About the Chocolate Group

Who are The Chocolate Group?

The Chocolate Group consists of four professionals with a shared aim of helping you to get more out of your business. We all offer business services of one sort or another and we thought the best way to show you how we can help your business grow would be to offer you a free taster from each of our areas of expertise, giving you some ideas you can easily implement yourself.

Thus the idea of a group presentation was born, and we thought "why not have some fun while we are at it?" so when we first met Gerry from the Chocolate Hotel and saw what a great venue he has, we knew immediately that we had found the right location and it seemed appropriate to call ourselves the Chocolate Group.

We held our first event in March at the Chocolate Hotel in Bournemouth, and the evening was a great success. We are planning to repeat the event in other locations and the next one will be held in the New Forest at Burley Manor Hotel, with Gerry from the Chocolate Hotel travelling with us to give his great demonstration of chocolate making - and, yes, you will get the chance to try his produce! .

and in Tonight's Show we have....

Integrity Sales Consultancy

We open with our 'closing' act! Confused? Well, our first presentation is on selling techniques including how to build customer relationships to get more sales for free, and knowing when to 'close' the deal. Our presenter is Julie Herrnicht of Integrity Sales Consultancy. Julie has worked as an award-winning sales professional in sectors ranging from retail to industrial chemicals. Drawing on her experience of team management and strategic planning as well as in the sales front line, Julie provides sales training and strategy consultancy.

Accounting for Business

Next up will be Steve Bicknell of Accounting 4 Business with some great tips on ways to get more out of your business without giving it back to the taxman. With a career that has included corporate life with some of the biggest names in the area as well as private practice, Steve has in recent years specialised in offering tax advice to small and medium businesses and private individuals. Tonight he'll be telling us about an area which brings joy to all our hearts: how to give less money to the taxman - and all legally of course!

The Chocolate Hotel

After the first two presentations we'll have a break for refreshments and a chance for you to network with the other participants. During the break Chocolate Hotel owner Gerry Wilton will give a demonstration of chocolate making. In addition to operating the the Chocolate Hotel in Bournemouth, Gerry runs an events business. Believe it or not, he manages to combine his event management skills with his passion for chocolate in a great corporate event - the Team Building Chocolate Workshop! Beats paintballing any day!

Northerwood

Almost every business relies to some extent on a website to bring in business, but is it as far up the page on Google as it needs to be? You could spend a fortune on Pay-per-Click or paid-for directory entries, but Rob Dewing of Northerwood will be giving us some tips for a simple health check you can carry out yourself to make sure your site performs well in free Google searches. With experience in many areas of business, Rob specialises in explaining the complex myth filled world of the internet in terms we can all understand.

Tasty Marketing

The evening will be rounded off by our event organiser Emma James of Tasty Marketing. Tasty Marketing offer a full range of marketing services from design and PR through to events, research and newsletters, with an honest, personal and FUN approach to all your marketing needs. Tasty Marketing operates a menu based pricing system so you always know what you are committing to and what you will get. Tonight Emma will be talking about how you can get articles placed in the local press to generate some great free publicity for your company.

It all adds up to a fun evening where every business owner should also come away with some ideas to help grow their business. Our presenters will be on hand after the formal presentations to talk about any detailed questions you may have. We hope to see you there!