Do you still deserve your Blue Badge?

5/3/2013

I love the Blue Badge – Notable Networker – when it’s given for the correct reasons but it has crossed my mind on occasion that it should come with a time limit.  You hold the badge for, say, one year.

Well recently, I visited a chapter where that is exactly what happens; a member only gets to keep their blue badge for a set amount of time.  And I have to say that I think it’s a good idea.

Let me tell you why.  I don’t think a Blue Badge (or for that matter a Black - Gold Club - Badge) is like an Olympic Gold Medal.  Olympic medals come with a date; like 2012.  Everyone knows that Mo Farah was Olympic Champion in 2012 and at no other time.  Whereas a Blue Badge awarded years ago says that the person wearing it is a Notable Networker today and yet it’s possible that they may have only been ‘notable’ that one time.

Now maybe I’m being a little harsh but, if you are wearing a Blue Badge, are you happy that you still deserve to be wearing it?  For example, are you a Green Member?  Thinking about it, maybe there shouldn’t be a time limit on having a Blue Badge. Instead, if you become a Red Member you have to hand your badge back.

What do you think?

Shakespeare alive and well in Business Class

I’m sure that you have heard that ‘facts tell: stories sell’, but why is that?  Well, from the beginning of time man has loved a good story and we all know stories that have been passed on and on for thousands of years.  We can relate to a story; we can imagine ourselves being part of the story, and, this is the clever bit, if we allow our customers to be part of our story we will have more success.

Something that I also suggest to my members is that they become the story.  So what exactly do I mean by that?  Well you want people to talk about you; that you are a ‘story’ worth passing on.  Think of you going viral!

So, what is it about you and your company that is worth talking about?  What could you do to become a story?

Now to be honest I’m not really into Shakespeare, although ‘Shakespeare in Love’ is one of my favourite films, so poems don’t usually 'do it' for me. However, I was at the Business Class chapter in Richmond this week when Rick Joseph of Aztec Removals got up to do his 60 Seconds.  Maybe I think it’s great because it has my name in it, or it might be because of the clever way he hands back to the Leadership Team (Garry is the CD and Yvonne the MC), but what I do know is that I’m talking about Rick.

Rick’s 60 Seconds

Hello friends, my name is Rick

I live in a house near Hampton Wick

Aztec Removals is the name of my firm.

I hope this rhyme doesn't make you squirm.

My last sixty seconds was all about storage,

But today I'm gonna start with the City of Norwich:

A lovely town up the a-eleven;

But the a-three-o-three goes down to Devon.

I've moved people's homes to all those places.

They go where the work is, meet new faces,

Get out of the Smoke, kick over the traces.

They call me up: Do you do long-distance?

'Cos if you do I'll need your assistance.

Pack my stuff into cardboard boxes,

Load 'em on the truck, shoo away the foxes,

Dismantle my bed and re-assemble it.

I'd even do a job for David Wimblett.

That's all folks. That's my speech.

I hope you liked it one and each.

Do I have a cheerful note to leave on?

Nah. I'll pass you back to Garry and Yvonne.

So, what do you think?  Don’t know about you, but I know Aztec Removals does storage and moves homes up and down the country.  And, that he’s probably fun to work with.

If you get people telling stories about you, mind they are good ones, you will do more business.

Please do not come to a workshop to learn!

I guess what I really mean is please do not come to a workshop JUST to learn.  Now I’m not suggesting that learning isn’t a good thing.  Of course it is.  But learning is only part of the job, and I guess that is my point.  You have to implement what you learn, otherwise, to some degree at least, what you learn is just a waste.

Members often say to me, “Oh, I’ve done that workshop”, as a reason not to attend, while some that do attend say afterwards “I’ve heard it all before”.  The thing that gets me is that these members aren’t doing the stuff that they learn.  Learning on its own will not bring results; you have to put into practice what you have learnt.

So, please don’t come to a workshop just to tick a box or fulfil an obligation.  It’s a waste of both your time and the trainer's.  Instead, attend because you see the benefit and have a plan.  And your plan doesn’t have to be anything too complicated.  So how about this for a very simple plan?

Next time you attend a workshop look for just two things that you will implement.  The first might be something that you already know but aren’t doing and the second something new, or at least a new way of doing something.  Write both of these things on a new sheet of paper (or new page on your ipad!).  These are now the two things that you will implement beginning the next day.  I promise that if you do this you will see an improvement in whatever it is that you are doing.

Then, once these two things are working well (are second nature) find another thing that you can implement by going back to your notes and doing that.

No matter how many times you attend a workshop there will always be something to find that, if implemented and not just learnt, will make a difference to your business.  You just need to find that one thing and use it.

So, please make your plan not to attend a workshop and learn but rather to implement what you have learnt, as only then will you see the true value of the workshops that BNI make available to you.

And, as a bonus, you might even meet your next best contact!

Newsletters a pain!

14/12/12

Don’t know about you but I wish every member produced an email newsletter about their business.  Now I hope none of you are thinking “Well I don’t!”  Because you don’t want all that rubbish filling up your email inbox – and if I didn’t ask for it, it’s spam!  Now I am the first to admit that most newsletters leave a great deal to be desired in their content.  However, that’s only because the person concerned doesn’t know how to write a great newsletter (I could give a few pointers there), but their intention for having a newsletter is in fact sound.  Done in the right way newsletters are one of the best ways that there are to market your business.

Now as an Area Director, if all of the members I know produced a newsletter, I guess that I would receive about 200 of the things.  But what does that really mean?  Some might be weekly, some monthly, others twice a year, yet others once a year, and even a few might be just one-offs.  So, what’s that, maybe five a day?

But how about being real for a moment?  You are in a chapter with 35 members of which 25% produce a monthly newsletter.  That’s nine people.  It’s highly unlikely that they would all produce their newsletters on the same day, so let’s say the split is even across the month.  We are now looking at just three newsletters a week dropping into our email boxes.  Now that can’t be too much trouble for anyone!

So, what’s my point?  Why do I wish more members produced a newsletter?

Well, more business of course.  More referrals.  Newsletters are a great way of finding out more stuff about your fellow members.  More about what they do.  How they help people.  The type of business they are looking for.  The history of their company.  What their staff are like.  Their interests.  Why they are so good at what they do.  The more information you learn about your fellow members the easier it is to refer them.

So, if any of your fellow members has a newsletter please subscribe to it; they can almost be as good as a One2One.

A word of warning.  Never unsubscribe to a fellow member's newsletter.  Why?  Well, what are you saying?  I’m not interested in you.  Don’t bother me.  I’ve no intention of buying from you.  I’m too busy to read your news.

It happened to me once.  What did I think?  “So you’re not interested in helping me..”  And guess what, I was no longer interested in helping them.  Might be sad, but it’s true!

Too busy to invite!

11/11/12

I asked a member recently why they didn’t invite anyone. I expected all sorts of excuses but all I got in reply were two words: too busy. Now I expect the person was indeed busy. But really, any more busy than the next person? Any more busy than me? I don’t know. But what I do know is the damage that they are doing their business. Or, should I say, their future business.

You see if they are too busy to spend a few minutes inviting a visitor, and let’s go mad here, a couple of hours, I can’t possibly refer them, can I? They have just told me that they are too busy to spend some time inviting, so, by definition, that also means that they are too busy to take on any more work.

I mentioned this fact to the person concerned and they said that of course they would take on more work. But, that now means I could never refer them. Why? Because it’s not that they are too busy to invite, they just can’t be bothered. Inviting isn’t important! So, how can I refer someone who isn’t bothered about helping their chapter? Their fellow members. Me.

Everything we do in our chapters has an effect on our credibility and, ultimately, the number of referrals we receive. Put simply, if you have no time to help other people, others will have no time to help you.

BNI put it pretty well. Givers Gain!

Sitting on the bus!

18/10/12
I was talking to Lisa Ruff (Balanced Rewards), Membership Co-ordinator of Tudor, this week about visitors. More specifically, about members who don’t bring visitors. Please don’t get me started on the subject as the blog would run to many pages. Let’s just leave it at I really can’t understand why any member wouldn’t want to grow their business.


Anyway, Lisa agreed with this, and we were discussing what could be done to help these members and then, if all else failed, what should be done about it.

The thing that really gets me is that inviting is so simple and Lisa had a great example of this. What’s more, the thing that Lisa was talking about is covered in the Chapter Development workshop. It’s so easy!

So, what is it? What’s so simple? Answer: inviting by text. It’s so simple that people without any contacts can do it! Members that really don’t like talking to people can do it! And, it takes just seconds, not even minutes.

The best part? You can do it sitting on the bus.

What did Lisa do? She was on a bus travelling to Richmond. She could have gazed out of the window, deep in her own thoughts. Maybe have read a book. Or even just have watched people getting on and off the bus.

But instead, as she went past businesses with mobile numbers displayed, or stopped near a sign-written van, she tapped the number into her mobile and sent them a text. She sent five texts on her trip and received three replies from people interested in visiting her chapter.

How great is that!

So please, never make an excuse for not inviting; just grow your business instead.

Your Top Three?

11/9/2012

I visited BNI Commonwealth this week who meet at The Caledonian Club, Hyde Park, London. In fact I was substituting for Paulina Sygulska of Grant Tree and I must thank her for asking me.

You see, believe it or not, I had never been to a lunchtime meeting before, and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself. The meeting was well run and business focused but also nicely relaxed. Of course that may have just been the chapter and nothing to do with the time, but it did feel different.

What Paulina also did was to ensure that all of her fellow members knew that I was a visiting BNI Director. It was in the 60 Seconds that she gave me to read on her behalf, advising that they should take advantage of me being there!

Two new members were inducted during the meeting, which is always great to see, and, as it turned out, one of them (Jo Rogers) was sitting next to me.

At the end of the meeting Jo turned to me and asked what my Top Three Tips were for a new member. Nothing like being put on the spot!

Below are my Top Three Tips. Do you agree?

1) Really get involved

2) Attend workshops

3) Bring lots of visitors