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My BNI Chapter, The Fortune Builders, hosted out annual visitor's day event this week. This is a great opportunity for each of my member partners to invite other non-competitive professionals to experience the BNI process. Its also our single largest recruiting opportunity during the calendar year.
This year I volunteered to be one of the Event Coordinators along with my colleague Joann Pitteloud, an exceptional business coach from Accomplishment Coaching in San Diego. Joann & I received complete training from the BNI directors on how to guide and coordinate the chapter during a 6 week promotional period, culminating in an event that this year produced 55 visitors and so far about 10 applications for membership. Not bad for a chapter of only 25 professionals.
I learned from studying Jim Rohn that sales is an essential skill to possess if you want to be successful in business. Jim also teaches that if you want to really increase your success and income, you should become a master of promotion. It makes perfect sense if you consider the power of leveraging larger numbers of people to get your message delivered.
Over the years, I've been involved with promotions for ranging from filling a living room to filling a banquet hall at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. One thing that I have come to rely on is something that BNI calls "The Rule of Halves."
For a membership drive, the results looks something like this:
25 people agree to send 40 invitations to an event to their database of contacts. (25 X 40 = 1000 invitations)
With consistent follow up (minimum of 3 calls) to each recipient of the invitation:
* 1000 X 1/2 agree to attend = 500
*
500 X 1/2 actually attend = 250
*
250 X 1/2 take membership application = 125
*
125 X 1/2 turn in the app = 62
*
62 X 1/2 members accepted = 31 (3% Close Ratio)
The great thing about a referral organization like BNI is that once those 31 new members attend training, the chapter begins to receive a tremendous ROI for its efforts. Consider that each new member knows at least 25 people. That means that each member of the chapter has the potential to extend their contact sphere by 7750 people. Even if each member, only realizes a (1/2%) penetration into that potential contact sphere, it would result in 38 new deals or transactions over the next 1-2 years. The numbers are staggering if you drill deeper than the initial Tier 2 referral to the 250 people that those 38 new clients or customers know.
This year I volunteered to be one of the Event Coordinators along with my colleague Joann Pitteloud, an exceptional business coach from Accomplishment Coaching in San Diego. Joann & I received complete training from the BNI directors on how to guide and coordinate the chapter during a 6 week promotional period, culminating in an event that this year produced 55 visitors and so far about 10 applications for membership. Not bad for a chapter of only 25 professionals.
I learned from studying Jim Rohn that sales is an essential skill to possess if you want to be successful in business. Jim also teaches that if you want to really increase your success and income, you should become a master of promotion. It makes perfect sense if you consider the power of leveraging larger numbers of people to get your message delivered.
Over the years, I've been involved with promotions for ranging from filling a living room to filling a banquet hall at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. One thing that I have come to rely on is something that BNI calls "The Rule of Halves."
For a membership drive, the results looks something like this:
25 people agree to send 40 invitations to an event to their database of contacts. (25 X 40 = 1000 invitations)
With consistent follow up (minimum of 3 calls) to each recipient of the invitation:
* 1000 X 1/2 agree to attend = 500
*
500 X 1/2 actually attend = 250
*
250 X 1/2 take membership application = 125
*
125 X 1/2 turn in the app = 62
*
62 X 1/2 members accepted = 31 (3% Close Ratio)
The great thing about a referral organization like BNI is that once those 31 new members attend training, the chapter begins to receive a tremendous ROI for its efforts. Consider that each new member knows at least 25 people. That means that each member of the chapter has the potential to extend their contact sphere by 7750 people. Even if each member, only realizes a (1/2%) penetration into that potential contact sphere, it would result in 38 new deals or transactions over the next 1-2 years. The numbers are staggering if you drill deeper than the initial Tier 2 referral to the 250 people that those 38 new clients or customers know.
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Attended a Chamber of Commerce mixer, business breakfast or lunch meeting recently?Regularly? Consistently? If you are an avid net "work"er, you have.
How do you get the most from a Networking event? But, have you ever felt like you were settling into a rut with your existing fellow networking contacts? Do you ever feel that you are getting too familiar or social with your business networking partners? I may have few tips to maximize your time and investment.
When visiting a new networking group for the 1st time:
1. Bring plenty of business cards and a pen.
2. You will inevitably be introduced to the President or Director of the group. She/He knows everybody!!! Drop & swap a business card.
3. After you sufficiently spend some time asking them about their family, professional, and personal interests, I recommend that you have a SHORT commercial with memory hook (about your business) ready so that you can clearly communicate your profession and target market.
4. Write a few notes on the back of their business card summarizing their interests. This can be elaborated on later when you return to your office and enter their contact information into your customer relationship management (CRM) system. The better your notes, the better your chances of becoming a great referral source for them and the more fertile the soil for cultivating a healthy business relationship that may last for years to come.
5. Then, after the rapport is established, ask the Director who the most important person for you meet at this meeting.
6. Repeat Steps 1 - 4 with the person you are introduced to and move onto the next introduction.
7. Set a goal to drop & swap at least 5 cards before and after the meeting. After 5-6 weeks, you will have met everyone.
Remember that one of the keys to growing your business is to consistently attend meetings and contribute to the group.
How do you get the most from a Networking event? But, have you ever felt like you were settling into a rut with your existing fellow networking contacts? Do you ever feel that you are getting too familiar or social with your business networking partners? I may have few tips to maximize your time and investment.
When visiting a new networking group for the 1st time:
1. Bring plenty of business cards and a pen.
2. You will inevitably be introduced to the President or Director of the group. She/He knows everybody!!! Drop & swap a business card.
3. After you sufficiently spend some time asking them about their family, professional, and personal interests, I recommend that you have a SHORT commercial with memory hook (about your business) ready so that you can clearly communicate your profession and target market.
4. Write a few notes on the back of their business card summarizing their interests. This can be elaborated on later when you return to your office and enter their contact information into your customer relationship management (CRM) system. The better your notes, the better your chances of becoming a great referral source for them and the more fertile the soil for cultivating a healthy business relationship that may last for years to come.
5. Then, after the rapport is established, ask the Director who the most important person for you meet at this meeting.
6. Repeat Steps 1 - 4 with the person you are introduced to and move onto the next introduction.
7. Set a goal to drop & swap at least 5 cards before and after the meeting. After 5-6 weeks, you will have met everyone.
Remember that one of the keys to growing your business is to consistently attend meetings and contribute to the group.
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Tuesday is one of my favorite days of the week. I have my morning BNI Fortune Builder networking breakfast at 6:30AM and it gives me two full hours to network with some of San Diego's top business professionals.One of the best methods for home-based and small business professionals to make contacts and form business relationships with potential referral partners is through networking organizations like BNI, Le Tip, Leads Club, or the local Chamber of Commerce. You can Google any of these organizations and source volumes of information.
What makes BNI unique among the many network organizations & meetings available today is the training provided to members to ensure that they get the most from their membership. I also like the fact that only one person from each profession is represented. So, if you are the Residential Realtor, you are the only one in the room. Once you have established visibility and credibility, you are positioned to receive referrals and profits.
Here are a summary of the benefits which can be found at BNI:
* Increased exposure to many other people and businesses.
* Substantially increased referrals.
* Tools to network more effectively, including an orientation cassette tape giving the "Formula for Success" in BNI, a badge, a vinyl card holder to carry members' business cards, referral slips, marketing materials for your chapter and much, much more.
* Participation in up to 52 networking meetings per year.
* Quarterly newsletters with educational material on networking, public speaking, and business.
* Participation in business trade shows (where you'll have an opportunity to market your chapter and your business).
* Free periodic workshops on networking.
* And much, much more!!
One of the things that has always intrigued me about BNI, is Dr. Ivan Misner's "Givers Gain" philosophy. Simply stated, your level of contribution to the chapter and your fellow members will determine your level of success. I also recommend checking out Wikipedia page for Dr. Misner.After almost 2 years in BNI, what I have personally experienced is this:
* I control how well BNI works for me
* When I "Give" at <50%, I receive a little or no Return on Investment ROI
* When I am 95% plus, BNI begins to generate substantial ROI
* It only takes about 8-10 key power team members for me to start getting the kind of referrals, testimonials, and business that justifies my investment of time and money
* I also have a theory that some of the BNI Fortune Builders are going to create extremely success businesses and the wealth that comes along with that. With this progression comes a larger and more affluent sphere of influence.
Networking is an integral part of the referral process. If you are thinking about joining any organization, the best advice I was given was to consider first what YOU believe YOU could bring to the group. The rest would take care of itself.
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