Members’ Weekend
8th May 2018

Karen Lund, Independent Network’s Head of Partner Programmes, outlines the organisation’s forthcoming Members’ Weekend:

“The Independent Network’s Members’ Weekend has always been a popular highlight on the Veka Group calendar.

“Each year’s event is designed to be bigger and better than the one before! To make it unique and exciting for attendees, we choose different speakers, different approaches and a completely new ‘theme’ to give the evening celebration a fun twist. And, as much as we aim to entertain our guests, it’s also a very important networking and training opportunity.

Among the huge number of benefits there are to being an Independent Network member, we know that speaking to – and learning from – other like-minded installers and fabricators can be an incredible boost for your company. Because Independent Network only allows one member per local area, these businesses are not in direct competition with each other, and are happy to share ideas and success stories that may help each other.

“The first ‘order of business’ is the Business Centre, where many of Independent Network’s Affiliate Partners will be on hand to discuss the great products and services available through this network. There are 18 affiliates exhibiting, covering topics such as qualifications, health and safety, legal advice, hardware and associated installer products. Our Affiliate Partners make up part of the reason why our member companies have such great buying power compared to other local, independent companies; large suppliers are able to offer significant discounts and special products for the Network as a whole – and each member company benefits from these and can pass these advantages on to homeowners. In recent years, we’ve even been told by some member companies that their IN membership fee has been more than outweighed by savings they’ve made on orders from Affiliate Partners.

“After the Business Centre, guests will attend the AGM and, this year, we’ve asked one of the country’s top business consultants to join us; Jeff Grout is listed among the 100 best business speakers in Britain and we’re looking forward to hearing from him, as well as sharing all the latest developments and marketing news from the organisation.

“We’ll be illustrating the fantastic marketing activities we’ve launched to further increase awareness of the IN brand, up and down the country. This has been tailored to suit our membership, with regional adverts and advertorials booked in partnership with our members, geographically tailored to benefit their unique businesses. The Independent Network team has the expertise to work with members to promote their business far and wide, and ensure their ad spend goes as far as possible, increasing the potential ROI.

“The conference will provide another opportunity for IN members to get to grips with the new online marketing portal, where Veka and Halo installers can find a one-stop-shop full to bursting with marketing support, using a single sign in. We’ve even offered all attendees a fantastic £300 voucher to spend on the marketing portal!

“This ‘all in one’ online resource of marketing materials allows installers to order branded workwear and brochures, personalise literature, search a high res image library of products, manage sales leads and control various elements of your website, as well as accessing templated T&Cs, contracts and more.

For the evening’s awards ceremony we’ll be joined by “Unbelievable” Soccer Saturday Presenter and former professional footballer turned manager, Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara to present the trophies at the black-tie.

Because Independent Network only accepts companies that can prove their exceptional high standards, and commit to upholding them unfailingly, our organisation represents the ‘best of the best’ across the British Isles. “This means that the awards are always incredibly close, so it’s exciting to see who will claim the title for each region!

“As such, we thought that the ‘Best of British’ would be a very apt theme.

...plus it gives us all the chance to round off a great day and night by trying a host of specially selected gins, beers, wine and whiskies!

“Backed by a host of sponsors, the event will be held on Saturday 16th June 2018 at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwickshire.

Picture: Karen, left, with Veka’s Amy Grundy
marketinguk@Veka.com