Benefits of Membership
(Further Details)

Standard Membership

A minimum of 12 hours of FREE CPD each year. FREE access to regular online meetings providing industry updates, CPD content (certificates provided) and the opportunity to network with other professionals.

Members can access regular online speaker meetings which are designed to:

- keep you updated with industry developments
- provide a significant contribution towards your annual CPD requirements *
- enable you to engage with other like-minded professionals to share knowlsdge and business opportunities

* CPD attendance certificates will generally be available for members attending these speaker meetings.

Access to the industry leading forum for news, business opportunities and peer support.

The forum has sections dedicated to each of the service strands so you can quickly find content relevant to you.

You have the ability to subscribe to receive notifications of posts in specific topic areas so you will not miss anything important to you without having to keep checking the forum.

Our ability to provide peer support, often outside normal working hours, is hightly respected across the industry. If your scheme's help-desk is closed, chances are there will be another member online and able to answer your question.

Many a member has said that it is easily worth the cost of membership, just to have access to knowledge and support provided on the forum. Anything else is a bonus.

FREE advertising on the directory of members which is searchable by area and filterable by services offered. This high value marketing of your business is included in your membership.

The Proficiency "Find A Member" search is arguably the highest value directory currently available on the internet for energy assessors and associated professionals.

The directory gives you the ability to be found, for the services you offer, by people looking for those services in your area. It also enables you to give them a reason to choose you.

It is also worth mentioning that members often pass on work for things they don't do themselves or that is outside their area. This is where they will find you to pass on that work.

The basic listing for a Standard Member will display your logo, a brief message and your phone number. It does not link directly to your profile page or have any off-site links. If generating enquiries from your membership is important to you then you should seriously consider Pro Membership.

(You can switch your listing off if you do not want your details displayed).

A personal profile page you can direct clients to if you don’t have your own website. A hosted web page promoting you and your business entirely FREE for you to use, and you control the content.

All members have the ability to set up a profile page for themselves and/or their business. This is a page where you can sell yourself and your services to potential clients and you cotrol the content.*

It is also the reference point for other members looking to refer work for things they don't do or that is outside their area.

If you don't have a website of your own but you are listed on other directories, you can direct people to the profile page you have hosted on our site.

* Obviously some rules apply regarding what content is appropriate

Added credibility from being able to use the Proficiency Member logo.

Proficiency is a strong brand with a quality image and is growing in exposure through active marketing. It can be a valuable 'badge' to have on your website and stationery *

There are specific logos available for members to use *

* Terms aply to use of of the Proficiency and Proficiency Member logos

Ability to raise issues with the potential for them to be taken to the conventions groups and other industry fora.

Our members have direct access to the people providing assessor representation on the conventions groups, in other industry working groups and engaged in consultations.

If you think a convention is wrong or you think one is needed for something, as a member you can raise it with your conventions representative. It can be reviewed within the relevant Proficiency conventions working group and if appropriate taken to the conventions group.

We can and do get conventions changed where we can show they need to be. We can and do get new conventions added where we can make the case that they are needed. This is a valuable resource for members with relevant concerns.

* The domestic conventions group representation is handled in conjunction with the Midlands Energy Professionals (MEP), our partners in the Energy Assessor Alliance.

Earn upgraded or extended membership with the Proficiency reward scheme.

We value the contribution our members make to our collective success. One example is through introducing new members. For that reason, we reward members who introduce others with extensions or upgrades to their own membership. *

We also recognise that many of our members are capable of providing highly relevant CPD talks to other members, or know people who are. We have a process for rewarding the efforts members who share their knowledge by providing a CPD session and those who introduce suitable speakers to us. *

* The specific principles are outlined in the members reward scheme documentation in the member's area of the website.

Access to DISCOUNTS on scheme membership, software, training and/or CPD with a range of providers.

We are continually working on maximising the benefits available to members. In addition to peer support and our own CPD events, members will also be able to access reduced price training and/or CPD from other providers. Further details will be added once these arrangements have been finalised.

Discounts are available to Proficiency members from some third parties and we are negotiating further benefits with others. Examples already in place are:

DesignBuilder software discounts, potentially worth up to £100 a year
Metropix or zPlan floor plan software discounts worth as much as £70 a year.
Savings with Elmhurst and Quidos on items such as training, CPD and Retrofit Scheme membership.

MORE DETAILS

Access to a members only facebook group.

In addition to our website forums, we run a private Facebook group where members can discuss topics on the Facebook platform.

Access is restricted to active Base, Standard, and Pro members only. This provides a convenient, private space for relevant discussions on social media.

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Pro Membership

All the benefits of Standard Membership plus...

An enhanced listing on the directory of members to increase your chances of being selected.

Your listing has an enhanced appearance to make it stand out more than a Standard Member listing, increasing you chances of being selected.

The enhanced listing for a Pro Members is more likely to attract the interesty of a visitor than the basic listing for a Standard Member.

(As with the basic listing, you are able to switch your listing off if you do not want your details displayed).

A direct link from your directory listing to your personal profile page to further increase your chances of being selected.

Your enhanced listing also links directly to your profile page which is a full page advert you and/or your business. This provides access to all your contact details and links to your website if you have one.

The enhanced listing for a Pro Member is significantly more likely to result in an enquiry than the basic listing for a Standard Member. If you are looking to win business from your entry on the directory of members, Pro Membership is strongly recommended.

(If you do not wish to have your details displayed then turning off your listing also turns off your profile page).

Additional opportunities to earn extended membership with the Proficiency reward scheme.

There are more membership extension credits available to Pro Members than to Standard Members under the reward scheme.

Free access to some CPD which would be chargeable to standard members.

Whilst the CPD content in our regular speaker meetings is free to all members, some of our intermediate CPD events will be free to Pro Members and carry a small charge for Standard Members.

Increased discount level on other CPD events.

Our higher value CPD events such as the strand specific Master-Classes will be chargeable for anyone who attends. However, for many of these there will be a lower charge for Pro Members than for Standard Members.

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Base Membership

Our introductory membership

One free CPD Speaker session per Membership term.

When you join as a Base member, you are entitled to one free speaker session per membership year.

This complimentary session gives you a valuable insight into our regular speaker meetings and provides at least one hour of CPD. The sessions typically last 1½ hours or longer.

After attending, your CPD certificate will automatically be added to your personal CPD record, allowing you to keep all your continuing professional development safely stored in one secure place.

Permission to use the official Proficiency Member logo for added credibility

Limited access to our industry-leading members’ forum for news, business opportunities and peer support

As a Base member, you get access to a private forum exclusively for Base members, as well as the Admin announcements forum, CPD announcements forum, and the general topics forum.

The ability to raise industry issues, with the potential for them to be escalated to our conventions working groups

A quarterly newsletter (worth 15 minutes of CPD each issue), providing a total of 1 hour of CPD across the year

Every quarter we send an exclusive newsletter to members only. It includes the latest proficiency updates and a short technical article.

Each newsletter provides at least 15 minutes of readable content that you can claim as non-certified CPD. This gives you a total of at least one hour of non-certified CPD over the four issues in a membership year.

Access to a members only facebook group

In addition to our website forums, we run a private Facebook group where members can discuss topics on the Facebook platform.

Access is restricted to active Base, Standard, and Pro members only. This provides a convenient, private space for relevant discussions on social media.

Join Now