May 2011 Archives - The Official BNI Podcast

Episode 206: “You Never Know Who They Know”

May 25th, 2011

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Synopsis

It would probably surprise you to know about some of the influential people that some of your fellow BNI members know. Don’t assume that just because someone works in an unrelated industry, that person isn’t a referral source for you. It doesn’t take a corporate executive to connect you with a corporate executive. Members of your chapter have connections through their family, friends, and hobbies, as well as their clients and colleagues.

Never overlook the networking possibilities of an event or a possible BNI member, no matter what kind of event it is or how unlikely it seems. The dentist, the cosmetic salesperson, the gardener, may be the biggest source of referrals in your chapter.

If you have a story about someone walking away from business—or unexpectedly getting business—because they didn’t realize who another person knew, post it to the comments here.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

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Episode 205: “Business Index Q1 2011”

May 18th, 2011

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Synopsis

The BNI Business Index is one of BNI’s marketing tools.

Almost 1,500 business people participated in the survey – people from every populated continent around the world – and the results indicate that, overall, the global economic state is improving. 69.4% of the respondents for the first quarter of 2011 feel that business is growing or growing substantially (compared to this time last year). This number has increased since the prior BNI Business Index Survey which was conducted during the last quarter of 2010 – respondents to this same question at that time weighed in at 67.8%.

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are those of the people surveyed, not of BNI itself. Some topics in the BNI Business Index could be considered political, but it’s still a good idea to avoid politics in BNI meetings.

Hop on over to BNIBusinessIndex.com and take a look at the rest of the results.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

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Published In: The Economy
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Discussion: 4 Comments

Episode 204: “BNI’s Multi-Touch Marketing”

May 11th, 2011

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Synopsis

A BNI member suggested to Dr. Misner that BNI wasn’t doing any marketing. If you look at the following slide, you’ll see that BNI actually markets itself through a multitude of channels such as

Referrals!
SuccessNet Online
BNIPodcast.com
BusinessNetworking.com
BNI-Facebook Group, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Xing (plus more)
Traditional Media (radio, magazines, papers, press releases)
AskIvanMisner.com
BNIBusinessIndex.com
Videos
Books & CDs
Online Educational Programs
- yourBusinessChannel.com
- AskJim.biz
- NetworkingNow.com
BNIFoundation.org
International Networking Week
Articles and Author Mentoring
BNI Websites (News Briefs & RSS Feed)
BNI Connect (Online “Social Network”)

click to enlarge

Brought to you by Networking Now.

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Published In: Marketing
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Discussion: 3 Comments

Episode 203: “The Rest of the Story”

May 4th, 2011

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Synopsis

The title of today’s podcast comes from the late Paul Harvey’s radio broadcast. It’s “the rest of the story” about Ivan Misner and the founding of BNI.

When Ivan was six, his family moved from Pittsburgh to south-central LA. He wanted to be a lawyer, but couldn’t afford to attend a four-year private college, even with scholarships. He went first to a community college and then to a state school. He was accepted to law school, but realized he didn’t want to be a lawyer and went to graduate school in management instead. At the age of 24, he was supervising 500 people for the Census Bureau…making $16,000 a year.

This cured him of any desire to work for the government, and before long he set up his own consulting practice. Speaking and referrals were his main source of business. He created BNI in order to grow his own business. At the time, he didn’t have a clear vision of where he wanted to go professionally. Like most successful entrepreneurs, he’s bounced around a little bit.

Anyone can achieve success. But don’t just do what you think you should do. Do what you love. If you don’t do what you love, you won’t love what you do. And since you need persistence and commitment to succeed, it helps to have that passion.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

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Published In: History of BNI | Ivan Misner
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Discussion: 11 Comments