It is an early start but members are able to get to early meetings, or get back to the office for the start of the working day following the meeting so members have to get used to waking up early once a week.
The meetings begin with ‘free networking’ with people chatting over tea and coffee.
Breakfast & Introductions
When Breakfast is served members have a choice of full English, continental or a mix of both – whatever takes your fancy!
Most people will have finished eating by the time the meeting begins. As an independent networking group, Nexus is free to adapt meetings to best serve members and so the meeting format has evolved over time and incorporates the best bits from some of the other nationwide business networking organisations.
Each member gets 40 seconds to talk about their business in general, or to highlight specific introductions they are looking for, or certain products and services that they have available.
There is then a 10 minute presentation from a member on their business – the idea of this is to help other members understand more about the individual and their business to make it easier to get referrals for that person.
Referrals Networking Group
Nexus is a referral networking group and each week members pass business referrals to each other. A record of all referrals and all business passed between members is kept and well over £1.2m worth of business has been generated by members for members – this includes business within the group as well as external business with people outside of the group.
Following the 10 minute presentation members break off into pre-arranged pairs for a 1-2-1 – this is a two way conversation in which members find out more about each other and their business, again to help people make referrals to each other.
Finally there is the ‘positive contribution’ round. Although referrals are the life-blood of the group there is no pressure brought to bear on members to bring referrals. Once individuals feel pressure the quality of referrals inevitably goes down and this is the beginning of a false economy.
If you have never been in a referral networking group it may sound daunting, but like any aspect of business finding referrals is something that individuals get better at over time and after a certain amount of time it becomes a habit.
One strong referral every couple of months is better than a handful of weak ones each week!
The meeting finishes about 8:30am with any relevant announcements and members can either leave or stay to continue networking as they wish.
Would you like to attend the Brentwood meeting as a guest?
If you would like to enjoy a complimentary breakfast and meet 25 – 30 business owners at The Marygreen Manor in Brentwood on a Wednesday morning, please contact us via any of the following channels and we will book you in as a Nexus Networking guest;
- Complete the form on our website here
- Call Gavin Perrett on 07776 157 503
- Email Gavin Perrett on gavin@hawkhurstai.com