It takes all sorts to make up the membership of EBF

It was dark, it was foggy, it was the sort of morning that you don’t want to get up at 5/530am.  Nonetheless 28 of us did.  27 Members and 1 Visitor.  There then followed one of the best meeting we have had for some time.

The Performance League

Matt Barry remains out front with 243 points, a great score after only two weeks.

Education Presentation

Stuart Smallcombe drew the distinction between Synergy and Competition. This very fine line, he urged us all to take note of when we were confronted with new Members who potentially clashed with us.  Provided there are points of divergence between the two businesses there is every reason to think that the new member could  be of benefit to both parties.  This sentiment was repeated during the 60 Second Round.

Membership Matters

Terry Maylin, our Membership Director was able to confirm 3 renewals and also conducted a new Members induction, Paul Dulieu, welcome Paul.

The 60 Second Round

Tina Walker was first up as the Oscar adjudicator for this week.

Marcelle Saad was talking engagement rings. From the solitaire to the more elaborate concoctions, she conjures up visions of the bloke down on at least one knee begging acceptance.  I am all for the begging but afraid my knees would not put up with that sort of approach.

Mike Rogers was all sorts to all men.  He as looking to arrange all sorts of mortgages for all sorts of purchases and if any of us catch ourselves using the phase (…all sorts of…) then he has created a most irritating ear worm.

Mason Edwards is almost too busy;  this has been his busiest January but is looking forward to February.  Nothing particular about his presentation other than it was a good news story and we can all do with plenty of those.

We nearly lost Nick Cooke as he rose to deliver his 60 seconds.  He was trying to blow his nose with bacon sandwich in his mouth.  The result was nearly fatal.  He however recovered and explained that the current resurgence of the house market was giving him a lot more house survey work to do.

Toby Acton reckons that a too greater portion of his work are his training workshops but he will be looking this year to alter that balance.  He then reeled off 8 upcoming training workshops….Good luck with that Toby.

Kevin Radford reminded us of the property owners valuation is available through his website which we call check to make sure that our insurance cover is adequate.

Simon Essex’s presentation was based on the Synergy versus Competition equation outlined in the Education Slot by Stuart Smallcombe. Other agencies that cover different geographical areas or different areas of business can be one of the sources of clients for him.

I mention Richard Reed for two reasons.  First, he gets upset if I don’t and secondly, he managed to stretch his 60 seconds to almost 180.  What is not acceptable with him was acceptable for Paul Dulieu who, as a new Member, was given a 4 minute slot so that he could introduce us properly to his business, which he then went on to do.

Vincent Goode produced a huge site board that could be used by companies advertising themselves outside premises where they are working.  The size of board that he produced seemed over the top but if your 60 second earns you a referral who’s to say it isn’t the best 60 seconds of the day,  It appears that Ford Astbury will be interested…excellent 60 seconds.

A contender for the Oscar this week was Ellen Beckenham who had just won a contract worth half a million coming out of a meeting that she thought was going to be something of an interrogation.

Statistic’s man of the day was Brian Painter.  He is dealing with six smoking clients who collectively spend £3,680.00 per month on cigarettes.  The disastrous effect that cigarettes has on your health turns the experience into like driving a car uphill in fourth gear.  Some people who don’t smoke still do that – never mind.

Scott Griffiths seems to be owning up to doing some judicious hacking in order to gain entry to a clients web site who had lost his password.  It has to be said that the description of hacking was thoroughly denied.

John Freeman is not looking for turds to polish, he then continued to complain about some of the bad jobs he has experienced.  This was the rant of the week, indeed the only rant of the day.

Contrary to John Freeman, Alan Moller was enthusiastically announcing that “…if it looks like a turd, it probably is a turd…” and then going on to say was that turds were just what he was looking for.

Stuart Smallcombe and John Hammond considered their USP.  With Stuart Smallcombe it amounted to “no brick passing”.  They offer a full service to the client and John Hammond was “do it right first time”.  Our ranter in chief however held back from further negative thoughts, well restrained John.

Saj Sreedharan remined us that its not just Valentine’s day that warrants flowers.  Pancake day does as well.

Who won the Oscar? Paul Dulieu was Tina’s choice for an exposition of what he did.  He obviously used his 4 minutes wisely.

This weeks statistics and points of note

• 27 Members present

• 1 Visitor in attendance

• 32 referrals given

• £28,600.00 worth of business recorded

• Paul Dulieu won the Oscar

Synergy Team Report

Richard Reed was able to report that the Business to Consumer Group had record attendance of 13, partly brought about by the presence of David Plumley.  A great meeting and nice to see David Plumley.  He is threating to come to further Synergy Team Meetings.

10-minute presentation by Matt Barry

Matt Barry demonstrated the proper use of a screen with various slides that were illustrative rather than information giving… he gave us the information!!   First class presentation for a first class business.