Networking club wants new members to get down to business

The Platinum Club, developed by the Grand Hotel in conjunction with Jenerator Creative, brings top level business leaders together every month to meet in a less structured environment.

The club is now looking for new members from outside Brighton.

Maarten Hoffmann, founder of Jenerator Creative, explained: “It’s a premium club so we only have the heads of businesses attending.

“We don’t send people home with a truckload of business cards that they’ll never use.

“And we don’t have any long sales pitch presentations or sit down meals.

“Ours is a free standing event, allowing people to talk to everyone in the room, rather than just the person sat next to them.

“It’s an incredibly cheap and effective way to do high level marketing.”

Although the Platinum Club is aimed primarily at large, well established businesses, Maarten said up-and-coming businesses with a valuable offering are equally welcome.

“A lot of the smaller companies are really influential locally,” he said.

“So it’s great for the big guys to meet them.”

Stuart Scott is creative director at digital agency Bite Studio in Brighton.

He said networking is especially crucial in today’s tough economic conditions.

“We all have to work harder to win new clients,” he said.

“I think the last few years have been a wake up call for a lot of businesses who now realise the importance of marketing.

“Businesses that didn’t need to do marketing before now have to put themselves out there.”

Clive Smith, senior commercial manager at HSBC, said: “Networking is more important than it has ever been.

“It’s good to meet with premium brands but its equally important to engage with a cross section of the business community as well.”

And Nick Rawson from chartered accountants Knill James said that the nature of networking is changing fast.

“Gone are the times when you just pitch up to a networking do without some kind of strategy,” he said.

“You’ve got to have an objective.”

“People today are much more strategic about the networking they do.”

For more information about the Platinum Club visit www.jeneratorcreative.com or contact Maarten at [email protected].