Synopsis

Here are some tips for positioning yourself as a professional when you go to networking events.

1. Look the part. Don’t wear jeans to a professional networking event. Be well-rested if you’re going to a morning event. Shirts with company logos are appropriate. Brand yourself appropriately.
2. Make sure your body language sends the right message. Watch your posture, eye contact, and gestures.
3. Be prepared. Know where your business cards are.
4. Remember to smile. Studies have shown that this makes you seem more open and forthright.

This podcast is based on Dr Misner’s article “Get Your Act Together” at Entrepreneur.com.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 170 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla. I’m back home. I’m at BNI headquarters this week. I did so much traveling over the last three months, about five different countries, all over the United States. I literally was at BNI headquarters one week over the last three months, so it’s good to be back here for a little while and start working on some of the projects I’ve got going.

Priscilla:
That sounds very exciting. I wish I had been in your suitcase!

Ivan:
Well, you know, member of BNI, if you have a chance go to my Facebook page, my personal page, unfortunately, has hit its limits, so look for the Fan page; it’s Ivan Misner Founder of BNI. Go to the Facebook page if you’d like to see what’s going on in the organization and where I’m at. Take a look at that. It’s Facebook.com/IvanMisner.BNIFounder. Join the Fan page, and you can follow.

I know you followed. You were talking about my trip to South Africa.

Priscilla:
Yeah, I saw some great pictures of the safari that you were on with Elizabeth.

Ivan:
Well, I invite the members to come to my Facebook page and sign up.

Priscilla:
Great! How do you reach your limit on Facebook? That sounds . . .

Ivan:
Well, personal page has limits; Fan page does not. So the limit is 5,000 people, and when I hit 5,000, it wouldn’t let me add anymore friends, so Friend Request me won’t do any good because I’m at my limit.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
But the Fan page has no limit, so go there, because you’ll like it.

Priscilla:
Okay, great. So what is this podcast about?

Ivan:
This podcast is like Get Your Act Together, and it’s based on a blog that I wrote of Entrepreneur.com. And it’s really about the way that you position yourself, the way you look and come across. Let’s face it, as business people, we’ve got a lot going on, there are people to see, places to go, a whole lot of stuff to do. And to do this and look good and act presentable at the same time sometimes things slip through the cracks. Quick frankly, getting and keeping your act together can be a little overwhelming, for even the more organized people around. So I’m going to give you a few tips for BNI members.

First, look the part before going to a networking event. You’d be surprised how many people fall short in the fundamental area of appearance. If it’s Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast, don’t dress casually. Wear a suit or at least professional casual. You need to be well rested, clear headed when you’re attending morning networking sessions. Make a conscious effort to get plenty of sleep the night before. If you’re not a morning person, hit the sack early, earlier than usual so you don’t look like the walking dead the next morning. Regardless of how many cups of coffee you’ve had, people can tell if you’re not all there. So the way you come across is really important.

I know you had a question about the logos on shirts and how you look in terms of wearing logoed shirt. Do you want to share that?

Priscilla:
Yeah, well, in my chapter, we have somebody who you can actually order your logo or your shirt with your company name on it, and quite a few members have actually done that. For example, the carpet cleaner, the painter, the handyman, all kinds of service people have done that. And I think that it makes them look more professional to the customer as well as they seem to have a sense of pride about their own appearance when they’re wearing their shirt, and they wear it all the time. They always wear it to the meetings.

Ivan:
I absolutely agree with that. I think it’s a great thing. I think it’s sort of – in today’s day, we don’t have uniforms so much, but a shirt with a company logo on it is the next best thing; it’s probably better because it doesn’t look like a uniform yet it’s got your company branding on it. Make sure that you use your appropriate branding. I see with BNI, the BNI logo being used wrong in some cases, so use your correct company logo, and most organization can get that on the shirts very well.

BNI has a shirt with the BNI logo, and members, if you want to take a look at it – I’ve got several shirts like that myself, I love it, I wear it as much as I can – go to BNI.com and look at the BNI store; we have it.

What I’m talking about here, look the part if we’re going to a networking event. I think that’s definitely looking the part.

Priscilla:
I can just add one more thing, which is, if you are, for example, in a marketplace or someplace where the public is around you and you’re wearing your shirt and your logo and your brand, then you have a chance of getting work, actually. People will approach you.

Ivan:
You do, and BNI is the same way. I’ve worn the BNI shirt or a hat with BNI on it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people come up to me and say, “BNI! Hey, I’m a member of BNI, too! What chapter are you in?” And that’s always a lot of fun!

Priscilla:
That’s good! Yeah, that’s great! Okay.

Ivan:
Well, we’ve got three other things to go through quickly.

One is make sure your body language sends the right message. When it comes to forming networking relationships, most of the important information, trustworthiness, friendliness, sincerity, openness is communicated through nonverbal cues such as posture, facial expression, and hand gestures. So when you’re engaging in conversation, look the other person directly in the eye, stay focused on what he or she is saying, leaning a bit to the conversation rather than away from it, don’t stand rigid with your arms crossed. Make a good impression with body language. That’s the second tip.

Third is be prepared. Make sure you know which pocket your business cards are in. I know that sounds crazy, but I keep my business cards in my left pocket and I put your business cards in my right pocket, and I do that so that I’m not handing out other people’s business cards by mistake. And I keep my business in my left pocket of every coat I own.

So nothing screams that you’re ill prepared or disorganized than handing out other people’s business cards, so be prepared in going into a meeting.

Fourth, remember to smile. I know that’s crazy, but studies have shown that if you smile when you talk, you seem more open and forthright. And I can tell you, this is something I have difficulty with. Making sure to smile, but you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to come across friendly and engaging. Obviously, you don’t want to go overboard with this and you start grinning and shaking hands like a hyperactive clown just to show that you’re having a good time, but you want to look like you are engaged in the conversation, you’re glad to be there, and that’s where it’s important to let go of all the fires and issues that you’ve got going in your personal life and business life and focus on starting to build visibility and relationships in the group. So remember to smile. Perception is reality when it comes to meeting people for the first time. If people perceive you as not being friendly, they simply won’t be inclined to refer business to you or even get to the position of knowing you well enough to refer business to you regardless of the work you can actually do.

Keeping the above tips in mind go a long way towards creating the right impression, literally in the blink of an eye.

Priscilla:
Great! Well, those are all wonderful tips. You think you have anything else up your sleeve, or is that it?

Ivan:
Oh, I’ve always got more stuff, but we’ve probably run out of time today. The bottom line here for our BNI members is to just give a little thought before they come to a BNI meeting or other business events, give some thought to the way they look, give some thoughts to the way they come across, because I think the most important thing that I said is that perception is reality. They way you come across is so important. In all the studies ad surveys I’ve done, and I’ve done a survey asking, “What are the top characteristics of a master networker,” one of the top five is always attitude, they way you come across. Positive attitude is always one of the top five characteristics. So the way you look and the way you come across are absolutely critical for the beginning of the VCP process, the Visibility, Credibility portion of the VCP process.

Priscilla:
Okay, great! Thank you, Dr. Misner.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Well, that’s it for this week. I’d just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

This is Priscilla Rice. Thank you for listening, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Synopsis

When Dr. Misner started BNI, he didn’t really think of it as a “knowledge network,” but your fellow BNI members can be a great source of knowledge as well as referrals. Here are some tips for getting advice from your BNI network.

• Ask about something they enjoy talking about, an area they have expertise in.
• Listen carefully. Pay attention. Take it seriously. Write it down.
• Direct your questions toward what your network member says in conversation.
• Have a logical reason for wanting the information.
• Don’t ask for advice that people would otherwise charge for.
• Ask clarifying questions, but don’t debate or argue.

Priscilla’s chapter has a Yahoo! group where members share tips and information. Your group might benefit from a mailing list or forum, too.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 169 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you doing?

Ivan:
I am doing great! I am up at Big Bear Lake at my lake house. We’ve been having meetings with BNI management teams over the last couple weeks, and we’ve been having meetings with my Referral Institute management teams. And we just had Staff Day up here. Once a year I bring up the whole BNI headquarters staff; we shut down the office and spend a day up here doing some team building. It’s all good; it’s a great place to work and have a little fun at the same time.

Priscilla:
Sounds beautiful! So our last podcast, you had as a guest, Tom Fleming.

Ivan:
Yes.

Priscilla:
And when he was talking in the introduction, he mentioned – or you mentioned that he had a chapter that was 70 members large.

Ivan:
Yes, 70 members. His average membership is 38, and he had one that was over 70.

Priscilla:
And that was really curious to me. I would love to hear more about that. Is there any chance we could do a podcast on that topic?

Ivan:
That’s a great idea, and I talked to Tom about it. He is very interested in doing one show. If you’re listening to this podcast, stay tuned, a month or so from now we’ll do another podcast, we’ll bring Tom back. And on that one, he’ll just talk about how you do chapter of 70, how do you run it when you get a group that large. So great suggestion.

One other thing I forgot to mention in that last podcast, so if you listen to the podcast on Fast Track, and that is that a percentage of all the money, because BNI does get a royalty from the CDs, we donate a percentage – I believe that percentage is 10 percent, but I’ll need to double check that – of all of the gross revenues from the CDs goes straight to the BNI Foundation. So a part of it goes to charity, and the BNI Foundation just hit its $1 million mark in charitable contributions!

Priscilla:
Wow!

Ivan:
So this is helping in a lot of ways all around the world.

Priscilla:
That’s great! So tell me, what is this topic that you’ve brought up here?

Ivan:
Today I’m going to talk about a blog I originally did; it’s called Need Advice? Your Network Can Help, and it’s really sort of a topic that was not the reason I created BNI, but I’ve learned over the years that it’s a benefit of BNI that I hadn’t thought of. And it really is about seeking advice of your BNI members, and I bet most members, in one way or another, have sought the advice from their BNI members. If not, they should definitely take advantage of the opportunity, because we all need advice at one time or another, and seeking advice from your networkers is a win-win situation.

See, people like for others to seek their advice. That’s a good thing. By inviting your fellow BNI members to talk to you about that you need some help with, you can get better acquainted with their knowledge, their decision making ability, their attitudes, but at the same time, you get some good ideas from your fellow members.

And when I started BNI, I didn’t really think of it as a knowledge network, but the truth is, there is a lot of knowledge sharing that BNI provides. And receiving someone’s advice really gives you a perfect reason to contact them again, to thank them, to let them know how it’s going. It’s a great way to keep your resources informed and, of course, get their opinions.

So I just wanted to list just a few suggestions in seeking advice from your fellow BNI members, important tips.

First, ask your BNI member for advice or opinions on something that they enjoy talking about, which you expect that they have expertise, a little bit of background or knowledge. It doesn’t necessarily have to be their profession. For example, I have business networking, but I have a background in organizational behavior. So I oftentimes talk to members, they’ll ask me questions about managing and motivating employees, that kind of thing, which was what my background was in prior to starting BNI. So you can always talk to people, not just about what their profession is but maybe what their personal interests are, as well, if you’re looking for advice in that area.

Be sure to listen carefully. If they’re going to give you some suggestions, pay attention, write it down, take it seriously.

Direct your questions – another tip is to direct your questions toward your network member says in conversation. In other words, pay attention to the kinds of things they’re talking about, particularly in peripheral areas in their area of expertise. Obviously, their area of expertise is one thing you could talk about, but we’ll talk more about that in a minute.

Have a logical reason for wanting the information. For example, I remember the first time I saw this friend in BNI, it was a member who was producing a brochure, marketing material. And he went to another member who had a great brochure, and he said, “Hey, here’s a draft of what I’m doing, and I love what you’ve done with yours. What do you think? Do you have any feedback? Can you give me any suggestions?” And it wasn’t even a marketing expert, but it was somebody who had done a great brochure, and he was seeking advice. I think that’s a great example of how to use your network, your BNI members for support.

Now, here’s something real important, really important, because it can be abused. Don’t ask your BNI member to give you advice that he or she would otherwise charge you for.

Priscilla:
Right, really important.

Ivan:
Okay? So don’t go to the attorney and start seeking substantial legal advice over issues. Now, of course, there’s nothing wrong with saying, “Hey, what direction should I take this in,” because attorneys are willing to answer basic questions, because you don’t even know of you have a case or you don’t even know where to go next. But it can be abused; make sure not to abuse that.

Don’t ask your CPA in a chapter for substantial accounting advice that they would normally charge for. It’s okay to ask them basic questions, because that can lead to doing business with them. Right? I mean, I always – before I hire an attorney, I interview them and ask them some questions, see what kind of knowledge they have.

So basic questions are okay, but you’ll know, most people know when they’re maybe crossing the line. So don’t cross that line, don’t ask for advice that people would otherwise be charging for. That’s inappropriate, and it’s misuse of the relationship.

And I think it’s really important to remember that if you’re asking for advice, once you ask for the advice, shut up, listen, pay attention, don’t debate it, don’t argue. Ask more questions, say, “I kind of had a different impression,” or “Why do you say that,” but don’t argue, don’t debate it. You’re looking for people’s advice; you don’t have to follow the advice, but acknowledge the advice. And I, again, just to wrap up, I never started BNI with this being one of the benefits of participation, however, it’s always one of the benefits that are listed when I ask members what they’re getting out of BNI, they always mention this. And I’m really glad to hear, because it means that people are developing strong relationships.

Priscilla:
Well, in our chapter, we have a Yahoo group, and people poll each other on information such as advice on advertising, if anybody’s having good response from the Yellow Pages or do they use Google Adwords or whatever, and we get information that way also.

Ivan:
I think that kind of thing is great and whenever you get small business people together, professionals, small business owners, sales people for big companies, this kind of information is invaluable, and I’m glad to see it happening in BNI.

So thanks a lot, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay, great! Thank you, Dr. Misner.

That’s it for this week. I’d just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Synopsis

This week Tom Fleming, Executive Director of BNI West Central Florida, joins Dr. Misner on the podcast. The average number of members per chapter in Tom’s region of 40 chapters is thirty-eight.

Tom initially hesitated to implement Fast Track in his region because he’s on the CDs and didn’t want to appear to be promoting himself. But he saw the results the program was getting in other regions, and decided that he couldn’t deprive Tampa Bay BNI members of improvements to their referrals and thank you for close of business.

Tom chose to sell Fast Track into their chapters through referrals, by starting with one chapter and letting its members recommend it to others.

Tom created a script for facilitators to use to roll the Fast Track program out to the membership, and advises all BNI directors to do the same. BNI members need to know—and to remember—why they’re participating in this program. This is about Members Making More Money.

Get the BNI Fast Track program (BNI Networking Secrets) from Del Fuego.

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 168 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you doing today?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla, and I’m really excited because we have with us on this podcast Tom Fleming. Tom is the Executive Directory in Tampa, Florida, and I can honestly say Tom is one of the best directors that we have in the world. Tom has about 40 chapters in the area; he built it from zero to 40. But the most amazing thing about his region is that Tom has an average number of members per chapter of about 38. 38! I remember the first time I kicked off a chapter with 35 members, probably two, three years into the organization, but it was the first group that I kicked off with 35 members. And I remember thinking back, “Wow, I wonder if this could ever happen again. Could we ever have two groups to kick off with 35 members?” And Tom has 40 chapters with an average membership of 38 members.

Tom, I am so impressed with your ability to grow strong and successful chapters, and I want to welcome you to the podcast.

Tom:
Well, thank you so much. That’s quite an introduction.

Ivan:
Well, it’s my pleasure to be doing this with you because I really am impressed with 38 members. What’s your largest group? How many members does your largest chapter have?

Tom:
We have a group that’s right around 70 members here in the Ocala, Florida, area that is just a local city outside of Tampa.

Ivan:
And you’ve been doing this in Tampa since 2003, so as of this recording, about seven years.

Tom:
Correct, yes.

Ivan:
Now the reason that I really wanted to emphasis this is that I wanted the members and directors that are listening to this podcast to understand who it is that they’re listening to, because there’s one thing to have somebody come on and give a lot of hype about what works and what doesn’t work, but when you have a director, to me, it’s where the rubber meets the road, what are the results. When you have a director whose average size of a chapter is 38, I think people need to listen, and it’s the reason I wanted to have you on this podcast.

We’re talking about a program that you have started to institute, the Fast Track program, and you were skeptical at first with this program. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Tom:
Sure. I was specifically skeptical about the fact that this may not work in our region. When I first listened to the CDs, I said, “Wow, this is Dr. Misner at his best.” But the reason why I was skeptical about it not working in our region is I do play a part in the BNI Networking Secrets on the third CD, and I’m really good at promoting other people, but I’m really not that good at promoting myself. And I had a sense of guilt around how would the members in this region perceive the fact that I was on the third CD and I didn’t want them to interpret that I was being selfish about this.

Ivan:
Right, right.

Tom:
And so I said to myself, “Well, I don’t want the members to perceive that this is just another program that Tom’s pushing.” What helped me overcome my skepticism was I started hearing about the results in other chapters around the country, around the world in terms of memberships growing by 50 percent, referrals increasing 65 percent, thank you for closed business growing by 170 percent. One of our main areas of focus here in our area is to increase referrals and thank you for close of business, and I kind of said, “Well, to heck with the fact that I happen to be on the third CD. I want the members in the Tampa Bay area to be learning the things that they need to expand their membership from referrals and thank you for closed business perspective.”

Ivan:
And how has it played out now that you’ve implemented it?

By the way, your material on the CD is outstanding, and there’s very few people that I co-write books with or co-produce CDs with. As a matter of fact, you’re the only person I’ve ever co-produced a CD with, so I understand your discomfort, maybe, in promoting yourself, but I’ve got to tell you, your contribution to the CD set is just amazing, and I’m glad to have you on it.

So how’s the response been?

Tom:
The response has been fantastic, but when I first started looking at the program, I said to myself, “We really want to do this by referral rather than try and sell these programs into chapters individually.” And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to work with a test chapter and create some documentation that would provide them with the ability to flawlessly execute this program in a way that would guarantee the members results, results in increased referrals, results in thank you for close of business.

And through those results, I really wanted the other chapters in the area asking, “When do we get this program? When can we get this program?” because they were conscious and aware of it created for another chapter. The chapter that’s first along the program with us has increased their referrals and thank you for closed business by 30 percent, which is fantastic. We’ve got three other chapters ready to roll out the program that we’re working with right now, and then we’ve got a half dozen other chapters that we just can’t get started right now that want the program, but I really want to take our time with this and make sure that every chapter is following the success system that we’ve put in place to make sure that the members and the chapters are really guaranteed results, because that’s what I’m committed to, and I think that’s what every executive director around the country is committed to.

Ivan:
Now, for those listeners that don’t know what we’re talking about, the Fast Track system is a set of CDs that were not even produced by BNI; they were produced by Del Fuego. And the reason that I really like to promote these is it’s not just the CD, it’s the amazing support that Sarah and Flynn, the producers of the CDs, the owners of Del Fuego, give. Am I wrong, they give amazing support to the chapters who get into the Fast Track system.

Tom:
They’ve created a Web site that is A to Z, soup to nuts, anything you could need and more around the Fast Track programs for BNI chapters out there. And their commitment doesn’t stop there; they’re doing every other week phone calls with chapters that are considering or involved in launching the program to support them. They’re reaching out individually to educational coordinators that want support with how to deliver the educational moments that are an alignment with the curriculum that they’ve developed around the three CDs.

Ivan:
And we’ve created a strategic alliance with Del Fuego, and I think one of the reasons I keep recommending them is not just the strategic alliance, but the amazing additional support that these ladies give for the program.

Now, you’ve added some material to it, developed the system [inaudible 8:40], I mean, you’re a systems guy, and you created some material called The Flawless Execution to Guarantee Success. Do you want to talk about that briefly?

Tom:
Sure. As I looked at the Del Fuego materials, I said to myself, “Boy, we really need a script that a director can follow inspiring the leadership team to want to do this.” And then each chapter has a facilitator or two that works closely with the chapter. And I said to myself, “Well, how are we going to get member buy-in around this? Once the leadership team is committed to it, how are we going to get the members to buy into it?”

So we created a script that the facilitators could use to basically roll the program out to the membership to get their agreement that, yes, this is something that we’re going to do together, because I think the success of the program is about, as you’ve said a thousand times, Dr. Misner, it’s about getting everybody rowing the boat together. I mean, really, for this to be a success I believe, the chapter is going to decide to do it, 100 percent of the members need to be on board. And Lisa Jordan, who’s one of our directors, she’s also co-owner of Accent American, we chose her chapter to be – the Phoenix chapter to be the flagship chapter of this program in our area, and she and I worked diligently in creating these scripts and these systems for directors and chapters to use in rolling it out. And the Del Fuego sisters, as we affectionately refer to them, have put all this information on www.DelFuego.com. If people click on the BNI Fast Track link off of that home page, they’ll get access to everything that we’ve created and so, so much more under the section that says, “I’m an AD or on the leadership team, and I need a Chapter presentation.”

Ivan:
Let’s repeat that so that the listeners get it. It’s DelFuego, D-E-L-F [as in Frank] U-E-G-O, DelFuego.com, and the URL connection is slash-BNI, but as you said, if you just click on the BNI logo there, it’ll take you to the right spot.

Now, the bottom line here, Tom, the reason that we’re promoting the CD and that the CD works is to help members increase the number of members, the size of the group, but the health of the group and the amount of referrals.

So we’re running out of time. Maybe you could just share a little bit of the results in terms of referral development and the health of the group as a result of using the material.

Tom:
Sure. I think if all the members participate in listening to the CD set together, in other words, as you say, getting them all rowing the boat together –

Ivan:
Rowing in the same direction at the same time for the same purpose, it makes a world of difference.

Tom:
Absolutely. In fact, one of the secrets to rolling this program out is to have a chapter’s set goals before they start the program so that all the members are conscious and aware of “Why are we doing this.” And really, we want the vice president reminding the members why we’re doing this constantly throughout the program.

And Networking Secrets, the title, says it all. There’s a secret to this referral based marketing stuff, in terms of growing your business, and it’s on the CD set, and people will learn how to pass more referrals, earn more thank you for closed business. And that’s what it’s all about, Members Making More Money, the four Ms of BNI; that’s what I refer to it as.

Ivan:
Yeah, I love it!

Well, Tom, thank you so much for sharing your experience with this. I mean, BNI can talk about Fast Track all the time, but having directors who are out there where the rubber meets the road using it I think says even more to the power of the program. So I appreciate you doing this podcast with us.

And again, those of you listening to this, go to DelFuego.com, take a look at it. If you get one of the CDs, Tom is on one of the CDs, so you’ll hear him again on that.

Again, thanks, Tom, for doing this podcast. I appreciate it.

Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, that sounds great!

Well, that’s it for this week. I just want to remind you listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Synopsis

August 11th is the BNI Staff Day at Dr. Misner’s house in Big Bear.

People like to talk about themselves; giving them the time to tell their own stories is more likely to result in a genuine connection. Here are five good questions to ask in your first conversation with a new person.

1. What do you like most about what you do?
2. What led you into that field?
3. Where else do you network?
4. What are some of your biggest challenges?
5. How can I help you?

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 167 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:
It’s August, so I am up at my retreat at the lake house in Big Bear, and this is kind of a special day, the 11th, we have a staff day today, so all of the BNI employees at headquarters in Southern California are up here at my house. We closed down the office, and it’s sort of a little team building, relationship building day. All of the staff come on up, and we have fun on the lake and get to know each other a little bit better during the work day and have a little bit of fun.

Priscilla:
That sounds beautiful.

Ivan:
It’s a great place to do it up here.

Priscilla:
What are you planning to share with us today?

Ivan:
Today I want to talk about asking the right questions. People like to talk about themselves, and my now, we all know that people refer business to people they like and that they respect. So when you give others the time to tell their story and explain what their business is, you’re much more likely to be able to make a connection. All it takes, really, is asking the right questions when you’re meeting somebody for the first time.

So BNI members, when visitors come to a meeting or if you’re at a Chamber event or some business function, write these things down, because this can be of value to you. There will be five specific questions that I’m going to share with you. It really starts by understanding that everyone has a story. So make it your job to find out what that story is. This all begins with your first conversation. If you lead by asking the right questions, questions that can demonstrate a genuine interest in the other person’s business, you’ll begin to cultivate an atmosphere of trust and rapport right from the very start. So by asking the right questions, I don’t mean prospecting or qualifying questions, like questions about whether they need your product or service. You’re not trying to size up the other person’s potential for selling them something; you want to connect with them on a relationship, on a business relationship basis, so the questions really apply to that.

Here are the five questions that will keep the conversation rolling and, I think, set you apart from other networkers and eventually lead to referrals.

First question, “What do you like most about what you do?” If you’ve been out networking before, you already know that “What do you do” is one of the first questions people ask, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; I’m not saying don’t do it, but it really doesn’t leave you much room to maneuver after you’ve both have answered that question.

So a follow-up question, when somebody tells you what they do, is, “What do you like to do? What do you like most about what you do?” And I think that’s a great follow-up question to, “What do you do?”

Second question is, you say to them, “You mentioned you were in the [blank] industry, you mentioned you were a printer,” or whatever, “what got you started in that direction? What led you into that field?”

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
Now this question is much like the previous one, in that it gives the other person a chance to talk about their personal objectives, what they were interested in that got them into that field. It also gives you insight into how dedicated he or she is to their profession and how proficient they may be at it. When you learn what their previous experience has been, you begin to see ways that you might be able to refer people to them as well over time as the relationship builds.

A third question, and again, this is one that is usually asked, “Where else do network; where else do you go?” Now you’ve heard me talk on previous podcasts that we found in our Referral Institute study that people who say they’re successful a networking spend at least six-and-a-half hours, on average six-and-a-half hours a week networking, and the people who say that networking doesn’t work for them spend less than two hours. So the people who are out there and they’re successful at this, they’re networking in other places, so asking this question is a great way to find out where some other good places to network.

And if you’re a member of BNI, you should be in a Rotary Club or a Lion’s or Kiwanis, you should be in a Chamber, you should be in some knowledge, you should spread it around to different kinds of networks, and here’s a great way to find some other ones that are out there.

Now, this question not only helps break the ice, but it also gives you a chance to talk about something you both know a little bit about. It also is a great opportunity to even refer them to BNI or to other groups that you’re in. It can also make an instant connection. If you provide the other person with valuable information that they may not have known about, then they appreciate that, talking about other networks that you have gone to.

So here’s a question you heard me talk about in the past, Priscilla. It’s been on my list of great questions to ask, and that is, number four, “What are some of your biggest challenges?”

Priscilla:
Um-hmm.

Ivan:
It’s a great question that can be used toward the end of a conversation. Do not use this in the beginning. “Hi, Priscilla. My name’s Ivan. What are some of the biggest challenges you have?” People are like, “Who are you and why are you asking me that question?” So you’ve got to use this towards the end of your conversation, not towards the beginning of the conversation.

Of the questions that I’ve mentioned thus far, this one usually elicits the longest response if you have built the rapport with them, and so here’s a great opportunity, when they tell you about some challenge, well, you can give them a referral. You can say, “Hey, I know somebody who might be able to help you with that.” And please, please, please, this is not an opportunity to sell to them. Be careful about that, because if you get them to open up and then try to close a deal before your credibility, it’s just not going to work. So it’s an opportunity to find ways to help.

Which leads you right into the fifth question, which is, “How can I help you?” Now, you’re not going to say this to everybody, people that you just absolutely have – there’s not connection, you don’t want to do business with them. We’ve all met them; you’ve met people where it’s like, “This is probably is not the” – now, for me, it’s not really what their profession is, it’s just the feelings I get when I talk to them. You’ve probably met, Priscilla, people where you met with them and you walk away and you think, “I need a shower. That person was just so slimy, I just don’t want to do business with that person.”

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
So I’m not suggesting you use these questions with everybody; you use these questions with people you feel there’s a connection. And by the way, not just with people you think you could get something from, because sometimes some of the best referrals I have gotten have come from people that I would have never thought would have those kinds of contacts. So to me, it’s like: Am I willing to spend more time with this person as an individual? Are they interesting? Do they have an interesting story? Not so much, “What can they give me,” but “Are they interesting and do they appear to be good at what they do?” And obviously, the first time you meet somebody, you’re not going to know for sure.

But these are things that I ask myself is, if they seem to be good at what they do and they’re interesting, then this is somebody I want to network with more. So for those people, you want to ask them the last question, which is, number five, “How can I help you?” So once you’ve asked the new acquaintance some or all of the questions that I’ve given you, the conversation has gone well, you’ve decided this person is someone you’d like to have in your personal network, it’s a good question to ask. Being helpful is the best way to start building a solid relationship. For an experienced networker, it’s a question that comes naturally, because that networker is one who has adopted the mindset of giving value and given service to other people without an immediate return, and it demonstrates that you have other people’s interests foremost in your mind. And I think it’s a great way to start building some credibility and trust with someone.

So those are my questions, and I think asking the right questions is really about earning trust and gaining rapport with a new contact and doing it as quickly as you can. You see, these kinds of questions help to build some type of connection where what’s mostly done is, “Hey, what do you do? Hey, this is what I do. No, I don’t need your product; you don’t need my product. Thanks a lot.” Or “You need my product; buy it.” And that just doesn’t really work well, so these questions I think are great questions to help be seed starters, they’re seedlings for building a relationship.

Priscilla:
Um-hmm. It’s true, because you have just a few minutes, really, to form an opinion about someone. It happens pretty quickly, so these are very thoughtful questions. And the part about asking, “How can I help you,” I can tell you that that really endears you to another person.

Ivan:
Yeah, and do you know what, by the way, that works really well, especially if you’re trying to network up. And by “network up,” I mean you’ve met somebody who is – they’re the kind of person you want to be in terms of business, they’re maybe more successful than you, they’re more something than you, more articulate, more professional. You aspire to be more like them; that might be a better way to say it. And if that’s the case, then those kind of people tend to be hit on all the time for business.

Priscilla:
Uh-huh, right.

Ivan:
You know what I mean? And they’re constantly having to say no, and oftentimes, they feel uncomfortable at networking events because everybody is always trying to get them to buy something or do something. And so those are the ones you most want to make a connection with, but sometimes they’re the more leery of talking to people they don’t know. And that’s a great approach for those people, “How can I help you? You really have an interesting business. If there’s ever anything I can do. How can I help you?” And if you can be more specific, you’ve heard me talk about in previous podcasts, when you talk about a challenge they may be having, “Hey, I have an article I read on that very subject. Would you like me to send it to you? I have the URL. Be glad to send you a link.” Now you’re being very specific on how you can help them, and if you find ways to do that, people will be appreciative, and it’s a great way to start a relationship.

So I know we’re out of time. Let me just give you the five questions one more time.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
What do you like most about what you do?

You mentioned that you were in the [blank] industry. What got you started in that direction? That’s a really unique one. Most people don’t do that.

Where else do you usually network? That’s a really good one.

What are some of your biggest challenges?

And how can I help you?

Do those five questions, and you’ll really, I think, help master the art of networking at networking events. And use them in BNI in the open networking portion of the meeting.

Priscilla:
I think those are great questions. I’m going to try to memorize them, and I’ll let you know how it goes, my very next encounter.

Ivan:
Great! Let me know!

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
Thanks.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Dr. Misner

I think that’s it for this week. I would just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Synopsis

People sometimes come to Dr. Misner and ask about how to deal with competitors. His philosophy is best summed up by Henry Ford: “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own  business better all the time.”

Everyone has competition, but it’s a waste of time to focus on it. Just go on making your own business the best.

Some people think this philosophy contradicts BNI’s policy of having only one member per profession in a BNI group, but it’s not an either-or scenario. BNI is supposed to be a safe environment where people can share openly, and that’s not likely to happen if a direct competitor is sitting next to you and taking notes.

When you encounter a competitor, look for opportunities to collaborate rather than competing. It will make both of you more successful. An example: Priscilla’s BNI group, No Ordinary Chapter, is a member of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.

Read Dr. Misner’s blog post about competition on Entrepreneur.com.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 166 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:
Well, I just got back from South Africa, where I did the BNI Conference, the BNI South African Conference. Some incredible members there, great event, and it’s always a pleasure. I’ve been traveling a lot over the summer. It’s always a pleasure meeting members all around the world, so if you’re listening to this podcast and I’m ever in your region a presentation, come to the event, introduce yourself to me, I’d love to meet BNI members. To me, that’s the best part of the event is meeting all the BNI people.

Just got back from South Africa.

Priscilla:
Great! Well, what is this topic on competition?

Ivan:
Well, I’m doing this for a couple for a couple of reasons. One is that sometimes ask me questions about how to deal with competitors. I’m doing it because my very own BNI director has come to me and said, “Hey, there’s this other networking organization out there, and they’re saying bad things about BNI. How should we respond to it?” And so I did a blog on the topic, got a lot of responses, and I thought it would make a good podcast.

My philosophy about competition is best summed up by Henry Ford who once said, “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” I love that quote. “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”

In BNI, members or directors will often express concern some about other competitive groups that are forming and bad mouthing our company or attacking our program in some way. And I tell them what I would tell you as members in terms of competitors to your own businesses. I tell my team that if they feel like someone is biting at our backsides, it’s because we’re out in front.

Priscilla:
Um-hmm.

Ivan:
Success in business is about constantly improving your product or your service and making it better all the time. And the process is a journey, not a destination, however, if you are constantly working to improve your business, improve your systems, improve the product, improve the culture, improve the team, the people who are in your organization, if you do these things, you’ll also improve your position in the marketplace.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
Almost ten years ago, I had a particularly aggressive competitor publicly state that he was going to bury our organization, he was going to bury BNI. And I’ve got a competitor like that right now who’s saying horrible, very vitriolic things.

Well, that competitor from ten years ago, since then, BNI has grown almost 400 percent since he came into the market, and it’s interesting, because I haven’t heard about his company for years, haven’t heard about it for years; they’ve disappeared. I’m not even sure whether they’re still in business or not. I really think that Ford got it right, keep making your business better, and you’ll have no need to fear your competitors. Your business will be the one that your competitors fear the most.

And that’s my philosophy on competition, and I think it’s very timely within my organization to share it, and I hope it’s a value to BNI members, because everybody’s got competition.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
There is no business without competition.

Priscilla:
Well, I think you’re right, and you have to create – if you do what you just suggested, you create very loyal customers. And then they keep coming back to you, because you did such a good job.

Ivan:
And you know it’s easy, especially if you’re talking about an organization like BNI where people participate and they go to meetings. It’s easy to get into this sort of online shouting match. “Oh, yeah, well, then this about you!” And then you shout back. And that’s really wasted time. To me, time is much better spent focusing on improving the product, improving the service, improving the delivery. And the more you can focus on improvements and education and training, then competition becomes irrelevant.

Priscilla:
Um-hmm. And then you also created an organization that doesn’t have any competition within itself.

Ivan:
Yeah, that’s true, and I think that sometimes people may – they’ve heard me talk about my philosophy and competition, and they see it as a contradiction because I created an organization that has only one person per profession.

And I don’t view my philosophy in competition as being an either-or situation. BNI was sort of a safe haven for people to be able to talk about their business. It doesn’t mean that I don’t believe there’s competition out there; there’s competition out there in any business, and so it’s not that I’m saying avoid interaction at all with competition. As a matter of fact, I think in some ways, there are some competitors, there are some people that you might potentially view as competitors who you can actually collaborate with. But let me come back to that thought.

To me, it’s not an either-or scenario. I created BNI to provide a safe haven for businesses where they could talk openly, somebody could share openly their marketing techniques, their questions, their problems, who they’re looking for as a client and not have to worry about their competition sitting right there listening, taking notes.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
And it just makes it a safe environment, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize competition out there, and there is! And my philosophy in dealing with them is to just improve your own product or service rather than get into a head butting match with the competition.

And also, and I didn’t talk about this in my blog, look for opportunities to collaborate, if it’s at all possible. I remember when BNI first started, so many Chambers of Commerce thought we were competitors. And from a big picture perspective, you might look at BNI and Chambers and say, “Well, they are kind of competitors. They both talk about networking and they’re both organizations.” And you can find ways that we do, in fact, compete.

But I view groups like Chambers as compatible to BNI, not competitive, and I recommend my members go out and participate in a local Chamber of Commerce. And so whenever possible, if you can find someone who, yeah, there might be a little bit of competition between, but if you could find areas to collaborate rather than compete, then you’re both much stronger. I think today BNI has really great relationships with many Chambers of Commerce, and that’s a testament to trying to find opportunities rather than – it’s really a testament to a law of abundance rather than a law of scarcity approach to doing business.

So when you can, find opportunities. Otherwise, somebody’s out there and they’re gunning for you. Focus on your products and services and improving it.

Priscilla:
I just want to say one thing about the Chamber of Commerce. Our BNI group, as a group, is a member of the Berkley Chamber of Commerce. Our actual group, No Ordinary Chapter, is a member.

Ivan:
I love that idea. And we did it, I think, by the second or third year of BNI, we were recommending the chapters join a local Chamber as a group. And some Chambers are receptive to that and some aren’t, and the Chambers that are really all about collaboration have no problems with it, and I think everybody ends up, I believe, benefiting.

One of the things I recommend in BNI and in The Referral Institute, listeners know I am also the senior partner for The Referral Institute, is that the people who run The Referral Institute programs or BNI programs offer to your local Chamber to be an ambassador, to even train – one of the things I really recommend, train the Ten Commandments of Networking to your Chamber of Commerce. Teach the ambassadors about the Ten Commandments. Now that’s a way to really collaborate with the Chamber.

On a different subject with competition, but I think an important one, as it applies to BNI.

But just to wrap up, Priscilla, Ford’s quote, I think, is a thing of beauty. “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” That’s my philosophy about competition. I believe it works; based on results, it kind of works. BNI is, by far, the world’s largest, most successful networking organization, and, I think to some extent, it is because we constantly look to provide better training, more training, more material, better material, systems, and programs that are just better than what everybody else has out there, and that’s why people are drawn to our organization. So when people are biting at our backsides, it’s because we’re out in front.

Priscilla:
That’s great, Ivan. Well, thank you.

I think that might be it for this week. I think we’re out of time.

Ivan:
Yes, thanks, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay.

I’s just like to remind you, the listeners, that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Synopsis

This week Brian Buffini joins Dr. Misner to discuss creating a proactive system for referrals. You need a systematic approach to cultivate referrals on a daily basis. The essence of it is:

• Build relationships
• Provide value
• Remind the people in your database that you’re looking for referrals

This requires sorting your database by your most valuable customers and who is most likely to refer you. Then you take a three-step approach to dealing with those people, and set aside time for it every day.

1. Contact
2. Care
3. Community

For more information about Brian Buffini’s trainings, go to the Buffini and Company website. You’ll find live seminars and coaching and mentoring programs. Dr. Misner endorses this system wholeheartedly, and Priscilla is an active client.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 165 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you today?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla. And I’m really excited because I have a guest on the line. He is a friend, a friend of BNI. His name is Brian Buffini. Brian is one of those who is extremely knowledgeable about referral marketing and, here’s where you find people who are knowledgeable, but they’re not really good at the second part, Brian walks the talk. He has been a huge supporter of BNI for many, many years. We have really appreciated his support of our organization and I highly recommend the training program that Brian does, and I’m really excited to have him on our podcast today.

Brian, do you want to say “Hi”?

Brian:
Well, hello, Ivan. Great to be with you here today. The feelings are mutual; we’ve been very excited to endorse BNI to the people we coach and the people we have in our live events over the years. And we have such great, great results with that. We have some of the folks we coach who talk about 50 percent of their income comes from the referrals they get from Business Network International. So we keep referring you, and they keep being more successful, so it’s a win-win situation.

Ivan:
Well, I’ll tell you something that I said when we first met years ago, and that is, I can walk into a BNI meeting and I can immediately tell when somebody has been trained in your training program. They absolutely stand out as a superior member in our program, because they go deeper in the process, and it’s not as superficial as some people. Some people – I hate to say it, but some people come to BNI and their only networking is what they do at that meeting, and I can always tell when there’s somebody who’s been through your training, because they’re all about building relationships and drilling deep for the referrals.

So it’s great to have you on the podcast. Let me ask you this question.

Brian:
Well, it’s great to be with you.

Ivan:
Thanks.

Tell me about the referrals. What is the power of referral marketing? And you are absolutely one of the world’s experts in this, and I think my members get benefit from hearing it from you.

Brian:
Well, no doubt. I think the big difference for me is, my dad would have been a classic BNI member. He was a house painter in Dublin, Ireland, and my father always used to say, “The work will speak for itself.” So my father was committed to doing a great job. In fact, all of us kids, we grew up in the family painting business, and every day my grandfather, who was kind of the Mr. Miyagi of our family; he mentored you and trained you in the business, and every day he’d ask you, “Can you put your name to the work you did?” And if you didn’t put your name to the work you’d done, you had to do it over, whether the customer saw it or not.

So doing a great job for people was imperative, and that’s where my father and grandfather knew their future business would come from. So they were very, very committed to what you would call a word-of-mouth business. And so I was raised in that, so that’s what I knew.

Now, when I immigrated to America and got into the real estate business, I was looking for referrals, but I found that the rhythm of waiting for referral, like the way my father and grandfather had, wasn’t working for me. So I had to go and cultivate it on purpose, and that’s where over a period of a number of years I developed a proactive system to cultivate referrals. And that’s really where it goes from word-of-mouth to working by referral, is that you have a systematic approach to intentionally cultivate referrals on a daily basis.

As we’ve talked about, Ivan, the people in our coaching program from real estate and lending side, for example, they earn seven times that of the national average. And it’s not that they’re any smarter or work any harder, they actually do it typically with less advertising budgets, but it’s done in regards to a systematic approach to your database and building relationships, providing value, and reminding those people that you’re looking for referrals. And so I think this is a big thing where a lot of folks, they do a great job, they’re committed to customer service, and they get the occasional referral, but you can’t count on it; you don’t know when the next referral is coming in, you can’t predict it.

And so our system is that you build, sort, and qualify your database. The database isn’t just something on a computer; it’s a list of relationships. And you have some business relationships that are closer than others. And in our system, we encourage you to spend more time, more energy, more effort with those clients that are the better clients, the most likely to refer you, those who have referred you in the past, those who’ve done the most business with you. So instead of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, in this system, the squeaky wheel really doesn’t get any of your time at all. So we’re investing time, energy, and resources in building relationships with our best customers and our best referral advocates.

So the first thing you have to really get familiar with your database, know who you have, know who they are, and then know a little bit about them. And many of your books go into great detail about how to do that. Where we, then, go is providing systematic approach, and we have a thing we call the Three Cs, which is Contact, Care, and Community. So you want to contact these folks. You’ve got to be seeing them in person, you’ve got to be calling them, you’ve got to be connecting with them. We believe in marketing to folks proactively, so providing something of value.

So rather than a Realtor who traditionally sends out a note pad with their picture on it or a football schedule or a recipe card for potpies, we’re providing something of value. So for example, here’s how to raise your credit score; here’s how to protect yourself from identity theft; here’s the 15 new laws, the tax laws that just came down that can help you with your tax burdens for real estate and other things. So practical, tactical things that are items of value.

Sometimes it’s a little more fun. The postage rate changes by a couple of cents, and you’ll send your customers 20 two-cent stamps in the mail. And just little tokens, little items of value that give you a chance to build the relationship deeper with the customer.

Then we recommend you go see them, you go have coffee with them, you build relationships, and then you systematically ask people for referrals. And this is something that we’ve done in our own coaching program. You talk about walking the talk; we’ve been doing this for years ourselves where our company grew on average by 49 percent a year for ten years by generating referrals from our customer base.

So it just flat out works; it just flat out works. It’s a systematic approach to a dedicated group of people familiarizing yourself with the database, building relationships with them, providing something of value, then you’ve got to go out and see them.

And then, I guess, the last little piece to this puzzle here, just in giving an overview, is just having a daily set of activities set aside. So for us, we have a little process we call the Win the Day Formula. And it basically is two hours of cultivating leads, of generating leads, of spending time with your database, talking to your database, connecting with your database, and letting them know that you’re never too busy for their referrals, and actually, kind of going from schmoozing to cultivating, and I think that’s really a key component here.

And so the number one thing, and I think you’ve seen this probably throughout BNI, Ivan, is that the people who do well in business are people who are committed to generating leads. So many people are dealing with the symptoms of a lack of leads, inconsistent income, poor quality customer, or you end up dealing with the high maintenance customer. Well, if you’re generating – in my business in real estate, I was averaging 35 referrals a month. Well, when you’re generating 35 referrals a month, you’re going to get a couple of bad apples.

Ivan:
Yeah.

Brian:
You’re going to get people that, “Hey, I want you to do this for almost free; I want you this;” they’re high maintenance; they’re after you all the time.

And you go, “You know what, I just don’t think we’re a good fit for one another.”

Well, you can say that when you have a bunch of lead. That’s hard to say that when you don’t have any leads.

Ivan:
Yeah, when you feel that the pipeline is full and there’s a lot of business coming, then it’s easier to say that, no question about it.

Brian:
Right, right. So, Ben Franklin said, “Tis hard for an empty purse to stand upright.” So we all tend to fold when the bank account’s empty, when we need food with our meals.

Ivan:
Well, you know what else Franklin said, and I talked about this in one of my previous podcasts, is that – he seemed to have a thing with purses – he said, “If you empty your purse into your head, you’re gaining something that no one can ever take away and that’s knowledge.”

Brian:
Yeah, best investment of all time.

Ivan:
Absolutely, and that’s exactly what you’re doing, what BNI is all about. And we do training in BNI, but there’s only so deep we can go in our weekly meetings. So your program’s all about really going deep with people and giving them systems. I love systems. That’s what BNI is all about, is a system.

Brian:
Right.

Ivan:
But it’s those systems for following up, and I think that’s what’s made your students sell much better, BNI members is that the system that they have they employ, they employ not only in BNI but in their business, as a rule.

Well, listen, tell us briefly, because we’re almost out of time, tell us about your trainings and where people can get information. There’s very few podcasts – and listeners, you know this is true – very few podcasts that I recommend go to a training or read a book. This is one of the few ones, and the reason for that is I so believe in the kind of training Brian does.

And so tell them a little bit about where they can go, Brian.

Brian:
We appreciate that, Ivan. BuffiniAndCompany.com is – my name, Buffini, B-U-F-F-I-N-I, AndCompany.com, has a lot of layout of where we do our live events, where we do our systematic training called 100 Days to Greatness, and then ultimately, our coaching programs. And it’s a wonderful thing. We have, obviously, a number of mutual members where we have a number of BNI folks we’ve been able to kind of help get to the next level by coaching them one on one in an in-depth capacity.

We have kind of an unusual setup in that we have like a 90,000 square foot headquarters in Carlsbad in California where we have a highly skilled, trained staff of coaches that coach people one on one, a lot of Realtors, a lot of lenders, but we also have about 15 percent of our business is general market folks in many walks of life.

So we get a great opportunity to coach folks one on one in the systematic approach of generating leads, holding folks accountable, teaching them these systems, bringing them to our live events, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun to see people grow and prosper. And yours is an organization right now that’s doing very well and continues to prosper because of the value you provide, and then we try to do the same in the coaching side of the business in helping folks grow their business, run their business like a business, and then holding them accountable, and it seems to work very well.

Ivan:
Well, I’ve been to your facilities. I was very impressed. You have an amazing team there and a great operation. And I think it’s interesting that Priscilla, who’s our host on these shows.

Priscilla, you’ve been to Brian’s program.

Priscilla:
Yeah, I’m an active client. I get all his materials. I send them out. I did my first client party this year, and that’s something that Brian has been promoting and telling us to do forever and the coaches tell you to do. And I discovered why it’s so magical to do that, and I’m a great believer in that. I love his system.

Ivan:
Well, Brian, thank you so much for your comments.

Priscilla, I appreciate your endorsement, your testimonial.

We do testimonials in BNI, so it’s a perfect segue into this.

And listeners, if you have a chance, go to BuffiniAndCompany, that’s A-N-D, BuffiniAndCompany.com to take a look at what Brian and his team have put together. It’s one of the few training programs that I recommend in networking.

So Brian, thank you so much.

Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, great! Thank you both very much.

I’d just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

This week’s topic is the Classification Cowboy, illustrated by BNI member Dan Fletcher. View and download the slideshow in the next post.

A Classification Cowboy is someone who tries to take more than one profession within a chapter. If you try to take more than one classification in a chapter, you’re blocking the connections and referrals that can be brought to the chapter.

The best way to handle this is to address the problem before the person joins the chapter, rather than after accepting a person with multiple businesses as a member. A chapter with multiple attorneys with different specialties is much stronger than a chapter with someone who doubles as attorney and paralegal.

You can download the slides in the next post to show to your chapter.

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 164 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you today?

Ivan:
Well, this week, I am at the South African BNI conference. As you know, last week I did a little safari, which was amazing; done it before; this was my second visit to South Africa. It’s such a beautiful country, and this week I am at the BNI conference for the organization in South Africa. Amazing group of people.

And again, whenever I visit your region, please come up and introduce yourself to me and let me know that you’re listening to these podcasts. I’d love to meet you.

Priscilla:
That sounds wonderful!

So what do you have to share with us?

Ivan:
I have a fun topic this week. It’s Classification Cowboy. Now, there is a PowerPoint presentation or JPEGs that will be up this presentation, so I recommend that if you’re at the Web site, open it up; if not, download the PowerPoint. And if you’re listening to this from a mobile device, print out the PowerPoint presentation so that you can see the slides that I’m talking about.

The first one is a great slide drawn of a Classification Cowboy. And I’ve got to tell you that this was all done by a gentleman by the name of Dan Fletcher, Dan Fletcher, F-L-E-T-C-H-E-R, Dan Fletcher. Dan is a BNI member, of course, in the United Kingdom, and his Web site is CartoonBox.co.uk, CartoonBox.co.uk.

Dan put this all together on his own, and so I really wanted to thank him publicly, because he had seen problems with this whole concept of the Classification Cowboy, and he wanted to draw something that would identify it and describe it.

Now, for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a Classification Cowboy is somebody that tries to take more than one profession.

In the past, in the past, we’ve used the term “Classification Hog.” Don’t do that. As you might suspect, Priscilla, makes people mad when they’re called a Classification Hog. So it’s not a term that we’d recommend that you use, but we like this concept of Classification Cowboy, and the artist on this, Dan, has done a great job of drawing his description what it is. And in his second slide, he talks about while most people accept one person per profession, that’s the spirit and the rule of BNI, the Classification Cowboy doesn’t. The Classification Cowboy insists on two professions, sometimes more, and there’s a great picture of him, Priscilla, with a little bubble over his head saying, “I’m a sharp shooter,” and then another bubble that says, “I’m a rodeo rider” and trying to take more than one classification, that they block potential members from joining the chapters. They deny the chapter of the connections, and that’s what’s really important is that if you try to take two, three, four classifications in a chapter, you’re really blocking the number of connections that can be brought by individuals.

On the eighth slide, he’s got this great diagram of blocking all the referrals that could be brought to [the] chapter over the years if they allowed other people in those classifications. And the Classification Cowboy claims that it is his or her right, it’s their job to take as many classifications as possible, but the truth is, it’s, as Dan says, it’s just darn rustling. It’s taking from the BNI chapter, which is his slide number 10. And he says, “Watch out. If you see him, don’t let him get too big for his boots and don’t bring him into a BNI group.”

This is a great PowerPoint presentation. I would urge members to print this out, take it to their chapter. I would urge members, this is a great educational coordinator’s presentation. It’s only about a dozen slides long. You can do this very quickly in just a few minutes and show it to people. Of course, give Dan credit. His contact information is there on the last slide.

But it really addresses an issue that, I think, when chapters get it – and particularly membership committees, because it’s the membership committees that control the classification issue. And membership committees should have this thing in front of them when they’re looking at a classification that somebody is applying for. Because if somebody’s taking multiple classifications, it restricts the number of people that are going to be in the group. And if it restricts the number of people that are going to be in the group, I guarantee you it will restrict the amount of referrals that are passed.

But even more importantly, I have found that when people try to find ways to work together rather than to compete with each other, that a lot of business can be done. I have seen multiple chapters – I was shocked once when I went to a chapter that had five, Priscilla, five attorneys.

Priscilla:
We have four!

Ivan:
You have four attorneys in your chapter?! I think you and I have talked about this once. That was shocking to me when I first heard it.

But as I start to talk to these attorneys, they tell me they pass more business to each other than any one other person in the group. Has that been the experience in your chapter?

Priscilla:
Yeah, well, they have very distinct categories.

Ivan:
Yeah, and they’re working with each other.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
It’s amazing how that happens, and so if you can get people in there who say, “Hey, look, this is really my area of expertise”…

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that you break your profession up on those core elements. I wouldn’t even necessarily say that you have to have more than one attorney, but the truth is, if an attorney does wills and trusts and their expertise is not family law, then they’re really different.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
Family law is a lot different than wills and trusts. And if you’re focus is wills and trusts, bring in a family law attorney. That family law attorney will send wills and trusts to you, and you can send the family law to them. And you end up really becoming working together very closely.

But the ones that are really frustrating to me are the ones that are really clearly different professions. It’s many kudos to your chapter for having four attorneys. That’s wonderful, and that’s an outstanding example of what I’m talking about.

But there are professions where the professions really clearly are two different professions; they’re not the same thing. And people are trying to take both categories, and that’s where it’s critical that that be stopped. And membership committees be active in being responsible for insuring that people don’t take multiple classifications.

Priscilla:
Yeah, it’s a difficult topic, because people will get a little bit defensive around that issue.

Ivan:
They do; they do. And if your chapter can coach them and guide them, that helps. And when push comes to shove, see, you’ve got to do this before you accept them. Once you’ve accepted them, then you’ve got a problem.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
Especially if you’ve accepted them under multiple classifications. Then you have to deal with it again when it comes up for renewal, and that becomes an angry situation that you want to try to avoid if you can.

So as much as possible, active membership committees who can address this issue before the person is made a member [are] much more likely to be successful. And there’s nothing wrong with the membership committee saying, “No, really, this is the classification. We’ll accept this one or this one. Which one is what you focus most on?” And it’s better for a chapter to say, “No, thank you” than to take somebody who has multiple – somebody who’s a Classification Cowboy. In the long run, that’s the better decision to make.

Priscilla:
Yep, I totally agree with you. [It] makes for a much stronger chapter.

Ivan:
Absolutely!

So everybody listening to this, print out the PowerPoint or the slides that we’ll have with this podcast. Feel free to share this in your chapter. And if you have a second, Dan Fletcher’s e-mail is on the last page. Drop Dan an e-mail, thank him for his efforts, because he contributed this all on his own. To me, this is a classic example of Givers Gain. He spent a lot of time doing this because he thought it was an important issue. I want to personally thank Dan, and if you take a look at this, drop Dan a e-mail and thank him as well.

Priscilla:
Okay, great!

Ivan:
Thanks, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Dr. Misner.

I think that’s it for this week. I would just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Dr. Misner is recording this podcast early because he’s going on Safari in Africa this week.

Here are some suggestions on how to use social media effectively.

• If you have a social media expert in your chapter, talk to them.
• Schedule your time with social media and make it part of a strategy.
• Find the right social media for you. Facebook is not the only network.
• Respond to comments. Retweet. Social media is a dialog.
• Use non-productive time (when you don’t usually work) for online networking.
• Use tools like Ping.fm, HootSuite, and Seesmic to save time.
• Remember that V/C/P still applies. Building relationships on social media takes time.

Here are five common mistakes businesses make on social media:

1. Spending too much time on sites you enjoy without evaluating their value to you.
2. Visiting a site for work and getting distracted by interesting posts.
3. Not recognizing when it’s time to delegate certain social media responsibilities.
4. Not providing consistent fresh content on your blog.
5. Forgetting that social media is about engaging in a conversation, not about selling.

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 163 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you today?

Ivan:
Well, we’re recording this one a little bit early, Priscilla, because I’m completely out of touch with the world this week. I am in South Africa on safari, and I have no telephone this week, so we’ve recorded it a little bit early.

Priscilla:
That sounds fantastic! Will you come back and tell us what you saw?

Ivan:
I would love to do that.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
All right.

Priscilla:
What do you have to share with us about social networking?

Ivan:
This week I want to talk about the Dos and Don’ts of Social Networking, and I really, I think, learned a lot over the last year about social media. I’ve had on as a guest, Mirna Bard, who has helped me in developing my social media. And I wanted to talk a little about it, because, for me and BNI members, it’s not a either/or thing, it’s not face to face networking or social networking or social media; it’s both/and. I think they both work well together, and so I wanted to talk a little bit about that today.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
I think people have a tendency to get online sort of – and what I want to do is give suggestions or recommendations to members on how to use their social media effectively. The first thing is, if you have a social media expert in your chapter, talk to them, because these are experts, and run some of the ideas that I’m going to be talking about by them and get some ideas from them as well.

I think people have a tendency to get online at random times and just start clicking away, and that’s a mistake. You really have to schedule your time with social media. One of the things I discovered is that sometimes I’ll get online and I get onto my fan page, on Facebook, which leads me to some link on some other Facebook page. And then there’s a link to some other page that now I’m on LinkedIn, and then I click on that and now I’m on YouTube and I’m watching some video. And some crazy thing has happened to the space/time continuum, and two hours have gone by and I have nothing to show for it. And it’s really easy to fall victim into that trap. And so it’s very important to really, I think, have a schedule for your social media.

The key to successful social media is to outline a strategy which considers the amount of time you can realistically dedicate each day to your online marketing efforts. If you plan your activities and you use timesaving tools and you make sure your return on investment, your ROI, expectations are reasonable, now you’ll be in a good position to succeed in your social networking.

By the way, I’m not crazy about that term, “social networking.” It’s something that’s come out of the Internet and it’s an Internet phrase. When I talk about social networking, I’m not talking about networking for social purposes; I’m talking about networking online, so your online networking efforts.

The first thing is to find the social media that’s right for you. Everything that follows and what I’m going to say hinges on that point. And let me add that it’s not just about Facebook, although I dragged my feet getting into Facebook. I was really not a fan of getting into Facebook until I was at an event where somebody who I really respected – I respected his knowledge about social media – stood up and said, “You’re all idiots if you’re not on Facebook. That’s where your customers are.” When I heard him say that, I was like, “All right. I better look at Facebook.” And interestingly enough, in a fraction of the time, I have infinitely more followers now on Facebook than I do on LinkedIn and many other sites that I’ve been on. So it was a good move for me.

But it’s okay to concentrate on some other Web sites, depending on what business you’re in and who your target market is. And there are other social media outlets to focus on. You can’t do them all, but there are several that you should look at, like LinkedIn, which is really the classic business Web site; Ecademy.com, which is my personal favorite online business network, Ecademy.com; XING, which is mostly based in Europe, it’s spelled X-I-N-G, X-I-N-G.com. These are great. And of course, Twitter. Great sites to take a look at.

So plan ahead – planning ahead really makes you efficient in working these types of sites. Make out a weekly schedule that outlines the specific days and times you’ll spend on social media. Figure out what’s realistic, what makes sense for your company.

For example, here’s a sample weekly schedule. Every day post something in the morning, 9:00 a.m., maybe one at l:00 p.m., one at 5:00 p.m. Post two or three times a day. I mean, you may think, “I don’t have time to post two or three times a day.” Well, we’ll come back to that, because I have a recommendation that will help with that a lot. Schedule maybe Mondays and Wednesdays to do 10 minutes responding to comments and direct messages.

Remember, online social media is a dialogue; you can’t just be doing one-way communication, and this is a struggle for me, because I get so many comments and so many messages. But you know, it’s really important, as much as possible, to be engaged in the dialogue.

And then maybe Tuesdays and Thursdays you dedicate 10 minutes to re-Tweeting people’s comments and thanking people for mentioning them in your Tweets, if you’re on Twitter. But have a schedule and try to stick to it.

Here’s another idea. Use a non-productive time to do some of this, if you can. Have a schedule, but let’s say you’re behind and you need to do something. Don’t do it from 9:00 to 5:00 if that’s your most productive work time. If you’re at home and you’re sitting down and you’re watching American Idol or some version in your country of some entertainment show, pull out your laptop and do it while the TV is on. You can integrate that into non-productive work time and really get a fair amount done.

So these are just some examples.

Now, use some tools to save time. Remember, I said you can post at 9:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. Well, there are tools that will enable you to do that. For example, sites like Ping.fm, P-I-N-G.fm. You can get on there and with one message, send all your sites, send it to LinkedIn, XING, Facebook, Twitter. So you don’t have to log onto each and every one of them. There’s a new site called Hootsuite, H-O-O-T-S-U-I-T-E, that does that. Seesmic.com, S-E-E-S-M-I-C.com. These sites will enable you to literally make one message and send it out.

And schedule it. So for me, I’m in 24 different time zones. If I send out a message on Facebook or on Twitter at 12 noon my time, that’s midnight someplace else where I have BNI groups. And so I try to schedule them in the middle of the night, because middle of the night for me is the middle of the day for somebody else in BNI.

Priscilla:
Wow!

Ivan:
There are also Web sites like AtomKeep.com which will allow you to link multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts into one desktop application. Sites like CoTweet.com that will allow you to schedule updates like we’ve been talking about.

So the bottom line there is, leverage your time. There are techniques that will allow leverage your time so you don’t have to spend as much time, but yet you get better results.

Now, let’s talk about your return on investment expectations. Once you have a strategy in place, you’ll no doubt be anxious to start seeing a return on your social media investment. It’s important to remember one thing. Networking takes time. Rather than expecting to see a surge in sales, you should hope to see people interacting with your brand and with you. Building relationships with people and credibility for your brand doesn’t happen overnight. V/C/P still applies. This is about creating visibility and credibility before you start to get profitability.

Here are five, I’m going to give you five common mistakes that – I know we are running out of time. I’m going to give you five common mistakes that people in businesses make when it comes to social media.

One is spending too much time on sites you enjoy but are not fully evaluating whether or not that particular site is effective for you.

Second is visiting a site for work and then running down rabbit holes getting distracted by interesting posts.

The third is not recognizing when it’s time to delegate certain social media responsibilities to a consultant, an agency, or another person in-house possibly. For example, I use somebody who does all my Facebook requests, Friend requests. I try to respond to the specific questions myself, but the requests, I can give directions to one person and tell them the kind of people are okay or not okay and what to look for. I don’t have to do that all myself.

It’s important to set up a blog and then keep it populated, be consistent and provide fresh content. Just letting people know that you’re at Starbucks isn’t enough. Have some good content in there.

And don’t forget that social media is about engaging in the conversation. It’s not just about selling.

If you do these things, you will really be building a good social media side to your networking campaign, and I wish everybody luck in doing that.

Priscilla:
That’s some great information. I especially appreciate that you are offering the names of those sites where you can get multiple postings from one post.

Ivan:
Right. And I recommend them because we use them, my office uses them, I use them, and it’s something that’s been a value to us.

Priscilla:
Yeah. I’m going to look into that. Thank you so much.

Ivan:
Yeah, you bet. And just one last comment before we wrap up. Remember V/C/P still applies. You’ve got to establish visibility, then you’ve got to get that credibility with people. And only when you’re at credibility can you really expect to get any kind of business in your online networking. So it’s not a get rich quick scheme; it’s another venue for your networking efforts, but it’s one that can absolutely add to your efforts in BNI.

Priscilla:
Perfect. Well, thank you, Dr. Misner.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I think that’s it for this week. I’d just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Dr. Misner recently received an e-mail from someone who wanted to get the benefit of BNI without actually attending the weekly meetings. This is like wanting to win an Olympic medal without having to go through exhaustive physical training. None of us can do less and get the same results.

In the early days of BNI, experiments showed that chapters that met twice a month passed 52% fewer referrals than chapters that met once a week.

There is no lite version that gives you all the benefits with less work. Only BNI members who dedicate themselves to following BNI’s proven structure will achieve the optimum results and the maximum referrals. If you want to be a master of networking, “Don’t go into the lite.”

Additional meetings outside the regular chapter meeting can be beneficial, but once a week seems to be optimum.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 162 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great today, Priscilla, and I have, I think, a fun topic that I want to talk about.

Priscilla:
Okay, great, tell us!

Ivan:
BNI Lite Just Isn’t Right. I recently received an e-mail from someone who visited a number of BNI groups over several years, and he sent this idea, and he was so passionate about it. This is what he said, I’m quoting from his letter exactly, he said, “I am interested in how I can provide my extensive list of contacts to a local chapter without having to actually attend the weekly meetings. I mean, we could attend a meeting once in a while, maybe once a month while I still want to adopt the BNI ethos and the principles of such a well structured program. How do I do that?”

And his request got me thinking, and this is what I thought, “I would really love to win the Tour de France, but I’m really not a fan of the endless exertion involved in riding a bike. I always thought it would be amazing to win an Olympic medal, but the workouts and the conditioning really – is that really necessary?” I thought about being a medical doctor, and I thought that would be really interesting to be a medical doctor, but then I’d have to deal with the whole mess of blood and internal organs and like. I’m not really into that.

And then there’s my dream, I would love to be a military general. I mean, how cool would that be to be a general, but do I really have to do boot camp? I mean, is that really necessary? And here’s my favorite. I would love to – the coveted achievement of all. I would love to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I think winning would be amazing! It would be my crowning accomplishment. The only problem is that I’d have to require to actually have really change the world in some incredibly dynamic way and save a lot of people. So surely, there’s something a bit less demanding that I could do to win that prize.

If only wishing made it so, but it doesn’t. The simple truth is none of us can do less and get the same results. It just doesn’t work. And I have gotten this question really many, many times over the years. This was a very well articulated letter and very serious gentleman. “I’d like to get all of the things that I can get out of BNI, all of the results. I just don’t want to put in all of that regular work. Or I can’t put in all that regular work.” Can’t or won’t, either way, he’s not willing to do it, or not able to do it, and yet, would like the same kinds of results.

Well, I’m afraid it just doesn’t work that way. I wish it did. And listen, if somebody can figure out how to get all kinds of incredible results without having the do the hard work necessary, please tell me, because from what I’ve learned, the secrets of success without hard work is still a secret. You know, it’s not out there. It involves hard work.

I think BNI is the largest, most successful networking organization in the world because of its ethos, its principles, and yes, its well-structured, weekly meetings. If we start taking apart fundamental portions of the program and expect the same results, we’re fooling ourselves. It’s a little like taking a wing off a plane and trying to fly. I’ve never told anyone that the BNI program is easy; it isn’t. It does, however, work if you’re willing to work the program consistently. And that means, of course, actually showing up every week and applying the ideas and concepts that we talk about. It may be tempting for people to gravitate toward some BNI-like model, but there is no diet version of BNI that gives you all the benefits with less work. There is no diet version, or BNI Lite, version that gives you all the benefits with less work. Only BNI members who dedicate themselves to actively following BNI’s proven structure are the ones who achieve the optimum results and the maximum referrals.

So for all of those people who want to be masters of networking, take heed to the phrase that I’ve heard spoken to patients on episodes of ER when things are looking very grim – yes, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my life as an MD will have to be lived vicariously through TV shows, “Don’t go into the lite,” is my message to you people. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist that one. But don’t go into the lite. BNI lite is not BNI, and it never will be.

Priscilla:
Um-hmm. Great one! Have you ever thought about doing BNI more than once a week? Do you think that’s too much?

Ivan:
I’ve never thought about doing BNI more than once a week. I haven’t. I have, however, done BNI less than once a week. When we first started BNI, we tested a number of different things, one of which was meeting twice a month. And we started looking at the results, and we discovered that chapters that met twice a month passed 52 percent less referrals than groups that met every week. And it became very clear that those regular meetings really forced people to think about each other more, and they tend to, then, bring in more referrals.

So there was an absolute direct correlation between showing up on a regular basis, following the program and getting referrals. And so, although we haven’t done anything more than once a week, and I don’t think it’s necessary to do something more than once a week, we have – although let me come back to that in just a moment. We have tried less than once a week, and it’s never had the same results, ever.

But now, doing things more than once a week, there are some chapters who have meetings, like maybe Power Team meetings, during the month, and so they might meet twice in a month or they may have social activities once or twice in a month. So from that perspective, yeah, additional meetings other than their normal BNI meeting are a one-to-one dance card with members. You know, those are additional meetings. So those kinds of meetings, yes, absolutely. But a regular BNI meeting, I think once is the optimum number.

Priscilla:
Um-hmm, I think you’re right.

Well, that’s great information. Thank you so much.

Ivan:
Thanks, Priscilla.

So just remember everyone, stay out of the lite; don’t go into the lite.

Priscilla:
Okay, great.

Ivan:
Thanks.

Priscilla:
All right. Well, I think that’s it for this week, and I would just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.