A great big DBN THANK YOU to our wonderful Beamish Museum and to all our lovely members who came along to the Test Day last week. Not only did we play our part in helping Beamish Museum to reopen but it was fantastic to see how happy everyone was simply to be meeting up with and chatting with other people again. Some things can never replaced by Zoom! And to think we used to take it all for granted…
"Had a fabulous day out at Beamish Museum on Monday with my lovely colleagues and their families from DBN. Hats off to Beamish Museum for inviting us to 'test' the adaptations to the venue and to Gary and the team for the offer. So, there were some restrictions required due to government guidelines, which enabled them to open today - July 23rd, but all in all a safe environment and a very enjoyable day! The staff were also amazing....nothing was too much trouble.
"As a bonus...not only did the weather hold out, but look what we were given too....sorry no pic of sweeties - I ate them!"
Lisa Hall, Great Annual Savings
"Such a privilege to have a socially distant preview day at Beamish Museum. Thank you Do Business Network - DBN for organising. Lovely to see everyone after so long. Good luck Beamish for your opening!"
Ruth Jacobs, Jacwicks Designs
"I’d just like to say a great big thank you on behalf of all of us at the museum! We are hugely grateful for you all taking the time to visit yesterday and for feeding back so constructively. It will make all the difference for Thursday and help us to get the finer details right from the outset.
"As a self-reliant charity we rely on visitors for 95% of our income and we’ve been appealing for support to help secure the museum’s future.
"There’s been a fantastic response so far – with over £10,000 in cash donations - and we’re hoping to raise £50,000 in the museum’s 50th anniversary year – what should have been a year of celebratory activities with our visitors, friends and supporters! Online donations are particularly helpful to us right now but there are other ways in which you can support the museum, such as making a purchase in the online shop.
"Thank you so much and I hope to see you again very soon! You are absolute stars!
"All the very best"
Sally Dixon, Beamish Museum
And then we had DBN’s own version of “Who do you think you are?”
One fascinating (if slightly gruesome) fact we learned while at Beamish was that the ancestor of one of our members (Melanie Cant) was killed in an explosion at Newcastle in October 1854 that started in a warehouse owned by the ancestor of another DBN member (Bill Croney)… We’re happy to report that Melanie and Bill are on good speaking terms...
Same old… a lesson from a high street?
DBN members have demonstrated amazing levels of innovation and adaptability during the crisis and there’s plenty examples (such as Isabella's Coffee Shop) to be seen in this newsletter.
But a recent walk down a local high street painted a very different picture. It seems that many retailers simply pulled down the shutters in March, pulled them up again in July and changed nothing. There were few signs that they had used any inactive trading time to give some thought to how they might adapt or improve their business. No new products, same tired shop layout, no online offers or even an small attempt to make window displays look just a little more appealing... Need we say more?
We’re not in the business of making predictions but we're sure that the businesses who adapt and aim to continuously improve their customer experience will have a far better chance of survival and success. Pinning your future business hopes on "same old" may be an easy option but it isn't the right one.
The podcasts are coming! Win Beamish Museum Passes with DBN
Last week we recorded our first test DBN podcast and we want our members to tell their business story in our 15 minute podcasts. We simply have a chat with you about your business using Zoom and edit the audio into a podcast for our members to enjoy.
It’s just a short, friendly, informal chat about your business and we'll tell you what we’re going to ask in advance so there’s nothing to worry about… and we can always edit out any “umms” and “ers...”
To get the ball rolling we have four Beamish Unlimited Adult passes to give away to the first four DBN members who record their podcast with us (we have as of the 27th July had our four interviewees come forward). It’s first-come-first-served and we start recording the week after next! You win a great prize and get to tell everyone what makes your business special – now there’s another DBN win-win!
