As we all assembled we did not realise that it would turn out to be a beautiful sunny morning and we also did not realise that there would be 27 of us sitting down to breakfast. Also, there was no granola available so those of us with a healthier inclination were forced to resort to sausage or bacon sarnies which if we were of a self-harming nature would also be on white bread rather than brown. Ben Golding was one of the white bread brigade and he could clearly be seen peeling the crusts off his sandwich. What sort of example was that to our two first time visitors who we hope will come back and further swell our ranks.
On a sartorial note, when all were assembled, it was clear that there was a certain amount of headgear on show. Kory Martin and Blake Hammond were both sporting elaborate bobble hats and Jon Foster joined one of our guests, Scott Charles, each wearing a cap. I almost didn’t spot Jon’s cap because it was camouflaged. It will be a relief to all of my readers to learn that the rest of us simply showed off our barnets.
The Performance League
On this, our last meeting of the month Stuart Smallcombe was out front by dint of entering 6 months’ worth of monies received and was promptly disqualified. The order therefore showed Scott Griffiths out front followed by Matt Barry and Terry Maylin.
Education Presentation
This week it was a Ben Golding special. Fortified by his crustless bacon sandwich on white, he gave advice to those of us who are nervous of giving presentations. He named four things in the following order:
- You, don’t come ill prepared. Practise what you are going to say
- Message, what do you want your audience to know and what are they likely to tell others.
- Delivery, you need a big start and a big finish. His analogy was a clothes line without a clothes prop
- Audience, what problems have they got that you can exploit or what is in your message that will be appropriate for them.
It would be fair to say that this presentation was as well prepared and well received as any that we have had of late.
New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal
Howard Bullock has had his membership renewed for another year thereby ensuring that Paul Booth will have the benefits of a weekly neck massage subject to attendance.
The 60 Second Round
Jon Foster was the current holder of the Oscar and therefore got us underway. He also produced a prop in his presentation, being a lubricating oil that we should use on our locks every six months. Could this be a marketing opportunity?
Matt Berry was preaching consistency of branding and his role to generally advise upon our branding. Hopefully, Paul Corrigan, who has just bought a new van will need to make sure it is suitably branded
Dave Moore surprised us, being another one with a prop, namely examples of luxury vinyl tiles.(LVT to you). Don’t say that it is boring being an insolvency practitioner. Melissa Jackson has just been appointed a liquidator with an order to transfer property back as a result of an undervalued transaction.
Kory Martin, sustained by his warming hat, told us how he deals with removal services and in particular a client whose house contained a shrine to Liverpool Football Club thereby dispelling the rumour that everyone in Essex supports West Ham.
Catherine Foley bemoaned the rewriting of history by Donald Trump and the mind-numbing effects that AI can produce. If you can’t do it yourself get her to do it for you rather than some other intelligence that appears to be artificial.
Mike Skinner departed from his usual pitch for video work in support of business presentations and revealed his alter ego as a tree specialist and even had some leaflets to pass around.
Ben Golding, being true to his message in the Education Slot, came up with the tag of the day, ‘he has the skills to reduce bills’.
Blake Hammond wants us to look out for introductions to TV studios or photographers. Guns and smoke grenades can be made available for shooting certain scenes.
Not to be outdone by those who had already introduced props into their presentations, Dave Roberts produced the testing machine to help illustrate how he deals with testing and he also produced a specimen of a report that he produces after the testing machine has done its job.
Leann Reason feels she could consider a career change into the area of marriage guidance as she often finds herself calming down bickering couples who cannot agree to the decoration of their properties.
Toby Acton appeared to have taken Ben Golding’s educational advice to heart and reduced the content of his presentation to the extent that his speed, although slightly reduced, was not of news reader standard. He is still mentoring and motivationally mapping. We were all still left less breathless at the end.
Scott Griffiths needs a mention if only to explain that he is always aiming for the zhoozh or whoosh in what he produces.
Paul Dulieu considers that his presentations as a celebrant are invariably based on love stories.
Pride of place this week however was given to James Humphries by contrasting his ‘soft office boy’ look with the butch men that he is looking to sell some of his insurance products too. Not only has he won himself an Oscar but he is probably dug himself a hole for future meetings. ‘Soft boy’ indeed!!
This weeks statistics and points of note
Something of a contrast this week was a presentation by Scott Griffiths that was full of information. £14,000 worth of business written, 16 referrals produced, which gives him optimism to predict £100,000 worth of business for the month and over 40 referrals.
He also warned that we are coming to the end of our year at the end of this month and we should get our records brought up to date on the website electronically.
10-minute presentation by Clara Downton
The EBF TV was in use as Clara took us through the basics of her business but focused on both equity release and something she described us BTL. It would appear that this is not a reference to a Bacon, Tomato and Lettuce sandwich but Buy To Let. Her presentation oozed competence. Let’s get out there and get her some referrals
It was, as always, a fabulous meeting. Well done on an interesting and engaging 10 minutes Clara, and well done on the Oscar win James “Soft Boy” Humphries!
Thank you all for a very lively and busy meeting.
Hope you have a great weekend and looking forward to next Thursday
What a great meeting today and wonderful to see 2 more visitors who hopefully like what they saw and will come back to join our ranks!
Well done Clara on dispelling the equity release myths and telling us more about you.
What a great meeting, well done Ben on the ed slot, and a brilliant and interesting 10 minutes Clara, have passed your details onto some friends children so hopefully you will hear from them. Good to see visitors lets hope that they love to group so much and join.
A really entertaining meeting! Definitely worth getting up early for.
What a meeting! Fun and work, what more could you ask for. Great to meet our visitors. A really informative ed-slot from our UW man Ben and a really interested 10 minutes from our Mortgage and equity release advisor Clara.
Great 10 minutes Clara great meeting all round
Well done Clara for your ten minutes presentation….excellent! A buzzing, enjoyable meeting from start to finish! Well done for inviting visitors too.
Superb meeting and excellent to have 2 visitors in the room. I think I’ll come back next week
Another fantastic meeting. Really enjoyed your ten minutes, Clara. It was nice to hear your professional perspective on equity release. Great to see the visitors and obviously the members as well