Absent again!

25/10/10

What should you do if your chapter has five members missing one week and then seven the next?

The answer is easy! The Membership Co-ordinator and committee must follow the BNI policies, no matter who the members concerned are. There is no such thing as, ‘But they're a good member’. Why? Because a good member would not put the committee in a position where they had to take action that they thought was tough.

Successful chapters are the result of strong committees, not nasty committees, but committees that follow the policies for the benefit of all the members, not just a few who think the rules don’t apply to them.

But, it’s so much more than just about the policies. Chapters lose good members when things are allowed to slip because why should they make the effort, if other members don’t have to.
Then, of course, there are the practical things. As a member, how would you feel about these absent members missing your 10 Minute or your 60 Seconds? How are they going to find you good referrals? If they can’t be bothered to turn up for the meeting (find a substitute), can you really refer them? Might they let down your best contacts?

Following the policies may lose you a few members, but it will ensure that you keep the good ones, and in the long run build a far stronger and successful chapter!

Your Secretary/Treasurer is speaking!

17/10/10

One of the most important parts of our BNI meetings is the Secretary/Treasurer’s Visitor Statement. We all know it, ‘For the visitors here today, we welcome …’, but it is so often one of the most poorly executed parts of the meeting.

Why? To be honest I’m not sure.

I’ve heard, ‘it’s a hard sell’, ‘we sound desperate’, I feel uncomfortable saying it’, ‘it sounds a lot of money’, ‘I feel guilty asking for money’, and much more.

But, as I say, I just don’t get it! We are all members, so didn’t we all hear exactly the same thing? We can’t have thought any of those things, so why would anyone else?

However, this does lead me to two points, 1) if a Secretary/Treasurer can’t read the statement with confidence, maybe they are the wrong person for the job and 2) if they do read it, sounding desperate, like it’s a hard sell, making it sound like membership is not good value, that they could be affecting the conversion of your visitors into members.

Further, and I have to thank Ashley Winston (Palmdale Motors) for this, what are you, as a member, doing when the statement is being read? Again, unless you are paying attention to the Secretary/Treasurer, actually listening to them, looking at them, you could be adversely affecting the number of visitors that apply to join your chapter.

Little things done well can make a really big difference to the result of any action, so why take a chance with such an important part of our meeting?

Hogarth’s got talent!

13/10/10

There are members that can’t see the benefit of socials: what’s it going to do for my business?

I’ve often heard things like, ‘I don’t do socials’, ‘I haven’t the time for that sort of thing’, even, ‘I don’t need any more friends’.

The thing that gets me is that we talk a great deal about, know, like and trust in BNI. LIKE!

I’m sure that I am not alone here but I enjoy doing business with people I like. We buy people, not products. So, how can socials not be important? They are the best way to get to know people, can often lead to a major mind shift about a person, and in turn to lots more business.

And, nothing was more the case than the recent Hogarth’s Got Talent evening, where, along with my fellow judges, Piers Morgan (Tony Winyard), and Amanda Holden (Gary Morgan), yes, I was Simon Cowell, I got to see a great many of the Hogarth members in a totally different light.

First up were Sebastian Wozniak and Jakub Kosiec, both giants of men, who performed a tug-of-war. With a piece of string! They brought the house down and the benchmark for the evening was set. What’s more, the chapter would never view these two men in quite the same light again!

What followed was an amazing array of talent. Well, some of it was (Simon Cowell speaking here).

We were entertained with dance, standup (Colin Woodley), song, music, a BNI poem in the style of Pam Ayres (Dinah Liversidge), Phil and Ben the flower pot men with of course little weed (Phil Tait, Ben Walsh and Jane Johnstone) and, two men, two new members, who murdered one of my all time favourite songs ‘I’ve got you Dave!’ I mean ‘I’ve got you Babe’ by Sonny and Cher (Robin Curtis and Dave Saunders). It was an incredible evening for everyone, even us judges, as everyone was a winner. And, I am sure that even more business will now be passed at Hogarth because of the improved friendship of the members.

It was an amazing evening in Chiswick!

If your chapter is not big on socials, why not try one, and see if your business increases because of it?

All your chapter members in a little box!

2/10/10

In my chapter, over the past six months, 29% of the business we have received has come from our visitors – people who have never joined. Which, when you think about it, is reason enough to want visitors every week at your meeting.

However, I’m sure that this is just a very small amount compared to what it could be. After all, how many of us keep in contact with a visitor who comes once never to be seen again at our chapter. Further, have we any idea how many of our business cards a visitor takes when the chapter business card box is passed round? I can guarantee you it is not many.

So, it is interesting that recently I have noticed a number of the chapters I visit have made up little packs of cards with a complete set of the chapter members’ business cards in. Sometimes they are just wrapped by a rubber band, sometimes in a small envelope, sometimes even in an A4 wallet with other leaflets, etc.

But, one of the best I have seen is all the cards put in a little business card box with a message that says ‘Thank you for visiting our chapter today. This box contains all of the business cards of our members, you may not need our services at the moment, but if you do in the future please don’t hesitate to give any one of us a call.’

What a great idea!
The boxes are from Snopake and are called BoxOffice – Business Card Size. It took me a while to find a supplier but if you are interested they are – Xpress Solutions.

So, how about a little experiment?

See what percentage of your chapter's business came from visitors in the past six months and then for the next six months give all of your visitors a set of chapters business cards and see what the difference is.

Have you just applied to join BNI?

21/9/10

Firstly, I would just like to say that you made a great decision. I’ve been a member for seven years now and I have to say that it was one of the best moves I ever made. And secondly, if you really get involved and treat your chapter as part of your business, not only will you get a considerable return on your investment, but you will have a lot of fun.

However, the real purpose of this blog, is to get you off to a flying start. But, you will have to act fast!

How would you like to take a couple of visitors to your next meeting?

If your answer is yes, it’s easy. But, what’s more important, is that your new colleagues will be pretty impressed and you will have started to build your credibility and those good relationships.

So, how do you find a couple of visitors for next week? It’s simple!

At your next chapter meeting you should be inducted into your group: it’s really important but also a bit of fun. So, why not take along a couple of friends to share in your moment? Okay, they might not want to join, but they might need the services of some of the members, and knowing more about what you do they may even find you some referrals in the future.

What do you think? Let me know how you get on.

It’s a trade dispute!

31/8/10

We are often told that bad workmanship and money owing are trade disputes and nothing to do with our chapter, but I don’t agree with this for two reasons. Both my reasons are to do with money owed, but equally apply to bad work.

What I must make clear, however, is that one, you are not in the wrong, and two, that everything has been done to sort the problem out. Then I really do believe that it is a chapter matter.

The first case was to do with a member who owed money to another member but was just not paying. He promised to, but never quite got around to it; there was always an apparently good reason. I then discovered the same member owed money to another member, with the same pattern of non-payment. Trade disputes: nothing to do with the chapters concerned. However, he ended up leaving a trail of unpaid accounts behind him, something that may not have happened if a chapter’s committee had got involved and were allowed to act.

The second case was in fact two cases, where money was owed and then when asked for the people who owed started to complain about bad workmanship, the supplier being un-professional. They made stuff up and put it in writing (just in case it went to court) and ended by sending abusive emails. This has clearly passed the trade dispute stage and in my opinion is now a Code of Ethics issue.

But, the members concerned didn’t want to cause a fuss or be seen to be causing trouble. Well, to my mind, that’s what these non-paying members count on: nothing being said and keeping their positions in their chapters with no one else knowing what they are really like. Well, my advice is let the Membership Co-ordinator know and allow the chapter committee to deal with the matter. If the person concerned is worried about their credibility you may get your money, or they may just leave, but at least you will have stopped anyone else getting hurt.

However, please remember what I said at the beginning, you must be honest about your side of the deal and your complaint must be in writing. Don’t expect your committee to act if you won’t put the details down on paper.

I mentioned the BNI Code of Ethics, of which, number 2 says, I will be truthful with members and their referrals, and number 6 says, I will display a positive and supportive attitude with BNI members. Is that what these non-paying members are doing?

Trust is a big part of BNI, of our chapters, and what we owe each other as members.

Note: As always this is only my view and not necessarily the view of BNI.

Could you be a great actor?

25/8/10

In our chapters we don't have competition as far as our individual categories are concerned. If there is a printer there can't be another in your chapter, likewise for a business mentor, and so on.

But, how about the competition to have our 60 Seconds remembered?

If your chapter has over thirty members, each week there are thirty plus 60 Seconds to listen to and remember. But, let's be honest, that's not going to happen! How many 60 Seconds do you remember each week? Six or seven maybe?

So, this means that as a member we need to have a really memorable 60 Seconds if our message is to be remembered, and we are to be in the forefront of our fellow members' minds. Because that is the only way to consistently get referrals from our chapter. We need to be remembered. In fact, better still, we need to be a story worth telling.

So, how about this for an idea? Act your 60 Seconds!

Choose someone famous and then do your 60 Seconds in their style. I guarantee you will be remembered!

Imagine, for example, your 60 Seconds being presented by Churchill, or David Frost, or Ann Robinson.

And, what's more, it will be great fun. Let me know how you get on.