Across the dance floor!

Don't know about you, but when I was in my early twenties it took a great deal of courage to cross a dance floor and ask a beautiful girl if she would like a dance.

Again, if you were anything like me the answer was a curt "No thanks", and you had to make the return trip to your starting point - knowing that everyone watching knew exactly what had just happened. I would imagine those gifted at asking a girl to dance feeling pity for me, while those more timid than I just thanked their lucky stars that it wasn't them doing the walk of shame and took another sip of their beer.

But if not that night, another night, I would try again and I kept on trying, as I expect you did, until a lovely girl said yes.

Well that was a long time ago, but the experience is still very valid today.

You see when I ask members if they have tried inviting visitors by letter, or postcard, by email, by text, or even asking people they know if they could suggest someone, I more often than not get the reply, "Oh. I tried that once and it didn't work".

Can you imagine the number of unmarried men there would be around if they had used this same principle when asking a girl for a dance, or even a date? She said 'No'. I'm not trying that again!

So, why is it that those very same people only try inviting a visitor once?

I guess it comes down to a combination of fear, ambition, priorities and even credibility.

There was a lot of fear in asking the girl of your dreams for a date. However, for most men to have a beautiful loving girlfriend was something they dreamed about. And other than football on Saturday, it was their only priority. There was of course credibility at stake, as no-one wanted to be the only person without a girlfriend.

So, if you find it hard to get visitors along to your chapter, cast your mind back to those days on the dance floor; for some of you it may have been just last week!

And instead of trying to find a visitor using one particular method just the once, keep trying until you succeed. After all, you know that if you keep trying you will succeed.

And ladies, this doesn't let you off the hook, as I'm sure you have your own example!

Good Luck.

No Questions!

The other day I was asked by a member if I could give them an outline as to how they should plan their upcoming 10 Minutes.

One of the things I suggested was to allow one minute (included within the ten) for questions. In the end, whilst going with most of my outline, the member decided to allow two minutes for any questions.

I sent him a text message shortly after his meeting to see how he had got on. His reply was that he thought it had gone well but he was a little disappointed as he hadn't got a single question. And it had left him wondering if in fact his presentation had been poor. He sounded pretty down.

Now, as with most things in life, there are two sides to every story. In this case, his 10 Minutes may have answered every question that might have been asked: everything being clearly explained, with no loose ends. On the other hand, maybe his presentation had lacked any real interest, so no one was that involved. Knowing the person concerned I doubt that the latter was the reason.

However, there is a third possibility. This member's business is very technical and the content may have been above the understanding of many of the members in the room. If this was the case, the lack of questions, could have been down to people not wanting to seem daft by asking a dumb question.

Now this is where the Leadership Team comes in. One of the team should always have a question ready for the 10 Minutes Speaker and there are, at least, two good reasons for this.

First, it means that no member, having done their 10 Minutes, leaves the meeting feeling flat and worried that they did a bad job, and second, one question usually leads to a lot more. It just takes that first hand to go up to get the ball rolling; it gives others the confidence, the permission, to ask their question.

So when the 10 Minutes Speaker is presenting, think of a great question to ask. And consider this: there are no stupid questions, other than the one you never ask. The best thing is that your question could mean the difference between a member feeling great or not. And maybe it might even lead to extra referrals for the member. How? Because your question leads to a point of confusion, to all, being made clear, or expands on a point already made that leads to other opportunities.

There really is no downside to asking a question when the Chapter Director says, "Any questions?" So, make sure your hand is the first to go up at your next chapter meeting.

Welcome to Bristol Cook

On the 20th August (I went on holiday the next day) I visited Bristol Cook, a lunchtime chapter, pretty much in the centre of Bristol.

The chapter launched in January and is already thirty strong and it's easy to see why. Led by Sarah Owen, a good friend of mine, and Area Director, the chapter has a real sense of togetherness and everyone seems to like each other. I love their 'Good Egg of the Month' award.

But what I really like is their 'Referral to look for' sheet. The front is fairly standard, other than it is colour coded into Power Groups; what a great idea. However, it's the reverse of the sheet that is really impressive. It's all there.

Leadership Team, 10 Minute Speaker, 60 Second guide and the month's Network Leaders. But it goes much further than that. It then covers the Top 5 Business Givers, the Top 5 Referral Givers and the Top 5 Visitor Inviters. Each has a total: 198 visitors this year. No wonder Bristol Cook is already a 30-strong chapter.

However, once again, there is more. Bar Charts for the Business Givers, Referral Givers and Visitor Inviters. The visuals are so much better than just plain figures.

So, why do I think this is so good? Well, it's simple. The members of Bristol Cook have been accountable from 'Day One', every week they can see their Network Leaders and how well they, as a chapter, are doing. It's just brilliant. What's even better is that the chapter has a good spread of Network Leaders; a sure sign that every member is playing their part in the success of the chapter.

If your chapter doesn't present your chapter figures, at least monthly, with the aid of great visuals you, as a member, are really missing out.

Every business must know its 'numbers' for real success and your BNI chapter is no different.

I look forward to visiting Bristol Cook again and I am positive that when I do it will be a massive success and a Flagship Chapter.

BNI Game a waste of time!

I visited a chapter recently in London who were taking part in the BNI Game and one of the members complained to me that it was a complete waste of time, as it encouraged members to just make things up.

The BNI Game, as I explained to the member, can be an outstanding building block for a chapter. But it does depend on the ground rules set out by the Leadership Team and a strong, but fair, game co-ordinator. In addition, strong members will not take ‘advantage’ of the game to score points.

So, what can the organiser of the game do to ensure that every member plays to the spirit of what is being done for their benefit?

Well, with regard to visitors, this is an easy one to answer, and just a few basic guidelines are needed. First, if someone has come as a visitor within the previous six months they can’t come again as a visitor during the game, unless it’s with an application form. A visitor won’t count if it’s the same person a member ‘wheels out’ every time there is a membership drive.  An eligible visitor is only anyone that could apply to join the chapter.

Then there are referrals - always a difficult one! Well, again this is easy to deal with. It’s why there is a Referral Reality Check. If there is a doubt over the validity of a referral it can ‘randomly’ be picked during the referral part of the meeting.

Testimonials, workshops and 1-2-1s are all often part of a BNI Game and if more of these are done, even if a few are not as good as they could be, it can only be good for the chapter. As are the wearing of a badge, BNI Pin and getting to the chapter early.

The only item that is difficult to ‘police’ is the Thank You for the Business, but even here an astute Membership Co-ordinator can usually spot the odd anomaly.

Now I’m not naive enough to think that a little ‘embellishment’ of the truth doesn’t take place. But given the amount of extra business the BNI Game produces for the members of a chapter, I suppose the odd duff contribution is a price worth paying.

And in any case, certainly where I was concerned, if I knew that another member was bending the rules it damaged their credibility, and long term that member lost out.

The BNI Game is a brilliant incentive for any chapter. Just make sure that it’s not you who is taking ‘advantage’ of the spirit of the game.

My mobile rings during a meeting!

There’s nothing worse than a mobile going off in a chapter meeting – well, other than someone texting during a meeting that is. And that’s why, at every meeting, the Chapter Director reminds us to turn our mobiles off.

So, why was my mobile switched on and, more importantly, why did it ring? Well you will be pleased to hear that it was all pre-arranged; part of a very clever 60 Seconds by one of the members of the chapter. Yaro Kowalczyk of, IT company, Compcontrol Ltd. This is what happened.

As Yaro stood to do his 60 Seconds my phone rang. I answered with a “Hello”. Yaro was on the other side of the room on his mobile, he also said “Hello”. I couldn’t hear anything coming from my phone, so I tried another, “Hello”. It seemed that Yaro also couldn’t hear anything his end so he to tried another “Hello”. Still no sound my end, so I tried yet another “Hello”. We both hung up.

Yaro went on to explain that what we had just experienced on our mobiles, a bad connection, was just like having a bad computer network. And that a bad network meant that computers and peripherals had difficulty ‘talking’ to one another, leading to all sorts of problems, amongst them lost tempers and lost money.

Yaro explained that his company, Compcontrol, supplied unrivalled network services, and that if anyone in the room knew someone having a problem with their computer network it would be a perfect referral for him.

I have to say that I thought it was a brilliant way of demonstrating what Compcontrol did and because of that will forgive a  mobile being used during a meeting.

Note: Please don’t all start ringing each other at your next meeting!

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…