Chairman’s blog Thursday 24th November 2022

As we are now well into the World Cup and patriotic fervour still persists I feel obliged as an Englishman to open my blog with references to the weather……. It was dry when we turned up and the sun even came out as the meeting progressed. There were 19 of us present including second time visitor Nick Mitchell.

The Performance League

Matt Barry is out in the lead closely followed by Scott Griffiths and Terry Maylin. This is the last meeting of the month so get in your referrals and activity slips to reflect the business that has been done this month and get yourself up the performance league leaderboard.

Education Presentation

Education and Development officer, Ben Golding, took his turn at the wheel. His subject matter was listening, the importance of doing so and how we should make sure we listen properly. He even put us through our paces with a description of an accident and then tested us as to how carefully we had listened. The conclusion is that we probably could have done better. The significance of the exercise was to illustrate how important it is to listen to our clients and customers, potential or otherwise. Communicating to a great degree involves initially listening.

New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal

Terry Maylin had nothing specific to report this week but he threatened us all with information to come next week

The 60 Second Round

Leann Reason went first as the current Oscar holder and this week’s adjudicator.

Mike Skinner started his presentation with a warning about the use of videos as a promotional tool. Making one can be hard work, it takes time and commitment but nonetheless it is a superb tool for promoting your business. Talking about warnings, Brian Painter had  to be on the ball this week with the lady who was in total fear of cancer despite tests to the contrary and a hypnotic scan giving her the all clear. In a typically counter intuitive way, having failed to convince her Brian then reversed the process and sought to convince her that she had cancer and to consider her daughter’s future. Human beings are a strange bunch!

Toby Acton was away last week getting himself certified. He produced the certificates to prove that he was one of less than 50 in the country. If you want to know what he was one of  less than 50 of, you’ll have to ask to see his certificates. This week Toby was free of metaphor but he was followed by Ben Golding who was full of alliteration. He boasted bill busting boosts currently offered by Utility Warehouse. Bravo is all I can say.

Terry Maylin spent a substantial part of last week renewing his personal injury Law Society accreditation. Let’s not let his efforts go to waste. Find him some injured clients. Hannah O’Shea urged us to be Christmassy in user generated social media content. Two suggestions; sing the 12 days of Christmas or think of Christmas dad jokes. Her message seemed to be that if you spot a low bar, jump over it.

Jane Malyon was feeling nostalgic referring to an earlier Christmas John Lewis advertisement with the man on the moon. She then went on to advertise her scone of the month Christmas gift which seems a really good idea

John Hammond offered a simple but effective message. If you’ve got CCTV make sure you keep the cameras clean and have this and other items of maintenance dealt with by him

Who says we British are not multilingual. According to Paul Dulieu at least we have a second language which is the language of our business. We have to recognise that not everyone speaks that language and he is the one who can translate for you when you come to sell your product. Matt Barry was more introspective. In order to maintain the creative flow he and his staff have to keep up to date with new developments that come up, particularly in relation to software.

Scott Griffiths has had a good week receiving instructions on various new matters including an adult website which he rather coyly turn down. Vincent Goode was not only far from coy but was also Christmassy. He donned a Santa hat, produced background music of the festive nature and unashamedly promoted his non-denominational Christmas cards. A clear winner of the Oscar.

This weeks statistics and points of note

• 18 members present
• 1 visitor in attendance
• 12 referrals
• £5,000.00 Worth of business recorded
• Oscar winner Vincent Goode

10-minute presentation by Leann Reason

Final statistic of the day is that Leann Reason was this week’s presenter. She talked us through the process she goes through in advising and producing her interior designs. She set out samples on her table and also passed round handouts illustrating the presentation. It seems that the person she must target has got to be the wife. Us blokes tend to go along with things more. Sexist but true. In fact I do have another statistic for you. Under cross examination after her presentation she confirmed that this year’s colours will not be quite so bold as last year’s. Congratulations Leann on a great first 10 minutes.

Referrals and Testimonials

As always, an excellent culmination to the meeting. The week after next: Please note that whether you turn up with a Christmas pully or not. we are going to donate £5 per head to Children in Need. Please bring at least one of the blue folding stuff.