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Healthy business networking lunches |
One member’s misfortune was my good luck last week when I had the opportunity to attend the Reading NRG Networking lunch in lieu of Jon Davey who had been struck down by the dreaded “man flu”. Here’s hoping you are well again Jon, and many thanks for raffling your place on LinkedIn!
This was a first for me and NRG Networks and a great opportunity to meet a group of like-minded business people and learn about NRG. I wouldn’t say I don’t get out much, but my work as a health and safety consultant (www.health-and-safety.co.uk) keeps me busy between assessing risks at a wide variety of workplaces and drawing up policies and risk reports for clients, so the chance to hear about how other professionals approach meeting their goals was not to be turned down. I learned how the NRG ethos is to build relationships, which makes sense because we tend to recommend (and to buy from) people who like, know and trust. Everyone at lunch seemed to be extremely likeable and there was a diverse mix of trades and professions. All at my table made good use of their two minutes to talk about themselves and their businesses and were succinct at stating what they were about, thanks to a handy crib sheet and of course, skill and experience garnered from attending many such lunch meetings. It was interesting to hear that generally about 80% of attendees at NRG lunches are members and the rest are guests like me. Another bonus is that the group does not restrict its membership to only one of each type of business. As someone explained to me, rarely would two members have exactly the same types of specialism and customer base. I have had past experiences (never, never to be repeated!) of breakfast networking where each profession or type of business could only be represented by one person. I recall an acrimonious breakfast when the accountant in the group made his one-minute pitch and dared to promote his financial advisory service. The resident IFA nearly blew a gasket and I wondered what I was really doing there…….. Last week’s lunch helped me to forge a stronger relationship with an existing member who I already knew. We found we had a lot more in common than we had realised, although we have spoken to one another a few times at other networking events. Sitting down at the table with a good lunch certainly helps to oil the wheels and is way better than speed networking for instance. I would rather eat smoked salmon and chat to a friendly face than be harangued for a couple of minutes and have a business card stuffed in my hand! Finally, if you employ people and need to make simple sense out of the health and safety legislative nightmare, you can count on our 30 years of experience to put your mind at rest. Ingrid Siebert info@health-and-safety.co.uk www.health-and-safety.co.uk Ingrid Siebert Associates 0845 051 4254 |
