Surrey Chambers breakfasts continue to thrive, giving businesses the chance to meet those all important contacts before the rest of the days work begins. The clocks going back can only encourage us to leap out of bed when the alarm goes off! The feedback from these local meetings has been very positive with attendance between 20 and 40.

One breakfast, which was really worth getting to was part of the British Chambers Growth Clubs initiative and brought us a speaker of great quality. Royston Guest from Pti Ltd talked to us about p2p instead of b2b and stressed the importance of people in our businesses. He reminded us that 77% of the year had already gone so the time for action was now. We were encouraged to give exceptional customer service EVERY TIME and compared ourselves to successful brands such as Singapore Airlines, Nokia and Starbucks. By the end of the session we were able to verbalise what business we were in rather than what we did. Surrey Chambers is definitely in the business of helping you grow your business and we are now working on the exceptional customer service! Further Growth Clubs will be taking place covering Technology, finance and communications. These are workshop style sessions with limited numbers so early booking is advised.

We were delighted this month to welcome Jon Jagger to our Board of Directors. Jon is a partner for Menzies LLP, a highly reputable accountancy firm based in Woking, Egham, Leatherhead, Kingston and Farnborough. Jon brings his accountancy skills but also experience of working with many small and medium sized businesses. He will be a great addition to the board, bringing his ideas and thoughts to the strategy of Surrey Chambers going forward.

Members of Surrey Chambers should have received by now an invitation to join the Surrey Chambers of Commerce Advisory Panel. Over 150 people have signed up, which is really good news. This will enable us to get quick feedback on various issues and panel members will also get the opportunity to take part in other surveys if they wish.

The Innovation and Growth Team has been launched in Surrey with the support of a number of organisations including Surrey Chambers. As well as having specific expertise in incubating, growing and managing businesses, they also have extensive sector experience spanning IT, telecommunications, new media, central and local government, aerospace, defence, medical, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, agriculture and retail. They are very keen to talk to any businesses looking for support. Their website is now up and running and worth a look. www.innovationgrowth.co.uk/surreyhants

The second Surrey cohort for Common Purposes InsideOut programme is about to start but there is still the opportunity for a couple of business people to join it. Common Purpose InsideOUT brings together leaders from distinct locations in the ‘powerhouse’ circle that surrounds London, enabling participants to see how local decisions are affected by wider regional issues. The programme invites participants to examine their own locality and leadership challenges, to reveal how each area is interconnected, often in surprising ways, what the leaders can learn from each other and what they can achieve by working together. Having participated in this programme it is a great way to learn about the wider community and how a business can have more influence and impact. http://www.commonpurpose.org.uk/programmes/insideout.aspx

For many events and activities designed to meet the needs of all types of businesses, please view http://www.surrey-chambers.co.uk/events_main.mp  or speak to Surrey Chambers of Commerce on 01483 726655.