27/3/11
Has that ever happened to you? You have a visitor and you have told them that you have a great contact that they should meet. But, when the visitor arrives the member concerned isn’t there. In fact they turn up late. I’ve even seen it happen that the member concerned is absent!
The visitor doesn’t get to meet the member before the meeting starts and the member is gone when the visitor returns from Visitor Orientation.
It’s bad in so many ways!
First, the visitor has been let down. They were promised a meeting with a great contact for their business or them personally.
Second, it has made you look bad in the eyes of your visitor. Not so bad if they are a great contact of yours, but, if the relationship is new, damage may have been done.
Third, the member has lost out. They didn’t get to meet the visitor and it’s just possible that they may never now.
Fourth, it reflects badly on the whole chapter. Are the members reliable? It may seem like just a small thing, something that really doesn’t matter, but, we all know of things that have been won by the smallest of margins: of things that happen, because we were in just the right place, at just the right time.
So, what time will you arrive at your next meeting? 6.30am at the latest (unless you are a lunchtime group)? If you do, I’d almost guarantee that you will get more business from your chapter if you are there every week at that time!
1 comment:
All true and worth bearing in mind that you never know who will be attending as a visitor; or should you? Wouldn't it be better in this scenario that you had contacted the member in advance to check that they were going to be there, told them of your visitors interest in them and suggested they schedule in some time after the meeting for a possible meeting? This something we aim to do at BNI Weymouth Olympia. The responsibility for the connection of a member with one of your contacts must be yours first; after all, they will probably blame you if there's a problem:-)
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