Engineering 60 Second Pitch II - Pile Relief

Another racy little 60 second elevator pitch for those Engineers out there, who are still looking for ways to connect with non-engineering businesses.

Note: This post was inspired by Richard Salmon. Please follow him on Twitter :-)

I hope you have success with it, and please let me know how it went!!

Good morning my name is  [insert name] , I'm a structural engineer and we are  [insert company name] . 

As a follow on from last week’s request for chimney breast removal referrals, this week we are doing a special run on pile relief for our clients.

It sounds amazing, but some of you may not be aware, that the majority of soil upon which foundations are built in the area of St Albans [and in general Hertfordshire], are clays. Surprising is it not?

The combination of naturally formed clays and nearby trees means that sometimes, traditional mass concrete foundations are so deep that they become impractical to construct. Therefore, painfully expensive piled foundations may have been specified as the next best thing.

Not necessarily. One of the weapons in our arsenal to help relieve our clients of their piles, is a concrete raft foundation. This effectively spreads heavy loads across the whole footprint of the building.

If you hear of anyone having trouble with piles, then please prescribe them a meeting with [insert company name] .

My name is [insert name], and we make the pain of piles disappear, for good :-)

Engine[er]

Engineering 60 Second Pitch I - Boobies!!

Finding ways to educate ordinary business folk of the many ways to refer our structural engineering businesses to their contacts can feel rather dry and boring . But from time to time - I like to titillate my audience with something a little racy. Enjoy, and please let us hear about your 60 second pitches.

"Good morning my name is [insert name here], I’m a structural engineer and we are [insert company name here]. 

For the last few weeks I have been labouring under a slightly different career pass time, and it’s turned into a bit of an obsession of mine.

I HAVE BEEN OPERATING ON 'BREAST REDUCTIONS'  :-)

You see, structural engineers are also employed to help facilitate the removal of home owners redundant CHIMNEY BREASTS.

Over the last 2 weeks I have worked on [??] separate breast     reductions or removals. Approximately [??] of them since the beginning of this year. 

More often than not my clients incorporate a chimney breast reduction or two within their plans to extend and update their homes.

Some can be very straight forward, but if the breast is particularly large or nestled on a party wall - quite often a structural engineer is called in to design the support.

So if you hear of anyone complaining about an unsightly or a space hogging breast in their lounge or dining room, then ask them to give us a call.  

My name is [insert name] and we are

[company name], breast reduction specialists."

Engine[er]

The Giving Gremlins [Business Post]

Don't despair. My weekly post is in the pipe line, It has just been held up in lieu of a few other interesting developments...

In the meantime, perhaps you'll take a look at a blog post which I wrote for a business networking group.

The Giving Gremlins. Let me know what you think.





Engine[er]

A very special club

Time to update you of my experiences with the ubiquitous networking group - the BNI. Givers Gain!

I have been enjoying watching others describe and present their businesses in the mornings. I also have found the time to research and present my own 60 second pitch, several times so far. I have my good mornings and my bad ones. I do however feel a lot better about the public speaking now though. Really happy about that.

My observations to date are that if you follow the rules, take on-board the training and listen to the advice given by the longer standing members and your mentor - then you won't go far wrong. After a few weeks or perhaps months, you should start to receive positive referrals from other members - as they begin to understand more about what it is that you do... and who you are.

The 'who you are' is a very important part of that equation. It is essential that you take time to communicate effectively with your network buddies. Why? My opinion is that the 'who' in the equation is the first thing which is called into question - especially when you begin to introduce the other members into your circle of friends and family.

In truth, an almost unanswerable question hangs over the act of 'selling' the services of other members to your friends and family; and this is never properly addressed. This 'not so minor' linchpin to being a successful referrer could well be causing some confusion for some new members. So how exactly do we resolve this rather important issue? Let me share with you my experience and the conclusions which I have drawn from them [please note! I am a beginner in the affairs of the BNI and do not believe that the more experienced members will suffer from the same confusion as someone like myself]:

The BNI approach [not a unified approach from what I have seen]
The advice given to me was this - trust is an important factor when you begin referring out your networking colleagues, without so much as a "hey" or "how you doing". It would appear on the face of it, the current system means that you may need to recommend others services before you feel 100% comfortable. Therefore you must blindly have faith that the BNI system works, and that everyone in the chapter are true to their words. Business men and women of substance.

My Interpretation  [from experience and joining several dots]
I do not believe that this is how the BNI wishes you to proceed AND most importantly, I do not believe that this is how things are carried out [in the most part]. The reason being is that quite simply this behaviour would not be sustainable. Word would quickly get out that anyone who is a member of the BNI gives poor referrals - and this creates severe problems for everyone involved.

Now, just because I don't think that it happens, it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen! My eyes are cast towards the newer members of chapters. How do we know when we are not crossing that blurry line by referring our BNI colleagues without fully understanding them? It is a serious business when a friend or family member asks you to refer to them a trusted service provider.

Another quite interesting connotation here is this; if you had invested a lot of time and energy into a network group, you wouldn't want new members throwing scrappy introductions your way or indeed, giving referrals to those of us who may have been so unavoidably busy, that they cannot respond in a timely fashion - thus shaking confidence. This kind of behaviour, if left to run rampant and unchecked could very well rock the foundations of a quality networking team. Bad news for every person involved.

So again, I must ask a question for you. What can be done? Well, luck has smiled sweetly upon you, I am an Engineer with a crazy bag of tricks. One of my favourite tricks is ideas generation. Try these on for size;

Problem: new members are to hit the ground running and produce results as if they were a seasoned BNIer. This possibly leads on to poor quality leads, and potentially shake the confidence of those outside of the networking group. It's like an invisible rot.
Answer: remove certain networking responsibilities from newbies, until they have been properly trained or even until they have given their 4 minute launchpad presentation. I found the Member Success Training incredibly helpful, but even after that, I would have been grateful for a few weeks of respite. Just so that I could sign up for some more training and chase some essential 1-2-1 meetings with certain members of my chapter; before I began giving referrals. [if the truth be told... I couldn't wait to get started actually ;-)]
Likely Effect: this could slow the transition from newbie to productive member of the group. During the transition, it could also become painfully obvious that some new members may not up to the challenge and will probably drop-out rather than pass-out.
Answer: ask new applicants to only pay the start-up fee and training fees up front. Then pay the yearly membership once they have passed onto member status. This keeps the member quality high and creates a feeling of ascension to something special...

Now, the above suggestions may result in a slower take up of applicants ascending to full membership - but it does demonstrate quite a reassuring set of standards to those outside and inside of the BNI fold. I suspect that you may see more guests willing to take a punt at the membership if they felt that they had only a modest deposit to make, and in turn they gathered up a few new connections and a chance at becoming a member of a very special club.

Finally I would like to add that new members may wish to partake in a very mindful strategy of only referring those who they have managed to have 1-2-1 conversations with OR keep the referrals very small to begin with. My advice is to choose a few smaller, less expensive service providers, and go to town on them until you have found your confidence.

Happy to be part of the BNI.


Engine[er]

BNI The Givers Gain

Huge post today. "givers gain" this is the motto of the Business Network International group, the BNI.

I have flirted with joining a breakfast networking group before, and was fortunate enough to be invited as a guest to BNI Chariots (St Albans) on two occasions before I decided that my aversion to early morning meetings was to be finally trumped by my natural curiosity... trust me that's a BIG amount of curiosity-full-ness.

First things first, I accepted the 2nd invite and then decided to turn up without any preparation apart from a 60sec elevator speech tucked away in my notebook, and a quick delegate search to reveal who I'd like to be introduced to. Apart from that I wanted to experience this event raw. Grrrrr.

My hosting member was very welcoming, as quickly as I could store in my memory some new names i was pushed towards a member who was deemed to have an overlapping field of interest to my business. He did, he was a building repair specialist. Nice chat [cap doffing].

Once the majority of the delegates had arrived the rather pricey buffet brekkie was unveiled (£10). I have to say this as even though the fry up buffet was absolutely lovely... the price was more expensive than dining at my favourite Sunday morning haunt - which is THE BEST FRY UP EVER! Carluccios, St Albans.

With a plate full of delicious early morning nosh I was ushered into the meeting area and given a predetermined seat at a table. A chance to very quickly network with my neighbours whilst eating and before the main event got underway. Very civilised.

A large portion of almost ceremonially announced BNI stats and figures were then presented to the congregation, before each and every delegate was asked to in-turn, to stand up and pitch their businesses. Included were their hopes for the week ahead and a sprinkling of commentary describing their past weeks trials and tribulations - all in a rather stingy 60 second window. Having said that, the system works! You can get really creative in 60 secs, as some of the more entertaining members proved. Lots of laughter ensued and then it was the turn of the invited guests [me included] to introduce ourselves to the networkers. Unfortunately for me though, I decided at the very last moment to go with an unprepared pitch, and shook uncontrollably during it's entirety. Like a flappy bird i was. I got a laugh though, which was welcomed by my fragile ego. Cheers guys!

Next up was the opportunity for the members to personally announce and hand over their weeks worth of gathered referrals, to each of their network team members. It was great to see such a gratifying response from everyone as the referrals were gifted to their intended recipients. As a bonus, anyone who was able to muster up atleast 3 referrals during the week was subject to congratulations from the entire congregation by way of a round of applause... and 5 or more got a standing ovation! Very very American, was what I thought! Almost a kind of 'we are in it together' attitude. Made me smile. Not a criticism at all.

After this we were asked to listen to a special 10 min weekly pitch by one of the longer standing members about their business. Congratulations to them. A nerve wrecking chance to pitch yourself to the others, expertly taken.

After another round of BNI stats, figures and philosophies, the guests were asked to leave to endure the sales pitch which was aimed at filling the guests in with as much info about the process of joining as possible, in a very small amount of time. I had already written a few pages of questions during the meeting to entertain the members given the task of pitching to us. They must have loved me.

OK, so far you have heard about the mechanics of the meetings from a guests point of view. I spent the next week researching the BNI and seeing if it integrated well with my business plan AND PHILOSOPHY. Matching up my needs with those of the networking group, I found a common interest.

I wanted more customers and a higher local profile. They wanted another member to add to their sales team who would work just as hard for their members as they would do for their very own business. That's me. Fairs fair.

During my experience, and for your interest, I managed to note the following points for anyone thinking about joining or visiting as a guest;

1. Do you 'guest it' for a week or two? YES! This is a no brainer. Do it. If you get invited, look into it further and treat it like a cool morning chatting to more local business people like youself. THIS IS NOT A WASTE OF YOURS OR ANYONE'S TIME.
2. There is an underlying religious connotation to the whole proceedings. Speak to the individual members and this feeling evaporates. Speak to the guys and girls doing the membership organisation and the feeling returns. GET OVER IT. We have been trained by our parents to resist this kind of recruitment drive from a very early age, and we will have the immediate feeling of repulsion to it. Please bear in mind that this is an American founded system. With the very best intentions, they are all over these kinds of groups... It's in their genes. Not us Brits though. Treat this like a business deal. You invest your time, you get the reward, and so do your sales buddies. If you like the thought of socialising too - then that's cool aswell. Don't fall into the trap of mistrust.
3. You reap what you sow. Or to put in in the words if BNI, "givers gain". Again this has a very religious flavour to it. The only reason this works is through the commitment of it's members to one another. End. If you are not prepared to work for others as hard as you would work for yourself , then don't get involved. It makes a mockery of the system. Jog on.
4. To learn is to grow. You will learn a huge amount.. Presentation skills, networking, marketing, relationships... the list goes on. This is worth the initial investment alone.

You may be getting the idea from my post here today that I am sold on the idea of the BNI, and you would be wrong for thinking that. I am sold on the IDEAL. Now let's see if it matches up to real life.

Engine[er]


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Location:The Peahen, St Albans