29/11/11
I was one of the members attending a workshop recently and just out of interest counted how many of us were in the room. In total we were fifty-nine, most of whom I didn’t know.
Part way through the workshop we were asked how many of us had ever got business from a workshop and a fair number of hands went up. I was busy counting again. I’m just like that! There were forty-one hands being held aloft. I wrote the number on my pad and put a circle around it, adding ‘number of members who have got business from attending a workshop’. I have to confess that the number even surprised me, and as a matter of interest I worked out the percentage when I arrived home - it was 70%.
Now workshops are always worth attending for what you learn, be it to help you in your chapter, your business, or even you privately. But if there is a 70% chance of picking up business as well I have to wonder if there are many better ways of getting new business. It’s certainly far better than most of the ways that I know of to find more customers. Far higher than at your average networking event.
So, with five workshops (in my region) and MSP (Member Success Programme) there is every reason to attend on a regular basis.
But please don’t go to a workshop and expect to find a new customer there and then. Like everything, it’s about building a relationship. You might even have to attend a few workshops, but what’s the worst that can happen? You improve in what you are doing!
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Monday, 21 November 2011
A sad day!
21/11/11
A chapter closed in my region this week. At the last meeting ten members were present, two substitutes, one visitor, and only a hand-full of referrals were passed. It couldn’t go on!
They had been trying to escape for months what now had always seemed inevitable because, put simply, not enough eligible visitors had attended their meetings. Not every member had done their part. For a chapter to grow it must have, on average, at least three eligible visitors every week. Every week - not every so often.
There had been a Chapter Development workshop the month before they closed: only three members attended. To most of the members it just wasn’t important enough. Some of the members had tried really hard to find visitors and I feel sorry for them. But it wasn’t the last few weeks that did the damage, it was the months before. Most members just didn’t invite often enough.
The saddest thing was a comment by one of the members. They said that growing chapters was just about making BNI more money. I guess that says it all! Growing chapters has nothing to do with making money for BNI (obviously they make money if chapters are larger but then that’s their business). It’s all about making more money for its members.
This chapter passed about ten referrals a week, another local chapter with 31 members passed 46 referrals that same week. Do you think they care that BNI are making money?
So, if you have a zero for visitors against your name on your chapter's PALMS Report, please invite someone this week, and next week, and the week after that. Because it is a very sad day when a chapter has to close!
A chapter closed in my region this week. At the last meeting ten members were present, two substitutes, one visitor, and only a hand-full of referrals were passed. It couldn’t go on!
They had been trying to escape for months what now had always seemed inevitable because, put simply, not enough eligible visitors had attended their meetings. Not every member had done their part. For a chapter to grow it must have, on average, at least three eligible visitors every week. Every week - not every so often.
There had been a Chapter Development workshop the month before they closed: only three members attended. To most of the members it just wasn’t important enough. Some of the members had tried really hard to find visitors and I feel sorry for them. But it wasn’t the last few weeks that did the damage, it was the months before. Most members just didn’t invite often enough.
The saddest thing was a comment by one of the members. They said that growing chapters was just about making BNI more money. I guess that says it all! Growing chapters has nothing to do with making money for BNI (obviously they make money if chapters are larger but then that’s their business). It’s all about making more money for its members.
This chapter passed about ten referrals a week, another local chapter with 31 members passed 46 referrals that same week. Do you think they care that BNI are making money?
So, if you have a zero for visitors against your name on your chapter's PALMS Report, please invite someone this week, and next week, and the week after that. Because it is a very sad day when a chapter has to close!
Sunday, 13 November 2011
25% of my business
13/11/11
Last week, I was at a Regional Director/Ambassador information meeting and got talking to one of the members there.
I asked how long he had been a member and as he was just coming to the end of his first year, naturally I enquired how things were going and if he was going to renew. He said very well, as he was getting 25% of his business from BNI. Now there is nothing unusual in that as many members get far more than that from their BNI membership; it was what he added next that really got me.
The other 75% of his business took him six years to build! He said 25% had been gained in one year, whereas the other 75% took six. If only he had found BNI earlier! As a locksmith he had worried if BNI would work for him so he was really pleased with the way things were going. There was no chance of him not renewing.
I wanted to know why he thought things were going so well - other than running a good business, of course. His answer was pretty straight forward – he had taken advantage of everything that was offered by his chapter and BNI and got involved.
He was attending the information meeting, not so much because he wanted to be a director, but because he wanted to find out more about BNI. Then of course he was mixing with 60 other top BNI members, Regional Directors, Area Directors and an Executive Director.
What’s my point? He was getting a great deal out of BNI and his chapter. Why? I wouldn’t mind betting because he was putting a lot in. So, if you aren’t getting as much out of your chapter as you would like, ask yourself how much are you putting in? You might just find that it’s not as much as you think.
Last week, I was at a Regional Director/Ambassador information meeting and got talking to one of the members there.
I asked how long he had been a member and as he was just coming to the end of his first year, naturally I enquired how things were going and if he was going to renew. He said very well, as he was getting 25% of his business from BNI. Now there is nothing unusual in that as many members get far more than that from their BNI membership; it was what he added next that really got me.
The other 75% of his business took him six years to build! He said 25% had been gained in one year, whereas the other 75% took six. If only he had found BNI earlier! As a locksmith he had worried if BNI would work for him so he was really pleased with the way things were going. There was no chance of him not renewing.
I wanted to know why he thought things were going so well - other than running a good business, of course. His answer was pretty straight forward – he had taken advantage of everything that was offered by his chapter and BNI and got involved.
He was attending the information meeting, not so much because he wanted to be a director, but because he wanted to find out more about BNI. Then of course he was mixing with 60 other top BNI members, Regional Directors, Area Directors and an Executive Director.
What’s my point? He was getting a great deal out of BNI and his chapter. Why? I wouldn’t mind betting because he was putting a lot in. So, if you aren’t getting as much out of your chapter as you would like, ask yourself how much are you putting in? You might just find that it’s not as much as you think.
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