Nobody bothered to mention that we should remember the 5th of November. No gunpowder, no treason, no plot. Everyone now seems to be concentrating on Christmas. Has the invasive Halloween relegated Mr Fawkes to a mere bystander. To suggest that the 15 members who turned up this morning had any thoughts of this historical landmark would be fanciful. It is more likely that the thoughts of those networking before the meeting got under way were more directed towards sausage sandwiches and granola.
Performance League
Scott Griffiths reported on the month of October. He was third with 251 points. Stuart’s Smallcombe was second with 260 points but runaway leader was Terry Maylin on 302 points. He was promptly awarded his certificate which can help decorate his wall.
Education Slot
There wasn’t one. We had put Paul Dulieu the firing line. He of course is absent until Christmas, never mind. There was a brief reminder from the chair about visitors and the reset that would be made at the appropriate time in the meeting for our visitor targets. It is also cause for celebration that we had a visitor, invited by Lee Banks. Hopefully there will be more to come later in the month.
60-Second Presentation Round
Clara Downton was adjudicating following Shannon’s victory last week. On the day when the Bank of England are probably going to increase their interest rates, she was surprisingly upbeat. This increase has already been built in apparently!
Paul Corrigan has had a mixed week. Two new starters as employees, one was a success but the other lasted 24 hours…… hey ho!
Blake Hammond typified the lack of interest in Guy Fawkes. Now that Halloween is over, he is looking forward towards Christmas. Looking forward in the sense that he wants lots of referrals so that he can afford to buy Christmas presents. Toby Acton was missing today but he would have been proud.
With Christmas in mind Sylvia Neveda reminded us that Christmas parties would be coming up on the agenda for lots of businesses and they might need to tidy up afterwards. Tidy up?… a full clean more like!
The Christmas theme was maintained by John Hammond. Intruder alarms and their cameras can now be adapted to give a snapshot of what caused the alarm to go off. Beware rotating Christmas decorations.
Terry Maylin was able to boast a week of good results. The case that was heard last week had resulted in a judgement in favour of the defendant who he was representing. A big win for the client who was being asked to honour an alleged guarantee that was worth many thousands of pounds. He also settled a personal injury case for a lady who was a referral of a referral from a former member. I hope that’s clear! It does at least warrant a referral if he hasn’t already done it.
Scott Griffiths introduced us to schema….. The way in which he manages his websites to check how the AI machines are scanning and checking out our websites. It’s a useful tool that he can help you with.
Not only is Christmas coming, but more importantly winter is also. Dave Roberts was urging us to check that our lighting is working properly particularly our garden lighting from a security point of view. His specific request this week however was for EV chargers to be installed in car parks of commercial premises such as gyms.
Howard Bullock has had a success. A couple looking to retire had 15 pensions between them. He pulled them all together and was able to give them the good news that they could more than achieve their required level of income in retirement. He had two happy and relieved clients
Jane Malyon was also in Christmas spirit. There are some Christmas gifts, jewellery in particular, that can be very unaffordable. This is a contrast however with her Christmas hampers which are both affordable and excellent Christmas gifts.
So, as we approach the festive season it would have been irritating if a Christmas theme had won the Oscar. As a Christmas cynic I was pleased to note that this was not the case. Matt Barry was the winner. He is helping support the Brentwood half marathon and is helping advise on social media et cetera. Ticket sales are up by 18% and he even gave the impression that he might be involved in the half marathon itself but as something like a pantomime horse or did I misunderstand!
Meeting Secretaries Report
Scott Griffiths was in upbeat mood. October yielded £57,000 worth of business and we made a really great start to November with £29,000 worth of business recorded for just today. It gives us a good start to get the run up to the festive season underway for all the members.
Visitors Corner
Did I detect a hint of weariness on the faces of members as I introduced this particular section of the meeting….. Surely not. This week’s target visitors are ‘Painters and Decorators’ and ‘Insolvency Practitioners. May I ask you all to have at least one session at looking into prospective invitees. If you can’t research our target visitors you can always go to somewhere closer to home where you know there is someone who can be prodded to come along to one of our meetings.
10-Minute Presentation by Member-Name
It was Clara Downton from Downtown Mortgages who gave the presentation this week. Rather than a television presentation she very effectively gave us examples of difficult areas she encounters in her quest to fulfil mortgage requirements of those who are referred to her. The message is, ‘talk to her as soon as possible’ even if there is not an immediate requirement for a mortgage. If it is just a twinkle in your eye, get yourself informed and give her a call. She finds a varied spread of inquiries mortgage related, so don’t forget about lifetime mortgages etcetera. It was clear from the testimonials that she has provided lots of help to both members and their families in getting onto the mortgage ladder and staying on it. Let’s keep the referrals going for her.
Referrals & Testimonials
Testimonials were many and varied for Clara and plenty of referrals to remind us that we are all alive and kicking
Great meeting all, well deserved member of the month to the one and only Terry!
Thank you for your 10 mins Clara and hope you all have a great weekend
Great meeting, and hopeful that todays visitor will convert to being a new member
Great meeting as always and an excellent presentation from Clara showing why everyone should speak to her about their mortgage.
well done Clara a very clear and human presentation about you and what the company can do. Great to see a visitor who seems keen so hopefully we will have another member shortly.