Sorry No Visitors this week!

Now I’m sure you know that as a BNI member you should have a positive contribution to give at your chapter meeting every week, but I also wouldn’t mind betting that, like me, you have seen a member get up and say, “Sorry no referrals this week”.  In fact I was told by a member that this happened in their chapter just this week.  What’s more, by three members in a row!

But that’s not why I am writing this particular blog.  What really gets me is that I’ve never heard anyone ever say, “Sorry. No Visitors this week”.  Why is that?

Well I have a theory and it goes something like this.  It’s all about the bigger picture; about thinking.  The BNI philosophy is ‘Givers Gain’ and those members who succeed as BNI members truly embrace this; they have a contribution every week (their mindset is about giving). But then there are those members who in truth only belong to their chapters to get business and therefore see the Referral as the only thing that matters.  Hence the “Sorry, no referrals’. they don’t see the long term benefit of visitors, so visitors don’t enter into their minds.  There is no direct correlation between a visitor and the referrals that they are looking for; well not in their minds anyway.  They can’t see the bigger picture.  No thought is given to a month, six months, a year, down the line.  In truth they are more hunter than farmer; or just people that don’t think.

Put simply, they don’t see that the member giving them a referral was once a visitor.  That in fact they, like every other member in the room, were once visitors.  And, what’s more, that even if a visitor became only an average member they would be giving 50 referrals a year.  But of course that’s in the future, and that’s not referrals for them; it’s where ‘bigger picture’ thinking has to come in.

So, how about this as an idea?  Should you ever find yourself in the position of not having a contribution, instead of saying, “Sorry No Referrals…”, how about instead saying, “Sorry No Visitors this week”.  You never know visitors may just become as important as referrals seem to be.  And, guess what?  There would be more referrals given; just what was wanted in the first place!

But, better still, really get ‘Givers Gain’ and ensure that you have a positive contribution every week.

A Chapter of Blue!

No it’s not a typo; I really do mean blue.

I’ve written about the blue Notable Networker Badge before and do so again because it’s surprising just how differently the same thing can be viewed and, I believe, sometimes misguidedly.  First let me stress that the badge must have been given for something Notable. For example, I don’t believe that one visitor or five referrals in a month is notable.  I’m not even sure that two visitors in a month is truly notable; but that debate is for another day.

So, what do I mean by a Blue Chapter?  Well, I would like to see chapters (lots of them) where most of the members are wearing blue badges.  Now this is where the disagreement comes in.  It’s been suggested to me that if you have more than a couple of members wearing a blue badge in a chapter it devalues its worth.  How can that be possible if it was given for the right reasons?  I’ve then been told that if everyone has a blue badge the badge looks commonplace - it’s not special.

Well, all I can say to that is that I would like to be a member of a chapter where everyone had a Blue Badge, where every member was Notable.  Wouldn’t you?  Try telling Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), that he could only have a couple of Internationals in his team!  I don’t think anyone thinks having a team of internationals devalues the club or any of its players.

But how about on a more practical level?  Do you know the members in your chapter who wear a blue badge?  How many are there?  Now imagine, if just about every member of your chapter was wearing a blue badge, wouldn’t you want one too? And if every member of your chapter was really notable, what do you think the outcome would be?

I wouldn’t mind betting your chapter would be green and passing a lot more business.  What do you think?

Just One Estimate!

I’m guessing that if your business only did one estimate a week it wouldn’t be in a great position; under normal circumstances that is.  You might price the job more keenly in order to give yourself a better chance of winning the work.  You would be hanging by the phone willing it to ring, desperate to get the job.

Now just think what better and more marketing could do for your business.  More estimates to do.  Which would mean that you could charge more.  You could pick and choose what jobs you did.  You would have less stress.  Make more profit.  And, maybe, even have better holidays.

Well, at the recent Leadership Team Trainings for our new chapter teams, according to Phil Berg, this is exactly what having just the odd visitor to your chapter meetings is like.  Read one estimate as one visitor.

Why?  Well, with one visitor, you are desperate for them to apply (dare I say join) and at almost at any cost.  If they have a heart beat they are in.  And, I can assure you, that isn’t the best way to grow a strong and profitable chapter.  Whereas, with lots of visitors, and many more applications, a chapter has a choice of whom they accept into their chapter.  There is less pressure to take on just anyone.  The long term result of which is more and better business.

And the real benefit of having more visitors?  You will be able say goodbye to that One Estimate.  Because more visitors, means more and stronger members, which means more referrals, and that means more estimates!

Mr. Berg certainly got me thinking.  What about you?

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!