BNI Forest City

12/07/2023

The most Christmassy BNI networking group around! Another great in-person networking meeting today, everyone!

07/14/2023

BNI member Michael Sroka of Desjardins Insurance is shown below doing his weekly presentation to the BNI Forest City in-person meeting on July 6, 2023. BNI Forest City meets virtually most weeks, but the first meeting of the month being an in-person meeting. In these meetings, we educate the other members on our business and what would make a good referral for each of us. The goal with BNI is not necessarily to sell _to_ the group, but to sell _through_ the group. In effect, we train the 20+ other members of the group to go out and look for quality referrals! Interested in joining us? Visit our page here https://bniosw.ca/ont--southwest-bni-forest-city/en-CA/index and then click the Apply Now button to join us!

10/20/2022

At the October 20, 2022 meeting, Cass and Jesse Smith of Schooley Mitchell did their presentation on their company's cost reduction services. Schooley Mitchell has 200 locations in the U.S. and 40 in Canada. The key areas they cover are Telecom, Merchant Services, Waste, Electronic Logging Devices, Small Package Shipping, eSignature, Utilities, Fuel.

Schooley Mitchell has 200 locations in the U.S. and 40 in Canada. The key areas they cover for cost reduction are Telecom, Merchant Services, Waste, Electronic Logging Devices, Small Package Shipping, eSignature, Utilities, and Fuel.

Most Schooley Mitchell clients feel that they negotiated a good deal themselves on their services, but they only know what their organization pays, which allows service providers to overcharge. With 27,000 clients, Schooley Mitchell has the data to allow them to create savings for their clients.

Schooley Mitchell is the largest independent cost reduction firm in North America with local consultants operating local offices. They have generated $570 million in documented savings for 27,000+ clients. Schooley Mitchell is not a vendor, reseller, broker or wholesaler and they are not vendor-paid in any way (i.e. no residuals, kickbacks, etc.). Where possible, they maintain relationships with existing vendors to enhance service and pricing. Their fees are self-funded from the savings created for you.

Cass and Jesse went through a real-world example of savings provided to a local small business -- a dance studio that saved money on their credit card processing and telecom costs, not to mention making it a lot easier to process credit card transactions. So their service isn't just for large businesses -- it can be for any business, large or small.

Great presentation, Cass and Jesse!

05/13/2022

Our May 12 BNI meeting's first Featured Presentation was by Bruce Lamb of Avalanche Search Marketing. He tried to give the group a better idea of the sorts of clients for which SEO and Google Ads make sense by describing the projects for some of his clients including:

- a home equity loans and mortgage broker company,
- a contractor for concrete pools,
- a manufacturer of warehouse safety equipment,
- a high-end children's formal wear company,
- a law firm in Hamilton Ontario, and
- a manufacture of wire rope sheaves

A great way to find out if someone is a good connection for Bruce is to ask if they do any digital marketing or SEO currently and, whether or not they do, then ask if they would like to chat with a professional who lives and breathes this stuff to see if it makes sense for them or if it could be done better.

Learn more at www.AvalancheSearch.com

05/13/2022

The second Featured Presentation of our May 12 BNI Forest City meeting was by Abtin Izadi-Biuki of Luminatrix Automation Inc. who specializes in electrical contracting work and automation.

Abtin went through a wide range of services he provides, including electrical and structured wiring such as:

- residential and commercial electrical services,
- lighting upgrades,
- new builds,
- commercial wiring,
- data networking,
- camera CCTV systems,
- electrical systems automation and monitoring,
- panel and service wiring,
- hot tubs,
- offices,
- aluminum to copper,
- device updates, and
- pool automation.

Ideal clients for Abtin are:
- restaurant owners,
- pharmacists and doctors,
- farmers,
- craft breweries,
- homeowners,
- commercial building owners,
- facility managers,
- builders,
- designers,
- property managers, and
- churches.

Learn more about Luminatrix Automation here:

Luminatrix Automation is your premier Loxone smart home, commercial and building automation partner in London, Sarnia, Woodstock and all surrounding areas.

04/29/2022

At yesterday's BNI meeting, the Featured Presentation was by Lisa Skirten of Skirms-Ave Property Management. She is having fantastic growth in the condominium management industry.

Her business does:
- Tenant placement
- Lease management
- Rent collection
- Inspection
- LTB Formal Notices
- Evictions
- Repairs and Maintenance

As we all know at BNI, the goal is to sell THROUGH the group, not TO the group. As such, please keep your eyes peeled for the following good prospective clients for Lisa:

Someone at the planning stage of buying an income property:
- Looking to enter the real estate market with a rental
- Talking about expanding into multi-residential

Someone talking about owning a rental property:
- Just purchased first rental and now need to find tenants
- Just finished converting the house into a duplex

Someone having problems with their rental property:
- Tenant always paying late
- Damage (again)
- Neighbours calling the city about the garbage
- City inspection failed

As mentioned above, Lisa also does condo management services, including:
- Financial Management
- Project Management
- Contract Negotiation
- Contractor Scheduling
- Legislative Reporting Requirements

So, again, please let Lisa know if you know of someone who is at the planning stage with their condominium units, such as:
- Self-managed condos
- Thinking of hiring a manager
- Upcoming projects

Or let Lisa know if they are complaining about issues with their current condo management firm:
- Poor communications
- Never seeing the financials
- Hard to get hold of.
- Reserve fund studies

Very informative presentation, Lisa!

04/22/2022

At yesterday's BNI Forest City business networking group meeting, Michael Sroka of Dejardins Insurance gave the Featured Presentation this week on "Water is the New Fire."

He's handled 2 fire claims in the past 4 years but 25 water damage claims. Flooding can happen because of groundwater or sewer backup, or the overflow of body of water, like the Thames River breaching its banks.

He advises all of us to take a look at our policy and figure out what we're covered for. There are endorsements that can be added to your policy to ensure you're properly covered and give you peace-of-mind. If there is a flood, you may need to replace your water tank, heating system, laundry equipment -- and much more if you have a finished basement. Look at what you have stored in your basement and figure out what it would cost to replace it.

There are lots of preventative measures you can take, such as having a backup system for the sump pump, a battery or generator, and/or pneumatic back-flow valve.

Contact Michael at Dejardins Insurance (519-601-2677) if you'd like to have him take a look at your current policy to make sure you're covered.

04/15/2022

At yesteday's BNI Forest City business networking group meeting, our special guest, Irindeep Badial -- co-Executive Director of BNI Ontario Southwest -- provided our Featured Presentation on "Building your Referral Chain".

As we all know, one of the primary goals of BNI networking is that we sell THROUGH the group, not necessarily TO the group. In order to achieve that goal, we need to have members two whom we can pass referrals, as well as members who can refer to us.

Irindeep had us go through a couple of exercises.

The first was to list 5 professions TO WHOM we could provide referrals during our normal course of business (Group 1). For example, a painter may be able to refer customers to an electrician or a landscaper in their normal course of business.

Then, Irindeep had us list 5 professions that FROM WHICH we could get referrals (Group 2). Using that same painter as an example, they may get referrals regularly from a property manager, real estate agent or interior designer in the normal course of their business dealings.

The next step was to come up with ONE QUESTION that each of the people in Group 2 could ask their customer in order to bring you into the conversation.

Irindeep then gave us some homework:

For Group 1 categories that are already in BNI Forest City, have a 1-2-1 meeting with a primary goal to GET THE QUESTION FROM THEM on what you should ask your customers during the normal course of your business, in order to find a prospect for them.

For Group 1 contacts who are NOT yet in BNI, invite them to a meeting!

So, keep going with those 1-2-1 meetings. And if you have contacts in your professional sphere who may benefit from referrals, by all means, invite them to a meeting so that they can see what BNI is all about!

01/19/2022

BNI Forest City members Tricia Baratta of Gallagher Insurance and Gautam Khanna of Century 21 Real Estate did a great job of promoting BNI and, specifically, the great business people who are part of BNI Forest City with What's Up London! Giver's Gain! https://www.facebook.com/whatsuplondonont/videos/665434101576778/

05/07/2021

Lots of business generation is happening with this group! We start as business acquaintances and we continue as friends. Great meeting this week, everyone. It won't be long until we're able to get together for these meetings IN PERSON!

04/22/2021

Another excellent meeting today in the BNI Forest City group!

Today's first core value that resonated with a member was "Accountabilty" by Gautam Khanna of Century 21. Building Relationships and Positive Attitude were other core values that were mentioned.

Today's presentation was from Elise Thomsen of Edward Jones who described the various very unique investment situations that she is able to address to make things work for her clients. Great job Elise!