School's Out

Over the next two weeks the school year is at an end. Some of you will be waiting on exam results, teachers will be planning for the new school year, maintenance crews will be at full stretch getting the school sorted. Many of course will be off on summer holidays – booked, and anticipated for months.

And, as BNI members, we need to book our Subs for when we are away.

But the thing is, at this time of the year, it may take longer to find a Sub than is usual because, guess what, they are going on holiday as well.

So, if you are going away this summer may I suggest that you find and book your Subs right now?

Pick the right Sub, give them a great 60 Seconds (not the same one each week) and you may come home not only relaxed, nicely tanned, but with some referrals to follow-up on.

Have fun!

Fun Free Tombola

I attended a meeting last week where a member organised a Fun Free Tombola. Laid out on a table were all of the prizes, nicely wrapped, with a ticket number taped on top. There were enough prizes for every member, plus five extras.

Then as each member (and visitor) signed in, they drew a ticket from a hat, and claimed their prize. Now, as I say it was a fun tombola, so half the prizes were a Mars Bar, while the other half were more valuable. There were things like: high-lighter pens, Thank You cards, CDs, books, a dinner for two and vouchers for the member’s services.

It really was good fun and as usual got me thinking.

How about this for an idea?

A Free Tombola for (eligible) visitor bringing. You could run the tombola in exactly the same way, and depending on your chapter’s funds, you could run it for just a month, or two months, or even three months.

Let’s assume your chapter has the funds to run the tombola for a month. From your Palms Report find out what your average monthly visitors are. Then add, say, 20% to the number and that’s how many prizes you will need. Now you need to buy the prizes and/or get them donated. Remember half will be just Mars Bars (or similar) and you need a few really good prizes.

Wrap and number them all and put the counterpart number into a hat. Now you are ready to play!

Each week anyone who brings a visitor picks a tombola ticket and collects their prizes from the prize table. And of course they get a ticket for each visitor they bring.

Of course the better your ‘Star’ prize is the more incentive there will be for members to bring visitors. An iPad maybe? With this in mind a shorter time with better prizes may work best.

I think this could be great fun (who doesn’t like a draw?) and help grow your chapter.

If you do try this please let me know how you get on.

NOTE: If you do run a tombola please email me first for one last piece of advice.

Vote Wakeham

Last Thursday I subbed for Peter Voice of PHP Heating & Plumbing at BNI Guildford. It was my first visit to the chapter and I have to say it was great. Forty people in the room, some very good 60 Seconds and I even sold a couple of my books.

The best part of the meeting? The 60 Second round. There were some brilliant 60 Seconds but one stood out above the others: the member getting a spontaneous round of applause and later winning the Best 60 Second award.

So what made it so good? Well, pretty much everything. It was of the moment, the acting was superb, it was very clever, included humour, and told us exactly what the member did, how they helped people and the sort of business they were looking for.

The opening line was (pretty much) – “Ladies and Gentlemen – I stand before you as the BEL Letting Party – your lettings candidate and current member for Guildford.”

Glenn Wakeham is the owner of Belvoir, Sales and Lettings, and the way he stood, spoke and moved would have been up there with the very best politicians.

Glenn then went on to tell us about his achievements over the past five years.

Job Creation: up 500%.

Wealth and Opportunities.

I liked this line, “The NHS – our health service – our excellent record will continue to ensure doctors and nurses live in affordable houses near Royal Surrey.”

Welfare.

Immigration.

Housing had another wonderful line, “Others may speak of ‘Right to Buy’ but we say ‘Right to Buy to Let.”

Everything was covered and he ended with “Vote Belvoir, for five more years of a better Guildford.”

What made Glenn’s 60 Seconds so good? Well, as I’ve said before, he became the story. A story that others would tell their friends and contacts about; exactly what I’m doing right here.

Glenn Wakeham certainly gets my vote!

A Blank Page!

Image this if you will. You are looking through one of those A5 Local Magazines. It’s full of articles, editorials, photos, adverts, it’s got a ‘What’s On’ page and of course crosswords and puzzles. Then you come across a blank page.

What do you think? Has the printer made a mistake? Is there an article missing? Did an advertiser forget to submit their copy for their advert?

Of course this wouldn’t happen, especially an advertiser who had paid for space, not bothering to supply copy for an advert. But it does happen in your chapter. Don’t believe me? Well isn’t it just the same as a member being absent without a Sub?

They have paid to advertise their business every week but any time they are absent (without a Sub) they are in effect running a ‘blank page’. In fact it’s far worse than just not running an advert because being absent also hurts their credibility. It limits their ability to find referrals for other members. Plus a whole host of other important things.

It is far more damaging to run a ‘blank page’ at your chapter than it is in a printed magazine. Yet many members do it. I also know that those same people wouldn’t dream of running a blank page, they had paid for, in a magazine.

So, if you ever think about being absent from your meeting consider these two things: 1) would you run a blank page in a magazine? 2) the damage it will do to your reputation?

And please don’t be fooled into thinking that you being absent will not damage your reputation - because it will!

No one will come up to you and say, ‘being absent last week damaged your credibility’ but someone in your chapter will think twice about giving you a referral they might have done

It’s just that you will never know.

Only one message in your 60 Seconds

Most members will know that you should be specific in your 60 Seconds. Not just to the exact person or company that you are looking for but also to what single product or service you are offering.

Your 60 Seconds shouldn’t cover everything you do but instead should focus on just one thing. The trouble is that many members can’t get away from thinking that if they miss out something they do, they may miss a sale. However, what I can tell you is that by trying to cover everything you will miss out on business. And what’s more you can prove it. Yes - you! Not me.

After your next meeting, no cheating here (suddenly start taking lots of notes), write down everything that people ask for and do. I bet you can’t. But on the other hand, whereas you won’t remember more than two or three things out of a whole list of what someone does, you will remember the one thing that a member does.

You can also do the maths. Say you have 30 members in your chapter and you all include five things you do in your 60 Seconds. That’s a staggering 150 things you would have to listen to and remember. Be honest, do you really think that’s a great idea?

But how about this for an even better idea?

It came to me after attending a meeting recently. I had been chatting with someone during open networking and then when it got to their turn to give their 60 Seconds they talked about something completely different. And I mean really different. I was now confused about what they did. Result? I sort of forgot them.

So, my idea. How about making your whole meeting about just one thing? Have your 60 Seconds as the icing on the (your) cake. You chat about your one product/service in open networking and then your 60 Seconds is the punchline. Imagine just how effective that could be. One meeting; one message.

Why not give it a try and see what results you get? And please do let me know.

How to really say thank you for a referral!

Something I’ve written about before is how little thanks some members give for the referrals they receive. It’s almost as if they think it’s their right, that’s what BNI and being part of a chapter is all about, so why would they have to put any effort into thanking another member for a referral they are given.

Well, if for no other reason than it’s just polite; a smile and a warm hand-shake is the least that anyone can expect, surely? But how about an email after the meeting, or a phone call, or even a card in the post, thanking the person concerned and letting them know how much you appreciate their efforts?

After all, isn’t it about building great relationships with your referral partners and even maybe giving them the incentive to find you another referral? Certainly, if I have worked hard to find someone a referral and all I get in return is a muffled thank you, I’m not inclined to put myself out again for that person.

And that’s what made what happened at the Isis Chapter in Ealing last week. So great! During the 60 Second round, Yaro Kowalczyk of Compcontrol IT, asked another member to stand, Raj Sohal of Archer Bond Property Investment. It seems that Raj was rather surprised to be asked to stand but not as shocked as he was when Yaro presented him with a free iPad.

Yaro Kowalczyk of Compcontrol presenting iPad to Raj Sohal

The reason? Raj had given Yaro his dream referral and he wanted to let Raj know just how much he appreciated his efforts.

Now I don’t know about you, but with a thank you like that I would be looking for another similar referral for Compcontrol and not just in the hope that I might be lucky enough get another iPad, but because I knew just how much it had meant to the person.

Now I not suggesting that you rush out and add to Apple’s profits, but I am suggesting that you think about the amount of thanks you give to the members that find you referrals. Because you just never know what it might do to your relationships with the people concerned.

Simply Brilliant!

My last blog, Super Trouper, got me thinking. Were there many 10 Minutes over the past 12 years that I remembered? Sadly, I have to say that the answer is no.

I can call to mind some that went badly wrong and a few that were pretty good, but I can’t remember who did them; so not particularly useful for any of the people concerned.

But I do remember one 10 Minute from a few years ago; pretty much in every detail.

I was at the Hogarth chapter in Chiswick. The 10 Minute Speaker was introduced and given the room and with that asked us all to stand and to please follow him as fast as we could. And with that promptly left the restaurant.

We all rushed after him. Left out of the door and left into a side road, where he had stopped and stood in front of three cars. This was a 10 Minute by Ashley Winston of Palmdale Motors – Car Finders.

Ashley said a few words of introduction and then presented the owner of each car in turn. They then told us how Palmdale had found them their dream car and at a price that they couldn’t have got it for themselves. And with a lot less hassle.

Ashley ended by adding a few words before asking us to follow him back to Carluccio’s. By the time I sat down again we had been exactly 10 minutes.

It had been the perfect 10 Minutes. Memorable, it had visuals, stories, client testimonials (in person), told us what Palmdale did and how they helped people, and exactly what sort of business they were looking for. And it took 10 minutes.

Of course I now had to email Ashley and ask him about it. In no time at all I received a reply telling me that people still talked about the morning and he also included his notes about his presentation. I think the notes are even more impressive than his 10 Minutes!

Everything is detailed, with photos, maps, and exact timings. His clients needed to get their parking slots by 6.00am (doesn’t that say something about their relationship with Ashley?), and each was asked to stand ‘…on the street-side of the car leaning against the front wing.’ What amazing attention to detail.

But I guess I should have expected nothing less knowing how Ashley runs his business.

I have to say that this is a great example of how a brilliant 10 Minute presentation can work for you for years. Just out of interest Ashley did his 10 Minute on the 27th May 2010. My favourite car? The Mustang of course!

Not the actual Mustang but one I would love

So, as I said in my last blog, what can you do in your next 10 Minutes that will get you remembered (for the right reasons) for years to come?