Episode 257: Making the Most of Your Membership

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Synopsis

Lawrence Conyers from the BNI Prince Bishop chapter in the UK joins Dr. Misner today to share some points from the educational videos he created for his BNI group. Lawrence decided to set the example for his chapter to do better one-to-ones. He created a video demonstrating bad and good One-to-Ones, then went on to make one for Power Teams. He takes all these roles in both videos. There’s a third video he made with his whole chapter on How to Pass Referrals. You can see them all in the next post.

1. If you engage with the material for the educational slots, you’ll have a lot more success.
2. Being proactive in your BNI membership makes all the difference to getting referrals.
3. Use your own backgrounds and strengths. Lawrence was a video producer, so he made videos.

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Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 257 -

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 am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla. Thank you very much. I have Lawrence Conyers with me. Lawrence is a BNI member, and I am really excited to have him on. I think once you hear some of his background, you’ll understand why. Lawrence has always been involved with the creative media industry. He initially worked for large global companies like PWC. He did work in museum and attraction design. He’s done over 100 stage production credits while performing and directing local theater. He joined BNI in early 2009 after being invited by a web designer. So he has been a member now for a few years. He set up a small business in the north of England in some of the toughest economic times.

I met Lawrence as a result of him winning the International Conference chapter videos. Lawrence did what has to be by far the best video I have ever seen. What I love about this video- we’ll have a link to it in this podcast. You have to go watch it so you can just see how when I tlk about keeping the fun in the fundamentals, these guys did it. It was really funny. So that link will be in here. But Lawrence has done two other videos and those links will also be in here. He has done a video on one to ones and how to do a good one to one. And he has done a video on power teams. You can really see his acting background and his sense of humor. Lawrence, it’s a real pleasure to have you on this podcast today.

Lawrence:
It’s been my pleasure. Thank you for letting me join you. It’s been a real honor.

Ivan:
Thanks a lot. Make sure to speak up real loud so everyone can hear you. There are three things that you wanted to talk about for being a member of BNI. I think this is great because you are a member. You are out in the field. The members are mostly the ones who listen to this, of course BNI Directors too, but members are listening to this. From the member’s perspective, you had three points that you wanted to make as to advice you can give members. What are those three points?

Lawrence:
I was looking at spending some time with you in Long Beach having this conversation. A lot of what you said really sunk in. I was thinking about this on the flight home.

Ivan:
Can I just say it was a result of you winning the contest to come to the conference and part of it was a one to one. I was very pleased to be able to do that with you. So you came back home.

Lawrence:
It was so effective, and I was thinking on the way home that we’re just not doing this right. We’re not doing one to ones effectively. We’re not getting the benefit for our membership, and we’re not generating referrals. We’re not receiving referrals. At the time, I was even questioning whether to stay in BNI or not. It just wasn’t worthwhile.

I thought what am I doing wrong? It’s got to be on me. I can’t blame anyone else. Am I talking to the wrong people? Am I doing it the wrong way? And you said something about most of us are sitting on a goldmine and we haven’t even bought a shovel.

That resonated, and I thought, right, let’s do this properly. I had better set the example here and our one to ones six months ago were little more than conversation about our businesses. The whole point of BNI is to generate and receive referrals. That’s what it’s all about. Get more business. We just weren’t doing that. I thought the two main areas where we were lacking were at the chapter and me, myself as a member, not doing one to ones properly and not building a power team.

Ivan:
So what did you do? Now, you did these videos. Again, if you are listening to this podcast, you have to come to the website if you downloaded this. You have to go back to the website and find these URLs because I am telling you they are some of the best videos about one to ones and power teams. They are funny as can be. Very entertaining. Tell us in a nutshell, what were some of the key points in the one to one video that you wanted to get across.

Lawrence:
The main thing was if you want them to learn to do something, you ask them to teach somebody else. So I volunteered to do the answer on how to do a one to one properly. I thought I might as well do it on video, seeing that is what I do. I create videos. So I created a video on how to do a one to one. I couldn’t afford an actor. I had no budget, so I thought I’ll do it myself. So it went from there and developed into a character and into a short film. It was so well received and got the message across so well and it got seen by so many people. I thought, alright, I am going to do exactly the same for the power teams video and take it to the next level.

Ivan:
Before you go to power teams, which I want to go to next. For one to ones, basically, for the listeners, you’re doing a one to one with yourself. It is brilliant, absolutely brilliant because it’s seamless. It looks like there are two of you sitting in the room having the conversation and doing the one to one. Very, very well done. It’s a good example of some of the things that you want to do in a good one to one.I think you were going to jump into the power team now.

Lawrence:
It’s the same principle. Once I realized that this was funny, and above all, memorable- the whole point of this was to get people to remember it and act on it. And get it played everywhere, because members can really benefit from doing the one to ones this way. Once I realized how effective that was, I thought I am not even going to bother trying to get an actor in to do this one. I am just going to do it myself the same way.

Ivan:
And you did. There was a third character in both videos, I think. What was that character’s name?

Lawrence:
Somebody came up with the concept of Cup of Tea, a bit of a convoluted acronym. Completely useless pointless odious forgetful time-wasting exercise about nothing, which is what most of our one to ones actually were. I thought I’ve got to bring in this cup of tea and I have to use it somehow. So Ms. Jones was invented.

Ivan:
And who is Ms. Jones in the video?

Lawrence:
Ms. Jones is me.

Ivan:
I’m telling you- I had so much fun watching this. These videos are really short, just a few minutes long each, right?

Lawrence:
Just a couple of minutes each. They work perfectly as an intro.

Ivan:
Yeah. So here’s the thing. I want members to hear this podcast and to realize that what Lawrence did was he took a few suggestions and just ran with it. If you can take what we are trying to teach in BNI and do half of what Lawrence has done with the recommendations and suggestions that we have given him and what’s there in the chapter, and just run with it- engage. Fully immerse and engage in this material. You are going to have a lot more success.

Lawrence, do you see your chapter moving in the right direction in terms of being more successful now?

Lawrence:
Not just the chapter but myself. Just a couple months ago, I was at a point where I was questioning whether to stay in BNI. That was kind of surprising. Now, you would have to drag me kicking and screaming from it. You really would. Now, I am being proactive in my membership rather than passive. That makes a huge difference. That is a joy when you find somebody a top referral. That’s incredible.

Ivan:
Yeah. You talk about being proactive. People are going to watch these videos and go, I can’t do that. I think how I would take that is you have to be proactive as it applies to your own business and the things that you’re good at. This is Lawrence’s field so it’s real natural for him to be able to do the videos. That is the way that he became proactive. So the real question is how can you as a member listening to this podcast- how can you become proactive and implement some of the things that we do in BNI including these videos?

Lawrence, do you have any closing remarks or thoughts about engaging as a member in BNI?

Lawrence:
If I can make it work, anybody can make it work. That is just about it. I was a second rate member in a second rate chapter, and if I can turn it around, then boy, anybody can.

Ivan:
Well, based on what I’ve seen, not only in the work you do but from having the opportunity to spend an hour or more with you are the conference, you are anything but second rate. You’re first rate in my book- not only your skill as a video production company, but you as an individual and certainly as a member. I really appreciate what you have done, Lawrence. Could you share with everybody your website, so they know where they can get more information about you? Not just these videos that we are talking about but you.

Lawrence:
My company website is www.ansoncorporatemedia.co.uk.

Ivan:
Do you want to repeat that one more time for me?

Lawrence:
ansoncorporatemedia.co.uk

Ivan:
Great. Lawerence, thank you so much. And I know I have said it several times but you have got to go watch these videos, particularly the one to one and the power teams. You will not only be entertained but you will learn some things on how to do a good video. Share it. Share it, share it, share it with your fellow members. Lawrence, thank you so much. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Perfect. Okay, well thank you. I can hardly wait to go see the videos. I am going to definitely share them with my chapter. Thank you, Lawrence.

Lawrence:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I think that’s 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 so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you will join is next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Watch the Cup of Tea videos here.