted by a fence 30 metres long. That presumably was the bad news, apparently said fence consisted of glazed panels; that presumably was the good news. The upshot is, if you want a fence with glazed panels, Alan’s your man!…things were certainly looking up.

Michael Adelizzi chipped in with a warning about unsafe bathroom floors, if someone is in the bath and another in the shower simultaneously (could this be Mr & Mrs A. I was now truly starting to hallucinate). Anyway he came up with the second most interest quote of the meeting with what is becoming his tag line “never problems-always solutions”, the particular solution in this case being the contents of the bath and the shower…the water that is not the occupants.

Howard Bullock asked if we would make an investment that produces an 8% loss per annum. Illustrative of the sound advice that you always get when you go to Clear Financial was the admonition“…”don’t be stupid David” to our Education and Development Officer when he dared to indicate that he would accept such an 8% per annum loss.

By now with the advice contained in the Ed Slot ringing in our ears we were starting to look for some consistency. So far Messrs Shaw, Adelizzi and Bullock had delivered.

If it was reality rather than whimsy you were looking for Terry Maylin set the record straight. The small claims court has now increased it’s limit from £5,000 to £10,000. This means a successful claimant pursuing a debtor for up to this sum will get no solicitors costs paid. Fear not, EBF’s blood hound has several schemes that will entice you into instructing him to pursue that debt in any event. Consistency restored.

Offering financial advice Brian Painter explained how an investment of £195.00 could save you £2,500 per annum…and your vital organs. Yes you guessed it, that what he will charge for helping you stop smoking.

Lots of people declared themselves very busy, Peter Hood is run off his feet, Scott Griffiths is very busy with ecommerce and I want to be busily preparing Wills for you and your referrals whether old or young.

Once again consistency prevailed as Graham Thurston rose to his feet. First off, it could be observed that he was wearing a severely checked shirt slightly protected by a short sleeved “pully”.

Secondly, I am reasonably sure he was boasting laying a carpet in a location close to London Zoo. This was a job that he undertook on a Sunday and it led him in to explaining about carpet protection. Apparently this “spray on” product is applied at his warehouse before it is taken to the location. If he did not do this it would affect people with wooden legs and it will not be effective if you drop curry on it…that is the carpet with the protection applied. Could it be at the Camel House at London Zoo was where he was laying his carpet. Camels don’t eat curry…!

Paul Booth was awarding the Oscar and of all of the efforts I have described above this was topped only by Nick Cooke, who proclaimed his efficiency in carrying out building surveys with a very short turn round time. Well deserved Nick.

After such a lively 60 second we did not this week have a 10 minute presenter. We accordingly had a Q & A session which took up where the 60 seconds left off. Graham Thurston was bombarded with questions which he very capably dealt with, even the ones about comparisons between off-cuts and certain items of his garments and examples of what you could put on a carpet that might escape any protection treatment that he could produce. It is a little while since we have had a Q & A session and it proved well worthwhile.

The referrals and Testimonials round yielded a recorded business of £60,742 which is an absolutely fantastic start to November.

Let us also use November to convert our visitors into members and also, particularly for those who did not being a visitor in October, redeem yourselves and bring one in November.

Terry Maylin announced the need, so far as the Christmas dinner is concerned, to get your £10.00 deposit per head to either him or Paul so that the booking can be secured.

I have not made mention of Jason Nortey’s 60 seconds. That is because his offering was tinged with sadness. Unfortunately Jason will be leaving us for pastures new and next week will be his last week. Jason has been arguably our best member over the last year or so with his constant vigilance for suitable referrals, his cheerful demeanour and his accessibility as a Bank manager that made him a really excellent referral. Let’s have a big turnout next week to give him a proper send off.