SBC SEPTEMBER MEETING 2006
A
glorious late summer’s evening saw us back at
the smart St John’s Centre in Merrow, for an event
loosely themed around ‘the human face of technology’.
The
evening began slightly later than usual, as our networking
session leader, Paul Cawthorne, was delayed by a customer
(imagine – the cheek of it!) As usual though,
it was well worth waiting for, and provided a good opportunity
for our guests to introduce themselves and meet the
members.
Next
came social networking over the buffet, with the usual
excellent spread provided by Sue Saunders of Merrow
Savouries. We particularly enjoyed the strawberries
and blueberries with cream dip, Sue – naughty
but very nice!
The
‘small guys’ taking on the giants!
Our
first presenters were Tema Hassan and Salvatore ‘Sam’
Mule of Gravity
Internet. They told us the story behind Gravity,
and set out to explain how they manage to stay competitive
(and stay in business) despite competing with the likes
of AOL and Tiscali to offer broadband and other internet
services to business users. We were treated to some
‘Tema Trivia’ – fascinating facts
about the net, including that there are 92.6 million
websites out there, 90% of all online activity is accounted
for by emails (55 billion per day), of which 80% are
spam. Tony Greenman was convinced most of it ends up
in his Inbox!
Don’t forget Plan B!
Sam
explained that despite the challenges of competitor
offers like free broadband from Talk Talk, and the high
operating costs associated with running a telecoms provider,
he and Tema manage to gain and retain clients by offering
outstanding customer service. They often find new clients
through networking, including at Surrey Business Club
and on Ecademy. Tema offered us his four key business
principles: Cash is King (watch the cashflow like a
hawk); Focus on your strengths (do what you do best,
outsource the rest); Maintain your integrity (don’t
compromise on quality); and finally, always have a backup
(Plan B!)
Ecademy
– what is it?
Our
second speaker for the evening was SBC’s old friend
(and newest member!) Tom Evans of Shere
Solutions, widely hailed as an expert on the online
networking organisation, Ecademy. Tom told us of his
‘love-hate’ relationship with Ecademy over
the years, and explained that he has finally found the
way to make it work for him. So much so, in fact, that
he now gets around 80% of new business as a direct result
of being a member of Ecademy. Quite a large proportion
of this business is with clients who are not members
of Ecademy, but who found Tom and learned about his
expertise and services through the site.
Tom
gave us a brief whistle-stop tour of some of the functionality
of the Ecademy site, and explained that it really does
work on similar lines to face-to-face networking. For
example, people who join expecting to sell to their
fellow members are almost always unsuccessful. Not surprisingly,
givers gain, and Ecademy works best for those who constantly
look for ways to share and help others succeed. We learned
quite a few handy tricks and tips, and we’ll be
asking Tom back to reveal more about the magic of Ecademy
at a future meeting.
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