Not content with a blog, we’ve also added a Twitter site, making it even easier to follow what we are up to here at BNI Clerkenwell.
Check us out at www.twitter.com/bniclerkenwell
Have a great Bank Holiday weekend.
Simon Manuel from Clegg Manuel solicitors tells us about pitfalls in property law.
One buyer of a property in Chelsea nearly became a victim of fraud, Clegg Manuel however discovered that the property to sell was not owned by the seller.
Another problem encountered by one of their clients was that when someone sold a flat with a roof extension, Clegg Manuel found out that the client didn’t own the space above their flat, the property owned by them ended with the ceiling of the flat.
Someone bought a house next to a medieval church and got lumbered with a bill of £200,000 to help build a new roof for the church as it was enshrined in local law that the parishioners would pay for the upkeep of the church.
If you buy a leasehold, you need to find out about the service charges, are there any plans to put new lifts into the building etc.
These are the things Clegg Manuel do when they act for a buyer.
When they act for a seller, they make sure that the sellers have everything in place that they are legally required to sort out like HIPs and EPCs.
Clegg Manuel also act for the lenders who have really strict requirements, and can also act for buyers and lenders at the same time if need be.
The three lawyers who specialise on residential conveyancing are all hugely experienced, Roshonara has been with Clegg Manuel for 9 years for example.
They agree a fixed fee at the beginning, they pride themselves on service, quick response times.
Clegg Manuel get most of their work from Estate Agents and are looking for more contacts, especially with Saville’s in Islington. They work a lot with property finders who find places for people abroad, other law firms are good contacts – not many law firms do residential conveyancing, and mortgage advisers are good contacts, too.
Posted by Anuschka from Moustique Design
I wish you a good morning from BNI’s networking table bright and early in Clerkenwell.
This is a “live feed” from the meeting, we’re connected to the internet and are transmitting info about it as we speak.
Charles Gervais did the education prep talk this week, and he reminds us that we have a visitor’s day on May the 20th, in less than a month’s time. We want to invite people whose businesses are close to our businesses, so that we can build our power groups and pass even more business amongst each other.
So if you are a business browsing the web for networking opportunities in the Clerkenwell area and read this – you are very welcome to join us, email us at info@bni-clerkenwell.co.uk.
Posted by Anuschka from Moustique Design
Clerkenwell Chapter is made up of some people who have been members for over 13 years while others have only been attending meetings for the past couple of months. However, no matter how long you’ve been a BNI member, it is vital that you have 1-2-1s with other people in the Chapter.
With this is mind, at Clerkenwell this week, we held a 10-minute 1-2-1 session where members could catch up with people in the Chapter they made not have spoken at length to for some time. I myself spoke to Michael Strelitz from Datasafe Services who updated me on his client base and spoke in more detail about the types of referrals he was after.
We have to remember that BNI doesn’t simply last for 90 minutes once a week. The Chapter meeting is an excellent forum for people yet it should only be seen as a taster – much of the real business goes on during 1-2-1s, whether held in nearby coffee bars or in one of the excellent local restaurants.
Howard Graham of Westbury chartered accountants gave a brilliant account this morning on how best to entice visitors to sample what we all already know as a great source of new business, and get them to visit our chapter.
Howard pointed out that inviting visitors is key to growing the size of our chapter, and that exponentially increases the amount of business passed. It is also worth noting that referrals from visitors to current members also forms a significant percentage of the business passed within the chapter.
So, how to do it – how to entice fellow business owners to our Chapter door? A simple question…Do you want more business? Yes – great – we know a way to achieve that.
But who to ask the question to in the first place?
* Friends (richer friends means better Christmas presents – my input not Howard’s!)
* Customers – they may have businesses too.
* Suppliers
* All contacts! Be as specific or non – specific as you like, remember from Howard, it is the numbers that is the key.
Other ways – direct mail through your door. They are asking for more business – let them have it!
Local search directories – want a specific business to join to help with your business, then search online and don’t stop at one. 2 or 3 visitors within the same sector will promote a little healthy competition to join.
If you meet with objections throw them the line “What would you do with the spare time you create for yourself by reaching your sales targets quicker?” We may not be able to answer that for them but we can introduce them to our inner circle to help them achieve this.
So thank you to Howard, the man who practices what he preaches and achieves great success in inviting visitors.
As I said to him, if we all act on his words and mirror his success we will be needing the Royal Albert Hall to host our next Visitors Day!
Posted by Alison Trickey of Pollen Nation
Last week’s topic for the Education slot was – What is a Referral??
We give them out every week – but are they really referrals….are we giving each other the best chance of gaining business and do we have our BNI radar tuned in correctly when listening out for possible business for our fellow BNI-ers?
To be clear – a Referral needs to have identified a need – the person or organisation needs the product or service, they also need to be a highly suitable prospect. If they do not show high levels of BOTH – they are merely a lead and further work is required.
To give a Floral analogy:
A new restaurant opening up in central London, no opening date, no idea for the interior decor… Simply a TIP
A person NEEDING a bunch of flowers for their Gran for her Birthday tomorrow – Great. The PROSPECT is ready to buy – wants to spend £5 and send them to Scotland – Hitch – not a great prospect. This is simply a LEAD, I may be able to convince them to spend more but it may not be worth my time.
A Couple getting married in London in 2011, budget of £1500 for Flowers. Great PROSPECT, they haven’t yet chosen venue, colour scheme etc… Low level of NEED currently, again a LEAD with the potential of being a referral.
Thirdly – An event planner organising an event in London in the next month, great PROSPECT, NEEDS 50 flower arrangements with a healthy budget. GREAT REFERRAL!
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As Winston Churchill once said: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” I like to think that members at BNI Clerkenwell are all optimists.
Despite the pessimism of the past two years, the Chapter has continued to exploit opportunities, wherever they may be and we will continue to do so, especially now things are starting to look up. We’re in a new tax year, an election is just a month away, spring is in the air and millions of pounds of new investment are continuing to pour into the Clerkenwell area thanks to Crossrail.
Taking over as Chapter Director is a real honour and with my team, I hope we can help grow the membership and help pass thousands of pounds of new business. Over the next six months I hope to build on the work done by the outgoing team, exploit all possible traditional networking opportunities and employ the latest in online social networking technology. So we’ll have a Twitter site, a Linked-in group and may even end up on YouTube. We’ll also be looking to socialise with other Chapters so we can help build our already solid network.
Looking at this week though, we are particularly keen to hear from insurance brokers, building services and psychiatrists who may wish to join our busy and successful Chapter. So if you are working in one of these professions, or indeed you know someone who is trying to build their client base, do come to Old Sessions House this Thursday at 7am and you’ll be made most welcome.
