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Synopsis

This week Melinda McNeely and Mary Alice Griffin from the Golden Triangle Referral Group in Texas join Dr. Misner to share their experiences with the BNI Fast Track Program from del Fuego.

Here are some of the results the Golden Triangle chapter got from the 12-week Fast Track Program:

• Average number of referrals per week increased from 43 to 74
• Before Fast Track, 10 members were making 65% of the referrals. Now 96% of the members make at least one referral per week.
• Quality of referrals has increased.
• Accountability has increased.
• The number of members bringing visitors is increasing.
• Member report cards were an important part of this process.
• “VCP” and “Wind Sprints” are now staples in the chapter’s vocabulary.

To learn more about the BNI Fast Track program, listen to Episode 108: Quantum Chapter Growth. You can order the CDs for your own chapter at www.delfuego.com/bni or find a Fast Track coach.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 121 -

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 am 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, Priscilla, and I have a couple of guests with me today on this podcast. They are Melinda and Mary Alice. Melinda is a chapter president of one of our groups, and Mary Alice is the education coordinator.

Melinda, what chapter are you with?

Melinda:
The Golden Triangle Referral Group in Beaumont, Texas.

Ivan:
Beaumont, Texas. My wife was born in Texas. There is something funny about that, the people born in Texas; it is like a country all to their own. She loves Texas, everything in Texas. I am up in Big Bear right now, and I have a pool table in my game room, and the billiard balls are a Texas Star. So you know she is a Texan when the cue ball is a Texas Star.

Texas is a great state, and we have Mary Alice here from the same chapter, right?

Mary Alice:
Yes, sir.

Ivan:
Great. You are a part of one of the first two groups that did the Fast Track Program for BNI Networking Secrets. And that is what we are going to be talking about today. Now that some time has passed since you first started the program in February of this year, what are some of the ongoing results for your chapter? Why don’t we start with Mary Alice.

Mary Alice:
Well, one of the most significant things that we have learned dong the Fast Track Program is that it is not what you expect but what you inspect that gets results. When we first started our benchmarking, members showed that we were averaging about 43 referrals per week, and after implementing the 12 week curriculum that reinforced the Networking Secrets, we improved our average number of referrals to 74 a week. Also, another important thing to note is that we had ten members that were doing about 65 percent of the referrals, and now, based on 96 percent of the group passing an average of at least one referral per week, the distribution of performance is much more balanced.

So we found that is it easier for everyone to do a little work rather than a few people to do most of the work. That is why our group is now much more productive and much more energized.

Ivan:
That is amazing, 43 to 74! That is 70 percent.

Mary Alice:
Yes, sir.

Ivan:
In what period of time?

Mary Alice:
It was the 12 week curriculum that Sarah and Flynn from del Fuego put together. We used the three, the Standard Learning, the BNI Nuggets, and the BNI Jeopardy game to reinforce the learning of the CDs.

Ivan:
I have done a podcast or two with them, so in this podcast, we will make sure to have a link to the other podcasts or two that I have done with them so people can go back and listen to that.

You said something I think is really key here. It is not what you expect but what you inspect that gets results. I think a lot of chapters really either forget that or they don’t understand that. It is the things that you focus on that are going to be where you have your results. That is clearly what has happened in your chapter.

Mary Alice:
Yes, sir. We actually started a new initiative today looking at visitors and how many visitors we have all invited individually since the beginning of the year. The numbers were quite shocking. That is our new initiative. Using the same principles that we tracked the referral piece, we are now using that to do visitors to improve our chapter size as well as, obviously, the referrals and the business that we are going to be getting.

Ivan:
Sure. And of course, the larger chapter, there is a direct relationship between the size of the chapter and the amount of referrals. No matter how good the chapter is at generating referrals, chapters that are great at generating referrals when they bring in new members, their referrals go up proportionately.

Chapters that are marginal at bringing in referrals but increase their number of visitors, their referrals go up proportionately. Wherever you are at in terms of the referrals development process, new members bring up the average number of chapters. Well, not the average, but the total number of referrals in the chapter. It is an important topic.

One suggestion for all the chapters out there that are focusing on bringing in visitors, just a warm body isn’t a qualified visitor. It is really important to bring in people that would be prospective members into the group, and that is what makes a good visitor. I am sure your chapter is focusing on that already.

Mary Alice:
Yes, sir.

Ivan:
Melinda, what are your thoughts about growth in your chapter in the last few months?

Melinda:
Well, just to reiterate, of course, the biggest result we have seen is an increase in quality referrals, which is a direct result of the information on Networking Secret CDs and accountability. It is all about accountability.

Ivan:
Yes, it really is about accountability. I wrote an article a few years back now, well, more than ten years back, called “Accountability and Friendship, the Paradox That Every Member Should Know.” It is at the Archives of Success, and I think it is May/June 1996 or 1997. It is really about accountability.

One of the strengths of a BNI group is that all the members are friends, but one of the weaknesses of a BNI group is that all of the members are friends, or many of the members are friends. It is both a strength and weakness.

The weakness is that friends don’t like to hold friends accountable, but chapters that really focus on accountability in the Networking Secrets 12 week program certainly do that, and it makes a real difference in the group.

Melinda:
Yes, it does.

Ivan:
Mary Alice, what is the role of the education coordinator, and how does the Fast Track Program really impact your role?

Melinda:
I am either the education coordinator or the coach of the chapter. In order to motivate people, you must help them understand or give them knowledge about the task at hand. I believe the key reason BNI works is because it is a performance driven organization. That is why it is extremely important to individualize targeted performance.

We believe, obviously, the chapter report cards are great, but an individual member report card is better. That is what we use when we track the 12 weeks of curriculum. There are many areas of performance that can be targeted for this type of coaching, like referrals, and now we are working on visitors one to one. Wherever you see that your chapter needs to grow, this method can be applied and used to motivate and improve performance for all the chapter. We did that with the Fast Track Program, and the expectations were clearly defined by a stretch objective. We shared information; we discussed information and, obviously, laughed when we celebrated our success. Without the celebration, you don’t know that you are really being successful.

I believe the Fast Track Program was a turning point for the education coordinator’s role. Again, like I said, we have already begun implementing and looking at areas of improvement utilizing the same principles that we did for the Fast Track Program.

Ivan:
How did the CDs and the curriculum work hand in hand with what you did in your chapter?

Melinda:
The Networking Secrets CDs presented a challenge and gave our members an opportunity to increase their knowledge of BNI while being recognized as top performers. The CDs are easy to listen to, and they can be reviewed at a member’s convenience, in the car, office, home. Also while insuring that all the members received and were listening to the Networking Secrets CDs, our leadership supportive efforts of the education coordinator. In coordination with the curriculum from Flynn and Sarah, our education coordinator was able to successfully implement a 12 week tracking system to hold members accountable for the number of referrals submitted. It is a win-win situation. Today, VCP is a staple in our vocabulary.

Ivan:
I was just going to ask you that. Do you find that your chapter is dialoguing with similar phrases and concepts so that they are all talking about the same thing and focusing on the same thing?

Mary Alice:
Yes, they are, and to hear people spit out VCP like they are making a CD is phenomenal. I absolutely love it, that and Windsprint. We all think we are professionals there. We love it. Before the BNI Networking Secrets, we came to BNI individually, and now we come as a team.

Ivan:
Oh, I love that. I love that. That is excellent. You came to BNI individually, and now you come to the meetings as a team. That is powerful.

Any other thoughts before we wrap up?

Mary Alice:
I would just like to say the three types of curriculum, The Standard Learning, The Nuggets, and The BNI Jeopardy game that Flynn and Sarah gave us were really helpful in making this fun and interesting because it reinforced the learning from the CDs. And because each chapter is unique and they have unique members and personalities, it allowed us to customize, if you will, what we did to make our group better. Every chapter can take that and customize it to what works in their chapter. The variety obviously helped us to do a better job of it and reinforce the learning of the CDs.

Ivan:
Well, excellent. The CDs we are talking about are the CDs produced by del Fuego, Sarah and Flynn are the owners of del Fuego, and they have really gone out of their way to help produce material for BNI that is outstanding.

For the members listening to this podcast, if you would like information on how your chapter can do the Fast Track Program, go to delfuego.com/BNI. That is delfuego.com/BNI, and you can get information on how you can do the Fast Track Program.

I love doing podcasts with BNI members. I definitely want to do more. Melinda, Mary Alice, you guys are pros. You did a great job on the podcast, and I really appreciate your efforts in your chapter. You have made a difference for a lot of people, and I appreciate what you do, and I thank you very much.

Mary Alice:
Thank you.

Melinda:
Thank you.

Ivan:
Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, thank you, Dr. Misner. That was very, very interesting.

I just want 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.