Thank You

On Friday I subbed for a very good friend of mine, KeithSpillett, at Isis in Ealing; Isis is a chapter of over 40 members.

It was great to go back to Isis as they were one of the chapters that I used to look after, as an Area Director, for London North West. But what made my visit even more special was what Charles Scholefield said during the contribution part of the meeting. He said that they missed my experience and support; I have to admit that it made me feel rather good. He also bought a copy of my new book, ‘The 10 Year Breakfast’, as did many of the other members of the chapter. It was a very good morning!

However, it was one of the testimonials given that really caught my attention. It was from Mathieu Rossano to Olivera Babic of BabicInteriors (interior designer). Olivera had designed the layout and colours for Mathieu’s new clinic and his testimonial not only explained how great Olivera was at her job but also how good the layout and colours made his patients feel. A good testimonial. But then he presented her with a bottle of Champagne. What a great way to say ‘Thank You’, and what a wonderful testimonial.

Being successful has a great deal about being different, about standing out from those around you. And I think that both Mathieu and Olivera have achieved that here.

So, next time you have something to do, what can you do to make it that extra bit special?

90 Day Challenge

It seems that wherever you turn there’s a new 90 Day Challenge being made. It’s all over Facebook and the leader of the pack seems to be ‘The Body by Vi Challenge’. The idea is that you set a goal, video it, and then ‘Go Public’ with it; on Facebook, Twitter, just about everywhere.

There’s nothing new in this idea, I have written blogs about making goals public and there’s even a chapter in my new book ‘The 10 YearBreakfast’ on the subject. But, being challenged by a friend, and making the goal public, really seems to have caught on.

So, how about this for an idea?

Challenge your best mate in your chapter to a goal: to bring a certain number of visitors to your chapter in the next 90 days, or a certain number of referrals. The bigger the challenge the better! Then make a video (including your chapter name of course) and go public with it.

I think this would be a great deal of fun and I’m sure you could think of a prize or two. Maybe if enough members in your chapter took part, all of the winners' names, could be put into a hat for a special prize from the chapter?

Maybe even a BNI Director would like to challenge a member or two!

Do you know, I’m pretty excited about this idea! What do you think?

Now who shall I pick…

The 10 Year Breakfast…

Is the title of my second book due for publication in April. My first, in case you missed it, was ‘BNI: One Bite at aTime’.

The 10 Year Breakfast is the result of me eating nine hundred and eighty seven breakfasts (mainly Full English) over the past ten years. My book is about business; it is about what I have learnt about business whilst networking, in the main as a long-time member, and director, of BNI.

This is what Executive Director Colin Read says about my book: "David has the ability to observe everyday networking situations with an extremely dry sense of humour that is rarely found before lunchtime, let alone breakfast. 

In a nutshell, 'He adds the brown sauce to your full English!'  A must read..."

And this is part of the foreword by Nigel Botterill of the Entrepreneur’s Circle, “What’s more, by his own admission, he wasn’t very good at this ‘networking thing’ when he first started and that makes him even more interesting and fascinating to me, because he’s come from a position of incompetence and poor results, to master what he does.

Critically, his success as a networker isn’t innate which has helped him to teach and share his lessons along the way in a very accessible style.”

I’ve learnt a great deal from BNI over the last ten years and so I would like to give you, the readers of my blog, a special Pre-Publication Offer as a Thank You.

My book has a cover price of £11.95, but buy it before publication, before the 11th April, and you can get your copy (maybe even copies) for just £5.00 (plus £1 toward P&P).

All you need to do is click here to order.

Thank you.

Is your new team pulling together?

March is always an exciting month, as it’s when all of the new Leadership Teams are trained. And more often than not you can tell whether a chapter will be successful during their term of office, or not, just by how many of the new team attend the training.

The full attendance by a team (of a chapter) at the training pretty much always guarantees a successful future for that chapter. And knowing this it always amazes me the number of reasons that members give for not taking part.  From the just can’t be bothered, to ‘I’m too busy’, and of course the ‘I did it last time’.

I’m not going to comment on the ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude as I don’t think I need to. But what about ‘I’m too busy’? Well my question here is very simple. If the person is too busy – will they have the time needed to devote to the chapter? If not, in truth, they won’t really be able to help the chapter fully. Something else, more important, will often come up.

Then we have the ‘done it before’ argument. The reasoning is that they have been trained before so know what to do. Not only is this very arrogant but also completely misses the point.

Several years ago I had a member who was adamant that they didn’t need to be trained (again!). So in the end I made him an offer (he was to be a Visitor Host). My offer was that if he ran a perfect session at his next meeting he didn’t have to attend the training. On the spot he elected to attend the training. But the bigger thing is that these people forget that they are part of a team.

Can you imagine Sir Steve Redgrave saying to the other three members of the boat that he would just turn up at the Olympics because he had been before? Of course not. And I know that he worked just as hard, if not harder, than the other crew members. Another thing, he used his experience of having done it before, to the benefit of the newer crew members. So, if you have been trained before, that is exactly what you should be doing.

Thinking about rowing is in fact the perfect example of team work. Just think about an ‘Eight’ – Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Just imagine what a disaster it would be if all the rowers pulled at a different rate, didn’t train, or in fact if one of the crew didn’t turn up. They certainly wouldn’t win much.

There is a great book ‘Will It Make The Boat Go Faster’ by Ben Hunt-Davis. He was part of the eight that won gold at the 2000 Olympic Games, and I really recommend you get a copy. The premise of everything they did was ‘will it make the boat go faster?’ If the answer was ‘yes’ they did it, if the answer was ‘no’ they didn’t.

So a question for you if you might be thinking of missing Leadership Team Training. ‘Will It Make The Boat (your chapter) Go Faster?’ I hope that you will agree that the answer is a big ‘No’ and go!

What’s in it for me?

Very few members bring a reasonable (in my mind ‘reasonable’ equals between six and twelve visitors each year) number of visitors to their chapter. I have covered the possible reasons as to why this might be the case before, but I now have, what I think, is the true reason.

Because, let’s face it, there cannot be a single member who doesn’t know that we need to grow our chapters and why - more business for all. The trouble is that ‘more business for all’ is too generic. What members really want to know is ‘What’s in it for me?’ Now obviously the easy answer is – more business. But as I say, that’s too abstract.

The real reason, I believe, is that most members don’t really know what they want. Therefore, they have no need to try and get it. So, it’s about having a target; or in this case not having a target. Because if you don’t have one. How can you aim for it?

You see most members, I know, are just happy to get whatever value of business that comes their way each year. But how different would it be if they had a (real) target?

Say it was something pretty low like £12,000 a year (£1,000 per month). What would they need to do in order to get that level of business? Simple answer – get a certain number of referrals. Now what’s the best way of getting lots of referrals? Answer: having lots of members. And how do you get lots of members? By having lots of visitors.

So, if every member had a target for the amount of business they wanted from their chapter each year, and had a plan for getting it (number of referrals needed), visitors would become important to them, and they would invite more.

The “What’s in it for me?” question would be answered, as visitors are the best way of reaching your business target – if you have one!

So, if your chapter is looking for more members, why not have a session (maybe the 10 Minutes) on setting a business target for every member of the chapter?

Please let me know what you think and how you get on.

Have you any idea?

Well it’s back to work with a bang this week and I guess most members will be attending their first meeting of the New Year.

Now with a new year come resolutions and new targets.  Chapter Leadership Teams may ask their fellow members what their plans for the year are.  They might have set goals for the chapter themselves and just let the members know these plans.  As a member you might have set your own targets.

Targets might include; the number of referrals you will give, the number of visitors you will bring to the meetings (not merely invite), the number of workshops you will attend, the number of 1-2-1s you will have, and the number of testimonials you will give.  One of my targets was to never be absent (always have a substitute).  And, of course, your Leadership Team might have a target for the amount of business passed in the chapter.

There are of course other targets you could set yourself, like taking the Education Slot three or four times a year.  Always being the first member to arrive (or at least not being the last).  Never giving anything less than a great 60 Seconds.

I promise you that if you take the time to think about what you will do for your chapter and fellow members (and you) over the coming year, it will make a big difference to your success.
But how about a starting point?  Have you any idea how many referrals you passed last year?  Or visitors you brought to your chapter?  Or workshops you attended?

If you don’t know, please find out, because it might surprise you.  And, in any case, it will give you a good starting point for this year.

I would love to know some of your targets.  So please let know.

Would you buy your own 60 Seconds?

If you could be another you, exactly, and be at your next chapter meeting and watch and listen to you giving your 60 Seconds, would you be tempted to buy?

It’s a serious question.  How good do you really think your 60 Seconds is?  How enthusiastic are you in the delivery?  What do you look like?

Okay, let’s run through your 60 Seconds.

It’s a bit of a struggle getting to your feet.  You’re not exactly looking happy to be there and you haven’t smiled yet.  Shirt looks like it missed the iron that morning.  Still, here we go.  “Morning” you mutter; obviously you had a late night.  It’s going to be a challenge this one.  Well guess what? You tell us exactly the same as you did last week.  You’re looking for anything really.  You can do most things, just about anywhere.  So if we know anyone, well that would be a great referral for you.  And we don’t catch the last part as you were already back in your seat.  Oh. Well, there’s always next week.

So, what did you think?  Would you buy you?  I’m guessing maybe not.  So, why would anyone else?

Well that’s what a great many 60 Seconds are like.  Don’t believe me?  Well really listen at your next meeting.

I really can’t stress enough how important your 60 seconds is to the level of success you will achieve in your chapter.  In fact, in many ways, to the success of your whole business.

You see your 60 seconds encapsulates everything there is about you and your business.  Your attitude.  Your enthusiasm for what you do.  The way you look and prepare yourself.  Your target market.  Your message.  Your credibility.  What you have to offer.  How you can help people.  It’s all there.  Everything that will bring you more, and better, business.

So, if you are looking for more referrals, more business, there’s no better place to start than by giving a great 60 Seconds every week.