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Business

Milestone for networking organisation

Milestone for networking organisation

11th April 2008

Email: businessreporter@newburybusinesstoday.co.uk

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Business celebrates 3,000th referral in three years

BNI Kennet, a local chapter of the hugely successful worldwide business referral organisation, has just celebrated passing on its 3,000th referral less than three years after it was first set up.
“BNI relies on its members to refer third party contacts to the rest of the chapter as they go about their daily business,” said Chapter director David Meagrow, the business  manager at Nat West, Newbury, “and I think 3000 is a pretty impressive statistic to achieve in less than three years.
“We’ve built up the chapter to a membership of 26, which averages out at 115 referrals per member. Not bad in terms of potential new business, which is what BNI is all about.”
Coinciding with this milestone in its development, BNI Kennet has also relocated its Thursday morning breakfast meetings to the Newbury & Crookham Golf Club.
It is at these breakfasts that a whole spectrum of ideas and suggestions are discussed, business cards exchanged and the all-important referrals passed on.
David Whittingham, the director of Newbury-based PR and design experts Media Fusion, only joined just prior to Christmas, yet he has already been passed  nine referrals in the first three months of this year and they have all become clients of his.
“Being in BNI is like having 25 sales people working for you,” he said, “and that’s a tremendous resource for any business like mine.
“The good thing, however, is that it’s not all one way traffic. I find myself looking for potential referrals for my fellow chapter members, which in the end makes the whole process self-perpetuating.”
BNI Kennet is by no means a closed shop and welcomes visitors. It is also looking to expand its membership to encompass as wide a spread of local businesses as possible. Only one person from each profession is allowed to join avoiding any conflict of interest and encourages everyone to work for each other. Among the professions still not represented are: architects, wine merchants, office cleaning, stationery supplies, recruitment consultants, and many more.
Potential members can contact the local chapter on www.bni-kennet.co.uk , then click on the ‘Contact Us’ tab on the left hand side of the Home page.