Before I took the decision to join NEST I checked out two other billing companies / consultancies in considerable detail but ultimately declined them.  I eventually chose NEST because:

Unlike most other companies, NEST does not operate a fixed term contract.  We have a friendly relationship with our students and a good reputation in our local area.  I feared that if we went with a company who took students to court if they did not continue paying for the agreed length of time, our reputation could suffer considerably.  The NEST contract effectively only ties students in for a month at a time: which is extremely reasonable.

NEST came across as a very friendly yet approachable group, particularly Gerard.  In fact NEST works like many martial arts groups with the head man effectively stamping his personality on the group and acting as the ambassador.  Gerard is a tiger in the Chinese horoscope which makes him an ideal leader but a libra in the western horoscope which moderates the tiger tendencies and makes him the ideal diplomat (essential when dealing with lots of martial arts teachers!)

Finally, NEST seems more geared to allowing its member groups to retain their own identity than its American based competitors. 

We are a kung fu group with an unbroken lineage and a very strong identity and want to stay that way. Whilst we want to be a successful business we do not want to over commercialise.

The principle benefits which we derive from NEST membership are:

In comparison with setting up standing orders with our students, which we had done previously, the direct debit system which NEST employs allows an annual price increase in line with inflation to be implemented without having to set up the standing order all over again.

If you take the time to work it out, this makes a lot of difference. We compared the workload involved in looking after the standing orders with the fee that NEST charge and decided that NEST was good value for money.

NEST provide a good set of reports and statistics each month which enable us to monitor and fine tune our operation more effectively.We get a good consultancy service through Gerard, who has his finger well on the pulse of the UK martial arts industry.

NEST have proven time and again to be prepared to provide us with service well beyond what I consider that we could reasonably expect from them and I appreciate this most of all.