Thank you for the business!

3/4/08

The ‘Show Me the Money’ box (I think only used in UK chapters) is a great idea but, as I have said before, it’s surprising how many members don’t really understand it’s use or value.

Maybe if the box had been called ‘Thank you for the business’; which I like to call it, its use would have caught on faster and with less misinterpretation. But as I say if used correctly it’s a great idea.

Using the box could not be more simple - as all you are doing is thanking a fellow member for a referral that has turned into real business. Although even this seems open to debate as some members seem to find it hard to decide whose name to put on the card and exactly what amount. Both are easy; the name is the person you received the referral from and the amount is the figure on your invoice – before any vat. So if you are a florist it might be £50 for a bouquet of flowers, whereas for a builder it might be £60,000 for an extension. The amount is nothing to do with profit, it’s simply the amount that you invoice or receive for your services – an IFA for example might be involved in a large deal, hundreds of thousands of pounds, but it is the fee that is earned that goes on the card.

As to the value of using the box – well, this can be really amazing if every member of a chapter uses the box to its full. Every week we pass referrals and hopefully lots of them. But at the end of the day, a Referral Slip is nothing more than a slip of paper, an opportunity to do business. But a card in the ‘Show Me the Money’ box is proof of actual business done!

Just imagine the affect on the members of a chapter, let alone the visitors, when a Membership Co-ordinator stands up and says, this month as a group we did £20,000 of business between us. And, what if the MC said it was £30,000 or even £50,000?

So next time the box is passed to you at a meeting please use it, don’t just pass it on!