Synopsis -
In this episode, Dr. Misner discusses:

Visiting Regional BNI Events In Scandinavia

Why He’s Working To Meet As Many Members As Possible

Unusual Professions Represented In European Chapters

How You Can Visit BNI Chapters Worldwide

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 003 -

Frank Felker:
Hello everybody and welcome back the the official BNI podcast. I am Frank Felker in Washington DC joined on the phone by Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner, who is continuing his European tour. How’s your travel schedule treating you Ivan? Any jet lag?

Dr. Ivan Misner:
No, not much jet lag. They just don’t let me sleep, so jet lag is not an issue.

Frank:
Yeah, I guess with you going so quickly from presentation to presentation, sleep is probably not on your agenda.

Ivan:
No, not right now. I just had an opportunity to go all through Scandinavia last week. It was a tremendous visit. I went to a number of countries and many different cities I had not been to before. I had a chance to go to Copenhagen in Denmark, Malmo in Sweden, Vaxjo- for those of you whom I mispronounce the name of your city, I apologize in advance. Eskilstuna and Stockholm, Oslo, Norway and Goteburg. It was a whirlwind travel over Scandinavia.

Frank:
Are you traveling primarily by train, automobile, airplane?

Ivan:
It was like the movie. Planes, trains and automobiles. We literally took all three to get around the country. It was myself and Gunnar Selheden, who is the national director for Scandinavia and has done a tremendous job of opening up in the neighborhood of 80 chapters throughout the region.

Frank:
So you are going to regional events as opposed to individual chapter meetings just because obviously you can’t come out to every individual chapter meeting and still get in front of enough people. How many people are coming to these regional events to see you?

Ivan:
Throughout all of Scandinavia, we spoke personally to over 1000 people in four and a half days.

Frank:
You have been busy!

Ivan:
We have been busy. If I hit a different region, not a different chapter but a region, of BNI every other week all year long, it would take about 10 years to get to all of the regions in the organization. When I have an opportunity to visit a country or neighboring country, I try to catch as many as possible.

I think there is something special about the founder of an organization like this meeting people. This is a networking organization- a face-to-face networking organization, so making that contact with people directly is very important to me, It is something I like to do. For those people listening to this podcast, if I have an opportunity to visit your region, take a little time and come visit. Make sure and introduce yourself to me. Let me know you heard these podcasts. I definitely want to meet as many BNI members as possible.

Frank:
One thing I am curious about, Ivan, is the individual members of the BNI chapters in the countries that you have been visiting. At least in my experience with BNI here in Washington DC, we generally have a real estate agent, a mortgage person, an executive coach, a financial planner. There are certain industries that are always represented from one chapter to the next. What is the case with European chapters?

Ivan:
Interestingly enough, it is very much the same in terms of those professions. There are some professions that might not exist in a country. For example, a real estate agent doesn’t exist in all countries. In some countries, it is an attorney who actually does the transactions for real estate. So there are some professions that aren’t in all countries. But for the most part, all of the professions that you just named are in all the chapters that I go to all over the world.

However, some countries really do a great job of bringing in what many people, myself included, consider to be unusual professions- professions that I haven’t seen as much in the U.S. and through other nations. The Scandinavians have definitely done this very well. They have gotten businesses that are not real common to BNI in some countries that are very active there.

Frank:
Can you give me some examples?

Ivan:
I will give you a few. One that I met was a textile manufacturing company. They manufacture clothing. They don’t sell to members directly. A referral to a textile manufacturer is a referral to a distributor, somebody who would distribute the products to retailers. It is the very kind of profession that I say you don’t usually see in BNI, a wholesale distributor. Here was a manufacturer who sells to wholesale distributors. You don’t usually see that.

Here is one that just completely shocked me. I had never seen one like it. A machine shop. It was really funny because when I spoke to this woman and she told me she had a machine shop, when I was a management consultant, the very year I started BNI, my biggest client was a machine shop. I said, “ So is it CNC and Davenport equipment that is made?”

She said, “Oh my goodness! You know what a machine shop does!”

“Yeah I do and I can’t believe you are a member of BNI!” Referrals for her are people who are manufacturing metal products. They need to put together equipment or they need to sell it separately. She originally got into BNI as an accountant, representing her accounting business. Then she was hired as the managing director of this fairly large machine shop. She decided that she loved BNI so much that she wanted to continue to stay in it, so she represents the machine shop. It was very, very interesting.

Frank:
That is interesting in that she understood the power of BNI. It doesn’t necessarily come from direct referrals just from one member to another doing business with each other. You know, I know a guy who manufactures something out of metal who could use your service, or I know a guy who has a trade association that you could probably promote your business through. It is amazing to me as I learn the power and the various layers of the onion of benefits of BNI membership. The referrals often come from secondary and tertiary relationships and right out of the woodwork sometimes from places your would never anticipate.

Ivan:
That is very true. We are all standing in the middle of referrals. They are all around us. We just have to learn how to listen for them. As we learn to listen for them, there is no reason why we can’t refer a machine shop just as easily as some other business. It is really amazing to see what they have done in Sweden.

They have a World Wildlife Federation which is an active member of a chapter. They have a sports stadium. I have seen a few of these in the U.S., but not a lot. They do marketing and sales and promotion for big events and games, of course.

Here is an unusual one: a wine distributor. I have seen wine sales people where they sell direct, but this was a wine distributor that would sell only to wholesalers in Norway. It is illegal to sell direct for him, so he couldn’t sell his wines to a member, but a member could refer him to a restaurant, liquor store or distributor of some kind. He sells his wines through them and he says it has been great. He has gotten a lot of referrals and has done well.

Frank:
He sounds like a great guy to do a 1-on-1 with.

Ivan:
Preferably at his office, and at five o’clock he’ll crack open a bottle of wine. He didn’t say anything about being able to pour a little for people. I am guessing he may be able to do that.

Frank:
That is great. It sounds fascinating. How is your energy level?

Ivan:
It is incredible. Oftentimes, members only see the tip of the iceberg at their chapter. We have the opportunity to go out and visit chapters. It is very exciting. I urge BNI members all over the world. If you have a chance to drop in and visit another chapter, do it. First of all, they roll out the red carpet for members from around the world. Call them in advance. Let them know you are coming.

If you don’t know who to call, go to BNI.com or your national BNI website and look for the names of the directors in other countries. You can get that from BNI.com by going to “Find a Chapter”. Find a director in that country. Tell them you are from another country and that that you would like to visit one of their chapters. Ask for one of the best chapters in that area and visit it.

They will roll out the red carpet. You will have a blast. It may even be a different language, but do you know what is great? You will know exactly what is happening throughout the meeting even though it is in a different language. I urge members to go to these.

Frank:
That is fascinating. We are just about out of time. Is there any last pearl of wisdom that you would like to share with the listeners this week?

Ivan:
Different countries, different cultures, different races, different religions, different people, different places- we all speak the language of referrals. This program absolutely works worldwide because it is based on one key philosophy and this is givers gain. By giving people business, you will get business from people. That transcends our cultural differences. My tour throughout Europe absolutely proves that it is true, not only in the U.S., but worldwide.

Frank:
I am certainly enjoying your trip vicariously through these phone calls. I appreciate you taking the time to call in. I know you have to run to do one of your many presentations in just a few minutes.

Ivan:
Yes, I do. As a matter of fact, it started five minutes ago, so I need to run.

Frank:
Okay. For Dr. Ivan Misner, I am Frank Felker saying we will see you next week on the official BNI podcast.