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.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
What’s your category?
23/10/11
All BNI members know that they are only allowed to represent one category in their chapter. However, although a clash with another member, or potential member, is one of the most common problems in BNI, it even goes further than that. Many members, even if sticking to their category, try and include everything they can within their category, trying to grab as much business as possible, but not understanding that they are losing much more than they gain.
As a business you must stand out. What makes you different to someone else doing what you do? Doing everything, for anyone, is not different. You need to be special; have a category of one!
Take BNI as an example. BNI is the world’s largest referral organisation. It is not the world’s largest networking organisation. It is not the world’s largest membership organisation. It’s not in more countries than other organisations. You can come up with lots of things that BNI does, very well, but the only thing BNI talks about is being the world’s largest referral organisation.
Now you have to be brave to focus on just one thing; think of all that business you might be missing out on. But I promise you, if you are brave, you will see the rewards. Whereas, if you are the same as everyone else, offering everything, to everyone, you will get the same result – nothing special! Think about successful people: do they do the same as everyone else? No, of course not!
So, not because of BNI, but because you want greater success, focus on your core business. Give a clear message to your fellow members and watch your referral rate climb.
All BNI members know that they are only allowed to represent one category in their chapter. However, although a clash with another member, or potential member, is one of the most common problems in BNI, it even goes further than that. Many members, even if sticking to their category, try and include everything they can within their category, trying to grab as much business as possible, but not understanding that they are losing much more than they gain.
As a business you must stand out. What makes you different to someone else doing what you do? Doing everything, for anyone, is not different. You need to be special; have a category of one!
Take BNI as an example. BNI is the world’s largest referral organisation. It is not the world’s largest networking organisation. It is not the world’s largest membership organisation. It’s not in more countries than other organisations. You can come up with lots of things that BNI does, very well, but the only thing BNI talks about is being the world’s largest referral organisation.
Now you have to be brave to focus on just one thing; think of all that business you might be missing out on. But I promise you, if you are brave, you will see the rewards. Whereas, if you are the same as everyone else, offering everything, to everyone, you will get the same result – nothing special! Think about successful people: do they do the same as everyone else? No, of course not!
So, not because of BNI, but because you want greater success, focus on your core business. Give a clear message to your fellow members and watch your referral rate climb.
Monday, 19 September 2011
What do 20 out of 21 members at the top of the Traffic Lights have in common?
19/9/11
Other than being at the top of the Member Traffic Lights I mean!
I was playing with BNI Connect today, working my way around it, looking at groups, search, profiles and all sorts of useful stuff and then I got to connections. Who should I connect with I thought. Well I tried a few of the names that popped into my head and found that not many of them were there. And, then I had an idea: how about the top person in the Member Traffic Lights from every chapter in my region?
After some research, I had 21 names and set about asking if they would like to connect with me. The amazing thing was that 20 out of the 21 were active on BNI Connect. And this resulted in more thinking ...
To get the best from your chapter, from BNI, you need to take part - to use all of the tools provided. These members are not only top of the Traffic Lights but they are also using BNI Connect. I know that the two things have to be linked! Don’t you?
So, are you getting the very best from your chapter? And, if not, are you using all of the tools provided?
If you are not I suggest you have a good look at your position on the Member Traffic Lights and get on to BNI Connect without delay.
Other than being at the top of the Member Traffic Lights I mean!
I was playing with BNI Connect today, working my way around it, looking at groups, search, profiles and all sorts of useful stuff and then I got to connections. Who should I connect with I thought. Well I tried a few of the names that popped into my head and found that not many of them were there. And, then I had an idea: how about the top person in the Member Traffic Lights from every chapter in my region?
After some research, I had 21 names and set about asking if they would like to connect with me. The amazing thing was that 20 out of the 21 were active on BNI Connect. And this resulted in more thinking ...
To get the best from your chapter, from BNI, you need to take part - to use all of the tools provided. These members are not only top of the Traffic Lights but they are also using BNI Connect. I know that the two things have to be linked! Don’t you?
So, are you getting the very best from your chapter? And, if not, are you using all of the tools provided?
If you are not I suggest you have a good look at your position on the Member Traffic Lights and get on to BNI Connect without delay.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Short of money!
4/9/11
I was talking to a Chapter Director recently and they said that their chapter always seemed to be short of money. I asked the usual questions: do all of the visitors pay?, are all the members up to date with their meeting fees?, were they spending money on items they shouldn’t?
It seemed everything was pretty much in order so I started to dig a little deeper. I discovered that for years the chapter had not been run like a business and they had no idea what their costs were or had allowed for things to go wrong. They are not the first chapter to be short on funds and no doubt won’t be the last. So, I thought I would share my ideas on how to run a financially sound chapter.
Firstly, you need to know the chapter’s basic costs: in my region that is two full team trainings, three Leadership Team Forums and one Chapter Director Forum. In total this currently adds up to about £700 per year. Then you need to add something for things that go wrong: visitors not paying and yes, sometimes, members not paying. How much? Good question: your guess is as good as mine, but at least £100 per year. On top of that you might have other costs: stamps, socials, photocopying, not charging your AD a meeting fee, etc. As you can see the chapter’s costs could easily be getting on for £1000.00 per year.
So, how do we pay for this? Well, there is only one way: by charging more than your venue is charging you. I would suggest that you charge £2.00 more per member than you are being charged. Then the maths is easy.
Let’s say that the venue is charging the chapter £8.00 per member each week. No room hire costs – that’s really important. And, no minimum numbers if you can manage it. Add the £2.00 and the sum goes like this.
£8.00 plus £2.00 equals £10.00, times this by 51 meetings per year and you get the cost for a member per year - £510.00. Now divide this by 12 (months) and you have your cost to members, in this case £42.50 per month. I would further suggest that any member paying weekly with cash should pay more.
Two things to consider: 1) most chapters only charge visitors £10.00 so this needs to be taken into account, 2) VAT. Does the price quoted to you include VAT? If not it would add £1.60 to the £8.00 in my example – which means another £6.80 needs to be added to the monthly meeting fee per member. Suddenly £49.30 per month instead of £42.50.
And finally, your aim should be to have a bank surplus of around £500.00.
I was talking to a Chapter Director recently and they said that their chapter always seemed to be short of money. I asked the usual questions: do all of the visitors pay?, are all the members up to date with their meeting fees?, were they spending money on items they shouldn’t?
It seemed everything was pretty much in order so I started to dig a little deeper. I discovered that for years the chapter had not been run like a business and they had no idea what their costs were or had allowed for things to go wrong. They are not the first chapter to be short on funds and no doubt won’t be the last. So, I thought I would share my ideas on how to run a financially sound chapter.
Firstly, you need to know the chapter’s basic costs: in my region that is two full team trainings, three Leadership Team Forums and one Chapter Director Forum. In total this currently adds up to about £700 per year. Then you need to add something for things that go wrong: visitors not paying and yes, sometimes, members not paying. How much? Good question: your guess is as good as mine, but at least £100 per year. On top of that you might have other costs: stamps, socials, photocopying, not charging your AD a meeting fee, etc. As you can see the chapter’s costs could easily be getting on for £1000.00 per year.
So, how do we pay for this? Well, there is only one way: by charging more than your venue is charging you. I would suggest that you charge £2.00 more per member than you are being charged. Then the maths is easy.
Let’s say that the venue is charging the chapter £8.00 per member each week. No room hire costs – that’s really important. And, no minimum numbers if you can manage it. Add the £2.00 and the sum goes like this.
£8.00 plus £2.00 equals £10.00, times this by 51 meetings per year and you get the cost for a member per year - £510.00. Now divide this by 12 (months) and you have your cost to members, in this case £42.50 per month. I would further suggest that any member paying weekly with cash should pay more.
Two things to consider: 1) most chapters only charge visitors £10.00 so this needs to be taken into account, 2) VAT. Does the price quoted to you include VAT? If not it would add £1.60 to the £8.00 in my example – which means another £6.80 needs to be added to the monthly meeting fee per member. Suddenly £49.30 per month instead of £42.50.
And finally, your aim should be to have a bank surplus of around £500.00.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
I’ll have a coffee please!
1/9/11
What’s a coffee cost these days? £2.10p? More? And, in the course of a One2One how many cups might you drink? Two? Then how about your average business week: how many cups might you drink in total?
I mention this because of something I heard this week. A chapter needed to put up their weekly meeting fees and it caused something of a fuss. Now I don’t know about you, but I think our weekly meeting fees are very good value – at my chapter they are currently about £50.00 per month.
For this we get a meeting room for up to four hours every week, often storage for our BNI boxes, sometimes the use of a flipchart, a venue that opens at 6.00am, plus all sorts of other things. And, a breakfast - all in my chapter's case- for £11.75 per week. Now that has got to be great value in anybody's book!
So, I have to say that it always amazes me that members complain when a chapter needs to put up its meeting fees, as in most cases it is never by more than the cost of one coffee per week.
Furthermore, what an investment the cost of that extra ‘cup of coffee’ is: the opportunity to do business with dozens of business owners and thereby make more money for our company.
Plus meeting fees should be looked at as an investment, not a cost. Chapters only put up fees when they need to and I think that you will agree with me, if you think about it, that at less than the price of a coffee that there is nothing to make a fuss about!
What’s a coffee cost these days? £2.10p? More? And, in the course of a One2One how many cups might you drink? Two? Then how about your average business week: how many cups might you drink in total?
I mention this because of something I heard this week. A chapter needed to put up their weekly meeting fees and it caused something of a fuss. Now I don’t know about you, but I think our weekly meeting fees are very good value – at my chapter they are currently about £50.00 per month.
For this we get a meeting room for up to four hours every week, often storage for our BNI boxes, sometimes the use of a flipchart, a venue that opens at 6.00am, plus all sorts of other things. And, a breakfast - all in my chapter's case- for £11.75 per week. Now that has got to be great value in anybody's book!
So, I have to say that it always amazes me that members complain when a chapter needs to put up its meeting fees, as in most cases it is never by more than the cost of one coffee per week.
Furthermore, what an investment the cost of that extra ‘cup of coffee’ is: the opportunity to do business with dozens of business owners and thereby make more money for our company.
Plus meeting fees should be looked at as an investment, not a cost. Chapters only put up fees when they need to and I think that you will agree with me, if you think about it, that at less than the price of a coffee that there is nothing to make a fuss about!
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