Do I have to have a Sub?

Over the years this comment has often been made to me, as well as many more, not so good, variations.

In truth, I guess the answer is ‘No’, but of course it would affect your membership.

But what’s truly important is why does BNI want you to have a great Sub?

Well, the answer is simple. And, what’s more, it’s to help your business succeed.

Now imagine this. You have booked and paid for a weekly advert in a local magazine. Why? So, that you can grow your business and get more new customers.

If one week the magazine ran a blank advert for you, what would you think? They must be mad. You are losing possible business. You want your money back. Plus, I expect, a fair bit more.

Now imagine if no one is at your meeting for you. No Substitute.

If you think, but that’s not the same, you are dead right. But I doubt that you are thinking it is far, far worse.

Of course people will miss your advert (60 Seconds), visitors will totally miss you, and of course, you will miss your fellow members' adverts, plus more.

But, the real damage is that you will be losing future business (referrals), because people will wonder if you are reliable. If they recommend you to a good contact, can they guarantee that you will turn up? And the answer is no.

Now, before you jump up and down and say that’s not true - people know me. I’m not talking about the people that know you well; I’m talking about new contacts and new business.

So, if your main reason for being a BNI member is more business, then brilliant Subs will help you very much indeed.

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.

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

School's Out

Over the next two weeks the school year is at an end. Some of you will be waiting on exam results, teachers will be planning for the new school year, maintenance crews will be at full stretch getting the school sorted. Many of course will be off on summer holidays – booked, and anticipated for months.

And, as BNI members, we need to book our Subs for when we are away.

But the thing is, at this time of the year, it may take longer to find a Sub than is usual because, guess what, they are going on holiday as well.

So, if you are going away this summer may I suggest that you find and book your Subs right now?

Pick the right Sub, give them a great 60 Seconds (not the same one each week) and you may come home not only relaxed, nicely tanned, but with some referrals to follow-up on.

Have fun!

A Blank Page!

Image this if you will. You are looking through one of those A5 Local Magazines. It’s full of articles, editorials, photos, adverts, it’s got a ‘What’s On’ page and of course crosswords and puzzles. Then you come across a blank page.

What do you think? Has the printer made a mistake? Is there an article missing? Did an advertiser forget to submit their copy for their advert?

Of course this wouldn’t happen, especially an advertiser who had paid for space, not bothering to supply copy for an advert. But it does happen in your chapter. Don’t believe me? Well isn’t it just the same as a member being absent without a Sub?

They have paid to advertise their business every week but any time they are absent (without a Sub) they are in effect running a ‘blank page’. In fact it’s far worse than just not running an advert because being absent also hurts their credibility. It limits their ability to find referrals for other members. Plus a whole host of other important things.

It is far more damaging to run a ‘blank page’ at your chapter than it is in a printed magazine. Yet many members do it. I also know that those same people wouldn’t dream of running a blank page, they had paid for, in a magazine.

So, if you ever think about being absent from your meeting consider these two things: 1) would you run a blank page in a magazine? 2) the damage it will do to your reputation?

And please don’t be fooled into thinking that you being absent will not damage your reputation - because it will!

No one will come up to you and say, ‘being absent last week damaged your credibility’ but someone in your chapter will think twice about giving you a referral they might have done

It’s just that you will never know.