A typical January morning, dark damp and uninviting. But were we downhearted!…. Certainly not! Testament to that was borne out by 19 members who turned up bright eyed and bushy tailed for the open networking and breakfast. It is worth noting that the Mayor of Gants Hill Village and Shannon, standing in for Clara Downton likes the bacon very well done!
The Performance League
Whilst members are to be commended for catching up on referrals and acknowledgments for money as we approach our end of year, it plays havoc with the league table which is supposed to be a reflection of the month’s business with points awarded accordingly. Placings for the month seem to pale into insignificance in the light of this but the good news consequence was that £24,000 worth of business was recorded today.
Education Presentation
Ben Golding was back from his house move and although he still appears to be camping out in his house he also seems to have survived it and certainly was undeterred from delivering his presentation. The subject was the 60 second round presentations that we all make on a weekly basis. He set out a series of do’s and don’ts which included preparing, rehearsing, keeping it simple and other various suggestions as to the way to get your product, whatever it is, in the forefront of other members minds. A very useful aide memoire for all of us.
The 60 Second Round
Toby Acton was proudly sporting last week’s Oscar and despite the heavy burden on his shoulders, he was able to open up with a reminder of the discount that he is offering on his motivational map service to his mentees.
Mike Skinner was back looking suitably refreshed from his much publicised holiday, keen to catch up with all of those projects that have been awaiting his return. He’s more than happy to take on some more. Whilst on the subject of returning members, Ben Golding has been doing the Utility Warehouse equivalent of helping old people to cross the road. An elderly couple, concerned about whether they could afford to switch on the central heating, were shown the potential of saving £90 per month on their bill and as a consequence their house is an awful lot warmer. One way of course of making your house warmer is to smoke in it, albeit with the consequential health issues which forms part of Brian Painters crusade to rid people of all things that trouble them. The benefits that he gives can also be money saving. A 40 cigarette a day man clocks up approximately £11,000 per annum. The most recent customer gave up after one session with our Pilgrim with the obvious financial savings.
James Humphreys this week was emphasising the insurance that he can provide for property owners, residential or commercial. Please note the annual uplift, or lack of it as the case may be.
Vincent Goode was emphasising the ‘printing’ part of Speed Print and gave us an insight into stupid questions asked by visitors to his shop, largely relating to business that has nothing to do with printing. His list of stupid questions ended with a visit from a man with bad haemorrhoids who needed to use the loo. Fortunately most of our breakfasts had been at least partially digested by then.
Residential properties were worthy subject matter for one or two of our members. Nick Cooke, in his role as structural engineer, was asked to comment upon an unsupported chimney breast which will need….., guess what, a steel beam. It just shows that you need a structural engineer when you buy a property. You often also need the guidance and help of Leann Reason in checking all sorts of things including whether you install blinds or curtains. In the meantime Shannon, standing in for Clara Downton was reminding us of the volatility of current interest rates being offered by mortgagees.
Paul Corrigan, our newest member, contented himself with giving us an indication of the breadth of the work that he carries out, from dripping tap to central heating systems. Dave Roberts was more into hawking his testing and inspection skills for both residential and commercial enterprises.
Paul Booth, in anticipation of his 10 minute presentation limited himself to reminding us of his company secretarial work and his premises as a repository for registered office addresses rather than home addresses.
The Oscar award however was for the much more philosophical presentation of Matt Barry who had taken today as an opportunity to sit on the opposite side of the room to which he normally sits himself, challenging us to look at things from different angles and advertising his upcoming appearance on Sunday at a radio station where he will be emphasising the difference between good and bad design. As I was too slow to get down the details perhaps Matt could remind us in his comments to this blog so that we can all try and find him on our dial on Sunday.
This weeks statistics and points of note
We can all be gullible at times but you don’t get one past Scott Griffiths. As our compiler of facts and figures and the bette noir of the performance league, some of you have been rumbled. He regaled us with the etiquette surrounding the making of referrals and their recording. Despite a healthy response to his call to arms as we near the year end….. You’ve been rumbled!
10-minute presentation by Paul Booth
Who says accountants are boring. Paul Booth used his 10 minutes to give an interesting run through of his career to date which helped emphasise his many and varied skills and how they were acquired. Interesting is always a good basis for questions and he had several of those before his time was up. This is an ultra-busy time for accountants but he was able to set the time aside to produce this presentation. If you want something done, go to somebody who is busy…..
Well done Paul, interesting 10 minutes! Good to be back to the 5am alarm!
Do you mean to say you didn’t wake up at 5 am on your biking holiday Mike??
A great meeting today. Well done Paul on an interesting 10-minutes.
Well done all for a lively meeting and thanks Paul for your 10-minute presentation
Given the number of holiday referrals for our Ex-Member Rosemary, we need to find ourselves a travel agent to join the group- they can’t lose with the amount of holidays going on!
Good reminder Scott on what constitutes a referral and what doesn’t!
Thank you all of those who contributed to the meeting. The BLT (without the L and T) was very nice too
Great meeting this morning! Though I beat Mike getting up at 4.15am ha ha!!
Fab 10 minutes from Paul, great to know our accounts are in safe hands!!
Looking forward to seeing you all next week! 😁
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Now we know why Paul is known as “The Interesting Accountant.” Anyone who does not employ him is a Silly Billy. A good meeting all round.
Great meeting with a superb 10 minutes from Paul and a well deserved Oscar for Matt