- 25-AUG-2010 Leadership
- 26-AUG-2010 Leveraging Time Through Time management
- 01-SEP-2010 Perfect Presentations
- 02-SEP-2010 Leading Organisational Change
- 03-SEP-2010 Exeter Presentation Nicola Rolfe
- 03-SEP-2010 Exeter : Sparks Presentation
- 07-SEP-2010 Southampton : BIG Breakfast
- 09-SEP-2010 Honiton - BIG Breakfast
- 09-SEP-2010 Portsmouth : BIG Breakfast
- 15-SEP-2010 Where do I start in Business Course
SFEDI Report on The Business League
Introduction to The Business League by the Sfedi Organisation
The Business League is a very fast growing Business Networking and Support Organisation based in the South West of England.
Growing from one from a single club based in Barnstaple in 2006 to 30+ clubs, covering area’s of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Bristol and now growing interest from other areas in the UK.
Each of the local clubs have up to thirty members, they try to avoid having potentially competing members in the same club, they encourage members to bring in guests who can become new participants and they facilitate referrals for work. Their staple activity is weekly breakfast meetings, complemented by a smaller number of larger meetings and events.At each event members do a short elevator pitch, introducing themselves and their businesses to those present at the meeting.
The League presents itself and promotes itself explicitly as a forum for learning about business and developing enterprise skills. The evidence shows that the nature of the organisation and its events are highly effective in achieving these outcomes.
You can find out more about The Business League at www.thebusinessleague.co.uk/ and they have their own Social Networking site www.mybusinessleague.co.ukThey also run Internet radio station which can be accessed through:-www.network1forbusiness.co.uk/.
What ‘The Business League’ offer: supporting small businesses
Our case study is based on interviews with League organisers and discussions with two groups of members at a breakfast event in Barnstaple. Members are expected to turn up to meetings regularly in order for the events to work. This is recognised by the members; “regular attendance is essential” to becoming an effective networker. If they do not turn up for several months they are sent reminder letters and asked why and can we help with any problem.The demands on members, such as requirements to make referrals of members to others in their own networks of business contacts, is neither formal nor rigid. Such referrals are seen as something that emerge naturally over months of building up an understanding of and trust in other members (A natural bi-product). When members were asked directly about what the clubs was effective in doing none of them mentioned referrals. Responses were more about co-operation. For example, several members could come together to do a job for a client that no individual would have been able to manage on their own.
What is immediately noticeable about club events is that they are very relaxed and friendly.
This is a fundamental part of why the league and its events work. Members identified a wide range of ways in which they had learned and benefited from membership. However these were all predicated on being in a group of peers where you had built relationships, could trust people and could enjoy yourself, as the following comments from members show.
“You get an understanding of all small business owners being in the same boat, which is very reassuring.”“You develop relationships and feel comfortable”“There’s no pressure in this group; it’s fantastic.”“It’s the atmosphere here.”“Joviality puts people at ease.”“It was lonely going it alone. When I worked in a large corporate organisation I was very good at team working. Now my alternative is networking.”“A great way to market and grow my business”Of course this is a self-selecting group and it may not be what everyone wants. Members needed to be prepared to give rather than just mine the set of contacts for immediate business benefit. As one member put it, you needed to be “a gatherer, not a hunter”. Similarly:“Someone who’s giving, not expecting. Look at what you can do for people, not just selling.”“Aggressive selling doesn’t work anymore; a consultative approach is now more successful.”“Give to gain”.“Be prepared to help, not just pushing what’s in your portfolio.”“If you can’t help them say so. Refer them to someone else if you can, be honest with them. This helps build trust.”So to be an effective networker in this environment you needed to be“somebody committed to it long term, willing to be selfless in terms of time and effort to help others, able to be honest and trustworthy, especially regarding constructive criticism.”It was clear that if you were not prepared to work in this way you would not fit in with the ethos and atmosphere of the clubs and so would be unlikely to maintain your membership for long.
The stunning growth of the organisation over the last few years suggests there are many people running Large,Medium and small businesses for whom this is exactly the environment they are looking for.
Central to effective networking were confidence and the ability to communicate. These were abilities that the club events were helping members develop.“The group gives you self-confidence.”“Confidence building
”“When I did my first presentation .. I was shaking. People didn’t know me so I was nervous. A network groups helps.”“Eighteen months ago I was speaking about myself for the first time. Last week I was MC for an event in front of nineteen hundred people.
”“Use the club, as much as a social gathering.”As well as helping to develop a good elevator pitch the clubs were credited with developing a wide range of other skills and knowledge including• rehearsing, testing ideas about new products, offers and services• learning how to accept criticism and feedback• learning how to help customers better• better selling• helping people to decide what clients they actually need• gain knowledge of the future, for example trends people see in business• keep up to date with legislation• Professional advice. There is an accountant, solicitor, etc. in nearly every club, so you get advice that would cost a lot of money for free.There were also impacts on behaviours and attitudes. The meetings developed your motivation, passion, persistence and enthusiasm.“I do my best days work after a breakfast meeting”.
By their very nature The Business League Clubs are providing the kind of peer support that so many people starting and running small business say they value.
Links and LessonsThe clubs do provide some training sessions and workshops but they are not delivering prescribed development programmes. However the learning and development that members report having experienced during their membership map well to the core SFEDI Business Enterprise standards. There is an obvious an close affinity with standard EE5 which is concerned with networking. When asked explicitly about whether membership of the clubs had helped them develop each of the SFEDI enterprise essentials the response from members was overwhelmingly positive. All reported benefits to their networking skills and the results for the other core areas were:EE1 Achieve the goals for your businessThis includes recognising or creating business opportunities, clarifying the nature and purpose of the business, taking account of views of others, learning from what does and doesn’t work, and, developing the confidence to succeed. All members said they had benefited in this area.EE2 Win and keep customersThe clubs help directly in winning business through referrals. They also discuss and offer practical advice on how to win customers, how to improve customer service to retain customers and ways of winning referrals from satisfied customers. All members said they had benefited in this area.EE3 Make deals to take your business forwardThis was the least common benefit but still reported by half the members consulted. Understanding the impact of deals on your business, building rapport and long-lasting relationships, understanding what partners and customers want from deals and projecting a personal commitment were all relevant to this standard.EE4 Find innovative ways to improve your businessThe clubs offer the opportunity to test out initial business ideas and this helps develop the abilities to assess benefits and risks, utilise feedback from other people, evaluate the success or failure of new ideas and be open to new ideas. All but one, new, member said they had benefited in this area.
The Business League is awarded a SFEDI Endorsement
