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People applying for membership should print this page for future reference.

Member Activities

Much of the activities centre on this website, www.softfurnishing.co.nz.

1. The website has a 'Members Only' area (requiring a password to enter) that contains questions and answers that have been shared between members over time, so others can refer to them when necessary. These include tips, advice, supplier contacts, warnings of difficult fabrics, discussion on industry and business trends etc.
   
   
2. All members receive a regular newsletter with articles on latest trends and other items of current interest. Members can also take part in an opt-out email distribution list of members, where information and advice that is worth distributing to some or all of the group can be shared.
   
   
3. If they wish, members can refer prospective customers or contracts to chosen other members, or to set up ad hoc joint ventures, in cases where jobs come up in their area or when a member is too busy to handle it at the time. Mambers may set up buying groups, etc, to save supplier costs.
   
   
4. Members can advertise, via email lists and/or on the Members Only page, to buy and sell workroom and related equipment on the website, or advise each other on potential buyers and sellers of such equipment.
   
   

What are the benefits to a small business like mine?

1. Your very own web page, designed to attract customers. This is really inexpensive marketing - even one significant job gained per year will more than pay for your web page. If you don't already have a website, your optimised web page here will provide a very low-cost option and the ability to market your web address as 'www.softfurnishing.co.nz/YourCompanyName'.
   
   
2. If your business already has a website, your member webpage will point to it, increasing the traffic to your own site as well as boosting its Google ranking.
   
   
3. Depending on circumstances, referrals may be passed between members. This may happen where a request comes in from a distant geographic area, or requiring skills or equipment one business does not have, or at a time when a firm is overstretched with contracts. A referral process may include one or more of the following arrangements between members:
   
   
   • subcontracting by one member of another and vice versa
   • payment of a "finding" commission
   • simple transfer of a job perhaps with the expectation that the favour may be reversed in future.

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   It is totally up to the two members involved in any particular referral to arrange any conditions on referrals - whether any money changes hands between them, or any reciprocation, etc.
   
   
4. The possibility of cost reductions through bulk-buying of certain items such as roman blind componentry from suppliers. Advice on good prices and supplier deals.
   
   

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