Communication…

 …well lack of it!

Two members that I have contacted, for the first time over three weeks ago, so far have not sent me any type of reply. And I’m not talking about just sending an email here.

I have sent them a number of emails, text messages and a phone message.

Now it might be that they don’t think a reply is required, they have no time, or that they just aren’t interested enough.

There could be many reasons as to why I haven’t heard a thing from them. It’s even possible that you can think of a good reason yourself.

But, have you, and more importantly have they, thought about the comeback of no reply more deeply?

What does no response really mean?

Does it even matter?

Well the BIG answer is – yes it does!

When I say, yes it does, the reason is massive. But, it’s to them, not me.

As, long term, they will get fewer referrals.

But why, you may be thinking.

Know, Like and Trust.

If you are going to be referred confidently, your fellow members need to: Know you, Like you, and to Trust you.

What no communication means is that they don’t know if you will contact the person that they could refer to you.

They have no evidence that they can trust you to do so.

So, they don’t (refer you).

Which means for the best results, and the most referrals that you will receive, you need to communicate on every single occasion and without any delay.

Even if you are busy or because what you have been asked is not really for you, you must reply.

But, be careful, as to what you say.

And, here are a couple of examples: ‘I’m too busy’, could simply mean I’ve no time for any more work. The result could be fewer referrals. ‘Not my sort of job’, can mean other referrals lost; unless you explain why and do your best to help them with their referral. Recommend someone good who could do it.

Good communication is essential to build Know, Like and Trust with your fellow BNI members and have your referral rate grow and be better.

Who should you reply to today?

How to get more referrals…

 It doesn’t matter who you are, or how many referrals you receive, because getting some more would be very useful. Plus, if you are unlucky, and don’t get the number of referrals that you would like, then this would be amazing.

Now before you think, he’s going to say, ‘You've got to do lots more work’, let me stop you, because you don’t.

You have to do a little, but small changes can make a large difference to the number of referrals you get.

Just imagine improving by just 10% on the things you already do, what effect that would have combined in total. It would be massive.

Here are a few things to think about: attendance, 60 Seconds, your Feature Presentation, referrals given, visitors, workshops, One-2-Ones, testimonials, social events, your Power Team - for starters.

Just a small improvement on all of those, would have a very visible result overall. More referrals.

One of the things that you could do is to update your BNI Chapter website; certainly your part of it. What’s your presentation like on it?

I looked at some BNI Surrey chapter websites last week and many members could do a little more. In fact some members could even make a start!

More than one member, not only didn’t have a photograph of themselves, but worse still, had no copy at all. This will mean that they are losing referrals.

Trust me, it’s a fact.

This one thing will take just a few minutes. Add a photo and some text. Talk about how you help people, not about you. Try to avoid using, ‘I ….’

Doing this will improve your referral rate, as over the years I have meet many people who have ‘passed on’ when they have found a member with very little info about themselves on their BNI website.

Make a start now – it will only take a few minutes. And, you will be one step toward a better referral rate.

Have you invited a visitor this week?

It’s a simple question, and if you haven’t, why not?

Inviting visitors is probably the easiest thing that you can do in BNI; not just for BNI but, more importantly, for you; as the result is more business being passed.

So, the question is, why don’t you invite more people?

Now an answer I’m often given is because it’s hard. But, believe me, it’s not. In fact it’s so easy, I’m surprised you don’t do it every day.

But, BNI members have excuses for not inviting (some have not had a visitor for a year or more) and two reasons tend to be mentioned often.

One is that they don’t know if BNI will be good enough for them. Well there are many answers to this, but there are two very important ones. First, you joined BNI because you saw it as very promising, and second, it is up for your contact to decide; not for you to decide for them.

So, invite your contacts along.

Reason number two is often that you don’t know someone who would want to join your BNI chapter. And the answer here is very simple. You don’t need to. As all you are looking for are business people, who want more business, and can come to one meeting. That’s it, nothing more at all.

So again, invite your contacts along.

Inviting is simple, can lead to lots more business, and often comes with a BIG thank you.

I know that you could invite someone this week. So, why not do it right now? Use a text, email or phone call.

It will take you just 30 seconds.

7 Weeks!

 The start of the New Year and the beginning of your businesses extended future plan; where you hope to be in the years to come.

As with all plans, however distant they are, there are things that must be done today, if you are going to succeed.

And, a seven-week plan, for your BNI success, is a great way to start, not only for your BNI Chapter but also for you.

Often your chapter will have a goal and all the members will be given targets to meet. New targets (plans) are essential to your success, as otherwise, if you keep doing the same things, you will just get the same results.

Now chapter plans are sometimes difficult for some members and easy for others. For example, as a member you are asked to bring along five new members a year. If on average you invite 11 a year (and they attend) it’s very easy, but if last year you didn’t have one visitor, then it could be very hard.

And, that’s why I love the ‘7 Week Resolution’. It’s your commitment to your chapter, chosen by you. Signed and sealed! But, there is one condition; your commitment has to be better than your normal activity; based only on your actions.

The things to cover are: visitors, referrals, One2Ones and workshops.

So, if in seven weeks you would on average have three One2Ones, then in the next seven weeks you would commit to having, say five. With workshops you might not often attend, so your commitment would be to attend one. Referrals you might give 10, so you could commit to giving 12. And, with visitors, you may not have had one for months, so you would commit to bring one. But, if normally, you might bring two visitors, then you would commit to bringing three.

What’s great about the ‘7 Week Resolution’ is that is what you choose and commit to doing, and when every chapter member commits to doing this the results are often outstanding.

But, the best thing is that it’s part of your future business success. So, if you are truly serious about your future, then the BNI ‘7 Week Resolution’, is a must do.

Note: If you would like a '7 Week Resolution' form then let me know or ask your BNI Director.

A Shed-Load of Money!

2022 is coming - in fact fast!

And, I would imagine, as a good business person that you are well into planning your New Year. What you would personally like and what your business has to do to achieve it. If not, maybe we should have a chat.

Now I would certainly think that the amount of money you receive will be important, but even more significant than that, is the amount of profit you will actually make.

After all you have lots of bills to pay like gas, insurance, mortgage, school fees, car costs; I could go on and on. And, of course, there are other things you would like as well, holidays, nights-out, karting, golf; again the list will be long.

Certainly it was what I always had planned into my business plan, for example; skiing, sailing, classic Mustang, school fees; to name just a few.

So, to help you, Surrey BNI has an amazing workshop coming up, on Tuesday 25^th January, at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking.

It’s going to be very special, as the host is Phil Berg and, he is more than good, because he gets it (I've worked and listened to him for a long time), and he will help you achieve your goal. Helping you get what you want.

Whatever your plan, however far you have already got with it, I promise you that meeting Phil will help you succeed; and on so much more than just your Surrey BNI membership.

2022 could be an attractive year for you and Phil’s workshop could truly help you, so please don’t miss the chance of attending. 

You can book here:

HOW TO MAKE A SHED-LOAD OF MONEYFROM BNI – hosted by Phil Berg

Tuesday 25th January 2022 4pm – 8pm

Woodlands Park Hotel, Cobham KT11 3QB

Your great photo!

That’s assuming you have one and it’s good.

A fair number of BNI members don’t have their photo on their BNI Chapter Website; instead there’s just a silhouette of their head.

Then of course, some members even have a misleading photo, which, trust me, hurts their referral numbers. And, please do believe me, as I have a lot of knowledge on this, based on the experience gained from members over many, many years.

First you need a good photo; one that clearly shows who you are. It needs to be up-to-date, with a good pose, nice lighting, and, of course, in focus. Now I’m not saying it needs to be the perfect professional portrait, but it does need to be a good photo. Which means not using the first thing you find; on holiday, down the pub, blurry, from 15 years ago, just a mess.

Why? Because a good photo seen on your BNI website will save you losing referrals.

No photo of a member on your BNI website may not affect how you think about that person but, it’s how other people think that matters, not you. I know of many people that have left a BNI website because of the lack of a photo (also a bad photo) of the member they were considering.

So, if there is no photo of you on your BNI website, then I recommend you get a good one put up as soon as possible. I promise, you are more than likely to receive more business.

Five Referrals!

 A good friend of mine (he does plumbing and heating) is not only a very good BNI referral giver, but he also receives a very good number of referrals himself from members of his chapter.

He has been a member for many years and a few years ago he did some maths, which led to him getting even more referrals. Now I know that you can do the numbers, but you will require some information, and there are three things you will need on record. First, the number of referrals you give each year, second, the number of referrals that you receive each year, and third, the amount of business you receive from those referrals each year. That’s it!

Okay, so firstly, divide the amount of business you received by the number of referrals you were given. For example: you get £16,000 of work, from eight referrals, which makes each referral worth £2,000.

Then secondly, work out how many referrals you give in order to receive the number of referrals you are given.

My friend worked out that for every five referrals he gave he received one £2,000 (roughly) referral in exchange.

To drive him, he worked out that for every referral he gave it was, in effect, worth £400. But, this is the part that impressed me, he passed more and more referrals, and for every five he passed, he received about £2,000 in return!

So, if you did your maths, could you increase the number of good referrals you receive? All I can say is it’s worth a try – because it certainly worked for me!

What if your dream client were in the room?

Sometimes I meet people and I wonder would they dress as they do, say what they do, act as they do, if their dream client were in the room.

Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever relax, or spend our whole lives pretending, but when we are working we are – well working!  And, if we are working, shouldn’t we doing our best all of the time and not just when in sight of our best client, or prospective best client?

It’s pretty much the same in all sorts of things. Just think of all the effort we all put into a first date!  We shower, brush our hair, wear our best clothes, arrive early, and, of course, are on our best behaviour.  But, can we say the same a few months down the line?  What’s more, it’s just the same when we go to an important meeting: our heart beats just as fast as on that first date.

When we get a new car, we lovingly wash and wax it, take care where we park it, don’t let our children eat in it.  But, a few months down the road …

It’s just human nature.  But, if we want to meet your dream client, and more importantly to do business with them, we need to be thinking about them all of the time.

Now often when networking, some of the people I meet haven’t considered that they might just meet their dream client.  Worse, that if they did, they might just miss the opportunity because they weren’t prepared; they hadn’t made the effort to be at their best.

So, next time you go to a networking event, to a business breakfast, to a business meeting, in fact just to work, prepare as if you are going to meet your dream client.  If you do, you never know, you might just meet them!

Do you like your Power Team?

The BNI definition of a Power Team is this:

‘A power team is a group of professionals in BNI who work in non-competing, related fields and have developed relationships so they can refer customers to each other.’

Many BNI Power Teams don’t work and I think the reason for this is very simple and the answer as to why this is the case can be found in the definition above.

You see most members hear (or read) ‘group of professionals in BNI who work in related fields’ and think the ‘non-competing’ is unnecessary, for example, an electrician doesn’t compete with a plasterer. So they think things will just work.

But, and this is the really important part, they have missed out ‘have developed relationships with'. You see a Power Team will never work to its maximum potential unless relationships are built between its members and, I would even say, unless they truly like one another.

Because as you build a relationship, you want to help one another, you’re working with one another and you’re finding out about one another; you are getting to like one another. Only then will the best referrals come - but first you must build the relationships.

So, if your Power Team doesn’t seem to be working take a moment and think about these questions. Have you built good relationships with the members of your Power Team? When did you last have a 1-2-1 with someone in your Power Team? When was the last time you met for a social event? And, the big one – do you like them? And, more important, do they like you?

If you work on the relationships the referrals will follow.

Gone fishing

David Moore (Novaglass) our double-glazing expert stands up for his 60 Seconds; he has a fishing rod in his hands. It seems that David likes to cast a line for a little relaxation in his spare time. I also discover that Matt Phils (A-Plan), our insurance broker, likes nothing better than to coax a monster carp into his landing net from a beautiful lake as often as he can. Although with two small children it’s not happened for a while.

Back row: Simon Harris, Mike Daly, Steve Cole, David Moore, David Wimblett
Front row: Nevill Godwin, Chris Denny

So why is this all going on at BNI Elmbridge? Well our 60 Seconds are all about our hobbies (with props of course). Now some of you might be thinking ‘but what’s that got to do with business?’ and the answer is, it’s about relationship building. Getting to know one another better. Finding something we have in common, a connection, because it really can make a big difference in how well people work together.

A great example of this happened to me a few years ago now. There was a member in my chapter that I seldom talked to and he didn’t go out of his way to talk to me either. Don’t know why, we just didn’t gel. Then he did his 10 Minutes and everything changed.

For his 10 Minutes he changed into his motorcycle racing leathers and he told us all about the racing he did around Europe. Now I was a big Barry Sheene fan and this got us talking. Cutting a long story short, the result was me referring him to one of my best friends, something that other than finding out about his hobby would never have happened.

So, I highly recommend that you have a Hobbies 60 Second at your chapter very soon if you haven't had one already.

And, obviously it’s not just about building business relationships, as I have now been clay pigeon shooting with Steve Cole (S. J. Cole & Co), our master builder, and I’m going pike fishing with David in the autumn. Just brilliant!

NOTE: Photograph by Andrew Boschier

Wish You Were Here!

We are running a visitor inviting campaign at BNI Elmbridge at the moment which involves every member bringing in five postcards. For our chapter of 36 members, 180 postcards will be sent out inviting business people to our meeting. That just has to be good.

Now there’s a poor way of doing postcards and a good way of doing them but what I like about the ‘five postcards’ is that every member can take part and, even with the little extra time needed to do them correctly, they will only take about 30 minutes to put together.

So, I guess what you are thinking is, how do you do them correctly?

The answer to that is simple – they need to be addressed to a named person; so not ‘The Manager’ or similar, not just the company name, but, for example, to ‘Steve Smith’. The other thing that needs to be done is to record their phone number and/or their email address so that the postcards can be followed up. By simply contacting the person invited a few days after your postcards are delivered will massively increase the results of the campaign.

Another great thing about postcard inviting is that BNI supply the postcards and your chapter will even stick the stamps on for you. How good is that!

Okay, now we get to the big one. Who to invite?

This is something that really stresses a lot of members but I can never understand why. Ask me to find a referral or someone to invite to Elmbridge and I would go for the visitor every single time. Why? Because I can control who I invite but I can’t always find a referral.

So, who do I invite? Well, I guess they fall into three groups; people I know (a good place to look for these people are in your mobile - these will give you your best success rate), names from business cards that I have collected in my travels and, if all else fails, Google.

Google is the least successful but can get you some great visitors (and members). Remember you need to find a name, so here are a few tips to help make things easier for you.

First, choose a category to invite; a good starting point is a business you would like in your Power Team. Then search whatever that business is and your chapter’s location. For example in my case it might be – bookkeeper Hersham.

The contact details, address, phone and email are usually pretty simple to find, as most sites have a ‘Contact Us’ page. But if I can’t find this information in a couple of clicks I move on to the next possible business.

A name can be more difficult to find, and this is where you will spend the most time, but can usually be found in either the ‘About Us’, ‘History’, ‘Staff’, ‘Testimonial’ pages or of course in the name of the company. Another place to check is in the blog if they write one.

Some types of business, as a whole, seem to hide the names of their people while others are very open. So, if you have chosen a category where after a few different sites you’ve not found a person’s name move on to another category.

The other great thing about Google is that you can search for people to invite, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. I once put together a list of people to invite when I had a few minutes spare on a trip in Japan.

In all you shouldn’t have to spend more than about 30 minutes writing your five postcards and it’s a great contribution to your chapter.

The main thing is not to see inviting as a chore but more a way of increasing your business.

That’s my fence!

For some reason something that happened a few years ago now popped into my head today and it’s as relevant today as it was then.

It was after our normal weekly meeting and an aggrieved member caught me in the car park (I was the Membership Coordinator at the time – Vice President today).

His opening words were “You’re got to do something about (I’ll call him Mike – not his real name) Mike!”

“Why?” I asked innocently although I already had an idea of what was coming; a category clash.

“Mike was talking about fencing and that sort of work is mine. You have to do something," he insisted. “Right now!”

I explained that it wasn’t clear cut and the best thing to do in the situation was to meet the Mike and agree on a dividing line between ‘crossover’ jobs.

But he wasn’t interested. He insisted that I had to do something. That was my job. I knew that talking to Mike was the best way to solve the problem and asked the member to do me a favour and have a coffee with Mike. Eventually, if I really thought it best and as it was me, he agreed to having a coffee, but if it didn’t work I had to do something.

The next afternoon my phone rang, the member’s number on the screen, and with a certain amount of trepidation I answered it. “I did what you said. Bloody good advice”, he said.

“Great!" I replied.

Cutting a long story short, they had met and were going to do a large project together. The outcome was even better than I had hoped for, but as BT used to say, 'It’s good to talk’.

So, my advice to you, if you ever think that a fellow member is encroaching on your territory, have a coffee with them as you never know where it might lead.

I’ve got to shoot off!

I was attending a meeting recently when a member arrived and announced that they had to ‘shoot off early’, so would sit near the door.

I have to say that I was surprised that ‘early’ actually meant the member concerned leaving at 8.00am.

Now there are many reasons why leaving your chapter meeting early is not a great idea but those are not why I’m writing this particular blog.

You see the reason I’m putting fingers (or in my case finger) to keyboard is because of the upset that is bound to follow this early departure. You see at some point in the future the member is going to discover that they were marked as absent for having left the meeting early.

It may not be until they see their monthly Member Traffic Lights, but at some point their absences will come up and it will cause upset, as the member will think that they should have been marked as being present for the meeting; after all they had been there for most of the meeting.

However, the BNI Policy is very clear on attendance. Policy number (3) states: ‘The weekly meetings last for 90 minutes. Members need to arrive on time and stay for the entire meeting.’

So, if you know that you are going to have to leave your meeting early, rather than be the cause of a later upset (and put unnecessary pressure on your vice-president), it is far better to arrange a good substitute.

Watching the kettle boil!

Finding a little time for BNI is a challenge for many BNI members. I can understand that because I can remember a time when, as I was that busy, it was difficult to find even a couple of minutes to go to the loo. That may sound crazy, but it’s true. However, I soon sorted out how to prioritise and, in fact, now help a lot of my clients use their time much more effectively.

The thing is, as I’ve written before, just a few minutes a day spent on BNI activities would make a big difference to your rewards as a member. So how about this for an idea?

If you are anything like me, a couple of times a day you make myself a cup of coffee (I have tea in the afternoon) and, again if you are like me, while the kettle is boiling you sort out your cup, put in some milk and a spoon of coffee (and maybe sugar). Then you watch the kettle boil; it’s a couple of minutes when nothing much happens. Your world is in a sort of limbo.

But actually it’s the perfect time for a little BNI activity. You have time to send a few texts, maybe an email or two, even to make a quick phone call. The great thing about this idea is that you don’t need any more time to get this stuff done.
Just imagine if all you managed to do was to send was a couple of texts a day but that you did it every day. That would be 10 texts a week and 40 texts over the course of a month. Now that has to be worthwhile!

What’s that pin?

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to see a prospective new customer (a partner in an International company) and as we were talking he asked me what the pin was on my jacket. I looked at the pin, twiddled it a little, and replied that it was my BNI pin. Obviously he asked me what BNI stood for.

I explained that BNI stood for Business Network International and that we are the world’s largest referral organisation. He then asked what we did. I briefly took him through the meeting format and explained that we all supported each other and shared referrals. His next question was about the sort of businesses made up a group. He was very interested in our single category policy and surprised at the size of our chapters; I told him that chapters ranged in size from around 20 members to as many as 80 members and that we had just about every type of business as a member from Accountants and IFAs, to every type of trade, to driving instructors and tailors. He said that he was surprised that he had never heard of us.

I knew that because of his job he was not a potential visitor (never judge anyone!), but that like all successful business people he just wanted knowledge of things he didn’t know about and should.

He then surprised me by asking if I could recommend a good electrician.Of course I said I could, and he asked if I could put him in touch. I found out a little more about the work he needed doing and then texted my electrician just under an hour later and passed the referral.

The thing about this is that it would never have happened if I wasn’t wearing my BNI pin. Now, I’m not a crazy person swapping my BNI pin onto every jacket I own before I go out, but I do have a pin on just about every jacked I have; around nine I think.

The BNI pin is a conversation starter and you never know when someone might ask you what the pin you are wearing is. So if you don’t wear your BNI pin please do because it can’t harm you; whereas not wearing it certainly can. And, if you only have one pin and would like more, just ask your BNI Director for some as I’m sure they will be happy to supply you.

The lesson here is that finding referrals doesn’t have to be hard work and that doing the little things can make a big difference.

Note: In case you are wondering this is a true story and happened exactly as I have told it.

I’d like to introduce…

If your chapter doesn’t get its members to introduce their visitors it is missing a trick; a very large trick!

You see there are three great reasons why a member should introduce the person they have invited to your chapter.

1)    It gives added importance to bringing a visitor and also gives the visitor a lovely introduction.

2)    It gives special recognition to the member who has brought the visitor along in front of the chapter.

3)    And, this is really important, it has a hidden element to it.

What’s this hidden element?

Well let’s consider two possible introductions of the visitor. The first, ‘I would like to introduce Sarah, we met in the pub last night and as she is looking for more business, I suggested she came along this morning.’ And second, ‘I would like to introduce Sarah, we have been friends for over 10 years now, and I’ve lost count of the number of times she has helped me and my business.’

These introductions are valuable for two reasons and both are useful for the members and Membership Committee alike. The first tells everyone that you know nothing about Sarah, so you know nothing about her or how well she runs her business. Whereas the second is a wonderful reference and your members know that they would be safe in using her services.

The introductions are also extremely useful to the Membership Committee should she apply to join your chapter as, in the first example, they would have to spend more time following up on references and researching her business details.

So, I strongly recommend that if your chapter doesn’t already let members introduce their visitors that they do so very soon.

Are you in the Frame?

I made my first visit to BNI Surbiton recently and was made to feel very welcome. I saw a great meeting with a lot of business being passed but what really impressed me, because it stood out as being special, was the way members presented their testimonials.

A verbal testimonial is always better than a ‘nothing today’ during the Contribution Round. However, a nicely printed letter is by far the best way to give a testimonial. Always remember to give two copies: one for the member and one for the chapter's Testimonial Binder. Often the testimonial will also be added to the chapter’s website and, of course, the member’s website. It might also be used in advertising and - even better - framed and displayed at the member’s place of business.

All of these things are extremely useful, not just for the member receiving the testimonial, but also for the person giving it.

But at BNI Surbiton they take the giving of a testimonial a stage further. They present one copy of the printed testimonial already framed. Not only does this look great when it is presented but the person receiving it is able to display the testimonial immediately; no having to go and buy a frame (or not getting round to it).

Dave Goodman - Utility warehouse

Often as these things happen, a few days later I visited Amanda Lord, of Ad Alta Sports Therapy, for some physio, and on display was a framed testimonial given to her by Dave Goodman of the Utility Warehouse. The testimonial reassured me that I was in good hands and, of course, I noted Mr Goodman’s name and business.

Although this might seem like a small thing and certainly a little effort is required but, if you are looking for ways to improve your business, then I think it’s well worth the investment in time and money.

I’ve not got a referral yet!

It’s not something you want to ever hear from a member, unless of course they have only been a member for few weeks, but I have to say that I was stunned this week when I heard the words.

You see I was visiting a chapter and sitting in on the Visitor Orientation. So was one of the substitutes that day, and it was the substitute who chipped in with ‘Well, I’ve not got a referral yet’.

It soon became clear that out of the five people sitting around the table only one was a true visitor. There were two ‘visitors’ who had been a number of times before and were never going to apply to join (I asked them), and two substitutes, one an ex-member, and one, the person without a referral, who subbed so often that they were in effect getting free membership.

There are a couple of important lessons that can be learnt here:

1) A visitor may attend a meeting up to two times but obviously if it is clear that they are not going to apply on their first visit then there is no second visit.

Personally I don’t have a problem with a visitor attending for a third time as long as they are coming with a completed application form.

But have you ever wondered why we have this policy? There are in fact a number of reasons and two that are key, which would have avoided the situation at Visitor Orientation, are first that they are not going to see or hear anything different the third or fourth time but can be a negative influence and second, are most likely only attending in the hope of getting some business. Neither of these things benefit the chapter or its members.

2) Likewise the Substitutes. A substitute really shouldn’t come to a meeting more than twice and certainly not more than twice within a six month period. And to be attending so regularly that they expect referrals is a definite sign that something is very wrong.

Again I can see why you might think differently about this; in fact in my own chapter we had a police officer who came along a few times for a member.

But there were a couple of important factors here which you could argue make it different. He didn’t become the ‘chapter's sub’ and also he didn’t have his own business to promote.

A substitute who is eligible to apply (and doesn’t) and attends so often that they are getting, in effect, free membership (not even paying for their own breakfast), is totally different and again of little benefit to the chapter and again can be a negative influence, as this one was.

Substitutes on occasion can be hard to find but if you put in the effort to find them you will see the rewards and your chapter will be the better for it.

This blog might help you - http://bnigivers.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/death-and-taxes-only-certainties.html

Sharpen your Axe

I was taking a tree root out of my garden recently; you can certainly wear yourself out swinging an axe. And what I discovered is that the job is so much easier and more effectively done if you use a sharp axe. Strangely, I would never think to prepare food in my kitchen without first sharpening my kitchen knives.

So what’s my tree root cutting skills (or lack of), and my cooking skills, got to do with you and your BNI chapter? Well, as it turns out, a fair amount. You see, I purchased my axe some years ago and have been using it, off and on, ever since. I swing it at mostly tree roots, now working up a good healthy sweat, as I’m having to use more and more effort, all because my axe was blunt.

And, I’ve noticed that, this is a lot like many BNI members. They attended the Member Success workshop as a new member and then maybe another skills workshop or two and that is it, they never go again. Done that!

But, like my axe, our business skills and our networking skills get ‘blunt’. We forget some of the things we know; while others we just stop doing and we don’t actually even know why.

So if you haven’t attended a workshop recently, say in the past three months, certainly if not in the past six months, I highly recommend that you attended a workshop soon. Doesn’t matter how many times you have completed the workshop before, just go along and sharpen your skills.

Because if you hone your skills, your results will improve, seemingly, without any extra effort.

Have you done it today?

No, I don’t mean what some of you might be thinking, but I do mean the most important thing that you can do for your chapter and yourself.

The answer, of course, is invited someone to your chapter meeting.

Visitors, and in turn new members, are the life blood of every chapter because without them a chapter will at some point die. That may seem overly dramatic, but it’s true.

Many members invite, at best, occasionally. Or maybe when their chapter has a visitor drive on. But I believe, as members, we should invite someone every single day. I’ve always done this for two reasons; one, I’m a bit lazy (don’t like hard work) and two, every visitor is a potential customer for me whatever happens.

Now you might be thinking that inviting someone every day sounds like a lot of hard work but, I promise, it really isn’t.

Think about it this way. Your chapter has a visitor drive on and you need to bring a visitor for a particular date. Firstly, you are under pressure from the start. Then you have to build a list of people to invite and then you have to invite them. Plus, of course, you are not practiced at inviting people. I’m sure this is why many people don’t like inviting people; they don’t do it often enough.

Then think about what I call ‘continuous inviting’. Invite someone every day. There’s no pressure. The person can come to any meeting. And, it can take just seconds to do – in fact at times I hardly notice that I’m inviting people.

The best part is that if you do this, after a while, you will have a continuous ‘pipe-line’ of visitors coming to your chapter.

So where do you find these people to invite? Simple answer – everywhere. Doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are. I was taking part in a kart race and found someone to invite. This very week I have someone coming to my meeting whose business card I picked up in a coffee shop last week.

How to invite? Whatever is convenient at the time. In person, on the phone, by text, letter, Linkedin, Facebook, postcard or email. Anything will do – as long as you do it.

On some days I might invite a few people, I’ve also been known to invite 20 or 30 at a time (again easy). But the most important thing is to invite one person.

Do you know that if you invited just one person a day (week days), for 46 weeks of the year, that you would invite a total of 230 people to your chapter by the year end. And the best part? Many will come along and some will become members.

So you may have not done ‘it’ today but how about getting started tomorrow? I think you will be surprised at the results.