30/3/08
Where to find visitors is a constant question I hear amongst members. Now I’m not going to tell you that finding visitors is easy, but neither do I believe that finding visitors is as hard as a lot of members think.
However, I do believe that a great many members chase the same potential visitors without success, so how about this for an idea? Follow your money.
So what do I mean by that? Well, where do you get and, more importantly, where do you spend your money? Take the last six months for example: where have you been spending your money? – business and personal. Have a look through your purchase ledger, invoices or your cheque book at home and see who you have paid and for what.
These people are your own personal visitor list, no one else has this exact list. And the best thing about this list is that you know all the people on it and how good they are at their job. You already have a relationship with them and so calling them is easy and what’s more they will be happy to talk to you.
Tell them how happy you were with their work, ask them if they are looking for more business and ask them to your chapter.
So if you are stuck for ideas of where to find your next visitor, give this a try and I promise that you will be surprised at the results!
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
Write your own Bio
24/3/08
You have your 10-minute coming up and the Treasurer asks you to fill out a biography sheet, so you fill out the obligatory spaces on the form: spouse, children, animals, hobbies, other interests, burning desire, something no one knows about you and your key to success. Then, if you are lucky and the treasurer can read your handwriting, it gets read out with some enthusiasm, something like this:
'Spouse: Mary. Children, none. Animals, none. Hobbies, golf and football. Other Interests, most sport. Burning Desire, to travel. Something no one knows about me, I once played for the Arsenal Youth team. Key to Success, always doing my best.
It's fine, but what is that really adding to your presentation and, let's be honest, how many times have you given the Treasurer the same biography sheet? I know in my chapter members do that and what's more they don't even update their dates - so they have still been married three years when I know it's now four!
A 10-minute is just that, eight minutes and questions or a straight ten minutes. But a well written biography can add to that another minute or more, so make the most of it! Next time you have a 10-minute coming up and your Treasurer asks for a Bio, write it and make use of every word. The Treasurer can say things about you that you can't say yourself, so give them some good stuff and build up your image.
This is what I did for my last 10 minute:
David is married and has four boys, two of whom were born on the 23rd March - however they are not twins, the eldest being four years older than his brother!
He went to Hampton Infant and Junior schools, and then to Teddington senior school - via a two-year stopover at Rectory (now Hampton Community school). He also has a City & Guilds in photography and yachting exams up to Coast Skipper.
David loves to cook (especially fish) and enjoys cooking the recipes of Elizabeth David, Keith Floyd, Rick Stein and Delia Smith.
He is again this year organising the NBFA 5k charity run.
His key to success is never accepting second best!
Does he have a burning desire? Yes - but it will always remain a secret!
David loves to write and currently has two blogs: My BNI Day and Convert to Imperial. And something that very few people know about him, is that he once wrote a children’s story, which was printed monthly in the Horse Rangers’ magazine, using a girl’s name as a pseudonym. He would one day love to have the story published.
You have your 10-minute coming up and the Treasurer asks you to fill out a biography sheet, so you fill out the obligatory spaces on the form: spouse, children, animals, hobbies, other interests, burning desire, something no one knows about you and your key to success. Then, if you are lucky and the treasurer can read your handwriting, it gets read out with some enthusiasm, something like this:
'Spouse: Mary. Children, none. Animals, none. Hobbies, golf and football. Other Interests, most sport. Burning Desire, to travel. Something no one knows about me, I once played for the Arsenal Youth team. Key to Success, always doing my best.
It's fine, but what is that really adding to your presentation and, let's be honest, how many times have you given the Treasurer the same biography sheet? I know in my chapter members do that and what's more they don't even update their dates - so they have still been married three years when I know it's now four!
A 10-minute is just that, eight minutes and questions or a straight ten minutes. But a well written biography can add to that another minute or more, so make the most of it! Next time you have a 10-minute coming up and your Treasurer asks for a Bio, write it and make use of every word. The Treasurer can say things about you that you can't say yourself, so give them some good stuff and build up your image.
This is what I did for my last 10 minute:
David is married and has four boys, two of whom were born on the 23rd March - however they are not twins, the eldest being four years older than his brother!
He went to Hampton Infant and Junior schools, and then to Teddington senior school - via a two-year stopover at Rectory (now Hampton Community school). He also has a City & Guilds in photography and yachting exams up to Coast Skipper.
David loves to cook (especially fish) and enjoys cooking the recipes of Elizabeth David, Keith Floyd, Rick Stein and Delia Smith.
He is again this year organising the NBFA 5k charity run.
His key to success is never accepting second best!
Does he have a burning desire? Yes - but it will always remain a secret!
David loves to write and currently has two blogs: My BNI Day and Convert to Imperial. And something that very few people know about him, is that he once wrote a children’s story, which was printed monthly in the Horse Rangers’ magazine, using a girl’s name as a pseudonym. He would one day love to have the story published.
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Leadership Team training
16/3/08
This week saw the new teams for April being trained and as always there are those members who when they agree to be on the new team then don’t understand the need to attend training. The reason for not needing to is always the same: because they have been to the training before.
Even if you were to discount the fact that the training is always improving, that new procedures are announced, that members share their ideas and worries and these are discussed, that everyone in the new team has heard the same information at the same time and so are all working from a common knowledge base, what about the fact that this is TEAM training?
Everyone is part of the team and there is more to the training than just training. It’s about team building and, exactly as in your chapter, you need to take part and show your commitment to the team. So the fact that you may have been to the training before may mean that you have some idea of what your job is all about, although I can guarantee you that you won’t know it all, but more importantly missing the training gives out the wrong signal to the new team. Because I think what it says is that you are not really fully part of the team. You will do your job, but not a great deal more.
BNI is all about building relationships and you can’t build relationships if you don’t take part and work on them. For a Leadership Team to work really well every one of the members must work on building that team.
To all those that have trained this week, work hard on your team and your chapter will reap the rewards.
And don’t forget to have some fun. Your six months will be up before you know it!
This week saw the new teams for April being trained and as always there are those members who when they agree to be on the new team then don’t understand the need to attend training. The reason for not needing to is always the same: because they have been to the training before.
Even if you were to discount the fact that the training is always improving, that new procedures are announced, that members share their ideas and worries and these are discussed, that everyone in the new team has heard the same information at the same time and so are all working from a common knowledge base, what about the fact that this is TEAM training?
Everyone is part of the team and there is more to the training than just training. It’s about team building and, exactly as in your chapter, you need to take part and show your commitment to the team. So the fact that you may have been to the training before may mean that you have some idea of what your job is all about, although I can guarantee you that you won’t know it all, but more importantly missing the training gives out the wrong signal to the new team. Because I think what it says is that you are not really fully part of the team. You will do your job, but not a great deal more.
BNI is all about building relationships and you can’t build relationships if you don’t take part and work on them. For a Leadership Team to work really well every one of the members must work on building that team.
To all those that have trained this week, work hard on your team and your chapter will reap the rewards.
And don’t forget to have some fun. Your six months will be up before you know it!
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Why no rewards?
12/3/08
This question has come up a few times recently and is very easy to answer – BNI is based on recommending people you know, like and trust, not those that give you a ‘thank you’.
Obviously no one is going to worry about a bottle of wine, or similar, but when these ‘thank yous’ get bigger and expected, even arranged, well, that’s when the problems start.
I’m not even going to go down the tax/legal route as that is outside my area of knowledge, although I would guess it’s not good, but on the BNI front, what would it say if we recommended someone from whom we were getting a ‘present’?
Could our judgement be trusted?
The person or company you recommended might be the best there is, but think about it from your own point of view. If you knew the person or company being recommended to you was being given a nice ‘thank you’ to do so, would you trust them?
I would suggest not!
This question has come up a few times recently and is very easy to answer – BNI is based on recommending people you know, like and trust, not those that give you a ‘thank you’.
Obviously no one is going to worry about a bottle of wine, or similar, but when these ‘thank yous’ get bigger and expected, even arranged, well, that’s when the problems start.
I’m not even going to go down the tax/legal route as that is outside my area of knowledge, although I would guess it’s not good, but on the BNI front, what would it say if we recommended someone from whom we were getting a ‘present’?
Could our judgement be trusted?
The person or company you recommended might be the best there is, but think about it from your own point of view. If you knew the person or company being recommended to you was being given a nice ‘thank you’ to do so, would you trust them?
I would suggest not!
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Don't be so polite!
10/2/08
Let’s be realistic, referrals can at times be hard to find and other than those referrals that you get from someone who asks you if you know a good whatever it may be, you have to work for them. Obviously once you are tuned into the idea of referrals it’s not hard work, but you still need to be actively switched into referral mode.
For most of us, this is something that has to be learned, and I can’t recommend highly enough the Referral Skill workshop. In fact I would almost go as far as saying that this workshop should be made compulsory, as a member's ability to pass referrals directly affects the success of my membership. Whereas their networking and presentation skills, on the other hand, only affects their likely hood of receiving referrals.
However, back to finding referrals. At the workshop you will be shown many ways of finding referrals, including some that require no work at all. Some of these ideas are what BNI like to call silent referral generation, and I have one that you may like to try.
All members are given a BNI business card wallet where they keep the cards of all the people in their chapter, so that when needed they have a member's card with them. Well, the first thing that I would suggest is that you have two or three of these wallets (you can buy them from your RD for a few pounds), and pass them around.
But this is my silent referral generator. Always have your BNI wallet on the passenger seat of your car (van) and the next time you give someone a lift, don’t be polite and pick it up and throw it on the back seat. Let your passenger pick it up. They will then wonder what they should do with it and that’s your opening!
You say something like, ‘Oh, sorry, that's my BNI folder. It's full of the business cards of people I know and trust and are great at their jobs. Would you like to have a look ? ....'
Let’s be realistic, referrals can at times be hard to find and other than those referrals that you get from someone who asks you if you know a good whatever it may be, you have to work for them. Obviously once you are tuned into the idea of referrals it’s not hard work, but you still need to be actively switched into referral mode.
For most of us, this is something that has to be learned, and I can’t recommend highly enough the Referral Skill workshop. In fact I would almost go as far as saying that this workshop should be made compulsory, as a member's ability to pass referrals directly affects the success of my membership. Whereas their networking and presentation skills, on the other hand, only affects their likely hood of receiving referrals.
However, back to finding referrals. At the workshop you will be shown many ways of finding referrals, including some that require no work at all. Some of these ideas are what BNI like to call silent referral generation, and I have one that you may like to try.
All members are given a BNI business card wallet where they keep the cards of all the people in their chapter, so that when needed they have a member's card with them. Well, the first thing that I would suggest is that you have two or three of these wallets (you can buy them from your RD for a few pounds), and pass them around.
But this is my silent referral generator. Always have your BNI wallet on the passenger seat of your car (van) and the next time you give someone a lift, don’t be polite and pick it up and throw it on the back seat. Let your passenger pick it up. They will then wonder what they should do with it and that’s your opening!
You say something like, ‘Oh, sorry, that's my BNI folder. It's full of the business cards of people I know and trust and are great at their jobs. Would you like to have a look ? ....'
I only buy from ….!
8/3/08
I was at a training recently given by Phil Berg, a great AD (Area Director) and also a brilliant educator, and there was a general all things BNI Q and A session going on.
Amongst other things that came up was how Phil found visitors. Being a Gold Badge holder (you receive a gold badge once you have invited six members into your chapter), this is something that Phil is particularly good at, and the following idea of his is just so simple and has led to visitors for him.
We have all had the phone call when someone is trying to sell us something. Phil doesn’t waste time trying to get rid of them, or eventually just hanging up on them, he just states instead that he only buys from BNI members and then asks if they are a BNI member.
What a great idea! And if they ask what BNI is, he says, 'Why not come along and find out?'
Why not give it a try? You never know, it may help you on your way to a Gold Badge!
I was at a training recently given by Phil Berg, a great AD (Area Director) and also a brilliant educator, and there was a general all things BNI Q and A session going on.
Amongst other things that came up was how Phil found visitors. Being a Gold Badge holder (you receive a gold badge once you have invited six members into your chapter), this is something that Phil is particularly good at, and the following idea of his is just so simple and has led to visitors for him.
We have all had the phone call when someone is trying to sell us something. Phil doesn’t waste time trying to get rid of them, or eventually just hanging up on them, he just states instead that he only buys from BNI members and then asks if they are a BNI member.
What a great idea! And if they ask what BNI is, he says, 'Why not come along and find out?'
Why not give it a try? You never know, it may help you on your way to a Gold Badge!
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