Synopsis -
In This Episode, Dr. Misner Speaks with Georgia BNI Executive Director Amy Kirkpatrick About An Article She Wrote For SuccessNet That Describes 20 Behaviors That Might Indicate You Are A BNI Member:

Ivan Saw Amy’s Article And Loved It

Amy Based Her Piece on Jeff Foxworthy’s Famous Routine “You Might Be A Redneck If…”

The Podcast Didn’t Allow Time To List All 20 Ways

The Entire List Can Be Read And Printed Out from The September 2007 Edition of SuccessNet

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 021 -

Frank Felker:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the official BNI podcast, brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Frank Felker in Washington DC joined on the phone today by Founder and Chairman of BNI Dr. Ivan Misner, calling in from BNI headquarters in sunny southern California. I understand you have a special guest on the line with us today, Ivan.

Ivan Misner:
I do, Frank, thank you. Her name is Amy Kilpatrick. She is a BNI Executive Director in Augusta, Georgia and she’s here with us. Good morning.

Amy Kilpatrick:
Good morning.

Ivan:
It is good to have you on board. The reason I have invited Amy- it was one of those things where I was sitting down and thinking about this podcast. I read some material that just went into the September 2007 issue of SuccessNet. I was laughing so hard when I read this material that I just had to connect with Amy and ask her to join me on this podcast.

Amy wrote a piece that you can find in the September 2007 issue of SuccessNet called “You Might Be a BNI Member If…” Some of this stuff is really funny and we’re going to walk through some of it right now. I have to ask you Amy- I’m guessing this came from Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck If…”

Amy:
It did. It was one of those things where I was sitting down and I kept thinking — you know they just run through your mind. It definitely came from Jeff Foxworthy.

Ivan:
Now for our listeners who are around the world, a little over 30% of our members worldwide are outside the United States. For those outside the United States, Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian in the United States that has a whole stand up act on you might be a redneck if… He also has a book on that. We did a little variation or I should say that Amy did a little variation called You Might Be a BNI Member If….Its covers some of those, Amy. I think our listeners will enjoy it. Let’s start with the first one. You might be at BNI member if…

Amy:
You sit down when your oven timer goes off.

Ivan:
Thatt was the one that caught me right there. That was hysterical. Now tell me Amy, you haven’t ever done that have you?

Amy:
No I haven’t. What happened was I was at a BNI meeting and a cash register dinger kept going off and I kept thinking that the tavern needed to work on their timer person. That is where that came from.

Ivan:
Good stuff. The next one is that you might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
Your personal address book looks like the yellow pages.

Ivan:
I love that. That is hysterical. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
Your family and friends call you instead of 411.

Ivan:
Isn’t that awesome? Even Frank liked that one. I love it. I think it is hysterical. Now, 411 I think is an international code for information. If not, for those around the world, when you need information in North America, you pick up the phone and you dial 411. At BNI, your friends call you instead of information. We’re going to skip ahead a couple to the eighth one. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
You practice your 60 seconds and the mirror.

Ivan:
OK. Now the follow-up one is what makes that one really funny. What is the follow-up to that?

Amy:
You time yourself practicing your 60 seconds in front of the mirror.

Ivan:
So you not only do your 60 seconds in front of the mirror, you’re timing yourself at the same time. I love it. You know I think almost all of us are guilty of it to some extent. If you don’t practice your 60 second presentation, it’s not going to be as good as it could be. Okay the next one. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
A group of business people are working to increase the number of pink slips they are given out in a single day.

Ivan:
What I liked about that is that appeal to the slip is kind of a double meaning because pink slips in the United States is often a term used to get fired. It’s kind of funny to talk about a group of business people trying to increase the number of pink slips that they get. You usually don’t want a pink slip. Okay, the next one. You might be a BNI member give…

Amy:
You recognize that white really means green. Again that goes back to those referrals slips.

Ivan:
Right. The top of the referrals slip is white and it really means green. Of course in the United States, we refer to currency as greenbacks so it is a good example there. All right the next one. You might be a BNI number if…

Amy:
You are eating lunch with your top sales rep and they don’t even work for your company.

Ivan:
I like that one. I love that one. I think that is right on the mark and a great example of this list. All right. Let’s go to your next one. It is number thirteen on your list. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
You start missing your fellow members while you are on vacation.

Ivan:
That is good stuff. Do the next one. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
If you look down your client list and it looks like you’re BNI roster.

Ivan:
I love that. I love that. I think anyone in BNI for any length of time has probably had that experience. Sixteenth on your list is that you might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
If you go to dinner and you don’t sit down for the first fifteen minutes.

Ivan:
That is good stuff. Open networking for the next fifteen minutes. Good. Okay number eighteen. You might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
If you say I need a good hook and it has nothing to do with fishing.

Ivan:
And you are referring to memory hooks. A memory hook is something in your mind’s eye that enables you to envision some product or service. Do you have a really good memory hook Amy? Or do you know somebody in your chapter who has a really good memory hook?

Amy:
Yes. In our chapter, the hooks have become the joke. Actually we had a member that was a member for over two years and at every meeting he came up with a different hook. His hook ended up being that he had a unique one every single week. That has probably been my favorite example of how the memory hooks have worked.

Ivan:
One of my favorites the really made me started thinking about and start writing about it was a dentist I saw in a group that once stood up and raised his right hand as though he were taking the oath of office and he said I am a dentist. I believe in the thooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth, so help me God. Everybody clearly remember who he was. On your list. Let’s see. Number nineteen on your list, you might be a BNI member if…

Amy:
You can write off lunch with 40 of your friends as if it was a business expense.

Ivan:
I love that one. That’s good stuff. Of course, always talk to your account before writing off anything. I think that’s awesome and clearly BNI is a business event. And your last one on you might be a BNI member, number twenty.

Amy:
If you look around the room and you see a bunch of givers gaining.

Ivan:
This is a great list and I really appreciate you putting it together. How long did it take you to write this?

Amy:
I got it done in one night.

Ivan:
You were just inspired one night and sat down?

Amy:
My area thinks I never sleep. That’s just one of those nights and something popped into my head and I decided to write it down.

Ivan:
This is awesome stuff. And how do you use it in your chapter? Did you print it out and pass it around and how do you recommend other chapters use it?

Amy:
I think it’s one of those things that as a director or regional director or even a president, you have to motivate your chapter members and some of the best chapters that I have seen have humor and they laugh a lot. It’s actually being introduced in this area at leadership training next week. So we’re actually going to use it just to put laughter in the chapter. If you have been in BNI for a long time you can identify with several these things that we’ve listed out here. It is just a camaraderie type thing.

Ivan:
Amy, thank you very much for sharing it with me. We shared about fourteen of the twenty that you have on your list and for the listeners who want to see the entire list, certainly the fourteen will be listed in the archive as well as on this podcast, and you can see the entire list on SuccessNet September, 2007. Amy, thank you again for sharing this with us. Frank, back to you.

Frank:
Thank you again also, Amy. I enjoyed it very much. Well, that’s it for this week. For Dr. Ivan Misner and Amy Kilpatrick, I am Frank Felker saying we’ll see you next week on the official BNI podcast.