A full meeting this morning, with the number of members & guests meaning anyone else would have been left standing for breakfast. A good sign of both the good atmosphere within the club in general, and the business which is generated as a result.

The 5-minute talk on a general business subject was by me (Matt Willson, of Willson Web Design), taking an alternative source of inspiration for how we run our businesses. As a confirmed fan of the HBO series The Wire, an exposition of “What the drugs business can teach us”. In short – quality of product; delegation; balance of risk & reward; looking behind the numbers; and finally – consistency. Whilst their disciplinary proceedings may struggle to fit with traditional HR policy in the UK, there are nonetheless parallels & lessons to be learned… I finished off with a quick example of how a Slatwall supplier client has improved their search engine rankings.

Steve Leverton of Stirling Partners Finance, fresh from a flight from Las Vegas, gave us a 10 minute talk based on his business. Steve has huge commercial experience from both the world of banking & his own consultancy, and this clearly comes across in both his round ups of his work & how he conducts himself in general. In particular, his point today of “what does your business actually do” adeptly made clear that what your customers want from you isn’t necessarily what you think you are selling – people are as often buying intangibles such as peace of mind as they are buying physical products.

The round of referrals this week came up with 6 good quality leads – down on the usual number, but the type of group we are means they’re much better quality leads.

Anyone who’s looking to generate business in the Leighton Buzzard area – get in touch & come along for a meeting to see how things run.

Matt Willson
WillsonWebDesign