Home Page Haverhill News

A GROUP of businessmen at Haverhill have discovered that the early bird can catch the worm in a quite spectacular way.
Since a chapter of the Business Network International group was set up three years ago. it is estimated £308,000 worth of trade has been generated for its members, who meet at 7am each week at Haverhill Golf Club.
Their tightly structured meetings over breakfast give each member the chance to briefly promote their own product or service, give details of services they may be looking for or companies they would like an introduction to. In an atmosphere of light-hearted banter, an awful lot of business gets done.
The American-originated BNI now has 370 chapters within the UK and its philosophy of Givers Gain is said to have created £10 million worth of business around the world last year. One member is admitted from each profession and the principle is that members use and recommend others from within the group. An electrician can wire up new premises for an accountant, who in turn gets his books audited by the accountant. One member of the Haverhill
group told of £12,000 worth of business a year gained from a scrap of paper handed to him by another at a BNI meeting.
Architect Paul Mitchell, the group’s director, said it had been highly successful and they would like to swell their membership of 18 to spread the benefits to others. “We would like to see more women join, but often they cite family commitments as a reason why they cannot attend. It is only an hour and a half once a week. but the benefits are great, particularly for small businesses,” Mr Mitchell said.
Jason Fitzpatrick, of Pure Energy Multimedia. said he had been quite reluctant to join, but found the group had brought him a great deal of business. He said:”I don’t like getting up early and I don’t like clapping all the time, but it really does work well. You meet a really nice group of people and gain a lot of business.”
Anyone interested in joining the group should contact Paul Mitchell on (01440) 709355 or visit www.bni-haverhill.com

E-Mail Link: jason@havnet.net