My BNI story.....Paul Jennings - The Utility Warehouse Discount Club

I started BNI back in November 2005 when I joined a BNI chapter in Enfield called Vision, I joined as the Electrician of the chapter, I then left the chapter when I was moving to Hertford and was involved in starting a core group (a starting BNI Chapter) this chapter never got to launch so I joined a Chapter in St Albans called Chariots, I left when my membership was up at the end of 2008. 

BNI worked extremely well for my business as a way of getting new business and has been the best networking organisation for getting referrals to new business. I saw that BNI would work for my business from my very first meeting as a visitor, and made the decision that I would join halfway through the meeting.

I started my Utility Warehouse Discount Club Business at the end of 2008 and I then re joined a BNI group in 2009 that had an opening for my category, at the end of my membership I left BNI due to a change in circumstances. 

When a friend told me that BNI Endeavour was launching in Hertford/ Ware I didn't even think twice about making sure I was at the first meeting in February 2012 and already knew that I was going to make an application to join the group.....It was really a no brainer. I've always enjoyed BNI meetings even though they start early, it makes a great start to the day and I've had more from BNI than just business referrals. The other benefits I've found include growing my business contacts, making new friends, increasing my business knowledge and I've found the meetings to be fun with a bit of banter too. A surprising thing I also found out was that I get a great buzz from finding and giving referrals to my fellow members and helping them to grow their businesses.

BNI Networking has been one of the best investments in my business marketing I've ever made and the Return on Investment has been tremendous value, I'd recommend it to all business owners to at least give it a go for a year.

I help people to save money on their household bills and for those that need or want an extra income stream I help them to make money on a part time basis.

To your success

Paul

The power of Power teams

Another lively meeting this morning with BNI Endeavour, packed with energy and plenty of activity showing that we're getting closer to our goal of 40 Members passing over £1,000,000 worth of business in the Hertford & Ware area.

Wendy receiving her new member pack

We'd like to welcome 2 new members Wendy Stevenson from PS Cleaning and George Hughes from Alex Clarke Lettings The Pictures show them both receiving their new member packs from our Chapter Director David West. We look forward to learning more about them and their business and helping them grow their businesses over the coming weeks and months ahead. 

George receiving his new member pack

In BNI we have what we call power teams, a networking power team is a collective of businesses within the chapter that have synergy, Therefore can work well together. You also find that a member will get the majority of referrals from their power team and we certainly saw a power team in action this morning when our builder Matthew Aubery of Aubery Homes gave out a massive 11 referrals to members of the construction (or trades) power team.
We're currently still looking for members from the construction industry such as a gardener, carpenter, tiler and painter/ decorator among others so if that's you and you'd like to get in on this power team action I'd suggest you get in touch ASAP before your competitor does and locks you out.

This weeks 10 minute speaker was, well erm..... me. I had fantastic feedback from the members saying how good my 10 minutes was. I gave the chapter an insight into my business as an Independent  Distributor for The Utility Warehouse Discount Club and I think I covered all the bases after going on the presentation skills workshop on Monday. I covered a bit about me and how I joined Utility Warehouse, Why I think the company has integrity and what makes the company so unique to other Mobile phone, Home Phone, Broadband, Gas and Electricity suppliers and the (over 40) benefits of switching. 

I did learn one extra thing about presenting though and that is always have a glass of water to hand. 

We had lots of contributions today even if you exclude Matthews fantastic 11 referrals, We had a total of 34 referrals, and 6 visitors in attendance and several testimonials. 




To your networking success 
Paul