Members

IoD Research

Dear Editor

I just thought I would point out to members a service from the IoD which they might not be aware of and which they will find useful. At the end of 2010 Pictons Solicitors LLP were invited to tender for the legal work of a large, prestigious, landed estate in the Luton area.

Pictons already had a set procedure for dealing with pitches of this kind including a semi-standard proposal document setting out the reasons for Pictons being the preferred candidate, pictures of those individuals likely to be involved and a potted history of Pictons.

On this occasion, I had recently had a meeting with another IoD Member who had suggested to me that one of the benefits of membership was the quality of research that the IoD was able to carry out. I decided on this occasion to test the research unit and sought background information in relation to the estate (which is not a limited company).

The information provided gave far better background to the prospective client than could be obtained from its website and was, I believe, instrumental in ensuring that our pitch (both verbal and documentary) was of a high standard. As a result, we were (in competition with at least one other regional firm) successful in securing the business and the relationship is moving forward nicely.

Roger Talbot

Managing Partner

Pictons Solicitors LLP

Update on Luton Airport Lounge

Luton is our nearest airport and home to a good number of popular airlines. Some of you no doubt wonder why you can’t access their Servisair Lounge. We’ve asked HQ for some feedback on this and we are hoping this might change in the future. The answer was as follows:

‘Luton was opened in 2009 during a very tough economic climate. At the point of its opening, growing the portfolio of airport lounges was not deemed to be high priority as we felt the key business support benefits needed more focus and attention.

The cost of allowing members to have access to all of the lounges that Servisair offer is quite a significant one, therefore we review the new lounges that Servisair add to their portfolio on a regular basis and see whether it would be of value to add it to the benefits package.

Since Luton’s opening we know that it is a lounge that many members would like access to due to its good links with Ireland. Therefore at the next review we will be looking to see if we can add it to the list of lounges we have available.’

Let’s hope this local facility is opened up to members as part of the offering. We’ll keep you informed.