Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
Replies
I've been to a few meetings but cannot feel justified in committing to a meeting every week, the £500 membership fee and the £10 per week breakfast.
I felt they were too happy/clappy for my liking and would prefer to get genuine referrals rather than people who feel forced to refer me.
That said I do know that it works well for some people.
I believe BNI is a complete waist of time for our industry...Joining fee of £550 then paying £10 a week for a Cr+p breakfast and spending 2 hours there ...out of the diary where could be Earning guarenteed £££'s wheres as being there cost you time and money and could be 12 month before you even get a Referral back! which then could only be a £20 grass Cut
I might go next wed for another look at it but it's a huge time commitment each week. I'm not a great smoozer either but that's life. Think landscapers are generally no BS type of people
On
Phil Shaw said:
I think there are far better, less formal 'networking' opportunities where people are not there just to sell your some form of "consultancy".
Opportunities like Local Chamber of Commerce, which not only represents your voice at a local level, they often have useful presentations, legislative updates, lunch or drinks meets, or organisations like the Lions or similar that support, via business, various local issues/aspects.
Much less low key and tend to be more enjoyable while being able to give a little back.
I looked in to it years ago, and the local group was very limited. Once you'd had the referrals from the people there, that was the end of it. The idea that only one person from each industry was able to join seemed wrong.
Fair enough if you have a business where a few random contacts work well, but it wasn't any use for me. I need contacts that will give long-term benefits, so I'd rather spend the time (if I have any) contacting people who are in the position to give me work on an on-going basis.
That might be anything from leafleting local areas, to nurturing contacts on the golf course, depending what your area of expertise is. Most of us know where our new clients are, and getting to know them needs more than just an American-style breakfast club.
Like all “clubs / associations” you get back from the effort you put in. However some are better than others.
I was a member of BNI many moons ago – I visited three or four different “chapters” before I found one where I believed it had the right mix of professionals.
Yes it was expensive and as Nick said, a bit too happy clappy for my liking but once you know how to ask the right questions you can use it to your advantage.
Personally, I don’t think a self employed gardener working by him / herself would get much value from it unless they were chasing after a particular type of client. On the other side of things, you could look at the fee as professional development / training as BNI did run some very good courses.
With my BNI expercience, to start with, yes members were keen to pass on the odd referral but I felt this was more to encourage me to join up (for example a members mother wants a leaf clearance).
However once I worked out how to play the game it became very rewarding. The best one was when I asked for contacts of commercial properties who had grounds / gardens. The funeral director came up thumps for me and gave me the name, address, phone numbers and emails for 12 very large and all local OAP rest homes and he had personally spoke to everyone of them and ask if it was okay for ne to contact them.
I only lasted a year and a half as the meetings started at 7AM and I didn’t get back to the yard till mid afternoon at times. I did get bored after a while, there are only so many 60 seconds of I can drive traffic to your web site, I clean windows etc.. So I started my little presentation with I do everything with grass and then sat down. But heck the odd round of golf afterwards was acceptable if the sun shone.
Would I re join? I might if I wanted to spend more time “networking” but would also view this as a part social event.
I do belong to other non networking organisations and for years refused to push for any business as I wanted to keep it more social and as an escape from work etc. However after becoming accepted into their “inner circle” if you like, it’s amazing how much business is shared around :-)
I believe that we can and in fact all do, network every day and perhaps don’t even realise it. LJN is just one example, its all about building trust and relationships but more of how can I help / assist rather than trying to always tout your own business interests.
And to answer Emma’s question, if I was at the meeting, I would make a bee line for you and sod what everyone else thought about me being a lecherous old man. But seriously if you approach them with a nice smile and just introduce yourself and get them to talk about what they do, you will soon melt them and be able to steer the conversation in the direction you want. It takes nerves and skill but something we can all learn.
Thanks for replies
It was quite clappy thinking of it from this morning. I didmnt get out till 8.50 & was another hour before getting to site. Not sure how feasible it is time wise when the season is kicking off. Will really have to think bout it.
One thought is thou, where does the £550 or €850 go to & by the way its €50 per month for the room so its pricey enough really
cheers
darragh
Basically Darragh, BNI is a business - I believe there is a regaional "director" who over sees the meetings in a particular area / location and he passes a % of the fee's received up to the next level and so on.
Hi Darragh,
I was never a member of BNI while I was running my own landscaping business, but still did plenty of formal and informal networking. My local Business Link used to organise events once every 6 weeks or so, but I still maintain that at least 50% of my business was generated in the pub and the other 50% came from word of mouth from previous customers.
I never advertised and was never not busy!!
Ollie
www.agrigem.co.uk
I can see why a lot of members here don't do BNI and similar as we struggle to even find the time to get together for a jolly :-)
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