Episode 174: “Givers or Takers in BNI”

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Synopsis

This week Frederick Marcoux, national director of BNI Australia joins Dr. Misner. Since Frederick took over as director, BNI Australia has grown by 50% and the close of business had doubled.

Most BNI members Frederick encounters are givers, but recently someone complained to him that there were takers everywhere in BNI. Frederick’s response was that our job is to show the takers the benefits of becoming a giver.

One exercise that helps demonstrate this is the “Hot Potato.” This is a follow up to the Classification Cowboy slides we discussed in Episode 164. Givers in BNI pass referrals to each other like a hot potato. (Watch for the Hot Potato PowerPoint in a future issue of BNI SuccessNet.)

The takers often drop out of BNI because they aren’t successful. People recognize them for what they are and don’t pass business to them. But if the group can turn a taker into a giver, that’s a better outcome.

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Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 174 -

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 who do you have with us today?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla. Thanks for the introduction. I have a good friend and a National Director on the line with us, Frederick Marcoux. Frederick has been with BNI now as a National Director for over three years. He is a National Director for BNI Australia.

In that time, he has helped grow the organization there in that country by over 50%. That is just huge. We now have over 5,000 members in over 220 chapters in Australia, and I am really pleased to have Frederick here on the line. He is a true professional and a great example of a BNI Director. Frederick, welcome to the podcast!

Frederick:
Thank you, Ivan. It’s a real pleasure to be here with you today.

Ivan:
You know, you go around Australia and you see givers and takers, and that is the topic here today. I love this concept that you and I have talked about. Givers and takers- talk about that. Tell me a little bit about what you mean when you say that there are givers and there are takers in the organization.

Frederick:
I go around Australia all the time and I see a lot of givers. There are a lot of examples of givers. In our results, BNI has grown 50% and what really, really makes me happy is that in that time, our closed business has doubled. It has gone up by 100%. This tells me that we have a lot more successful chapters in Australia now, and they are focused on finding givers.

Ivan:
You bring up a really important statistic, and I have seen this over and over again when you see growth of a chapter. You may have growth as you described, of 50%, but the referrals go up 100%. Or in your case, the closed business goes up 100%. That is just amazing to me, and it’s not an uncommon statistic. Anyway, I interrupted you. Go ahead.

Frederick:
Recently, I had a member who was a bit upset and came to me with some concerns. His big thing was that there were takers everywhere in BNI. I said to myself, hold on, that just doesn’t fit with what I see. So I thought to myself, what kind of response am I going to give to that?

I thought it over and the next day I gave him a call. I said, “Look, of course there are takers in BNI!” He just went silent on me. How could you say that, Frederick? This is Givers Gain. This is BNI. I said, “Of course there are takers. There are takers everywhere and in BNI, our job is to take the takers and help them along and see what the benefits are of becoming a giver.”

Ivan:
I like that. I think I may have mentioned that in a previous podcast. I talked to a director in North Dakota, I think it was. He said he had a brand new member join in a core group and at the end of the core group, this guy in his 60′s was sitting in the back of the room. Everybody left and the Director came up to him and he said, “Do you have a question? Is everything okay?”

He said, “You know what? I just had an epiphany. I am in my 60s and have been in business a long time. Do you know what BNI is all about? It’s about taking off your bib and putting on your apron.”

He said, “What do you mean?”

He said, “It’s not about just eating. It’s not just about getting. It’s about helping other people.”

I thought that was a great metaphor. It’s about taking off your bib and putting on an apron. Don’t you think?

Frederick:
Absolutely. In BNI in Australia, and I am sure all over the world, we are more and more trying to think of great ways of doing that, of helping people understand what it is all about. Recently, we have come up with a hot potato. Dan Fletcher and I- I got to know Dan because he gave BNI The Classification Cowboy, and that was part of one of your podcasts a few weeks ago. I hooked up with Dan and I wanted to illustrate the BNI accountability framework, how members need to do the right thing by each other. I wanted to illustrate also the power teams.

So we have come up with this Hot Potato. We tried it this week and it was a huge success. Basically, there is a wedding planner and a new couple comes in. The wedding planner sees people come in, and all she sees are referrals. It’s a PowerPoint. It’s humorous. There are illustrations. There is an activity. We have been using that in Australia successfully this week, and I think we are going to launch it.

Ivan:
I have seen your draft of this and I love it. It’s about giving. It’s about the jeweler, or I think the florist is the first one you said. And passing that to the jewelery designer. The jewelery designer passes that to the bridal shop, right? Do you want to tell the rest of it?

Frederick:
Well, I don’t want to say too much about it. Essentially, that is what it is. It is designed to educate people about doing the wrong thing. There is something that happens at the end, where the Potato is sent to someone who isn’t a BNI member and what happens to the Hot Potato then.

Ivan:
Right, which is sort of indicative of somebody who might be a taker. We have talked about this. We are probably going to put this PowerPoint in a future issue of Success Notes. So if you are listening to this podcast, keep your eyes open for Success Notes and we’ll make sure and put it in there.

You know, you can’t stop takers from joining BNI. The world is full of takers. So what do you do with that, Frederick? What is your response to that?

Frederick:
My response is see what you want to see. There are takers out there. They are all over the place. You can focus on that and get really upset, or you can focus on the givers and move forward, practice Givers Gain and through example, get the takers to understand what it is all about.

Ivan:
Absolutely. I think what you are talking about is really important to keep in mind when screening new members. I think oftentimes the only test we give a new member is the mirror test- you stick a mirror up under their nose, and if it fogs up, you’re in. We’ll take you.

I think you have to be a little more selective, and part of that selectivity really starts with people bringing in people with the right attitude. You know, it’s much better to bring in somebody you know into BNI. If you know that they are a contributor, a giver, that they are willing to help others, then you know that you most likely have the right person.

I think the whole process of looking at givers and takers begins with the screening process. But I think it also ends with a strong membership committee because if you get somebody who is just a taker, you don’t want them to stay in a group, either.

Frederick:
This month we have been doing a lot of Leisure Team training. We have been really reinforcing this to Membership Committees. This is an interview. We don’t want just anyone in BNI, so you know, we have to be very selective because if we have a taker in there- well, they come in and sometimes it’s hard work. Sometimes it’s not, but sometimes it’s hard work.

Ivan:
Right. We do want to be selective- selective for the right reasons. Not based on race, religion, color, sex. Based on quality, business, professionalism and attitude. I think those are really important. Priscilla, you wanted to add something.

Priscilla:
I just wanted to say that in my chapter, what I noticed is that the takers are often not successful in the chapter and they often drop out on their own because people don’t respond to them. They don’t do any giving. As a result, people don’t give them anything. They end up dissatisfied and they leave. That is what I have discovered.

Ivan:
I think you are right. And Frederick, I think you are right that you have to recognize that the world is full of takers as well. I remember talking to a BNI member once on this very subject, and he said, “A taker is going to join BNI, and they’re going to be there just to take.”

I said, “If you are worried about whether a taker is ever going to join your chapter, don’t. They will. You just have to be prepared to deal with it when you see it.” Those are the people who are not going to stay in the group, and you don’t want to keep them in the group.

People like that come in your life and out of your life. You want to focus on building the relationships with the people are also willing to help and support you. We are just about out of time, Frederick. Any closing comments on this?

Frederick:
I would just like to wrap it up by saying it is regrettable, but we need to face the fact that there are takers out there and sometimes they will get into BNI. Turning takers into givers is a challenge for a BNI chapter. This can only be accomplished by patiently giving, educating on the benefits of givin, providing recognition and praise when the correct behavior is demonstrated, and recognizing that sometimes we are just going to have to open the category.

Ivan:
Yeah. There is a really good question that I suggest membership committees give when they have somebody doesn’t seem to be supportive. That is to ask the person, “How can we help you bring more referrals?” Or to bring more visitors, or whatever the question is. How can we help you? Listen to their answer because the answer always separates between a giver and a taker.

Really quickly, their answer will always be a can’t do or a won’t do. They will either tell you why they can’t do it, like they don’t know how and they need help. (“I am struggling with this. I don’t know how to bring in referrals.”) Those aren’t takers. Those are people who just don’t get it. When you say turning the takers into givers is a challenge, but it has to be accomplished through educating them. That is where you can educate people, the people who don’t know how but they are willing.

It’s the won’t do’s that are the takers. They are the ones who aren’t going to do it, and they won’t do it. Those are the people that you need to move along out of the chapter. Don’t you agree?

Frederick:
Oh absolutely. The can’t do or won’t do- it’s one of the two.

Ivan:
When you ask them that question (How can we help you bring in more referrals?), their answer will either be a can’t do answer or a won’t do answer, and that will tell you whether they are a giver or a taker.

Listen, Frederick, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. I really appreciate everything you do in Australia. You have turned around Australia. It is a class operation, very professional and really building. I want to thank you for everything you do there and thank you for your information here today in today’s podcast.

Frederick:
Thank you, Ivan. I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity. It’s been great, and we’re having fun out here!

Ivan:
Awesome. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, thank you so much, both of you. That is it for this week. 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. Thank you for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.