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?

One-2-One in Mumbai

 Over the years I’ve been in BNI, since 2003 in fact, it has proved very worthwhile for me, not just for referrals, but for many other reasons; obviously most often from my own chapter but also around the country.

Right now, I can remember needing beautiful flowers in Oxford and a plumber in Southsea; very good reliable companies. I’ve also recently had members supporting my new children’s book and a few years ago helping me with a wonderful trip to Australia.

Well this week, I’ve had a One-2-One with a member in Mumbai. It was early morning for me, afternoon for them and the best part was seeing each other via Zoom. It’s such a great device to use today.

We had a very good and interesting meeting and I was also lucky enough to see their full 10 Minute PowerPoint Presentation – which was very distinct and beautiful.

Anjali Vhatkar is the founder and CEO of the Elaura Art Gallery and their work is amazing. If I had rooms large enough, there was art I saw that I would love to have, but sadly I don’t have walls that big!

However, what I can do is to speak to the architects and interior designers, and even hotel owners, I know, to see if they would like to know more about Elaura Art and how they could own one of these beautiful pieces.

But, what I like best is that I love the products (the art) and I find Anjali very distinctive, which means that I will talk about the Elaura Art Gallery to my friends, and in the past I’ve often found that this often leads to my friends asking me about the person I’m chatting about (how good they are?) and then to them later receiving referrals.

So, have you a great story to tell, that your fellow members will want to convey to their friends? Because, if you do, you might just find your referral number increases afterwards.

Four Referrals…

 I was asked by a new member recently how many referrals they should hope to receive in the coming year.

The first thing I said was ‘…have you time for a coffee?’ And, they replied, ‘Of course, but why?’

Well, this is part of what we talked about.

How many referrals would they need to get? But, as important, even more important, was how many referrals they were going to give? Givers Gain, BNI’s core value, is giving to others, before expecting anything from others. Giving first and getting second.

But, let’s get back to what they wanted to know. How many referrals would be a good return? The answer is pretty simple to work out but many members have never done the maths.

The first thing to do is to work out how much business you would like? This should be based on your money invested: BNI membership, venue costs, transport costs, etc. and, of course, time. As an example, let’s say £15,000.

Next we need the average value of your orders. If you don’t know that, just divide your turnover (no VAT) in a year by the number of invoices sent. Again, for example, let’s say £68,000 divided by 120 invoices; answer £568.00.

Okay, now divide the £15,000 by £568.00; answer 26. So, you need 26 jobs to make your £15,000. But, that’s not referrals; because now, you need your conversion rate. How many estimates do you give to receive a job? Let’s say it’s three. Therefore, 26 times three equals 78; which means you need 78 referrals per year to reach your £15,000. That’s 6.5 referrals each month.

The new member and I worked this out for him and, oddly, the number we worked out for him was the same number I have. One referral needed each week to reach our goals.

So, do you know the number of, qualified, referrals you need? If not, why not work it out? I promise you it could be very worthwhile.

£1,790 lost business!

Recently I have had lost communication from three BNI members. It has varied from coming to my home to look at a job - but nothing more, to one with no interest in finding out about the work, and the other, after getting a positive response to their quote, not coming back in any speed as to when the job could be done. When they finally responded the option was many weeks away – far past my requested date.

As it so happens, none of this turned out as a problem for me, as I received great work from other businesses, one of which was even at a better price.

But, that’s not my apprehension here; it’s not even that the people concerned may have been too busy, didn’t really want the work, or had no anxiety about losing money.

My worry for them is long-term because how can I refer them if that is the level of service I received? I wouldn’t risk it on the people I have a trusted relationship with. They could in fact be going to lose thousands of pounds of possible business. But, it might be worse than that. Because, is it just how they react in BNI (to me) or is it the way they run their business day-to-day? Since if it’s how they generally run their businesses then, again long-term, they could lose tens of thousands of pounds of work and many customers. Even worse, maybe they could lose their business; I know people that this has actually happened to.

So, to help you and your business really succeed, then please follow up on all the referrals and enquires that you receive. As long-term it will help you get ahead, prosper and enjoy what you do.

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!

Have you let anyone down recently?

Trust is a major factor when it comes to people recommending you. Let’s face it, however good you think a company’s service is, would you easily recommend them if you couldn’t completely trust them?

I’m guessing that the answer is probably no – certainly I know that I would think twice.

It’s really important that we don’t raise people’s hopes by making a promise only to dash them by breaking that promise.  It wrecks our credibility and therefore any trust that person has in us and our company.

Now I not talking big events here, it’s the build up of those small broken promises that do the real damage.

For example, have you ever said to someone, ‘I’ll call you in the morning’ and not done so?  Or, ‘I’ll pop it in the post’ and forgotten?  Maybe, ‘How about coffee on Thursday?’ and totally forgotten about it.  Even, set a date for a meeting, ‘No fail’ you said, and then changed it.

The list may seem unimportant, but each is a broken promise.  Sooner or later people will stop believing you and with that goes your credibility.  And, after that goes the trust a person had in you.

The result of all these broken promises is fewer recommendations.

A client asked me recently how they could improve their image and by doing so get more recommendations and my answer was easy.  I replied, keep your promises. Only that very week I knew they had forgotten to call someone and the person concerned had stayed in all morning waiting for their call.

Okay, life happens, we all know that.  So, how can we avoid these little ‘killer’ things happening?  Here are my five top tips:

1)      Immediately make a note of anything agreed.  Put dates in your diary.  2) If it is possible, do whatever it is there and then.  3) Once a date is set, don’t break it.  What makes one meeting more important than the one you have already?  What does it say about the way you feel about the person that you are happy to break an appointment with?  4)  If you know that you are going to be pushed, don’t set a definite time.  Rather than saying 11.00am tomorrow, just say sometime tomorrow (but make sure it is tomorrow.  5)  If you do need to let someone down, because it will happen, let them know as soon as possible, don’t leave them guessing.

Follow these simple tips and you will find your credibility increases, the trust grows, and recommendations follow.

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.

Code of Ethics 6

I wonder do you know the 6th BNI Code of Ethics without looking it up? For those of you who aren’t too sure, this is it: Number 6 - I will display a positive and supportive attitude with BNI members. It’s pretty simple but I’m always amazed at how many members fall short of this, especially when you consider that just about everything in BNI is about helping its members give and receive more referrals. And I have a couple of recent examples that illustrate what I mean.

During a 1-2-1 with a member it became clear that they were a little upset because a fellow chapter member had unsubscribed from their eNewsletter. Now I’m not suggesting that you subscribe to every eNewsletter going, although as a marketer I do because you never know where you might pick up the next great idea, but in this case it is very different.

So, what does this member unsubscribing actually mean and say? Well for openers that you are not interested in the member concerned. But it goes much deeper than that, because by reading the newsletter this member would have learnt things that would help them refer in the future. It would also have been supportive of the member concerned and certainly not upset them. In turn this may have led to getting more referrals, whereas now the likelihood is that it will lead to fewer referrals. After all, would you give referrals to someone who didn’t care about you?

My second example is of a member who wanted to be involved in what their chapter was doing but was clearly told that it was nothing to do with them. They were attempting to be supportive to the chapter but it certainly wasn’t received with any positivity. Again what does this say? Is there a clique in place? Was it just a jobsworth devoid of any common sense? That the chapter isn’t inclusive? That the chapter has so much help they don’t need anymore? (somehow I doubt this option). But again, going deeper, what is the likely outcome of this event? Again, fewer referrals being passed between the members concerned.

As if you needed any more proof, only last week I didn’t pass a referral I could have done. Why? Because the member concerned has absolutely no interest in me and little for their chapter as a whole.
So, if you would like to give and receive more referrals spend a few moments and consider how positive and supportive you are to your fellow members.

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.

No time for 30 minutes.

I was talking to a member this morning that had just had a One-2-One cancelled on him for the third time. He added that the time before he was just leaving his office when the person concerned rang to say he was too busy and couldn’t make the appointment.

But there was still worse to come. The person concerned had that very morning asked the member I was talking to if they could introduce him to one of his clients.

‘Absolutely no chance’, the member told me.

Although I already knew the answer I asked the member why. His answer was simple. He’s unreliable and, I knew what was coming, if he can’t be bother to have a meeting with me and find out what I do, why should I help him? And, he added, I’m not even going to try and arrange another meeting with him; that’s it.

A relationship smashed all because someone couldn’t see the value of a One-2-One.

This very same thing happened to me once but the relationship was saved, and in fact grew to be rather special, because a good friend of mine went to the person concerned and explained how they were making a big mistake by not having a One-2-One with me.

So before you let someone down, or ask for something before giving first, think carefully about how what you are doing will be viewed by the other person. In fact, think about how you would feel if the same thing were done to you.

Building great relationships are vastly important in business, but even more important in your BNI chapter.