Chairman’s blog Thursday 22nd February 2024

Is spring nearly with us? As twenty of us, including one visitor sat in readiness for the commencement of the meeting, outside it was definitely daylight…. miserable, but daylight. Also another  reason to be cheerful, was the presence of a visitor looking to fill the slot of travel advisor.

The Performance League

With still a week to go I was pleased with my score of 222 points. However it wasn’t enough, Toby Acton on 244 and Matt Barry on 310 leading the field

Education Presentation

It was Paul Booth’s turn to give us a relevant insight today. It was an interesting illustration that Paul produced. Everybody was furnished with a piece of paper, asked to fold it several times with eyes shut; then put certain tears and removals of corners before, origami like, opening up to reveal all. Despite specific instructions no one effort was identical which of course must make us think twice when we make presentations either  in the course of EBF meetings or in the course of our business, to make sure that we bear in mind how our audience will react two our delivery.  Food for thought!

The 60 Second Round

Mike Skinner won the Oscar last week but he did not keep his powder dry. His position as adjudicator for the Oscar prevented him from winning what otherwise would have been two on the trot. He resorted to poetry and his verse sought to entice everyone to Blackwater media. Anyone who produces half decent piece of verse is always in line for the Oscar if for no other reason then they have sat down and thought carefully about what they’re going to say and constructed something this at least rhymes.

James Humphries, as if anticipating the next following presenter, warmed of the trap that outside caterers could fall into by not considering their policy carefully enough if it excludes working off site. This  illustration of insurance pitfalls and why you need to broker to avoid them, was an adequate prelude for Neil Bellham’s tales of being busy including catering for a production for Netflix that involved Keira Knightley. I wonder if she eats the burgers!

Brian Painter gets lots of emails and I was not clear as to whether he was being trolled by someone who like their to wear nappies or that this was one of his patients with that condition…. Perhaps it’s just as well

Vincent Goode regaled us with various taglines appropriate to his business and John Hammond told us of bad installations and almost wrote himself a tagline… ‘we get it right first time’.  Blake Hammond called upon members to assist him in getting his marketing right as his website is having difficulties in effectively marketing effectively involves posting out items that look like weapons and indeed at a play level are used as such. I will be interested to see if he gets any useful feedback. Talking of interesting, Paul Corrigan is being affected by the government tax on the installation of new boilers. He has been struggling through the various stages of adapting and adopting heat pumps.

Scott Griffiths had a short simple message to assisting members in looking for a simple referral for him. Check out websites that are non business like such as ‘gmail.com.’ refer these people to Scott so that he can move them away from unprofessional non branded e-mail addresses. Clara Downton’s message was not  quite as simple. Mortgage rates now appear to be on the increase, however short term this might be, but her advice is the same. Think ahead and follow up on existing quotes received to avoid such increases that might be coming through the pipeline.

In my opening remarks I mentioned the onset of spring.  Dave Roberts is also aware of this as he was, amongst other things, suggesting you consider garden lighting which undoubtedly anticipates spring and/or summer activities. Terry Maylin’s presentation was aimed at small businesses and the situation all the year round about chasing small debts of up to £10,000. Don’t be put off at least considering pursuing such claims through the courts, but talk to Terry first about how to mitigate the cost that you will otherwise have to bear for small claims.

Jane Malyon produced the good news story of the day bigging up her new partnership where she is providing the joys of the cream tea whilst you are being entertained by Heddingham Castle’s activities such as jousting. Motivational mapping seems to be a bit like jousting and Toby Acton is helping a charity for the homeless analyse the teams involved in the provision of their services. It was this presentation that caught Mike Skinner’s eye and won him the Oscar

Meeting Secretaries Report

£7500 worth of business passed this week and 10 new referrals. Topping all of that however was the new regime of points offered for attracting visitors going forward. Visitor Chris de la Prida had been introduced by Tina Walker. She will be rewarded with the new increased points, doubling up from 25 to 50 for her efforts. Well done Tina and welcome to Chris who seemed to enjoy and have a good meeting with us

10-minute presentation by Brian Painter

It was Brian Painter’s turn and he is and was at his best giving us case histories of those with phobias giving us discoveries in relation to learned phobias, hatred of men and the woman who had been silent for three months after an accident. He provides ample illustration of the epithet,  ‘.. there’s nowt queerer than folk.’

Referrals and testimonials

Not only did Brian produce an entertaining 10 minutes but he showed a sprightliness that belied his years in doing the running…. or perhaps measured pacing, in delivering all the pieces of paper passing between us in what was a really good round with lots of referrals, acknowledgments for money and testimonials.

I felt today was a good example to set to our visitor of we all get up on the Thursday at a silly hour and enjoy each other’s company but more importantly pass good business to one another.