Episode 269: You Might Be in BNI If…

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Synopsis

Brian Silverio from BNI Miami Beach joins Dr. Misner to share his humorous signs that you might be a BNI member.

You might be a BNI member if…

• You understand that a Dance Card doesn’t involve any dancing.
• You wake up before the paper gets to your home.
• You ever woke up in the night in a cold sweat because you didn’t have a referral for someone.
• You’ve eaten more lunches with your region’s executive director than your own spouse.
• You stop talking mid-sentence when you hear a bell ring.
• Your mom tells you she needs your help and you start thinking of ways to make a referral out of it.
• You limit what your children can say at the dinner table to one of three things.
• On December 24th, you tell your children the story of Ivan Misner and how he created BNI.
• You think the term “Traffic Lights” applies to something besides the highway code.
• You hear the phrase “Visitors’ Day” and you don’t think about going to see your uncle in prison.
• You hear the name BNI Trusted Source, BNI Creators, BNI Revival, or BNI Pioneers, and you don’t think of a cult.
• You’ve rescheduled a doctor’s appointment because of a BNI meeting.
• You’ve dropped your kids off at school early so you could get to your chapter meeting on time.
• You’re part of an organization with over 6200 chapters, 145,000+ members in almost 50 different countries, passing over 6.9 million referrals, resulting in $3.1 billion in business–you’re definitely in BNI.

If you liked this podcast, check out Episode 21, which contained Amy Kirkpatrick’s “You Might Be a BNI Member If” list.

Brought to you by Networking  Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 269 -

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 doing?

Ivan:
I am doing great and I have a guest today. Brian Silverio is my guest today. Brian is a BNI member. He’s an attorney and has been an attorney for over 13 years. He is practicing law in southern Florida and has offices in Miami and Naples. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and NOVA Southeastern University. He specializes in the area of family law and commercial litigation. He has been a BNI member for 10 years. He has served as President and in various roles in the membership committee throughout that time. He is currently an Ambassador in the Miami Dade region, and he has also served as the MC for a member chapter event for the last three years, which is the reason that I have him on this podcast.

I head so many great things about your MC’ing, Brian. I really heard amazing things. I am a horrible MC, by the way. I feel that I am a reasonably good speaker, but when I was in college, my professor came up to me after I did an MC stint. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Son, stick to speaking. You are not an MC.” I have taken that advice over the years. It’s really difficult to do, but you nailed it from what I understand. You nailed it because in between- and this is what we are going to share today- you did this whole series on “You Might Be in BNI If…” and you had some funny stuff. So today’s podcast is going to be funny, everyone. I think you will enjoy this. Brian, tell us a little bit about this and then I think you have 12 or 15 different things that you are going to share with everybody.

Brian:
Yes, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. It was a great experience MC’ing the Membership Appreciation chapter events. It’s a once a year thing where we can come out and kind of celebrate the chapters. It was a good time, and to add a little levity to the event always makes the time go by faster, so I have a couple that I’ll start with that went over pretty well.
If you understand that a dance card with someone doesn’t involve any dancing at all, you might be in BNI.
If you wake up before the paper gets to your home, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
Give them a chance to process that, Brian, because this is good stuff. If you wake up before the paper gets to your home, you might be in BNI. I love that one.

Brian:
Most people have to get out the door. You figure it’s a 7:00 a.m. meeting. If they live a little further away, they get up at 5:00 in the morning and the paper’s not there yet.

This is one of my favorite ones dealing with referrals and coming to the table with something of quality: If you ever woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because you didn’t have a referral for someone, you might be in BNI. We’re always trying to please somebody and givers gain is being paid back. Did I do enough this week to get it done, you know?
If you have eaten more lunches with your Executive Director than your spouse, you realize you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
I love it. Alright.

Brian:
A lot of the chapters in our region are growing. So time is a factor. If you stop talking mid-sentence in your normal conversations when you hear a bell ring, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
That’s perfect. You are absolutely right. Okay, what else?

Brian:
If your mom tells you she needs you and you start thinking of ways to make a referral out of it, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to me. My mom, my dad, my family. Absolutely. I think every BNI member can relate to that one. I think I can get a referral out of this. Great. I was a little bit light this week.

Brian:
This next one goes to our time issue. You kind of want to make sure that at the end of the meeting, you are really just focusing on a couple of things to do and not just going off on tangents. If you limit what your children can say at the dinner table to one of three things, you might be in BNI. Referral, testimonial or something you did for the group that week.

This one really went over well. I used it toward the end. I’ll say it now. If on December 24th, you tell your children the story of Ivan Misner and how he created BNI rather than Twas the Night Before Christmas, you might be in BNI. That one got the most.

If you think the term “traffic lights” has another purpose besides traffic control, you also might be in BNI.

Ivan:
Too funny. Most of our countries do have the traffic light program. There are a couple of countries that don’t have it yet. But over time, all of the countries will be coming on board with that. So if you have no idea what we are talking about, talk to your Director and find out when you will be having the traffic lights.

Brian:
That’s a great measuring stick, and you can really focus on a region and make sure we do things the right way.

If you hear the phrase “Visitors Day” and you don’t think of visiting your uncle in prison, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
Okay, that’s good. Now, this concept comes from Jeff Foxworthy and his whole thing, “You Might Be a Redneck” right?

Brian:
That’s right. Yes.

Ivan:
Alright. Good stuff. Go ahead.

Brian:
These are, by the way, based on different chapter names that we have in our region: If you think of BNI Trusted Source, BNI Creators, BNI Revival, BNI Superior, BNI Circle of Trust or BNI Pioneers and you don’t think of a cult, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
Now, the cult thing, I used to really get annoyed when people would say that because we are a business organization. Before we went on with this podcast, you said you kind of understand it because everyone is thinking alike in the sense of givers gain and helping and supporting each other. You can see where people would think what is this where everybody is trying to help each other? Yeah? So I think there is that feeling out there sometimes. I believe I may have mentioned this on a previous podcast, but this is going to give, Brian, absolute evidence that BNI is not a cult. Would you like to hear it?

Brian:
What is that, Dr. Misner?

Ivan:
If it were a cult, everyone would do what I tell them to do- and they don’t. They don’t follow the program. So if it were a cult, they would do that. Now, we have a lot of business people who have their own opinion on things and they think for themselves. That is good, and they have chosen to support one another. If that looks like a cult, so be it, but it’s really about helping other people. That kind of “cult, “ I think, is good. What’s the next one?

Brian:
If you have ever rescheduled a doctor’s appointment because of a BNI meeting, you might be in BNI. I’ve done it myself. I’ve done it myself.

If you have ever dropped your kids off at school early so you could make your chapter meeting on time, you might be in BNI.

Ivan:
I love it.

Brian:
The last one, I ended on this one: If you are part of an organization that has over 6200 chapters, 145,000+ member in almost 50 different countries, passing over 6.9 million referrals, resulting in 3.1 billion dollars in business, you are definitely in BNI.

Ivan:
Yes, you are. Those were the numbers as of the end of 2011. Now, in 2012, they continue to go up every single year. Brian, this was really great stuff. It’s very funny. If you liked Brian’s material, a similar podcast that was done back in 2007 with different content and different statements that was done by Amy Kilpatrick is episode 21. So go back and listen to episode 21. I would urge you to take some of these and share then at your next chapter meeting. The ones today were written by Brian Silverio. Give him credit, a BNI member and attorney in Florida.

Brian, great stuff. Any last comments that you have before we wrap up?

Brian:
I’ve been in BNI for 10 years because it works. I am happy to be here, and I am glad I was able to share what I came up with for the region and now beyond. Thanks for the opportunity. I appreciate it.

Ivan:
Thank you, and we just put out a newsletter on SuccessNet and put an article out there on why BNI. They talk about the value proposition. Ironically, we had an attorney who said, “I’m a member. Does it work for lawyers?” It was very gratifying to see several attorneys get on and say, “Yes. It works but you just have to give it time because it’s a profession where people have to really trust you before they refer business to you.” Would you agree that trust is important in any profession, but particularly in professions like an attorney?

Brian:
Absolutely. Any time you are handing over money in these types of things, like litigation, and you are putting sometimes your business or in the case of a family lawyer, your marriage, into the hands of another person, you need the utmost trust. That just doesn’t happen simply because you join any networking group. It needs to grow and it needs to develop. BNI enchances that and enables you to develop that relationship. That’s where you are able to do it and that’s why it works for lawyers. WE have 10+ lawyers in our group in Miami Beach.

Ivan:
You have 10+ lawyers in your chapter?

Brian:
Yes, 10 lawyers. The key to it is no one is really from a large megafirm, so everyone is working together. We stay in our lanes. No one wants to jump out and do ten different categories of law. We know that. Because lawyers focus on their area of the law, their expertise, they flourish. They don’t need to do a little bit of everything to pay the bills.

Ivan:
That’s absolutely an approach of scarcity. I have seen it work very, very well. I haven’t seen it with 10 in one chapter. That’s really amazing. Brian, we are out of time. Thanks for being on this podcast. I really appreciate it.

Brian:
Thanks for having me. All the best.

Ivan:
Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay. I just have to say we have three lawyers in our chapter and that works great. But 10- that’s a record right there! I think that’s it for this week. Thank you so much, Dr. Misner and Brian. It was great to have you on the show. I would just like to remind the listeners that this. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.