Today Linda Macedonio, Executive Director of BNI Rhode Island/SE Mass, joins Dr. Misner to explain why bigger is better for your BNI chapter.

In one region of Massachusetts, the average of the top 5 chapters was over 50 members and the average business generated per member was $34,000. The average size of the  bottom 5 chapters was 19 members and the average amount of money generated per member was 12,000.

Chapters that double their size consistently triple the number of  referrals in their group.

So why does this work? It has to do with the 80/20 rule.

Chapters with fewer than 25 members spend 80% of their time inviting and recruiting new members just to stay alive and only 20% on building relationships and passing referrals. Groups with more than 25 members can spend 80% of their time on passing referrals.

Larger chapters also have more and stronger power teams, so one referral can go to multiple people.

Let us know how much business your chapter is generating and how big it is.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 239 -

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. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. This week, I am in Hawaii, visiting the BNI region here and doing a presentation for the new book that came out. We have with us a guest from the other side of the country. She is from Rhode Island. Her name is Linda Macedonio. Linda, welcome to the podcast today.

Linda:
Thank you very much.

Ivan:
Linda has been an Executive Director in Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 1998. She became involved in BNI as a member first. Almost all Directors were members first. She was representing her bookkeeping business. She currently oversees about 60 chapters and 1500 members. Over the years, BNI has helped her overcome her shyness. Linda is very nervous for this. She was a contributing author to Masters of Networking. If you have a copy of that book, she did the shy bookkeeper piece in that book. She’s also a contributing author to Masters of Sales. Linda really enjoys helping people in BNI and helping them achieve success. She is a great Director for the organization.

Linda, welcome to the podcast. You have an interesting topic. Bigger is better. Do you care to explain that to everybody?

Linda:
I would be happy to. As BNI Directors, oftentimes, we are talking to chapters and to members about growing their chapter. Sometimes we actually get feedback where they think we want them to grow the chapter to help BNI and this presentation was actually designed by Reed Morgan in Tennessee. It makes the point that when a chapter is larger, it is helping the members more than it is helping BNI as a whole.

What we did is we ran some number showing the financial return on investments for the members and kind of showing them by numbers that it is a numbers game and that bigger really is better.

Ivan:
You have some numbers that you are going to share with everybody, right?

Linda:
I do. I want to clarify that even though we talk about the chapter and the numbers, it’s never sacrificing the quality of the membership and the system just for the sake of a larger chapter.

Ivan:
Listen, you bring up a really good point. It’s not just about the number of people, the number of warm bodies, but quality people. You have to be focused on bringing in quality members into the organization. Otherwise these numbers don’t hold up, unless you are talking about quality people.

Linda:
Absolutely. We share that information as well. We do have some data from a few regions. One particular region, looking from the top 5 chapters and looking at the bottom 5 chapters of that region. The average of the top 5 was over 50 members per chapter. It was about 18 or 19 members in the smaller chapter. The difference in the amount of money generated per member per year is tripled. It’s under $12,000 per year for a member in the smaller chapters for the money that they are making compared to almost $34,000 per member per year in the larger chapters.

Ivan:
Let’s just recap that for everybody. I think it is important for people to hear this. This is a region in Massachusetts where they top five chapters in that region, a big area, the average number of members is about 50 members per chapter. They were tracking the amount of business they got, and they tracked that the average amount of business per member was almost $34,000. The bottom five chapters in that same region averaged about 18.5 members, and their average was under $12,000 per member. It was almost 3 times difference, certainly over two times the difference between the top five chapters and the bottom five chapters.

I think that is probably indicative of many regions. I think in your region, the numbers are similar, at least twice the amount of business is generated in a group that has 30-40 members compared to a group that is around 15 members. Is that your experience?

Linda:
It has been. There is another statistic with that regarding visitors. In the larger chapters, they have about 2.5 times the number of visitors come to their chapter. That is additional exposure for the member. Visitors will oftentimes make referrals of themselves or others. I think that also contributes to the amount of money that the members are making.

Ivan:
This has been a consistent number from the beginning of the organization, that chapters double their size from 15 to 30 will triple the amount of referrals that are generated in the group. That is a pretty consistent number over the years. Having dollar numbers to go with it, like you have done, and Patty tracking in Boston and Reed tracking his numbers, I think just gives credence to what we are saying in that bigger truly is better, as long as the bigger is quality members. Yeah?

Linda:
That’s true.

Ivan:
You have a few reasons why you think this works. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Linda:
I do. I think most people have heard of the 80/20 rule. This actually can apply in this case as well. Typically chapters that are under 25 members will spend about 80% of their time on inviting and recruiting and in some cases, just for the chapter to stay alive. Then only 20% of the time is spent passing referrals. To flip that, chapters that are over 25 spend about 80% on building the relationship, passing the referrals, generating the dollars and 20% of the time on inviting or recruiting.

Ivan:
That makes sense to me.

Linda:
Yeah, I think that kind of speaks volumes in where the focus is depending on the size of the chapter. Another piece with that is the contact spheres, it really does make everything easier for generating referrals and business. Again, bigger is better in that regard.

Ivan:
For contact spheres, we use the terms, both contact spheres and power teams in BNI. Contact spheres is a group of professionals who have a symbiotic relationship with each other, just for the listeners, in case you don’t know- like a lawyer, an accountant, a financial planner. They all refer business to each other. Contact spheres is the group of professionals who could potentially be symbiotic to you.

The power teams are the groups of business professionals that you have a relationship with. Within BNI, you are going to have a formed power team. The point I think you are trying to make, Linda, is the more power teams you have in a group, the more successful that chapter is going to be in generating referrals. Correct?

Linda:
Correct. We have actually noticed that it seems that probably close to 70% of the business that is being done in a chapter, especially with the stronger contact spheres and power teams, are coming from within their own power team or contact sphere.

Ivan:
You know, one of the reasons for this is that sometimes one referral can be for two people. If you have a really strong power team, and you’re talking about a wedding power team, if somebody comes in with a referral for somebody who is getting married, that may be able to go to the caterer, the florist, the photographer. It might go to two or three people. Sometimes one referral can go to two, three or four people. The stronger your chapter, the bigger the group, the more likely you are to have power teams that are bigger, where one referral can go to multiple people. That is one of the reasons why you see that. There is a real logical reason for the increase in the amount of business generated.

Linda:
Absolutely. That is exactly what we found. It comes down to working smarter, not harder, and that there is strength in numbers.

Ivan:
Listen, I think you have given a pretty compelling argument on the return of investment, what’s in it for a member to bring a chapter up. We talked about groups of 30, 40 or 50 members. It’s really at 20 members where there seems to be a critical mass point, where things start to come together. When you get groups that are around 30 or 40 members, that’s when the numbers begin to almost grow exponentially. Would you not agree?

Linda:
I would agree. One way to look at it as well is every member is attending a 90 minute meeting. Would you rather make $12,000 or $34,000?

Ivan:
I think most people would rather make $34,000. No doubt about it. Groups that have that size membership are definitely doing that. This is really helpful information, Linda. Is there anything that you would like to add before we wrap up?

Linda:
No, I think we have pretty much covered everything. I appreciate you having me on the podcast.

Ivan:
Listen, it’s my pleasure having you on. You’re a great Director for the organization and I think you are one of those classic examples of somebody who has come into BNI and was nervous about standing up and doing presentations, as you were. Yes?

Linda:
You knew me when.

Ivan:
And you now stand up and do public presentations at BNI conferences. You have done this podcast. It’s one of the things that I really love about BNI. You see people who develop a skill set that maybe a few years ago, they didn’t think they would ever want to or could do. I think you are sort of the poster child for that in the organization.

Linda:
Well, thank you.

Ivan:
Well, listen, we really appreciate what you do, Linda. This was great information. For those of you listening, just a recap. Groups that are 40-50 members are passing two to three times the amount of business and generating two to three times the amount of referrals. It isn’t just in these two or three regions that we are talking about. It’s multiple regions. It’s all over the world. It’s a consistent number. Linda, thanks for bringing that to our attention. We appreciate it.

Linda:
Thank you very much.

Ivan:
If you are listening to this podcast and you’ve had a similar experience, we would love to hear your comments. Drop us a note here on bnipodcast.com and let us know how much business you’re generating and what the size of your BNI chapter is. Thanks a lot. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay great. Thank you so much, Linda, and thank you, Dr. Misner. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Scott Simon returns this week to talk about how to cultivate business relationships in your BNI group.

To paraphrase Stephen Covey, you cannot talk yourself out of a situation you behave yourself into without far greater consequences. So here are some guidelines for behaving your way into visibility and credibility in BNI.

1. Showing up early
2. Being prepared
3. Dressing professionally
4. Talking about business during open networking
5. Passing quality referrals
6. Following up on referrals you receive
7. Attending Member Success Program and advanced training
8. Givers Gain mindset
9. Inviting visitors
10. Productive one-to-ones

Many people don’t understand how important the MSP training and the one-to-ones are. The people who do the most one-to-ones are the ones who are making the most money. (See episode 191.) But the most-overlooked behavior is probably showing up early, which shows how much you care.

Nine behaviors that destroy your credibility are

1. Arriving late, leaving early, or not showing up at all
2. Unprofessional or unprepared sales presentation
3. Wearing yesterday’s clothes
4. Airing your grievances during open networking
5. Wasting your referral partners’ time with leads instead of quality referrals
6. Not following up on referrals
7. Poor service quality
8. Having no visitors
9. Trying to sell to members and guests

Too many people use networking as a face-to-face cold-calling opportunity, and that is not the way to build a powerful personal network. Remember that even though everyone wants to buy, nobody likes to be sold to.

The most surprising behavior among BNI members is not following up on referrals.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 236 -

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:
Doing great.

Priscilla:
Do you have a guest with you today?

Ivan:
I certainly do. We brought Scott Simon back to talk a little bit more about BNI behaviors and your credibility. To remind everyone, Scott is an Executive Director in the four-state area for BNI. He didn’t mention this last week, but he has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA in finance from Central Missouri State University. He has been a Director with us for a long time, since 1994. He runs a really big region for the organization and has over 100 groups. By the way, about 80% of our countries have less chapters than Scott and his wife have. It’s a big region for the organization with over 2500 members.

This week, we are going to talk about BNI behaviors and credibility. Scott, let me turn it over to you and I will jump in as you go.

Scott:
Thank you, Ivan. Business relationships are really something that we have to cultivate. A lot of people think that they can just join a BNI chapter and sit back and start to reap the harvest of referrals that will come their way. But in all relationship development, it takes time in order to be able to do that. In order to do that, you have to have certain behaviors that will increase your credibility within a chapter. At the BNI International Conference, I heard Stephen Covey say something to the extent of- I am paraphrasing because I didn’t get it exactly. He says you cannot talk yourself out of a situation that you behaved yourself into without finding far greater consequences.

Since everybody who is a BNI member has certain behaviors within a chapter, they are going to reflect upon who they are. We can talk about some of these specific items that will help them build good visibility and good credibility within the chapter.

Ivan:
You have 10 behaviors. Walk through them one at a time real quick and then maybe we can chat about some of them

Scott:
Let’s see. The 10 of them I had real quickly are: showing up early at the meeting, being prepared, dressing professionally, talking about business during open networking, passing quality referrals, following up on the referrals you received, attending MSP and advanced training, givers gain mindset, inviting visitors, and productive one to one.

Ivan:
We could probably do a whole podcast just on one. Ten are great here. Each of these in your opinion, when you do this effectively, it increases your credibility. I agree, by the way.

What would be two or three that would jump out at you as being really important? To me- by the way, MSP is Member Success Program training, which is called that in most countries around the world. That is sort of the orientation for new members. For me, that and productive one to ones are two that I think are not understood fully in just how important they are. Would you agree, or are there any others that you think are as critical or more critical?

Scott:
Well, I certainly agree because this is really about education and MSP is about educating the individual member as to how to be successful in BNI as well as in word of mouth marketing. Those productive one to ones are really educating members on how we can be of service to them and how we can help them build their business. There definitely a correlation between the two. As we are seeing in BNI, those who are doing the most one to ones are the ones who are making the most money.

Ivan:
That is absolutely true. I had a podcast a few months back about that very thing. A person who did the most one to ones had the most referrals and had his best year ever. That is actually pretty consistent. Anything else that you want to say about that before we talk about behaviors that destroy your credibility?

Scott:
I think one of the other ones is so basic that people sometimes miss it. It’s showing up early. If you show up early and help your leadership teams get the room and the meeting set up, if you are there to meet and greet all of the members and the visitors, that really says that you care. As you have always said, nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. I think that is certainly one way of doing that.

Ivan:
Yeah. I think that certainly increases your credibility. If you do it well, you will really increase the credibility that you have in your chapter. But there is a flip-side of that. There are behaviors that can destroy your credibility, and you have nine behaviors that you want to mention that destroy your credibility. Do you want to just rip through the nine behaviors and maybe we will do the same? We’ll pick out a couple and talk about it.

Scott:
Sure. Arriving late, leaving early or not showing up at all, unprofessional or unprepared sales presentation, showing up in yesterday’s clothes, airing your grievances during open networking, wasting your referral partners’ time with leads instead of quality referrals, not following up on referrals, poor service quality, having no visitors and trying to sell to members and guests.

Ivan:
Let’s start with the last one of trying to sell to members and guests. Too many people use networking as a face to face cold calling opportunity. They will meet somebody and say hey, let’s do business. That clearly is not a way to build a powerful personal network. Which ones jump out at you as being ones that really drive you crazy?

Scott:
Well, the one you mentioned is, I think, my real pet peeve because I think that goes back to one of BNI’s goals, which is teaching members that it’s more about farming than it is about hunting. Nobody wants to be sold to, but I think everybody would like to buy. When you go in trying to sell your products or services versus developing those relationships, people get turned off.

But I think one of the other ones that’s really interesting is just not following up on referrals. You would think in BNI that would be a non-issue, but I did read a study in American Marketing Association said that 87% of people who receive a referral don’t even follow up. That is the kiss of death in BNI.

Ivan:
It really is. It amazes me when I see members who didn’t follow up on a referral. You are spending some money and a lot of time. Why would you not follow up on a referral?

So these behaviors definitely destroy your credibility, and the first set of behaviors increase your credibility. We have just a couple of minutes left. You had some rhetorical questions to help build credibility. Do you want to throw a couple of those questions out at us here?

Scott:
Sure. When you really think about building relationships with the best customers, perhaps you can ask yourself are you ever late for a meeting with your best customer? Do you ever leave a meeting with a client early due to a scheduling conflict? Do you ever talk to others or not listen while your best customer is addressing you? Do you ever not prepare for a presentation with your best customer? Is it logical to expect your customer to automatically purchase from you before you ever earn their trust?

Those are just a few of the highlighted points that we have.

Ivan:
Sure. I think these are good questions to ask yourself. It think the importance is to do these consistently. Nobody can hit all cylinders all the time. But the more you do some of the things that you’re talking about, the more likely you are to build your credibility. This is a great list. For those of you who are listening, we talked about what behaviors increase your credibility- things like showing up, passing quality referrals, making sure to go to Member Success Program Training, the givers gain mindset, productive one to ones, and that’s not all of them. That’s most of them.

What behaviors destroy your credibility? Thins like arriving late, not being prepared, not following up on referrals, not bringing in visitors, trying to sell to members and guests.

Then we just talked about some rhetorical questions to ask yourself to help build your credibility. Scott, this is really good content. Any closing thoughts before we wrap up today?

Scott:
I think mainly in today’s fast paced world, be best thing is to slow down and do business the old fashioned way, by word of mouth and relationships. BNI is a mechanism that can best help business people work smarter versus harder and help them build credibility.

Ivan:
I agree completely, my friend. You had great content, valuable insights for BNI members. I think this podcast in particular is a great dialogue podcast. Education Coordinators should have a dialogue in their chapters about this content. What are we doing well? What is this chapter doing really well to increase our credibility and in what areas could we improve on? Talking about what destroys your credibility, what areas do we need to work on because it could hurt our credibility?

I think that would be a good dialogue to have in chapters. Remember, you got it from Scott Simon, Executive Director in Missouri. Scott, thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast today. We appreciate your work. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Ivan and thank you, Scott. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Scott Simon of the Metropolitan St. Louis BNI, who manages more than 100 BNI groups, joins Dr. Misner to help show BNI members how to work smarter, not harder.

Here’s some important background information:

• According to Stephen Covey, who spoke at the BNI International conference this year, trust is an economic driver. It speeds up the sales process. (See the book The Speed of Trust for examples.)
• Most companies spend almost all their money on traditional marketing and advertising when a small fraction of that money spent on networking would get the same results. (It takes 200 cold calls to get an appointment.)
• 98% of businesses rely on referrals, but only 3% have a strategy to get them.
• Since most people know about 1000 people, joining a BNI group with 24 members is like having access to 24,000 people.

An examination of chapters in Scott’s region showed that participation in BNI yields an average of 1 new customer per 5 hours invested versus 1 new customer for every 32 hours expended using traditional methods.That makes BNI membership 6 times as efficient as cold-calling—and a lot more fun, too.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 235 -

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:
Hi Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Do you have a guest with you today?

Ivan:
I certainly do. I have a good friend and long term director, Scott Simon. Scott is an Executive Director of BNI in metropolitan St. Louis area and actually the four-state area. Scott handles a very large area with his wife, Teresa. He has over 100 BNI groups. He manages over 100 chapters. Since 1994, Scott has been an Executive Director. He has over 2500 members. Scott, you told me before we went on, quoting here, your region did over $373,000,000 in sales. Is that right?

Scott:
That’s correct. It’s actually a 73% increase over 2008, so our region is very proud of that.

Ivan:
You should be. That is truly amazing. Because of that and your success with BNI, we wanted to ask you to come on the podcast and talk to members a little bit about some of the things that you teach there in your region that I think can help to get those kinds of numbers.

Today we are going to talk about working smarter not harder. Let me jump right into it. How is it that members can work smarter not harder? What in particular are you suggesting they do?

Scott:
It was really interesting at the BNI International Conference when Stephen Covey was speaking. It gave me one of those aha moments, one of those thought provoking concepts when he said that “trust is the economic driver.” He went on further to explain that when there is low trust, it takes more time to build rapport between people, which increases the time and dollar expenses of the transaction. Conversely, when there is high trust in a relationship, it takes less time and fewer dollars expended to actually consummate that sale. He went on to give an example of Warren Buffet closing a $23,000,000,000 acquisition in 29 days with absolutely no due diligence done because he and the seller had implicit trust in each other.

You know, Ivan, I spent 20 years selling commercial real estate and our average sale contract was 70 pages long, took 18 months to close, and unfortunately, none of those sales that I brokered ever came close to $23,000,000,000 in sale. The moral that I got from that story is that trust is the foundation of relationship, and because people prefer to do business with people they like and trust, it inevitably saves them time and money.

Ivan:
If I can just come in. I think that was an amazing story. It is in his book. If members want to pick up that book, I highly recommend it. It is called the Speed of Trust. I believe he talks about that very story in the book. Sorry, go ahead, Scott.

Scott:
No problem. Also in another book that you had co-authored with Jay Abraham, Money on the Table, Jay says and I quote “Most people spend all of their time, effort and money on conventional, externally focused advertisement marketing program when a small fraction of that time and money would give them many times the results if they developed a formalized referral system.”

When mentoring business people today, I often hear them complaining about how they are so busy that they need 25 hours in a day, so I ask them to describe their daily activities. Inevitably, they tell me that they spend the majority of their marketing efforts cold calling. To that I say yuck. To which I ask, how has that been working for you? Like pavlov’s dog, they often say, “It’s working okay.” Then they qualify it with, “Well, sort of okay.” Deep down they understand that it is a time-intensive and psychologically degrading process.

I know few people who wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “I love rejection.” The American Marketing Association polled some top performers in the financial services industry that use cold calling as a primary way of marketing their services to determine how much time they spent to close one new customer. Here is what they found out.

On average, they may 50 calls per day. It took them 100 calls, two days’ worth of phoning, to get one appointment. On average, it took them two face to face meetings to make one sale. Therefore, it took them over 200 phone calls, two appointments and four days to secure one new customer. Traditional marketing methods like cold calling, in my opinion, is hard work.

Ivan:
And not fun. A lot of people don’t know this, but I used to teach a sales force in the computer industry cold calling. I taught them how to cold call. I think you will agree it works. It’s just a lot of work and it’s no fun. Who wants to do that? I don’t.

Scott:
Absolutely. As you well know as the father of networking, BNI has been a pioneer in relationship or referral marketing since it is taught in few places versus traditional marketing methods. Yet it is the number one way in which people want to do business. As a matter of fact, 98% of businesses rely on referrals to gain new business but only 3% of businesses actually have a strategy for obtaining those referrals.

Here’s how BNI is actually changing the way the world does business: First, let’s consider in Entrepreneur Magazine, there is an article that said on average, an individual knows about 1,000 people. That’s what’s known as their social capital. The average chapter in our region has over 24 members. Because referral based marketing is not about who the members are but who the members know and how well they know them, it translates to a chapter of 24 members times 1000 people in their network. It’s actually like having 24,000 people in the room.

Ivan:
A lot of people don’t understand that, Scott. I think that is a critical point because they look at it like there are 24 people in the room and that’s not enough. It’s not the people in the room, it’s the network of the people in the room that makes any personal network powerful. You have just done the math to show just how powerful it can, in fact, be. Go ahead.

Scott:
Isn’t that absolutely amazing? Most interestingly about that, I wounder how long it would take someone to go out through normal networking events and meet 24,000 people. And how much longer it might even take them to build actual credible trust with them so that they would want to do business with them.

What we did in our region is take a look at the average BNI member who’s practicing giver’s gain. Here is the time investment that they had. They practiced two hours before, during and after their weekly meeting. In addition, he meets with another member outside of the meeting to get to know them better and for that member to get to know him better. That averages out to about two hours. Finally, they will spend time inviting visitors to meet their other referral partners at the meeting and/or generate a referral for another member. Therefore, he expends maybe one hour marketing his partner’s businesses to his social network. That is a total of 5 hours per week.

The results that we found is that he generates 1.5 referrals per week with over a 70% conversion ratio, amounting to closed business. That equaled to about one new customer closed transaction per five hours invested doing BNI through relationship or referral marketing versus the 32 hours expended using traditional methods such as cold calling.

Isn’t it amazing that BNI utilizes 1/6 the amount of time or develops 6 new customers in the 30+ hours spent otherwise?

Ivan:
It is to me. I think it’s an important thing. You are talking about the average. So people who have been doing this longer get better at it. Their average, I would guess, goes up as you get better at building the relationship. Do you not agree?

Scott:
Absolutely. In BNI studies that we have conducted, we find that a member who just stays a member into their second year will do far greater than what they do in their first year.

Ivan:
Very true. Well, we are running out of time, Scott. Do you want to wrap up this discussion and then we will talk very briefly about what we are going to discuss next week because I will have you back next week to talk about a little more.

Scott:
Absolutely. I have to finish by saying that is why I always smile when a perspective member tells me they can’t afford time to attend one more meeting, to which I always reply, “Have you ever considered working smarter versus harder?”

Ivan:
That’s what we are trying to do in BNI, get people to work smarter not harder and work smarter by building relationships and generating their business through referral, which takes less time to find a prospect and has a higher closing ratio. Agreed?

Scott:
Absolutely.

Ivan:
It’s just great stuff. I like the math that you put to it. I think it’s very powerful. I want to bring you back next week because you have more material and we didn’t have enough time in just one podcast. Next week we are going to talk about BNI behaviors and credibility. Do you want to just give us a real quick preview of what that discussion will include?

Scott:
Absolutely. You coined the phrase a long time before I was even part of BNI. That phrase was, “BNI is not net-sit, nor net-eat but network.” Today I get that saying. It means that you have to work the network in order for the network to work for you. So there are certain things that you have to do in order to be able to reap that harvest.

Ivan:
That is what we are going to talk about next week. BNI behaviors that increase your credibility, destroy your credibility, and questions to help build your credibility. Scott Simon, thank you so much. Executive Director for four states for BNI. I appreciate your information, and we are going to have you back on next week to talk about those other subjects. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Thank you, both so much. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Bruce “Woody” Woodcock from BNI-IL Central joins Dr. Misner today to share ideas to increase your branding recognition. Many people join BNI without really knowing how to advertise themselves or what they do from a branding perspective.

You need to answer the questions “What do I do that keeps clients coming back to me? Who, what, where, why, and when?”

Identify three professions that you service and three people within those professions by name. What do you do for them? Reduce it to the ridiculous: if you’re available 24 hours, how? By phone? Land or cell? If you provide great customer service, how?

The more specific you can be about both what you do and who you’re looking for, the more referrals you’ll get.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 229 -

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. Hi Ivan. How are you and where are you?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. I am doing great. I am preparing for the International BNI Conference which is next week in southern California. We hold it in November every year. It will be on the 10th, 11th and 12th of next week. Members are welcome to come, by the way, to the International Conference. It’s a little short notice if you are hearing this for the first time, but if you are interested in coming to the International Conference, take a look at BNI.com and see what we have going on. Members are welcome. We have a member’s day on the 11th, and we do get members from around the world and certainly around the US, but any member is welcome to come on member’s day.

Priscilla:
I’ve been to the conference, Ivan, and it’s super fun. I really enjoyed it.

Ivan:
It is. It’s kind of like going to a United Nations thing, isn’t it? Flags from around the world and all these speakers with all these different accents. It’s exciting. I have a guest today on the show, Priscilla. He is a friend and Executive Director for BNI. He is Bruce Woodcock. He goes by “Woody.” Woody has a degree in psychology. He is a 17-year member of BNI and an Executive Director for Central Illinois. He has been doing that and he is also the District Director for BNI, meaning he handles a number of states around the country, about 9 states, where he works with the Executive Directors. He’s both a BNI member and Director and has been involved with the organization for 17 years. Woody, welcome to the podcast.

Woody:
Hi Ivan. Thank you.

Ivan:
It’s great to have you on here. You have clearly been in the organization for a long time. You have an important role with BNI as a District Director. Many members may not know what a District Director is. It’s really a per counselor for Executive Directors throughout a region through the United States. Some countries have District Directors but as other countries get bigger, more and more will have District Directors.

Your topic today, Woody, is ideas to increase your branding recognition. I love the topic. Let’s start with the first point that you want to make, and that is in branding to niche market your company or business. Tell us about that.

Woody:
I found that individuals have been coming into the BNI chapters, and a lot of times, they don’t really know how to advertise themselves or what they really do from a business perspective. I’ll give you an example. Anita has a business called Gifts by Anita. She had twelve different pokers in the fire all going at one time and didn’t know which way to turn. So she asked me if I would be willing to help her identify what is going on. In doing so, we determined that she just had too many things going on and she really didn’t know who she was, which is part of branding- identifying what you really do. In doing that, we determined that she has a specialty.

Whereas, if I am a brand new client of yours, Ivan, you would go to Anita and say, “Woody is a brand new client. Here are some of his personality traits. Here’s his business. Here’s what he does. Would you provide him a gift basket as a form of thank you and follow up with him on what I’m doing (in other words, what you, Ivan, are doing for me as a new client for them).” The niche here came in as able to always work around to come up and the end and oh, by the way, would you happen to know of three other people at least who would like to partake of Ivan’s business or specialty that would get the same service that he is providing you right now? And then take that referral process back to you, which would then help you expand your business. That was her niche in doing the gift basket business.

As a result of that, her business has been growing. She put a few other things in proper priority. She’s doing some event planning and has formed a mastermind group of businesswomen within the Springfield, IL area where she is from

Ivan:
Interesting. Anything else you would add to that in niche market your company or business.

Woody:
I would say that you have to really reduce it to the ridiculous and identify what you do. There is a technique that I’ll explain in a couple of minutes on how to do that.

Ivan:
You talked a little bit about incorporating that into your 60-second time slot. Do you want to talk any more about that?

Woody:
Yeah, what happens is as you are identifying- I tell people to start out with at least three professions that they service. Then from those, they identify each profession- a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker- three of their clients within those professions by name. Mr. X, Ms. Y, if confidentiality is an issue or Company XXY, but specifically by name. Then they have to identify what to they do for that specific client that keeps them coming back to them as opposed to going to their competitors. They keep taking that out and working it out all the way until they can’t answer the questions anymore. Basically who, what, how, when or why do I service those clients and keep them coming back to me?

Ivan:
That’s where you talk about reduce it to the ridiculous. So tell us more about that.

Woody:
An individual may be using some different terminologies or different techniques. I provide a 24 hour service for them. Well, how do you provide a 24 hour service? I am available on the phone. What kind of phone? Cell phone? Landline? Internet?

Ivan:
Or Skype. More and more Skype is becoming important.

Woody:
Absolutely. And video cams, now, too are very much in. So how do you maintain that contact? Let’s go back. What else do you do for them that keeps them coming back? We provide good customer service. How do you do that? What techniques do you use in order to do that? And then just keep answering those questions again until you can’t answer them anymore.

Ivan:
It’s counter-intuitive. I have talked a lot about this on the podcast. It’s counter-intuitive because people say, “We do it all. Whatever you want, I can do.” What we in fact find is that people who get more referrals are actually more specific. The idea that specific is terrific. The more you narrow it down in your discussion of what it is that you do, the better you are able to educate people how to refer you.

If somebody says, “I am a full service whatever. I can do any of these things,” you have really not planted any seed in their minds as to how you do that. When you get really specific, you have now planted a story in their mind that they can repeat and remember easier. Is that a good way of describing why it’s important to reduce it to the ridiculous?

Woody:
Absolutley. I have seen people who are more specific in what they do get more referrals because their referrals team (which is the BNI chapter) fully understands what you as a sales manager is looking for that week. For example, if I identify that this week, the ideal client for me is Customer X and this is what I do for them, so who do you know who would be like Customer X? That’s who I want to talk to this week. By identifying those professions and all those customers, I don’t care if it’s 3 professions or 33 professions, each week you can then go in with a different infomercial based on each of the respective customers that you have so that you can be specific, tell a success story and then ask for what you want.

Ivan:
Being specific about Customer X, being specific means, “I’m looking for Mr. / Mrs. So and So,” a specific name. Nothing wrong with that. That’s even more powerful, don’t you think?

Woody:
Absolutely.

Ivan:
I may have mentioned this in a podcast before, but I did that in southern California with what we call the reciprocity ring, which is an exercise. Somebody said, “I need to meet Marty Rodriguez, the number one Centure 21 real estate agent in the world for that last 20 years. I can’t get past the secretary and I don’t know anybody who knows her.”

I thought wow, that’s specific. I don’t know how lucky the person is going to get. And one of the other members stood up and said, “Sally, Marty is my sister in law. You didn’t know that?” “No, I didn’t know that. How come you never told me that?” The woman said, “ You never asked.”

Woody:
The key is that not enough of our people ask specifically enough for what they want. Too many generalities.

Ivan:
This is great material, Woody. Is there anything that you want to say to summarize what you are talking about today?

Woody:
I think the key is just take the time. Use your BNI members as a sounding board. Do the cards with them to help analyze your business. Take a look at it and then be as specific as you can on what do you want.

Ivan:
I like the concept of reduce it to the ridiculous. I use specific is terrific. I think both get you to where we are trying to get members to go to. The more you can do these things, the more you are going to be successful in this organization. I appreciate the material. Priscilla, any comment from you o question for Woody?

Priscilla:
No, I think it was great information. Thank you.

Ivan:
I agree. Woody, thank you so much. Thank you for what you do as an Executive Director and District Director for the organization. I would love to have you back on the podcast sometime.

Woody:
Thank you, Ivan. Thanks, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
You’re welcome. Thank you, Woody, and thank you, Ivan. I think that is it for this week. Well, 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 again for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you will join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Kathryn Lodal from BNI San Diego joins Dr. Misner today to talk about her chapter’s use of BNI Connect. Members can share ideas and best processes, and can also use it for referrals.

People everywhere want to do business with BNI members. BNI Connect enables members from all over the world to refer business to you—but only if you fill out your profile with your contact information. Make sure that people looking for someone in your industry can find your address, phone number, website, and e-mail. You can also upload a photo of yourself and your business logo. The more complete your profile, the better your results will be.

If you don’t know how to fill out your BNI Connect profile, ask your local Executive Director.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 224 -

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 and where are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla, thank you very much. I am wrapping up my visit to Israel this week. Some great members here in Israel. This is my second visit and I am really excited to be back. I am also excited about todays’ topi because I have with me here today Kathryn Lodal. We are going to be talking about the value of BNI Connect. Kathryn is the Executive Director of BNI in San Diego, CA. Kathryn and her team of directors have doubled the size of the BNI organization in San Diego in the last 5 years. She has been a Director for many years, although she had been an Executive Director in San Diego for five years. She was a n Assistant Director for many years in Michigan before she came to San Diego. She also serves as a BNI Distict Director, advising BNI chapters throughout the SW. Kathryn has a bachelors degree from Texas Tech and a masters degree from Northwestern University. Kathryn, it is great to have you on this podcast. I appreciate you doing this today.

Kathryn:
I’m so pleased to have this opportunity, and I am glad to meet you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Thank you.

Ivan:
Kathryn, how long were you an Assistant Director in Michigan before you came to San Diego?

Kathryn:
I was there for 9 years and actually, in San Diego, I’ve been there for seven now. It’s gone fast.

Ivan:
Alright. So you have been involved in the organization for 15 years. That is one of the things that I love about BNI. People tend to be involved for a long, long time. It’s great to have people like you. You’re a great District Director and a great Executive Director for the organization. So today you want to talk about BNI Connect. There are three things that you want to touch upon. Theme, value and process. Those are the three things that you want to talk about it.

Before you jump into this, I want to do full disclosure right up front. BNI Connect is a work in progress What I ask of the members is join me in the vision of what this can be. I know that BNI Connect has some bugs and issues. There are a couple of parts that need to be worked on. We know that. We are working hard to bring BNI Connect up to snuff. Particularly the group function is one of the things that we’re working on. A number of other area that we know there is work that needs to be done. We are actively doing this up to where we feel comfortable. So view this conversation with Kathryn as to what BNI Connect can be and how we can all start to get it there. If we can keep the comments and focus on the positive, I think it ends up being much more valuable content for members.

So theme, value and process. Tell us first what you mean by theme.

Kathryn:
Thank you. The directors on the San Diego team are very excited about the business that has already taken place for our members via the BNI Connect database. When members see the value of BNI Connect database and specifically, how do prospective customers or clients find you, a member, on BNI Connect?

One of the examples that I think we can all relate to is that people all around the world own real estate. And they often own that in places that they don’t live, either by investment, or by inheritance. So they find themselves in need of a variety of services and they often want to use a BNI member for those services because we have the best vetting process around.

In terms of the value, BNI Connect provides basic information for every member of BNI worldwide. This enables us to be found in the worldwide search. However, we have to remember that the member chooses just how much information to add to the basic information that is posted by virtue of our membership in BNI Connect. So here is the process about how a prospective-

Ivan:
Can I jump in before you get to process, Kathryn? There are a couple of things that I want to touch upon. One is you are focusing primarily on the referral aspect. I think that is valuable, but there is also another aspect, and that is the knowledge and information sharing. A lot of the members can share ideas and best practices. We see it as members having two primary aspects of great value to members. One is information sharing, best practices, what are you doing right? The other is what you are talking about today, which I think is really revolutionary for BNI because everything has been about the local chapter and now you have this chance to communicate and possibly pass referrals around the world.

I’ve had people say to me, “Yeah, but I don’t do business around the world.” Do you have any idea how many people have contacted me and said that they have moved from one place like you did, Kathryn. You moved from Michigan to San Diego. It was great to be able to start up in a new city and have all of these contacts. Or they have friends in another city who need help and it would be so easy for them to refer them. That’s really the kind of thing that you are talking about here- being able to give referrals to people around the world. Yeah?

Kathryn:
That is exactly correct. We know that when we move to a new region, we want to start with BNI connections. We also have friends and family, by example real estate property that needs servicing. It’s amazing how many opportunities are already occurring. So I’d like to just cover if somebody needs a service in San Diego, what do they do? First of all, they have to find a regional website address. The best way to do that is to go to BNI.com because you can look up regions all over the world. Find the regional website. Connect with that. Once on the regional website, you simple click on find a member and look at the drop down list of professions and identify which professions it is that you need service in. So that’s how a prospective member begins to find us.

That’s very important. Now, then I want to focus on three different things about what happens next. First of all, when the prospective member starts looking at this list of cleaning services as an example- because they own a home. They have a rental property. They have a parent who lives in San Diego and they need a variety of services. There are certain things that BNI Connect provides no matter what each individual member does. That is their name, their company name, their chapter name and their industry. If that is all the prospective client sees, then they have to do further research to reach our member because no contact information is on there unless the member has chosen to provide it.

So secondly, let’s look at what a prospective member would see if the member chooses to fill out the options on the profile page. There can be a photo, a company logo and a variety of means of contact- address, multiple phone numbers, a way to send an email. It says”send message” but it never reveals the actual email in order to protect our members from spamming. You can post your website. You can post your social networking links. But remember, each member chooses what they do and don’t want to post on BNI Connect.

I would like to close with a few stories because we are beginning to see the success stories roll in. I will start with myself. I was looking for a florist in another city to send flowers for my son and his wife’s anniversary. I found 4 florists in that community, only one of whom had posted contact information. Guess who got my business.

I just got a call from someone the other day who lives in a nearby county in California. Their mom lives in San Diego. They had found a house cleaning service via BNI Connect. They just wanted to follow up and make certain what the reputation was. But they had made the connection by going into our website and looking for cleaning services.

When I made this presentation at one of our chapters, one of the members stood up and said, “I’d like to share with you one of the referrals that I just received. My business is lighting fixtures. Through BNI Connect, I just received a request for a quote from Mumbai, India.” That individual who was a member in India wanted to consider the prospect of buying the fixtures in the US and shipping them via paying the prices in India. I thought that was very exciting because as you said, Ivan, we sometimes think we only do business locally, but it’s going to happen internationally as well as other places within the United States. I bet you’ve had some experiences with this already, too, Ivan.

Ivan:
I have. I had somebody come up to me just recently and say they got a $10,000 referral off of somebody. It was a SendOutCards representative. They were completely shocked that they got this business. They were going into it with the idea that BNI Connect would be a knowledge network to share ideas and resources. Then, boom!, they got this huge referral.

So it is absolutely going to happen. You are right. It is not going to happen if the members don’t get on and complete their profiles. So if you are listening to this message and don’t know how to do that, you want to contact your local Executive Director and ask how you get the information to be able to sign up for BNI Connect and start your profile. This is a process. This is going to take 6 months to a year to get members fully on board, to get the software- we are doing this completely inhouse. We are not bringing in a venture capitalist to do this. It’s a slow process, but we’re going to get it there and it’s already started to be an amazing thing from what I have seen.

Any closing thoughts, Kathryn?

Kathryn:
Yes. I would like to remind us all that people are looking for member services, whether it is from within our region or outside our region. The more information and the more attractive the member’s profile page is, the more likely a connection will be made.

Ivan:
Yeah. Very true. Very true indeed. Listen Kathryn, thank you very much for being on the podcast today. You are a great Executive Director. You have a wonderful message.

Members, get on BNI Connect and play around a little bit. Be patient. Be tolerant, but get engaged because this will continue to improve. We are investing a lot of time and energy in this. It’s going to be what I’ve been saying: Local business, Global network. It’s going to enable businesses that are local to have a global network and to connect all 140,000 of our members worldwide. Kathryn Lobel, thank you so much for being on our podcast. Back to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Ivan. I just have to add that I got a phone call this week from somebody who tried to find me on BNI Connect, and all I had was the basic information. They did the research to find me but let me know that I didn’t have my phone number on there. So it’s really timely that you said all of this.

Ivan:
That’s good and I think it’s a really perfect example of why it’s important to get your contact information up there. Thanks for sharing that, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay. Thank you both. That was a great podcast. I think 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 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.

Deanna Tucci-Schmitt, Executive Director of BNI Western Pennsylvania, and Bob Gambone, author of Pecan Pie: 32 Business Success Strategies Passionately Baked to Order, join Dr. Misner this week to talk about BNI’s culture of recruiting.

Businesses have recruiters, whose job is actively finding the right person for the right position. BNI has had a tradition of inviting new members, without qualifying them in advance. If all BNI members develop the mindset of recruiters, everyone will get more and better referrals.

Remember, culture eats strategy for breakfast. Keep your chapter’s culture in mind when recruiting new members.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 220 -

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 and where are you?

Ivan:
I am actually in southern California this week at BNI HQ. We are doing our Directors Training this week. It’s very important. We spend three full days, 24 hours of training, going through about a 600 page manual on how to run effective regions of BNI. It’s a real important aspect of what I do, and I am involved in all of the training. That’s what I am doing today.

But I’m taking some time out to do an interview with a couple interesting people. I have on the line with us Deanna Tucci-Schmitt. Deanna is the director for BNI in western PA. She has been the Executive Director for 11 years. She is from my home town, Pittsburgh. I think I have mentioned that a couple of times in the podcast. It’s really interesting that Deanna learned about BNI when visiting Toledo, OH, which I think is really cool. She connected with her friend, Debbie Peters, who has been involved with BNI. From Debbie, found about about BNI and has really, really launched and grown western PA. Deanna is on really mostly to introduce who we have speaking today. Deanna, hi, it’s great to have you on. Tell us who we’re talking to.

Deanna:
I am delighted to be here. We love these podcasts. I wanted to bring on Bob Gambone who is a BNI member here in western PA and an Assistant Director. Bob’s corporate background gives him a lot of great perspective on how BNI works. He has some passion about recruiting and inviting.

Ivan:
That’s what Bob is going to be talking about today. Bob is actually a retired executive from Giant Eagle. I think that is really good because it shows that he has years and years of experience in business. He is a business coach. He wrote a book called, “Pecan Pie.” I gave an endorsement on the book. I really recommend it. When we are done with the podcast, I will give Bob’s URL and domain name so that people can go and check it out.

Bob, you wanted to talk about recruiting versus inviting. That is the topic of today’s podcast. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Bob:
Thank you. Thanks Deanna, thanks for the introduction and , Ivan, thank you for that, too. As we all know, BNI is a business. BNI continues to improve as a business by strapping in its culture. Recruiting is really a fundamental business culture. At BNI, we have a history of inviting. I really would like to see that evolve into a culture of recruiting. Now why is that?

In simple definition, recruiting is defined as to searching for new members, where inviting is defined as to requesting someones presence. Businesses do have formal positions called recruiters. They really don’t have people called inviters. So it is really a culture in business. Recruiting is really finding the right person for the right role. It’s really a qualifying process. BNI doesn’t have formal recruiters, so what we need to do is all BNI members need to be recruiters.

I would like to tell you a story about this and my success with this in identifying the difference. Al the painter ,who a few years back starting working for my wife and I and did a lot of painting in our house, was talking with me. I asked Al how was business. He said, “Bob, it’s not too good. I actually had to get a part time retail job ringing a register. Business is really down and I am running out of money for advertising. Advertising just isn’t working.”

So I listened to his story and found out that there was a need. I wanted to give him the same opportunity that I have had in BNI. We all say givers gain. I believe it really starts outside the meeting itself. I said to him, “Are you interested in building your business by referral?” He said, “Absolutely. I would love that.”

I said, “You need to come to a meeting with me.” It’s the basic ABCs of inviting that we talk about. Al came to a meeting and traditionally, as we all say, let the meeting sell itself. He was very impressed and he joined. I think he has been into it six or seven months now and his business has just skyrocketed. He is very successful now and no longer works his part time job. He has actually created a good relationship with his competition to the extent that they have called him a couple times to help them with their jobs. Now he is in the process of looking to hire employees.

So this is just one story. I have invited before. Really, I have invited people just to get them to the meeting. Some joined. Some haven’t. But the success I have had with sorting people first, kind of qualifying them and having that mindset of recruiting has really hit home. I think that really benefits and shows BNI members that we do invite but we just have that mindset of creating that culture. So that is kind of the background on it.

Ivan:
It’s really vital. You mentioned finding the right person with something else. I thought that was-

Bob:
Right person, right role.

Ivan:
Right person, right role. You want to find people who are a good fit in the organization. I think all too often, the only kind of test we give people is the mirror test. We stick it under their nose and it it fogs up we take them. I think you have to be really selective. Selective for the right reasons, not based on color, religion, sex, but based on a quality business professional. The real issue, and maybe you can take a stab at this, Bob- why is it so important to find the right person? What’s in it for the member?

Bob:
What’s in it for the member is they are going to be a quality member. They will understand a really get the whole culture of givers gain. If you get the right member, they are going to help grow the team and will be a quality member for the whole team. As we always say, when you do recruit, it’s about strengthening the team with new members. I find that really important.

Ivan:
Isn’t the bottom line about getting more referrals? You bring in more members, quality members and you are going to get more referrals and better referrals.

Bob:
Absolutely.

Ivan:
I think that’s the bottom line- because oftentimes, people will go, “ I don’t really have time to do this.” But we have to remember that bringing someone into your BNI group is actually a way of increasing your marketing. You are bringing in people who are going to bring you referrals.

Bob:
Yes, absolutely.

Ivan:
Good. What else, Bob?

Bob:
So how do we do this? How do we go from creating that culture of recruiting and transitioning from inviting, that mindset? We need to educate members on the definition and recruiting is to strengthen with new members. If we educate people that givers gain really starts outside the meeting. Give people the opportunity to come to BNI and experience your success. Givers gain really starts outside the meeting. All members should recruit and recruiting can happen everywhere. I love that saying, wherever you go, there you are. Recruit.

There are some great stories out there. I actually recruited somebody. I was in Panera. I gave the basic introduction. Where do you work? What do you do? I was interested in them first before anything became interesting. I just sis the ABCs of inviting and brought them to the meeting.

That’s some of those next steps that we need to live by. We can do them in educational moments, we can do them in assistant director presentations. I’ve done those. I have actually done a couple of those and it’s really been successful in some of the chapters that I oversee.

Ivan:
Bob, we are about done with the podcast today. We are almost out of time. What else would you like to share? Anything else?

Bob:
The next step, of course, is to create that culture of recruiting. I think as we create that culture, it is really strengthening our culture of givers gain. As you always say, Ivan, culture eats strategy for breakfast. So that is how I would like to end it.

Ivan:
I think that is a great way to end it. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s so true. When you are part of an organization, and when I say organization, I am not just talking about the broader larger BNI, 6000 chapters in 50 countries. I am talking about the local chapter. That is a piece of the organization. That is an organization. So the culture of the chapter is critical. If you are part of a group that has a healthy culture, you could have a lousy strategy and still be successful. If you are part of a group that has a great strategy- you are really organized- but have a horrible culture, you are going to fail.

But if you are in a group that has a really great culture and you follow a strategy, and BNI certainly has the systems and the strategy. If you have a great culture and great strategy- and application of it- then nobody can beat you. You will be the best networking group in town because culture is so critical to the success of a group. And it is certainly critical in recruiting, wouldn’t you say, Bob? Nobody like to go to a meeting that is tense and unfriendly.

Bob:
Exactly. You said it. You create that culture, have that culture and it’s just a win-win.

Ivan:
Absolutely. Bob, thank you so much for being in on this call. Deanna, anything that you would like to throw in before we wrap up?

Deanna:
You have said it all well.

Ivan:
Deanna Tucci-Schmitt, Executive Director of BNI, Western PA. Bob Gambone. Bob is an Assistant Director in PA and also the author of the book, “Pecan Pie.” I did an endorsement of the book. I really recommend it. For more information on Bob, go to BobGambone.com. Did I get that right, Bob?

Bob:
Absolutely. Thanks Ivan.

Ivan:
Listen, my pleasure. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, everybody. When you listen to this podcast, write that down. I want you to go to your next BNI meeting and I want you to say, “ I heard on a BNI podcast that culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Then send people here to listen to this podcast. There is so much great content that is available week in and week out to members. Please share this with your members. Bob and Deanna, thank you so much for being on. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay great. Thank you all very much.. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

This week Robin Schuckmann, Executive Director of BNI Oregon and SW Washington,  joins Dr. Misner to talk about building a cohesive team—inside and outside your BNI chapter. There are three parts to this.

Identify the Strengths of Your Team

A great tool for this is the book StrengthsFinder 2.0. Another is the Referral Institute program “Room Full of Referrals.” (See Dr. Misner’s recent blog post and video, “Your Behavior Style IS Affecting Your Referrability” for more on this topic.)

Utilize the Strengths of Your Team

People will spend longer doing the things they’re good at, so assign people roles that they have talents for. Who wants a visitor host that’s always late?

Implement Increased Communication

Example: weekly phone check-ins between the president and vice-president/treasurer of a BNI chapter help keep things on track. A quarterly chapter social builds personal relationships. Increased communication shows that you care and helps you get to know chapter members better, increasing your VCP.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 216 -

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 today and where are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great and this week I am meeting with my partners from the Referral Institute which is timely because one of the things that my guest is going to mention is the Referral Institute. Susan Rowan is a really good friend of BNI. She has written many books, including How to Work a Room. Susan is helping the Referral Institute do some strategic planning for the organization.

Priscilla:
That sounds great. You have a guest today. Is that right?

Ivan:
I do. Robin Schuckmann. Robin has been an Executive Director in Oregan and SW Washington for going on ten years now.  She has a team of 24 ambassadors and directors. She  works with 36 chapters and nearly 1000 members. She has traveled. This is something I didn’t know about her. She has traveled to 30 countries. She loves to learn about other cultures,  which is really good in BNI, since we are in 50 countries. She has several children, an 8 year old son, Connor, who is an April Fool’s baby. I think that is cool. And Madeline, who will be 5 in July. She lives on 9 acres of forest land with Mt St Helens at her front door. How cool is that? I think that’s amazing.

Robin has the funniest story on the planet about taking her son, Connor, to a leadership team training. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to hear about it today, but it’s a great story. If you ever meet  Robin, you have to ask her about that. One of the great things about BNI is we see a lot of working moms who are directors and certainly members. They have some great stories about their kids in BNI.

Robin, welcome to the podcast.

Robin:
Thank you.

Ivan:
You are going to be talking about building a cohesive team. You have three main topics. Identifying the strengths of your team, utilizing the strengths of your team, and implement increased communication. Let me let you jump right in and talk about identifying the strengths of your team.

Robin:
Excellent. Thank you Ivan. The main topic today is building a cohesive team because when you are putting people together to work on project, you need to make sure they can all work together. This concept applies to anyone’s business. If they work with other people, definitely in BNI and the leadership team, and if you are a director working with a team of people, many of these concepts apply equally. What I want to focus on today is the chapter leadership team.

The first things that you  want to do is identify the strengths of your team. You want to take a look at your team members as well as anyone who is added to your team in the process ongoing. Take a look at your current strengths of your existing team. There are a couple of tools that we use ongoing.  One is Strength Finder 2.0 by Tom Raff. It’s a book with descriptions of characteristics.

Ivan:
It’s a great book that you mention here, Robin. It’s called Strength Finder 2.0. It is done by the Gallup Organization, I believe. And who is the author? Tom Raff, so this is a book that we highly recommend. It is very good. Go ahead.

Robin:
One of the things that we do is have all of our team members take the survey. You get a long printout at the end with descriptions. If gives you the top five strengths. We take a look at those and make sure that we are very well covered.

We are a versatile team. The other resource that we use is a great presentation by the Referral Institute, A Roomful of Referrals. It’s  disc program. You are identifying behavioral styles. You begin to communicate better with people but also realize that you have a variety of strengths and a variety of people on your team who can do different things.

Ivan:
A Roomful of Referral is a great program. Ironically, I  just did a blog on this. If you are listening to this podcast, go to my blog, businessnetworking.com. Look at the June 30th blog. It’s a video called Your Behavioral Style Is Affecting Your Referrability. It’s a great took. If you want more information about it, go to referralinstitute.com to find out where you can possibly get a class. Go ahead, Robin.

Robin:
Thank you. It’s a great class for anyone in business. You can better understand your clients, better understand who you work with, who you want to work with. It’s a great tool.

The second topic is utilizing those strengths. Once you identify the strengths each team member has, you want to understand  what they are good at and what they enjoy. People only do things for a short time if you ask them to do something if it is not what they like to do. However, people will do  things that you ask them to do for a much longer period of time if it is something that they  truly enjoy and they are good at.

After identifying those strengths, make sure that you are putting people in a role, committee or even in a chapter- your visitor host team. You visitor host coordinator should really be somebody who has organizing skills, is always on time and loves to be on time as well as enjoys greeting people and has no problem introducing themselves as well as introducing the  visitors to other people within the chapter. We have a follow up specialist also on the visitor host team. That follow up specialist really enjoys working on the computer. They are going to enter the information into BNI Connect,  for example, maybe hand write a card, maybe making that followup phone call. If those are strengths of those people and they really enjoy doing it, then they are more likely to be very successful at it.

Then the last piece of building a cohesive team is implementing increased communications. As it relates to a chapter leadership team, for example, a president could have weekly phone check ins with their secretary, treasurer and vice president and say, “Hey, how are things going? How can I help you?What  is going on this week that I can best be prepared for?” That simple phone call can last two or three minutes or as long as fifteen, depending on how much time you need. It shows that you are truly and genuinely care about them in their business as well as in their role in the chapter. 

Having monthly leadership team meetings lets the entire chapter team know that the leadership team is   committed to the success of the chapter and the members’ businesses as well. Then a quarterly chapter social shows that the chapter want to build personal relationships as well. The idea with increased communication is that you show that you care about them as individuals as well as their business, get to know those people on a personal level,  because we all know that when passing referrals, we pass referrals to people that we know, like and trust. The best way to do that is to get to know them as a person. All of those things increase accountability.

Ivan:
This is a great list. I think it is important that the people listening wrap their heads around the key themes that you have. Basically, you are saying understand the people that you have around you in the room, with tools like Strength Finders and A Roomful of Referrals. Understand them and  figure out what people are good at. That is really important. You talk about a visitor host. You want a visitor host that is friendly and on time. There is nothing worse than a visitor host who is late. What good is that? And if they are not friendly and like to connect with people, then that is problematic. Know the strengths and how to  apply those strengths.

Then the last part is communication. That is key. I can hear members saying, “Weekly? Check in weekly? Really? I’ve got a business to run.” How would you respond to that? I have an idea, but you have been training on this content longer than I have. So what is your response to that?

Robin:
How would you treat a top dollar client? If they needed that weekly attention, wouldn’t you give them a quick phone check in? “Hey, how are you doing? How is that  order going? Did you receive everything on time?” Don’t you want to treat the people on your team as if they are your best clients as well- because they are your referral sources. If every week doesn’t work for you, maybe that is not your style. Then maybe every other week. The point is to check in  and make sure that they know that you care about the efforts that they are putting into the team as a whole.

Without that constant communication, people tend to think they must not really care about what I am doing. It’s just that extra 1 degree of enthusiasm towards making that connection and making sure that everyone is moving in the same direction.

Ivan:
You say 1 degree. Is that any reference to Boiling Point?

Robin:
Yes, the 212 Degree chapter does everything 1 degree extra with enthusiasm.

Ivan:
Right. This is a great analogy. For those of you who haven’t heard it, I apologize for those members who are outside of North America and don’t use Fahrenheit, what we are talking about here is that one degree. Going from 211 to 212, you go from lukewarm tea to boiling water. It’s just that one degree that makes a huge difference. It’s the  metaphor, I think, that Robin is referring to.  It’s so true, that old axiom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or something to that effect. That is really what you are talking about here. Just a little  bit of extra effort yields a big result.

That extra communication is really important if you want to  maintain a healthy chapter. The healthier the chapter, the more referrals that are generated. That’s the bottom line. It’s all about the amount of referrals that chapters are generating and the quality of referrals that they are generating.

So, Robin, we are almost out of time.  Is there anything else that you would like to share or any closing comments that you would like to give?

Robin:
In addition to your comments about the 212 degree chapter, the 211 degree average chapter does the right things, but the 212 degree chapter does the right things consistently with more enthusiasm. If you  just give it that little bit of extra attention, identify those strengths on that team, utilize those strengths, and  then increase your communications so that they know that you care, I think you are going to find that you have a very cohesive team working  toward the same results.

Ivan:
Great. Robin, thank you so much for being on the  podcast. Everyone, Robin Schuckmann. She is an executive director for Oregon and SW Washington. I really appreciate you being here and sharing your expertise with us today. Thank you so much.

Robin:
My pleasure. Thank you.

Ivan:
Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Great. Thanks,to both of you. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Social media expert Gail Nott of Nott Limited joins Dr. Misner today to talk about networking with social media. The three main topics are Setting Boundaries, Connecting with Your Top 3 Referral Partners, and Asking for Introductions.

Setting Boundaries

Gail recommends a 90/10 split between business and personal information posted to social networks that you use for business. And remember that anything that you post online is part of a public record and can affect your business reputation.

Connect with Your Top 3 Referral Partners

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and spend too much time on social media. Concentrate on your top three referral sources. Comment on their pages and keep up with their profiles. You can move on to your top three clients and top three prospects.

Ask for Introductions

Don’t forget the VCP process when you’re networking online. Let relationships grow and then ask your closest referral partners to introduce you to new groups or prospects.

Chances are, you have a social media-savvy member in your BNI chapter, but if not, get in touch with Gail at GailNott.com.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 213 -

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 and where are you?

Ivan:
I am in Mexico City where I just finished the conference with our directors and members in Mexico. Mexico is really growing for the organization and we are really excited about what is happening there. This week, I have, as a guest on our podcast, Gail Nott. Gail is a BNI member and specialist in social media and relationship marketing. Gail’s company is Nott Limited Solutions.  She manages internet marketing campaigns for large and small companies in California. She has 12 years experience in web development, SEO and BNI happens to be one of Gail’s clients. We are very happy to work with you, Gail. Welcome to the podcast today.

Gail:
Thank you so much for having me.

Ivan:
It’s our pleasure. We are going to talk about three things in today’s podcast. Setting boundaries. I’ll be really interested in hearing what you have to say about that. Setting boundaries between personal and professional online. Connecting with your top three referral partners and asking for introductions. Those are the three topics that we are going to cover and this morning. This content is perfect for BNI members in integrating technology into what they do, so .let’s get started right away.

Gail, what do you want to do in terms of setting boundaries? What are your recommendations there?

Gail:
Let’s get started with what are your boundaries for your professional social media updates on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and any other site that you are using? One of the things that people ask me is what they should post to their Facebook page and how to let people in and know more about them without making it too personal. I give the suggestion of a 90/10 split on that. Definitely focus on your business and educating your public on what you do and how you can help them as well as giving them tips. And then also allow them in and show the culture of your company and your own personal interests, kind of like the interests in your GAINS profile, what your interests are and helping people find common ground and build rapport between you and prospective clients.

Another thing to consider is privacy issues. A lot of people also use Facebook for personal use. So be very clear about what goes on your personal page and what goes on your professional page, knowing that even though you have that separation, online, just think of it as being permanent record. You never know who is going to say something or cut and paste something that you write. Always be aware. You  are an entrepreneur. Always remember to be professional online.

Ivan:
Gail, we have a US Congressman who has a little problem with that issue right now, don’t we? He was putting up some bonehead things. You have to be careful about what you put up on  professional page.

Gail:
Right, right. When people ask me things like that, it makes me wonder what exactly are you doing? What are you trying to hide? There could be things like your beliefs. They might be great on your personal profile but not on your professional page. It’s not what business is about.

Ivan:
If you don’t mind, I would love to say something about that. I have a private page, a personal page, and I have a public page. My wife has just written a book. BNI doesn’t deal in religion, but I want to support my wife’s book. I don’t know if you have seen it or not but I am putting up disclaimers. This is my private page. Ivan Misner, personal. I am going to make a couple of recommendations for this book here. It is my wife’s. If you have a problem with it, just go to my public page where I will not talk about this kind of stuff. What do you think about that? Should I not do it at all?

Gail:
I am a big believer that that’s part of who you are. You should not necessarily hide that but as you mentioned on the BNI page, it’s about BNI and business networking. I do the same thing on my social media page. It is just on social media and network marketing. If you are my Facebook friend, you will see my personal interest and even pictures of my family as well.

Ivan:
But even then, you shouldn’t be posting photos of the wild party that you went to last weekend.

Gail:
Be aware of the professional image.

Ivan:
I am just kidding about the wild party, but you have to be careful about the  pictures that you put up there because you have to keep it professional, even on your personal page to some extent.

Gail:
Exactly. That used to be a big fear that people would get tagged in pictures that would not put them in the best light. But I think that people are more aware of the etiquette of that. You can always untag yourself. If you are very protective of your personal image, you can even turn that off. It’s always good to be aware of what your settings and what  you are capable of on social media sites. It’s similar to jumping in the car in another country.  Be aware of their rules. So be aware of the settings in Facebook and take advantage of them.

Ivan:
Great. Anything else on that? We need to jump to the next one.

Gail:
Let’s jump to the next one.

Ivan:
Connect with your top three referral partners. Talk about that.

Gail:
It can be very easy to get overwhelmed with social media especially as you keep connecting with people and making friends. How do you really use it?I say keep in touch with your top three referral sources. Time can disappear in social media. It’s very easy to get distracted and hours go by and you didn’t get anything done. If you have a list of your top three referral sources, those are the  people that you are really going to stay in touch with, either on their business page or also their personal profile as well.  Stay in touch with them, comment on their post, feature them, and find opportunities where you can guest blog for each other. That is where you can move from the VCP process (visibility, credibility, profitability) throughout, you can move it to the profitability portion of VCP.

Ivan:
Three. That seems small. That is not a hard and fast number I hope.

Gail:
No. I actually tell people to start with your three top referral sources. Keep in touch with your top three clients and your top three prospects. But if someone is just starting out and they are overwhelmed looking at it, I suggest to them to start with the three referral sources and then build from there. Even 9- if you are thinking of 9 business pages and then 9 business profiles, that’s already 18 pages to take a look at and keep up with. Start small.

Ivan:
You are talking about really going deep, not just casual reviews of a few pages, but really spending time on your top three referral partners. That is what you are really talking about.

Gail:
Yes. Exactly.

Ivan:
Alright great. The next one is ask for introductions. Tell us what you mean by that with social media.

Gail:
I say that. Just because you connect with people online very easily does not mean that you connect with them and then sell to them right away. Or you connect with them and then ask or referrals right away. You have to remember the VCP process of developing a relationship. What I do- this is my secret. I connect with people that I would either like to be in a business relationship with, whether it is referring or a client relationship. I connect with them online and I just let that relationship grow. If there is something I can help them with, I am there to help them. As that relationship grows and they get to know me better, we will find opportunities that we can meet in person. Maybe we can meet at a chamber mixer together or I can  visit their BNI chapter or whatever it is that I can build that relationship further. From that point, we move the relationship to a deeper level again.

What helps me – this is my secret – is asking for other people to promote me to these people. So asking my closest referral partners, the people that I am in Profitability with, and telling them I just started talking to this person, she is interested in what I do but obviously I am not in Credibility with them. In our network, you have a good relationship. Would you mind giving a testimony on my behalf when the time is right? Then we will strategize how we can develop this relationship further. It is done in a very authentic and sincere way but also in a strategic way as well. That is kind of my secret in combining online networking with in-person networking- using social media as a tool to get to know each other and build that relationship. Then, when the relationship is right, we can move it to the next level.

Ivan:
I find that social media is a great way to maintain touch points, to stay connected with people that are following you or that you are following. That is important.

Gail:
Definitely. I think one of the reasons why BNI meetings are so effective is that you see each other on a weekly basis. That is the great opportunity with social media, too. You can stay in touch with your top 9 people on a daily basis if that is how often you check into social media.

Ivan:
Gail, we are just about out of time. The three things that you are recommending are setting your boundaries between personal and professional, connecting with your top three referral partners in terms of going deep, and them asking for introductions or referrals to expand your network. Any closing comments before we turn it back over to Priscilla?

Gail:
I think just remembering that it is still networking and it’s just a tool to enhance our in-person networking. That is the most important thing to remember with social media.

Ivan:
It is a great tool. The VCP process still applies. You pretty much said that. You have to move from Visibility to Credibility and and to understand where you are at with those people when it comes to Profitability. It still applies online. Gail, thank you so much. Thank  you for what you do for BNI. We appreciate the work that you have done for us as an organization. Thanks for being on this podcast.I hope listeners have learned a lot  this week. You have more and more members who are in social media. Connect with your member if you want advice. If you don’t have a member in your chapter, contact Gail. Her website or contact information will be here. As a matter of fact, Gail, give us your website so we can make sure it gets out there.

Gail:
It is www.gailnott.com. 

Ivan:
There you go. www.gailnott.com  Thank you very much, Gail. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay. Thanks so much to both of you. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

This week Lee Abraham joins Dr. Misner to talk about Power Teams and Contact Spheres, two of the main subjects of the book Money on the Table: Referrals in the Bank.

The book goes through 6 different contact spheres or industry groups and identify36 different business categories to provide examples of how to recognize referral opportunities and give better referrals.

Most referrals happen when a consumer experiences a lifecycle event. Six of these constitute key situations when it’s easier to gain visibility and credibility with your prospects.

1. Business builder
2. Getting healthy
3. Getting married
4. Relocation
5. New baby
6. Real estate construction

Brainstorm ideas on how the businesses on your power team can provide services to people in each of those key situations.

Get your copy of the book at the BNI Member Store and learn more at http://moneyonthetablebook.com/.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 210 -

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 and where are you?

Ivan:
This week, I am in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a Referral Institute conference, and I’ll be speaking, of course, to a lot of BNI members while I am out here as well. I’m doing a lot of traveling this year. You are going to hear me from all over the place trying to visit as many BNI members around the world as I can.

Priscilla:
That’s great. I wish I was with you.

Ivan:
Today, we have as a guest my good friend, Lee Abraham. Lee is my co-author on a new book called Money on the Table, Referrals in the Bank. It is really important to understand this book is really about power teams and contact spheres. Over the years, we’ve had so many questions about how do you use a power team effectively and what’s the difference between a contact team and power sphere.

Lee has really done a great job in working with me in developing some material that will help people with contact spheres. Lee got involved in BNI in 1993, so he has been in the organization for 18 years now. He became a Director in 2002 and I am really excited to have him on the podcast today. Thanks for joining me today.

Lee:
Thank you, Ivan. My pleasure. I appreciate the invitation.

Ivan:
I’m really excited about this book. I think members will be excited about it. When the podcast is finished, we’ll talk about where people can pick up this book. This book is absolutely targeted to BNI members and people who are trying to develop contact spheres within power teams. So let’s talk a little bit about Money on the Table. You know, that’s what we really see in the form of overlooked and neglected referral opportunities in every business category that I have seen in the BNI organization. Maybe you can give us a quick idea on what we call the six key situations in the book and how the six key situations make it easier to recognize referral opportunities and make it easier to give powerful testimonies.

Lee:
In fact, what I would like to do is a quick exercise. So as a heads up, grab a sheet of paper and a pen because in just a second, we’ll do a little exercise. Money on the Table is based on the premise that those referrals, regardless of the business or industry therein, is a result of a life cycle event. We have identified six life cycle events that we call key situations. If you had a power team, a group of networking partners who are making a commitment to actively network together around these six key situations. It becomes easier to gain visibility and credibility to the targeted prospects and, interestingly, sometimes by way of business categories that seem to be completely unrelated to each other.

If it would be okay, let’s do a quick little exercise.

Ivan:
Alright. I’ve got a pen and a piece of paper here, so I’m ready to go.

Lee:
Let’s draw four columns, and starting with the left column, moving to the right across the top, write “Key Situation” in the first column. Then we are going to write three business categories in the next columns. Write “Realtor” then “Security Systems” and then “Massage.” We are basically going to be creating a grid. In that left column where it says “Key Situation” we are now going to list the six situations or life cycle events that are what we call referral circumstances- situations that can create a lot of referrals.

Number one is the business builder. This is someone who is looking to build a business.

Ivan:
Can I say one thing real quick? Some people may be listening to this and think wow, I am not a realtor, or in security systems or whatever. But you can apply this to just about any person in your power team, correct?

Lee:
Absolutely. In fact, in the book we go through six different contact spheres or industry groups and identify 36 different business categories.

Ivan:
But that is just a sample. I want people to get that. Oftentimes, people look at this and go that’s not me. Don’t worry about it if it’s not you. Go on with Lee’s concept here and apply yourself to the concept.

Lee:
Exactly. That is how we are going to wrap up the exercise.

Ivan:
So start with business builder. That is number one in the left column.

Lee:
The key situation that we are starting with. Number two is getting healthy. Number three is getting married. Number four, relocation. Number five, new baby. And number six, real estate construction. So now we have a grid. Across the top we have these three example business categories and in the left column, we have the different key situations.

So Ivan, let’s focus for a minute on the first key situation, the business builder. Let’s brainstorm some ideas on how these three business categories can provide a relevant product or service to somebody who is looking to start a business starting with the realtor. Any ideas?

Ivan:
So key situation: business builder for realtor. Is that correct? So there would be some sort of commercial building.

Lee:
Exactly. If you are in a networking group and there is a realtor in it who is dealing with commercial property, and you are in contact with somebody who is looking to build a business to create a referral for your realtor, in buying, leasing, building commercial property would be a good referral.

How about the next column, security systems. What product or service might they have for a business builder?

Ivan:
Alarm systems, video cameras, secured access- things like that.

Lee:
Exactly. Now for a completely different type of industry group, how about massage? How could they work with a business builder?

Ivan:
Stress relief, relax, rewarding office chair massage. Things like that.

Lee:
Okay. So those are three good examples. Now let’s move to the second key situation, a very different life cycle event, getting married. Let’s take a look at the same three business categories and how they might provide provide a different product or service. Again, let’s start with a realtor with people getting married. How could they fit in?

Ivan:
Buying a new home for the first time, has got to be important.

Lee:
Sure, and from the agent’s perspective, they could be selling both homes that they currently occupy. How about security systems for the couple getting married?

Ivan:
Protecting the family. Protecting the spouse. That’s the key.

Lee:
So instead of protecting the business, it’s protecting the spouse. Finally, in the health and wellness industry, in your contact sphere with massage, how would they fit into someone who is getting married?

Ivan:
It could be a wedding party gift.

Lee:
Exactly. Or gift certificates. Any number of possibilities for a different product or service. So the idea is take a look at you business category. We should have had you draw a 5th column and put that out to the right and put your business category. How could you use your product or service for somebody who is building a business, someone who is getting married and so on. The idea is take a look at the other business categories that you are networking with and focus on your strengths and build a power team based on common target situations or key life cycle situations that you are focused on.

Ivan:
Okay. So let me just recap because we won’t be able to go through all of these categories. The six key situations that you listed: business builder, getting healthy, getting married, relocation, new baby, real estate construction/remodel. Then across from that where you have listed those six items, you have three business categories of realtor, security systems and massage. We covered the first two of all of those.

You, in whatever business you are in, can post another column and that is really they key column for you. How do these six key situations potentially apply to your business, correct?

Lee:
Absolutely correct. The key concept here is in focusing on life cycle events, what we recommend is to focus on the key situations and which ones are most aligned with your target market. It’s all about specific people and combinations of business categories in your particular network and which life cycle event is most closely associated with your targeted prospect. If you have any questions, Ivan will give you some information. Obviously, the book goes into quite a bit of detail on a vast array of business categories.

Ivan:
As one example,  if you were in the catering business and were working with people who are planning a wedding, you can show clients how the security system for their new place could protect their new spouse. The massage person could do a massage for the reception or gift  certificate or whatever. The idea is to take these categories and apply them in your profession, right?

Lee:
Exactly. If you understand the other businesses that you are working with- we make it very simple in the book by reducing the possibilities down to the six key situations. We look at each of the contact spheres in 36 specific business categories. It’s simply a paint by number step by step system in the book, Money on the Table, that will show you how to build a power team based on life cycle situations in your current business category. We really tried to provide a flexible but powerful tool for the  networking folks out there to use and apply to their own circumstances.

Ivan:
Lee, I have written  about contact spheres and power teams for a long time. The first time I wrote about them was actually in the late 80′s – 1989. They were in my book, The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret. I have been talking about them for a long time. This is the first book that is really devoted pretty much exclusively to how to you apply this concept of a contact sphere and a power team? What’s the difference between the two- I’ve talked about that in previous podcasts but we go into detail in this book.

You have done a wonderful job. It was a real pleasure working with you on the book. It’s called Money on the Table, Referrals in the Bank. It’s really about creating power teams from these six common everyday situations. You can really get a sense for how to effectively use your power team and contact sphere. It’s totally written for people in BNI. Any closing comments that you have?

Lee:
I just want to say thank you for all of your participation on the project. It was wonderful to work with you on the material, and I  just very excited about rolling out some of the training systems and applications that we have to help people integrate some of the concepts that we have into their own referral groups. Thank you so very much.

Ivan:
My pleasure. If you are in a power team in a BNI chapter, this is a must-read. I really recommend that you take a good look at the book. You can find the book at BNI.com and then go to  the BNI Store. Go to BNI.com and then click on the BNI Store. That will take you right to the books. You can also go to www.moneyonthetablebook.com. At both of those places you can take a look at the book. And of course, contact your local BNI Director. Many BNI Directors will have a copy of this book as well.  Thank you so much. I really appreciate working with you and I’m excited to have my first book exclusively for power teams and contact spheres.

Lee:
My pleasure.

Ivan:
Back to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
That’s great. Thank you so much. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Hazel Walker, co-author of Business Networking and Sex—Not What You Think, joins Dr. Misner today to talk about the GAINS profile, first mentioned in Business by Referral. (That stands for Goals, Accomplishments, Interests, Networks, and Skills.)

How does the GAINS profile help BNI members?

• Goals are how we help one another. It’s much easier to refer another person when you know what s/he is trying to achieve.
• Knowing someone else’s Accomplishments lets you build their credibility.
• Interests help us find common ground and build rapport.
• Discovering each other’s Networks lets us connect one another.
• Skills provide more credibility and open doors to doing business.

The idea in a GAINS exchange is to have a conversation. Hazel likes to start with the I, because it’s easiest to build rapport that way. For instance, two men who resisted doing the GAINS exchange discovered they were both soccer coaches and became the best of friends.

Hazel also recommends doing the GAINS profile with members of your chapter more than once. The answers to these questions change over time.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 208 -

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 and who do you have with us today?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. I am doing great. I have a good friend, a friend of mine, a friend of BNI. Hazel Walker. Hazel has been a member, joined BNI- she’s now an Executive Director. She joined BNI as a member in 1991. We were talking about this, Hazel. You were only like 19 then, right?

Hazel:
I had just turned 19.

Ivan:
So Hazel has been involved in the organization for 20 years. That’s what I love about BNI. We get so many people who have been members, then directors, for years and sometimes decades. It’s really exciting to see somebody like Hazel who started as a member and then became a Director in Indiana, the Indianapolis area, where she’s from. She is also my co-author, one of my two co-authors in a book I am not sure I’ve talked about yet on my podcast, but we’re definitely going to be talking about it. The book, Priscilla, I know I have talked to you about it. The book is called Business Networking and Sex- Not What You Think. It’s about the difference between men and women in how they network, which I know will be disappointing to some people based on the title.

We think it’s going to be a great book. If the listeners here have a chance, go visit our website. It is, funny enough, called businessnetworkingandsex.com. There are some really funny videos that are going to be going up here real soon. There is some good stuff already about the book. Take a look at that. Hazel is the female voice in the book, and Frank De Raffele is the male voice. I am the data guy, the expert that we do with about 12,000 people.

Hazel, it’s great having you on the podcast. We are going to talk about behind the GAINS profile, right?

Hazel:
Exactly.

Ivan:
The GAINS profile is originally from the book that I wrote called Business by Referral. It’s called the GAINS exchange. It stands for Goals, Accomplishments, Interests, Networks and Skills. It’s an acronym, and it’s a profile that 4 can be very effective in your networking activities. My first question to you is how can you help members by using the GAINS profile? How can members be helped by actually using this very simple profile?

Hazel:
One way that they can do this is if they understand what is behind each one of those acronyms. G is goals and goals is how we help one another. If you understand my goals and I understand yours, that is how we help each other. A is accomplishments. If I know what you have accomplished and what you are proud of, it allows me to build your credibility when I am out meeting other people whom I want to refer to you. I can talk to them about your accomplishements and build your credibility when you are not there. I- interest- if you start with this one, interest, that is how we can build rapport with one another. Ease of conversation, we can find common ground and build rapport. It will allow us to start to share all of the other information by building that connection. N is network. What are the places that you network and I network? If I realize that you’re networking at some places that I would love to be connected to, it allows us at that point to connect one another. Networks allow us to connect one another. Skills is S. That is just one more way that I can connect you to other people. Sometimes even through a back door. Someone needs something, you have that skill, and I can make that connection and in the process, you are able to build credibility with that person and possibly do business down the road.

So understanding what each one of those mean and why it is important that we learn those about our members allows us to support and help our members more completely.

Ivan:
Isn’t it really about finding the overlap between them, areas of overlapping interest or activity or whatever so that you can make that personal connection because, really, although we’re a business organization, it’s really about that personal connection, isn’t it?

Hazel:
It absolutely is. If you and I have a common goal and we both want to finish a marathon, that gives us something more to talk about. Now we have a goal and an interest. Absolutely.

Ivan:
Overall, what do you think the value is in having members sit down and do a GAINS exchange, where they exchange with each other this information?

Hazel:
I think the biggest value is that it allows us to have a way of building a deeper relationship in a constructive manner. All too often, members will go to a one-on-one-

Ivan:
A one-to-one. Remember we got in trouble in Europe on that one.

Hazel:
Oh yeah. That’s right. I always write it one-to-one. They go to a one-to-one.

Ivan:
Priscilla, just so you know, there are countries where one-on-one has a completely different connotation. We got into some problems with that.

Priscilla:
I see. Okay. I understand now.

Hazel:
They end up being social. They talk about weather. They talk about sports. While that can help build the relationship, it doesn’t move forward in a constructive manner to help each other’s business. In BNI, they are looking for ways to be able to pass referrals and make connections to one another. GAINS profile allows you to do that.

Ivan:
It absolutely does. How do you use a GAINS exchange to deepen a relationship with other members of your group?

Hazel:
It’s the overlap that deepens the relationship. It’s those times when you find those common goals, common interests, common networks, common people that you know. That’s when you start to really go deeper into the relationship. Understanding that GAINS are how we are going to help one another, finding those common interests really allows us to dig deeper into the relationship, especially when you start talking about interests.

I had a guy one time tell me that the GAINS profile did not work. He said it doesn’t work. I said, “You’re right, but don’t tell anyone.” Then I did a GAINS profile with him, but I started with the I so he wasn’t aware. By the time we finished, I knew everything. I knew that he wanted to work less time and that he wanted to buy a bass boat. He was a member of a bass club. I knew what kind of boat, where he- I knew a lot about him, and by learning that simple thing of what he was passionate about, I was able to really deepen our relationship. He was able to see how it really works.

Ivan:
Did you point out to him that you did a GAINS profile with him?

Hazel:
I read it right back to him. I said, “Okay, so your goals are this. Your accomplishments are this.” I read right back everything he told me without his realizing that he told me because I went into the whole GAINS profile in a relational manner, not a technical manner.

Ivan:
That’s a really good point. I’m a guy and we’re writing this gender book together. I am a guy. I wrote it. One of the things that we’re seeing is there is this transactional process that men tend to take versus a relational process. I kind of wrote it in a transactional way, but it’s not meant to be applied in a transactional way. It works best in a relational way. If do this: “Okay, give me your goals. Here are my goals,” it becomes very superficial. That doesn’t work.

The idea is really to have a conversation. This is really just a mechanism to help carry on the conversation. Is that decent way to put it?

Hazel:
Correct. That is why I always encourage people to start with the I. You don’t have to go in order. Start with the I and let me build some rapport. I can get the rest of it as we continue to talk.

Ivan:
That’s actually a great suggestion. Start with the I.

Hazel:
Always start with the I.

Ivan:
When we tested this, and I may have said this in a podcast in the past, I had a similar situation with two guys who didn’t want to do it. They were dragged kicking and screaming into the process. They just did not want to do it. They ended up finding out they were both soccer coaches and ended up becoming best of friends over soccer coaching. They ended up doing business with each other, yet they had been in the chapter for almost a year and had not done business together. When they found out they were soccer coaches, they became best of friends, developed a relationship and started doing business together. It’s really how just going deep can do that.

Hazel:
The I builds that rapport. The I creates the common ground.

Ivan:
There you do, so I think the big take away from this podcast, everyone, is when you do that GAINS profile, don’t necessarily start with the G. This is why I love doing this podcast with experts like Hazel who have been out there doing this as well. You gave me a great suggestion here today. Don’t start with the G. Start with the I. It’s easier to start that connection. Anything else you want to share, Hazel, before we wrap up?

Hazel:
Don’t be limited to doing the GAINS profile one time. That’s the other thing I see is people want to go do it once. “I did a GAINS with everybody in the chapter 30 years ago. I don’t know why I need to do it again.” You have to do it over and over again. You have to sit down and have these conversations repeatedly because life changes, interests change, goals change, networks change. It all changes.

Ivan:
It does. Maybe going back, if you have the old GAINS profile, maybe compare and contrast. Have you ever tried that? I haven’t. That’s why I am asking.

Hazel:
No, I have not done that . That’s a good idea, and I may take that one away.

Ivan:
It may be interesting to say, “So last time we sat down together, these are some of the things you said. What’s changed? What’s new in your life? What’s going on? What are some of the new accomplishments?”

Hazel:
Yeah, what’s important now?

Ivan:
To see what’s changed because that could be an interesting conversation. Even a conversation as to why it has changed could be an interesting conversation.

Hazel:
Exactly. It also opens the door to possible referrals.

Ivan:
Absolutely. All of this is about referrals. Everyone has to understand this. It’s all about referrals, really. Our goal here is to build a relationship with people that you know and trust. When you know and trust them, you are going to refer them. So the deeper you go in the relationship, the more likely you are to refer them. If your network is a mile wide an an inch deep, it is not going to be powerful. You have to go deep into some of the relationships in order to have the comfort to generate some of the referrals. We are at the end of our time. Hazel Walker, thank you so much. You are a great Director for BNI. I appreciate everything you do. It has truly been a joy. Sometimes I have been a little afraid on this book project with you and Frank talking about gender issues. But let me tell you, you are a consummate professional. You have done a wonderful job. It has been a real pleasure working on that book with you. I invite everybody to go to businessnetworkingandsex.com. Take a look at Hazel’s bio. Take a look at what we are doing there.

Look for the GAINS profile. Go to your chapter President and ask for the GAINS profile. Do what we are talking about here today. I think you will find it to be very beneficial for your membership.

Hazel, thank you so much.

Hazel:
You’re very welcome.

Ivan:
Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay. Great. Thanks both of you. It was very interesting. 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Tim Houston, Area Director for BNI NYC Outer Boroughs, joins Dr. Misner today to talk about his best-selling book, The World’s Worst Networker: Lessons Learned by the Best from the Absolute Worst. Tim is part of Dr. Misner’s Author Mentoring Program for BNI directors.

There are lots of books that show people how to network properly; Tim wanted to examine the subject from the opposite perspective. The book’s contributors include Bob Burg, Susan RoAne, Michelle R. Donovan, Robyn Henderson, and Ivan Misner.

The common trait of the world’s worst networkers is a mercenary attitude. They make networking all about them. That said, the world’s worst networkers fall into three categories:

• The Most Unwanted
• Environmental disasters
• Online outlaws

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 201 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, 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 today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you and who is with you today?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. I am doing great. I have with me today a good friend, Tim Houston. Tim is an area director for BNI in the NY area and has been involved with BNI, first starting as a member in 1996. So as of today, he has been with the organization for 15 years. That’s one thing I really love about BNI. We get people who are in for a long, long time. Tim is now the author of the best selling book- I’m really proud of you, Tim- the best selling book on Amazon.com called The World’s Worst Networker. The subtitle is Lessons Learned from the Absolute Worst. Tim is part of my author mentoring program that I’ve been running for a few years with BNI directors. Tim, it’s a real pleasure to have you on the podcast, and congratulations on the best seller status.

Tim:
Thank you. I’m really thrilled to be here. Thank you.

Ivan:
So how did you come up with the subject for the book, The World’s Worst Networker?

Tim:
Well, Ivan, as you said, I have been with BNI since 1996, so I have been networking professionally for almost 20 years now. No matter where I went, even back then, even today, sometimes you run into people that you just scratch your head and say, “Is this really networking? How are they conducting business? How are they surviving in business?”

You see them doing certain faux pas and getting themselves into certain fiascos, and they think that they are actually networking. I found out that this is a phenomenon that is happening around the world. Through sharing stories from BNI directors around the world, we found that there is a commonality here. There are so many great books, including yours, that are out there that teach people how to network. I wanted to look at it from a different direction and show people what not to do. More importantly, what lessons did some of us, who were once the world’s worst networker learn in the process. That is how I came up with the idea for this book.

Ivan:
You have a lot of great contributing authors. Bob Berg is good friend of BNI’s, a good friend of mine. Susan Roanne, Robin Henderson. Susan Roanne is also a great friend of the organization. Robin Henderson from Australia. Michelle Darbin who is a co-author of mine in the 29% Solution. Mene Stevens slipped in a couple contributions for me. I’m really proud to be a part of your book, Tim. Thank you for inviting me to do that. So you have some great people contributing to it. What are some of the kinds of things that people do to hinder or complicate their networking efforts, based on the stories in the book?

Tim:
One of the things that I have noticed, the common theme that I noticed is that some of these networkers have what I call a mercenary mentality. They go to networking events. They go to business groups. They go to trade shows and it’s all about them. They don’t care about building relationships. They burn bridges in the process, and they really think, though, in their own mind that they are really accomplishing something. In reality, they are just getting in the way and losing a lot of credibility. As you teach in BNI and also The Referral Institute about the VCP process, they have no or very limited visibility, any credibility they might have had is completely destroyed by the things that they do or the things that they actually say. Then there is absolutely no profitability whatsoever. They don’t have a grasp of that.

I think that is in part because they way, in some cases, they think they are supposed to network. No one has actually taught them. They think they are natural born networkers, but I don’t believe that is the case. Networking is a skill that you build up over time, with trial and error through learning from other people and the experts, like yourself.

Ivan:
One of the things that I have learned over the years is sometimes you have to talk about the mistakes that people are making, the problems that people are creating for themselves. You used a couple of articles that I wrote in the book, Premature Solicitation, which is a funny piece that I did on networking faux pas. So I think these are good examples, and it helps business people, BNI members in particular, who are listening to this podcast learn what not to do so you’re not one of the world’s worst networkers.

With that in mind, can you give us an example of a few people, maybe an example or two on who may be one of the world’s worst networkers based on your book?

Tim:
Sure. Absolutely. One of the things that we’ve done because there are so many different categories, we’ve actually put them into three classes. We have what is called the most unwanted list. These are people you could find in almost any networking situation. They are almost universal. The other types are environmental disasters, which you typically find in one or two specific environments or locations. Then of course, with the advent of social networking we have, the online outlaws. These are people who misbehave online or act in such a way while they “network” online, but it’s very different from what they do in real life and they totally destroy their credibility.

What I wanted to share. This is one of the folks who is on the most unwanted list. It’s called the outsourced networker. It’s a true story of two scares that I had in the early 2000′s. I’ll share one of the stories. I was at a networking event where a gentleman came up to me and told me he was a financial advisor. He had no business card and he knew nothing about the services that he allegedly sold. In the room, Ivan, there were about 15 or 16 other financial advisors there.

I figured okay, let me ask him some questions and find out about him and his company. It was a small company I had never heard of. He tried passing me off to somebody else, telling me call them up and get the information directly from them. About a month or so later, I see him at a chamber of commerce business card exchange and I jokingly reminded him when we first met that he didn’t have a business card. This time he did have a business card, but it had a completely different title. I said, “I thought you were a financial advisor.”

He said, “Oh no. I wasn’t telling you the truth there. You see, my brother was the financial advisor but he was too busy to network. So what he decided to do was send me to go to his events and do the networking for him.”

Big companies and small companies outsource. Outsourcing seems to be a little controversial in certain areas, but on the other hand, it can be very convenient. One of the things that these folks try to do with big companies as well as smaller companies- is there are some people out there who try to outsource their networking. They send people to do what I call the revolving door method of networking. They send one person from a company or their branch of the bank to go to a networking event, followed by someone else the following month. Then no one has a chance to establish a relationship with them.

I just thought it was bad practice because you know and hopefully our listeners know that people build relationships with other people, not necessarily with businesses.

Ivan:
That’s a great networking story or example. Any others before I wrap up here?

Tim:
Yeah, another example is the wanderer. That’s a true story also. They guy was going around to various BNI chapter meetings at the time and thought he would get a lot of business without ever joining. The twist to the story you’ll have to read in the book. It started in 2000, but the wind up happened in 2005. This is a case of a person who bounced around from group to group to group, never planting any seeds, never planting any roots, I should say. He thought that just by showing up, he would actually get business.

Ivan:
I call those nomadic networkers, who just kind of flip from one group to another. Interesting, over the years, that used to be a huge issue when I started BNI in ’85. It’s not quite as big an issue today as it was then because I think we are trying to teach people to think about establishing those roots. But there are still some people out there trying to do that.

So let me ask you, Tim, how do groups like BNI help people to become better networkers?

Tim:
Great question. One of the things I learned early on, what I love about BNI and why I am such an advocate for BNI, is because of the structure, the system, the coaching and the training and education our members get. It’s not just going to a meeting once a week and getting business and giving business. It’s a sense of community. The directors are trained in such a way to impart knowledge unto the members. Everything in the system is geared to helping our members become the best they possibly can.

You can identify it because when you go to other networking events, I can spot who the BNI members are because they get it. They get it and they know how to network. Other people go around and just basically wander or try to pass out business cards find themselves among the world’s worst networkers. We, in BNI, have helped people who were once a mess become a success when it comes to networking.

Ivan:
Yeah. That’s the last chapter of your book, From a Mess to a Success. I love that. Well, we are out of time, Tim. Any closing thoughts before we wrap up?

Tim:
No. I just want to thank you and also thank Priscilla for having me on the call today. Again, it’s The World’s Worst Networker. You can find more information on our website, worldsworstnetworker.com. The book is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and independent book stores around the country. I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity as well to learn from you as part of the director author of the mentoring program. This would not have happened without that.’

Ivan:
Well thanks, Tim. What he is referring to is the authoring program that I have been running for a few years for BNI directors to help really take this information that we have and really create a body of knowledge and information on how to do this right. Tim has taken a look at this from a really fun perspective, what not to do. Love the book, Tim. WorldsWorstNetworker.com and Amazon best seller. Congratulations on that, Tim. Thank you very much for being on my podcast today. I’ll turn it back over to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay. Great. That’s it for this week. Thank you both very much. I would like to just 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 us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Certified Financial Planner Dan Romero joins Dr. Misner today. Dan is part of the BNI Diamond Club in Santa Ana and has been a BNI member since 2002.

This episode is called “You do the math” because Dan estimates that he could cover 650 years of BNI dues in what he gets out of one year’s membership in BNI. His business has so far gathered $25,963,639 in assets from referrals or referrals that come from referrals.

So why are Dan and his chapter so successful?

1. Givers gain. Taking time to get to know the other members, make introductions, and give referrals. This generates trust and puts you top of mind.
2. Sponsoring people into the group. This guarantees a quality group and grows the chapter faster. Larger chapters generate more business.
3. Serving on the leadership team. This creates visibility and also demonstrates reliability and trustworthiness, encouraging people to give you referrals.

Disclaimer

Daniel Romero (California Insurance Lic #: 0C54180) is a Registered Representative with and Securities & fee based asset management are offered through LPL Financial a Registered Investment Advisor and Member FINRA /SIPC. For a list of states in which I am registered to do business, please visit RomeroWM.com. No information provided on this site is intended to constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of any security, nor shall any security be offered or sold to any person, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under securities laws of such jurisdiction.

Third-party posts found on this site do not reflect the views of LPL Financial or Romero & Levin Wealth Management, Inc. and have not been reviewed by the LPL Financial as to accuracy or completeness.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 198 -

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 Berkley, CA. I am joined today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you doing today? And I hear you have a guest for us.

Ivan:
I do. I am doing great, Priscilla. Thank you very much. I do have a guest on the podcast today. I don’t have a lot of guests that I bring in, but when I talk to somebody that I think has a story that will be interesting or compelling to members, I love to bring them on board.

I have with us Dan Romero. Dan is a certified financial planner. He is the president of his own independent firm, Romero and Levine Wealth Management. He has been in business since 1998, and he has been a member of BNI, currently in the Diamond Club chapter that meets in Santa Ana, since 2002.

So, Dan, I have two things to say. One, thank you for being on my podcast.

Dan:
No problem.

Ivan:
Two, the name of the podcast today is “You Do the Math.” I love that title. Tell everybody why we came up with that title.

Dan:
That’s a good question there. It all sums up- I was introduced to BNI in 2002. I attended UCLA. I reached out to a fraternity brother who I knew was in law. I was looking to meet an estate planning attorney. Anyway, he introduced me to somebody down here, and that person introduced me to BNI. Long story short, I joined. I ended up starting the group that I am in now, the Diamond Club.

The story behind that is interesting. We used to meet at Angels Stadium at the Diamond Club behind home plate. How I got that going was I attended one of the leadership meetings with one of the members. I don’t remember the gentleman’s name, but he had just gotten back from Boston and he mentioned that he visited a chapter that meets at Fenway Park. He said, “Hey it might be a good idea if someone gets it going in Anaheim Stadium.”

Ivan:
I’ve been to that location. It’s an amazing location at Fenway. Yeah.

Dan:
I can imagine. I actually reached out to a representative of the Red Sox. It turned out we went to the same high school separated by about ten years. He gave me all the insights of who I should contact at the stadium. Long story short is we got it set up and we met there for about a year and a half. The guy who got us in ended up leaving, and they were going through change. So we ended up bouncing around, and now we are pretty established. Now we meet at Santa Ana Elks Lodge.

How we got the title of “You Do the Math”, don’t quote me on this but-

Ivan:
You know, this is being recorded.

Dan:
A real rough estimate, give or take- I would conservatively say that for my annual BNI dues, I could probably cover 650-700 years of annual dues just from what I generate in current income right now.

Ivan:
That is just amazing. Now, dues do vary a little bit around the world. For what it cost you for membership dues, so far since you have been a member of this organization, that will pay for the next 650-700 years of participation in BNI. Is that what you are saying?

Dan:
Yeah. Now I just have to figure out how to make that work.

Ivan:
I hope you are a member that long. That would be amazing.

Dan:
Yeah. Exactly. We keep active statistics here at my office of what we have gathered. To date, to the penny, we have managed $25,963,639 from referrals, introductions in BNI, or referrals from those referrals.

Ivan:
Referrals from referrals. That is an important point that I want to stop on for just a second. A lot of times we count the referrals that we give but we don’t count the referrals that come from the referrals that we get in BNI. I am pleased that you are tracking that because that is absolutely part of what comes from your participation in BNI.

Dan:
Absolutely. How I look at it is, had I never joined BNI, would I have ever gotten that introduction? So if I get a referral from clients and that client refers me- not only that but we have had visitors that visit our chapter. Maybe they didn’t join, but they ended up doing business with me. If would never have joined BNI, I never would have gotten that busienss. So big proponent.

Ivan:
When we spoke originally, there were a few reasons that you gave me why you felt you were successful. So let me throw those out and let you comment on them. The first was following BNI’s philosophy of givers gain. You thought that was important. Do you want to talk about that for a second?

Dan:
Yeah. When I had first gotten in the group, I was in a position of high traffic. Someone is not just going to toss me half a million bucks to invest that when they’ve met me one day. It’s not like buying flowers. People really need to trust you.

It took me about a year to really get my first target market referral because people had to gain that trust. But what I was doing was instead of concerning myself with the number of referrals and business I was getting, I considered myself successful from the beginning and today with regards to what I am giving back. I really took the time to get to know what the other members did and do what I can to generate introductions. I need to make sure that the people I am giving these introductions to are good at what they do. That is obviously important to me as well. I just can’t refer out if someone is not good.

But once people made that criteria- which is a little easier for me because I was in the advantageous position of starting my own group, so I kind of cherry-picked a lot of the professionals, especially those that are close to me that I know are good. So my philosophy was get introductions, give referrals. I have been involved in the leadership team. I have been president of my club.

Ivan:
Let’s go back to that. One of the other things that you mentioned to me is that you gave a lot of referrals. You were one of the top referral givers in the group. I talk about that a lot. In a podcast we had, a guest on this podcast some time ago, Alan Buchanan, had given a lot of referrals and had one of his best years ever.

Let’s talk about that for a second. Why do you think giving referrals gets business for you?

Dan:
Anytime we get a new member in, I let somebody know. Let’s say you joined the group. Somebody comes up to you and two months later, they have given you five referrals. You have closed those. The only thing I am going to be thinking of is I have to find a way to get this person an introduction. You are on the top of their mind if you are helping feed their family. That’s what you are doing.

Going back to me, that is just the philosophy that works. I look for many different ways that work to create those opportunities, and it works. Again, I consider success when I give somebody a referral as opposed to me going and meeting and getting one. I am looking to create introductions. And then at the end of the day, whether they all it karma, givers gain, or whatever, it comes back full circle as far as I am concerned.

Ivan:
One of the other things that you have mentioned is that you have sponsored at least 20 other people into your group. How has that helped you to sponsor people? What is the benefit? What’s in it for me if I am another member?

Dan:
By sponsoring people, you know if they are good or not. I’m not just bringing anybody in. If I sponsor somebody in, I have a personal experience. That is good, and that is that much less time that I have to spend getting to know that member, if they are good or not. But beyond that, in terms of sponsoring, that grows a chapter. I’ve seen the stats again and again and again through you, Bill Mills, Jenny Mehring, people involved at the local level of our So Cal BNI, that the larger your chapter is, the more business. When we started off, we had about 26 members, we fell all the way down to 11, came all the way back up to 30+. It’s significantly more business.

Ivan:
The more people you have, the more referrals that are going to be generated. That’s a statistic that has held up since the beginning. Gernerally, chapters of about 15 members will pass about 50 referrals a month. Chapters of 30 members will pass 150 referrals a month. That is very common. So the size of the group is key, but the thing is don’t just bring in warm bodies. You brought in many people that you knew. Knowing somebody is, I think, important.

We are almost out of time, but there is one more thing that I want to talk about. That is that you have served in some form of leadership for many years in your group, including chapter president, which in some countries is called chapter director. Why is that important for a member- to be on the leadership team?

Dan:
Increased visibility for one. If I am in front of people it gives me an opportunity for people to see me. You may not utilize me as a financial adivsor, but if I take a small role, whether it is educational coordinator, president, growth and retention, when I do what I say I am going to do and I do it right, I am reinforcing that brand that I want communicated. They’ll say, “Hey, I had Dan do something. He does it. He does it right.”

That is just one more way to cement the brand and reputation that I’d like to have. So when that opportunity comes and you have that 3 million dollar 401K plan that you want to introduce me to, you’ll have the full faith and confidence that I will be able to deliver because your only experience with me is that any responsibility I have taken I have done right.

So I just put myself in the position to continually build my brand, be on the forefront, be in a leadership capacity one way or another. It also helps the group, too, because we need people who are going to do what they say they are going to do. It’s very, very helpful for me.

Ivan:
You bring up a very good point on this one. It’s a subtle but significant point. You say that when you do what say you are going to do, when you follow up, when you act professionally, when you perform in a chapter’s leadership team role or some kind of leadership role, people see that. They observe that. It increases your credibility. It increases the opportunities for you to get referrals because it produces more credibility. A lot of times people forget how important it is to take on leadership roles so that they can really stand out in the chapter.

Well, Dan, we are almost out of time. Give us your- this is BNI, so we at least have to let you get a plug in here. Give us your website for your business.

Dan:
Okay. My website is www.DanRomero.com. We, just very quickly, specialize in just two folks. That is high net worth individuals with a half a million or more in net assets. Then our niche specifically is with company corporate retirement plans that are 10 million in size. We work as a consultant to the owner of the company to make sure that they are in compliance with all the fiduciary regulations. Most business owners aren’t aware that they have a personal liability even if they have a corporate statute or set up with regards to how the retirement plan is set up. We assist at that level.

Ivan:
Dan, I want to thank you for being on our podcast today. There was a lot of great material, and I hope that it will be of value to our members. I thank you very much for being here, and I hope our paths cross again.

Dan:
Absolutely. Glad to help.

Priscilla:
You’re welcome. Thank you Ivan. 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 us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Dr. Mark Goulston is back with Dr. Misner on the podcast today. (He was on Episode 127, “Get Through to Absolutely Anyone,” and Episode 128, “Turbo-Charging Your One-on-Ones.”)

This week’s topic is about planning an “Xtraordinary” year by imagining yourself in 1, 3, or 5 years and saying “Wow!”

If you applied this plan to BNI, you would imagine yourself getting referrals effortlessly, having conversations in which they could say, and you could say, “Wow, you get it! You get us! You get me!”

Think of what it is that has caused people to “Wow” you, and then do it.

Visit Dr. Goulston’s Xtraordinary Outcomes website, where he and his partner figures out how the most talented employees do what they do and help them to do it more consistently.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 195 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the web 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?

Ivan:
Hello Priscilla. I am doing great and I have a good friend on the podcast with me today, Dr. Mark Goulston. Mark is an MD but he is a business advisor. He is a consultant, trainer and a coach. He is trained as clinical psychiatrist who honed his skills as an FBI police hostage negotiation trainer, which I think is just amazing. He is the author of a book called Just Listen- Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone.

If that sounds at all familiar to some of my podcast listeners, that is because we did a podcast with Mark back on how to get through to absolutely anyone. It was such a great podcast that we carried it through to yet another podcast right after that. So if you have a chance and are listening to this podcast, go take a look on BNIpodcast.com and just type in Mark’s name. Goulston. You will find a dew podcasts with Mark, Podcast 127 and 128.

Mark, you are one of the few people who I have had on my podcast three times. You have great content. I welcome you to our podcast. I want to introduce you with one more thing. I want to tell people what led us to do this podcast today. We got together at a play recently, written by Chet Holmes, who is most well-known for his sales and management training. He did a play called Emily’s Song. It was really good. I was amazed at how skilled he is at in another area other than business. We went to dinner afterward, and you told me something at dinner that just resonated with me, and I said, “ We have to do a podcast on this.”

I appreciate you taking the time to do it, Mark. Tell everybody what the topic for the podcast is and I’ll let you run with it.

Mark:
It’s called how to plan an Xtraordinary year. We spell that X-t-r-a-ordinary. I mentioned, that a lot of times, it takes a lot of energy for people to pump themselves up and try to do a little bit better than what they are doing. But if you ask people to imagine it is a year from now or two years, three years, or five years from now, and you wake up, it’s a Monday morning, and you do a 360 of your life- you look at your job, you look at your career, you look at your wife, you look at your kids and say , “Wow”.

If you ask people to do that, they usually see much more clearly when you ask what their goals are for one, two, three and five years from now. For instance, if one of those things with regard to your business is you say , “Wow” and you’re in BNI, I think the “Wow” would be it’s really amazing that when I go to my meetings, I don’t have to ask anything. People are just coming at me to give me referrals. I have to say very little. I blush and I just say I am proud, glad and pleased to be part of BNI.

That would be a wow as opposed to, oh, do I have to do a hard sell to other people? I think most people would say how do we do that? I have even ratcheted that down to how do you do that in a meeting? I’ll tell you whenever I go to meetings now or meet people going to one on ones for lunches or breakfasts, I go there saying to myself, “What will cause them, after I leave, to say, ‘Wow. That was a great meeting! That was a great use of my time. I want more meetings like that with people like Mark.’?”

If you ask yourself to do that, I think what you would come up with if you were the other person is three things. One of the three things is the other person would say, “Gee. You really get it. You get my situation. You get my opportunities. You get the things that I am facing. You get what is happening in my business.”

The second thing is, “You get us.” If I am in a company, you kind of get our culture, our restrictions, and the kinds of things we have to deal with.”
But the real kicker is, “You get me.” Meaning, I have opened up to you and this is more than just a transactional conversation. When other people feel that “you get it, you get us, you get me,” you get them. The key is give to get.
What I write about in Just Listen is be more interested than interesting. Be more fascinated by people than fascinating. My mentor, Warren Bennis, whom I love dearly- and I’m not the only one who loves him dearly. One of my favorite lines from him is, “Boredom occurs when I fail to make the other person interesting.”

Ivan:
I think you know, Mark, that I studied briefly under Warren Bennis at USC. You went to UCLA, but you still like Warren; I’m impressed. He is truly an icon in the field of leadership. There is nobody stronger in that area.

Mark:
What’s fascinating, because I have been going to a lot of tributes to Warren is he will be interviewed, often by a very respectable person, and it’s fascinating because when the other person talks, you nod in kind of respect to the other person, but when Warren speaks, he speaks with you and you lean into him. The reason he speaks with you is he really is interested in you.
I think the secret to an Xtraordinary year is to project yourself into the end of this. And the secret to an Xtraordinary conversation that will increase business is what is it that comes out that will cause them to say “Wow”? I think what will cause them to say, “Wow” is you get it. You get our situation. You kind of get our company, what we’re going through, and you get me.

I have a really fascinating anecdote. A good friend of mine is the CEO of Abbot Medical Optics. He told me how Abbot Laboratories bought his company called Advanced Medical Optics. They make the opthomalic solution, Blink. What my friend, Jim Mazzo, said is, that the CEO of Abbot Laboratories flew in from Chicago to Orange County. What Jim told me is, “He didn’t tell me anything about Abbot Laboratories. He told me everything about my company, and he told me about me- where I was in my career, how I really wanted to expand my business. If another company took us over, I still wanted to be able to run my successful company the way it was being run- and that I want to do that.” That is exactly what Abbot gave him. And he said to me, “ How could I say no?”

Ivan:
That’s powerful. That’s a powerful story. Let me ask you a question. You say project yourself. Would it be safe to say that you can project yourself backwards? I tell BNI members to look where you want to go and then reverse engineer it. How did you get there? Would you say that in order to say, “Wow” a year from now, the have to look back and say how did they get to the wow? Did they do this, this and this?

Mark:
Absolutely. I would say for them to practice. As you are driving to the meeting. Imagine to yourself that it’s the end of the meeting and when you leave, you say to yourself that was the best meeting yet. That was the best meeting yet for me. Some people will say that’s because everyone had all these referrals for me. Okay, let’s think why would people have all these referrals to give you? I think part of it is because there is something that you did for them that triggered generosity and gratitude. What would it be that would trigger that? I will give you at tip that you and I know very well. There is a saying that if you do something for someone, they will thank you. If you do something for one of their children, they will never forget you. So care about the person and their family outside of the business negotiation, and see how you can help them.

Something I do, and some people would be uncomfortable, but I can get away with it because I was trained as a clinical psychiatrist- sometimes when you are having a conversation with someone, if you can pause, look them in the eye, and say, “What’s really going on with you?” But say it like you care. And say it because you care. Don’t just say it because you are going to shift them into a sale or a close. It’s interesting. One of my mentors who I just listened and dedicated to said, “If you just listen for pain and fear and stress in people, they will open up and share it with you. And then they will share their dreams and hopes with you, and they will be grateful to you forevermore.

Ivan:
That’s powerful information for our BNI members. I think what you have given us, Mark , is basically the law of attraction with some hands on application. How do you attract that end life? How do you take this where you want to go and apply it. We are almost out of time, Mark. Any wrap up closing comments that you have?

Mark:
Maybe one of the ways to produce “Wow” in a meeting is think of the conversations that you’ve had with someone that wasn’t just strictly I’ll give you a referral. Think of what it is that has caused people to wow you and then do the same to others.

Ivan:
Now, you have a website that talks about some of this. It’s in progress, but you’ll be adding content. I wanted to share it with everybody. It’s called Xtraordinaryoutcomes.com. What will you be having up there very soon, Mark?

Mark:
Well, what we’ve discovered is the difference between an outcome and a goal. A goal is often something that you aim a dart at in the future and it’s built upon a wing and a prayer. But an outcome is preceded by something. An Xtraordinary outcome is preceded by extraordinary actions and lousy outcomes are preceded by lousy actions. So what we are focusing on is what are the extraordinary things that occur that cause an Xtraordinary outcome?
My partner, Doc Barrum, one of the things that he does- and I am so honored because he is a genius at this. One of the things is to try to hold on and preserve talent. One of the things that we can do is take your most talented sales person, manager or operations person that you can’t reproduce and we can figure out the way they do it so they can do it more consistently. Also, we can teach others- we can basically clone your best and give it to the rest. That produces Xtraordinary outcomes.

Ivan:
Mark, thank you very much for being on our podcast. I love the concept. It’s a year from now and you say , “ Wow.” How did you make that happen? That’s what we talked about here today. It’s Dr. Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen- Discover the Secret to Get Through to Absolutely Anyone. A great expert in this field and a person I consider to be a friend. Mark, I thank you very much for being on our podcast today.

Mark:
It’s always extraordinary to be with you, Ivan.

Ivan:
Okay, thank you. Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Okay, thank you so much. Thank you both. I think that is it for this week. I would just like to remind the listeners that today’s podcast was brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope that you will join us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

In honor of International Networking Week, Dr. Misner has brought in special guest Allen Buchanan from the Champions chapter of SoCal BNI to talk about how to get more referrals by having more one-to-one meetings.

When Ivan visited Allen’s chapter, he noticed that Allen won both the awards for the most one-to-one meetings and the most referrals given, and he wondered whether there was a connection.

Allen’s technique for a good one-to-one meeting is to start with general questions, then get more specific. If he thinks of a good referral for the person, he picks up the phone then and there, calls the referral, and makes the introduction on the spot.

Making all these connections and giving these referrals has resulted in a great year—the best in 26 years—for Allen, in spite of the recession, which has hit his business (real estate) particularly hard.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 191 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, 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 Berkley, CA. I am joined today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you and what are you doing? Where are you?

Ivan:
Well, this is International Networking Week, and I thought this would make a great topic for International Networking Week,one to ones and referrals. I have with me a guest, a BNI member, Allen Buchanan. Allen has been a member of BNI for about a year and a half. He has been with Lee and Associates, a commercial real estate company, for almost 27 years. So here is somebody who has been in their industry for a long time, who has been in BNI for just under a couple of years, and he had an experience that I really want to share.

Before I bring Allen on, I also want to mention that he has been married for 31 years, he has three kids, and he has a crazy cat named Yoyo, which I think is kind of funny. But there are couple of things about Allen. I met Allen in Orange County. He is a member in one of our Orange County chapters. I met him at an awards ceremony. Allen first received a star award from his chapter. I was standing up there taking pictures with all of the winners.

Then he came back up there again, getting another award for the most one to ones. Here is where things got really interesting. A few minutes later, he came up there for a third award. It was for the number one referrals, giving the most referrals. I said to Allen about it being ironic that the person who had the most one to ones also gave the most referrals and there is probably a direct correlation between those two.

That is the reason I inivted Allen to be on this podcast. I wanted him to be on here. Maybe, Allen, we can start off with I understand that when you joined BNI, you couldn’t afford the original investment. So why don’t we start with that and cover the one to ones and referrals.

Allen:
Ivan and Priscilla, I really, really appreciate you having me on. That’s actually accurate. I had to convince a client of mine to invest the initial fee to become a BNI member. So from the very first meeting, I was well invested and was well committed to make sure that that BNI experience was a successful one, not only for my chapter, but for myself.

My whole path to one to one meetings and ultimately the referrals that I was willing to give really stemmed from my industry being somewhat adverse to networking groups. We tend to be a part of a number of industry networking groups, but when it really gets down to other business owners and networking with them, the commercial real estate industry is typically not stellar in those areas. Consequently, I had never been a part of a networking group and didn’t know what they were all about.

I was enamored with the structure. I was enamored with the fact that I was surrounded by a lot of entrepreneurial, motivated individuals. As a result of that, I was very motivated to do as many meetings outside the chapter as I possibly could. I am somewhat fortunate in that my category is not adequately represented within BNI, and as a result, I went outside my chapter bounds as well as inside my chapter bounds and was able to conduct a number of one to one meetings.

Then an interesting thing started to occur. As I started having more and more meetings, I discovered that the DNA that is within a broker, which is you are matching peg A to slot B started to take over. I listened very carefully to what was needed, and through my 26 years of experience and contacts, relate those peg A’s of the requirements to the slot B’s of the referrals.

So in my case, the number of referrals that I was able to deliver was a direct component of the number of one to one meetings that I was about to conduct.

Ivan:
When you did the one to ones, Allen, what kind of things did you talk about? So you sat down with a member- what did you do? Did you do something like the GAINS exchange. Was it a little more informal?

Allen:
For me it was more informal. We ended up covering most of the items within the GAINS exchange, but it certainly wasn’t something that was from an outline. I can tell you that of all the one to ones that I have had, very few of them have been done with a written outline. All of them have been done with a mental outline.

In the first few meetings, I wanted to make sure that I had an understanding of who their perfect clients were and within my realm of contacts, how I could introduce them to either someone who could use their services immediately or someone that was a strategic partner for them for future business.

Ivan:
Not to sound too obvious, but you came into it looking for how you can help them, first and foremost.

Allen:
Absolutely.

Ivan:
So give me a couple of examples of what kind of questions you would ask them to start up the one to one conversation.

Allen:
I would say tell me about yourself. How long have you lived in Southern California? Are you married? Do you have children? Tell me how long you have been in your current business. Why did you choose to be in that business? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? The first part of the conversation would be based on that so that I was able to do a lot of listening as to who they were because as we all know, the aim of the conversation generally is am I going to be able to refer this person based on their ethics and if they are a BNI member, that is generally vetted beforehand. But based on personality also because I am a big believe that you have to match personalities for a good business relationship to occur.

Ivan:
I want to point out that you started, based on what you said there, with some general questions, which is a great place to start because if you find any kind of overlapping areas of interest, it is easier to maintain contact with somebody. But then you drilled down. There was a point in time that I would have said with networking just start with the facts, just stand up and say,”Just the facts, man, just the facts, that’s all I need.”

That was me at one point and I learned over the years that if you find out more about them as a individual, you begin to have these overlapping areas of interest, and you drill down into the business stuff. It sounds like exactly what you would do with the one to ones.

So you started doing these one to ones. You started being able to pass referrals. I am guessing that you didn’t pass referrals right there on the spot, maybe some. So how did the referrals work out? Did you just contact people later and say you just ran across somebody? What happened?

Allen:
Believe it or not, I am a proud owner of an iPhone and had one at that time. In many cases, if there was an appropriate referral, I would call that contact up and say I am in a meeting with a gentleman by the name of Ivan Misner. He has a wonderful networking group called Business Networking International. I really believe the two of you would benefit from knowing one another. Do you have a minute to talk to him? And I would hand the phone over. That is a very, very powerful way to make an introduction.

Ivan:
It is, and it;s amazing how many members don’t use that- where you are sitting in a one to one with somebody or you are talking to somebody, why not pick up the phone and make the introduction. I find that especially doing a conference call is a very effective technique of getting two people together. It’s a great strategy.

I think a lot of the listeners are going to be asking themselves one question, though. You had the most one to ones. Well done. You gave the most number of referrals. Pat on the back. Really good job. But how did that play out for you? Did you get referrals? Did you have a good year as a result of all the one to ones and giving the most referrals?

Allen:
Yes to both questions. We close our year end, and I am completing the best year in my 26 years in the business. I am happy to report that, very important to me, we are helping build the business of many members of BNI. I definitely have given much more than I have gained.

Ivan:
But you had a great year.

Allen:
I had a great, great year.

Ivan:
What is amazing to me is that we are still dealing with a recession and the fallout from the recession, and you are in a business that was hit as hard or harder than the overall majority. You are telling me that you had a good year, and as I understand it, you had your best year ever in 26 years.

Allen:
My best year ever in 26 years of business. It is very attributable to the BNI experience and not only what I do for a living, but understanding what I do for a living and how to communicate that very simply and powerfully to the people that I meet.

Ivan:
Recessionary economy, a difficult business in this particular economy, and you’re having one of your best years over. I have to tell you. I absolutely believe that it is because you did so many one to ones and were looking to help other people. I have said this over and over to members but if you go into this trying to help people and go into it in an organized and structured way, and most importantly, do it consistently, it is going to come back and help you.

I was just so pleased when I was at that Orange County Award ceremony and I saw you coming up for the most one to ones and then again for giving the most referrals, and then to hear later that you were having a great year- you made my week, and I really appreciate you taking the time to be on this podcast. Any closing comments that you have for members of BNI?

Allen:
I would just say that I appreciate the fact that I made your week. You certainly have made mine. I have really enjoyed getting to know you. I really enjoy getting to know the organization. I can’t wait until the next podcast and the next blog post. It has just been a tremendous experience. The more I drill down, the more I love BNI and what this organization is all about.

Ivan:
Allen, thank you so much. I can’t think of a better podcast for International Networking Week than this one. Last week, I talked about the networking disconnect, and this week is all about the networking connect and how one to ones build referrals. I want to thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Thank you for being a member of BNI. It is greatly appreciated.

Allen:
The pleasure is all mine. Thank you very much.

Priscilla:
Before we close up, Allen, I was just wondering if I could ask you a question.

Allen:
Of course.

Priscilla:
When you did these one on ones, was it organized in a way that you set goals for yourself? Did you have a set number per week or per month? Or did you just arbitrarily invite people to do one to ones with yourself?

Allen:
Well the answer to the question is that I didn’t really have a set number of one to ones that I wanted to accomplish. I was strategic in the the people that I sought. I mentioned that my category is not terribly represented, so I was able to go outside the bounds of my chapter and it became pretty apparent to me that I needed to identify all of the attorneys, the CPAs, the bankers, the commercial insurance agents, the brokers and the wealth advisors because those five categories of professions would generally talk to the same customer that I would talk to. So I discovered that I would use synergies and knowing people in that category and vice-versa.

But then an interesting thing started to happen, as I won the most one on one meetings for my chapter came a long. Then I started to watch the statistics and seeing how the next closest person would be in terms of numbers and what I would have to do in order to be number one. My competitive juices took over, and if I need to do five to ten more one to ones in order to be number one, that is what I did.

I am happy to say that I did that for 12 months consistently until I became President of a chapter, and I have actually recused myself from the awards this year just simply because I think it is counter-productive to have the President win, but I still track the statistics, obviously.

Priscilla:
That’s great.

Ivan:
Great question, Priscilla. Thank you.

Priscilla:
You’re welcome. Thank you Ivan, and thank you, Allen, I really enjoyed that. 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 us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

Mike Macedonio of the Referral Institute joins Dr. Misner to show us some genuinely effective techniques for referral marketing. (As co-author with Dr. Misner of Truth or Delusion, Mike has learned to separate the wheat from the chaff.) Here are three core competencies:

1. Get the right education. Learn from the experts.
2. Stay immersed with the information. Apply what you know.
3. Educate your referral network. That’s what BNI’s Leadership Team training is for. (Hint—you don’t have to be on the Leadership Team to take this training.)

If you want to know more about the Referral Institute, you can visit their website or contact Mike at mikem [at] referralinstitute [dot] com.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 187 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, 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 Berkley, CA. I am joined today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you, and where are you?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. It’s great to start the new year here in the second week of January. I am in Petaluma, CA at the Referral Institute’s conference. Because of that, my guest today is Mike Macedonio. Mike is the President of the Referral Institute. Mike’s relationship with BNI goes way back. Mike has been involved with the organization; he’s an Executive Director. He has been involved with BNI since 1997- a lot of experience in the organization. He is also my co-author of my NY Times best selling book, Truth or Delusion. Mike Macedonio is one of the co-authors with me.

I haven’t mentioned this in my podcast yet, but this year, in 2011, we will have the 4th Edition of The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret. Mike Macedonio will be my co-author in The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret, which is actually a combination of World’s Best Known and Business by Referral. I am sure I’ll talk about it sometime this year in my podcast.

So Mike is my guest today. Mike, welcome to the podcast.

Mike:
Thank you, Ivan. Thank you for having me on your podcast and welcome to Petaluma.

Ivan:
Thanks. The Referral Institute’s conferences are always very full of information, so this is a great opportunity to do this podcast. The topic today is the three core competencies to referral success. What is missing is an important aspect of this topic, so let’s start with what is missing?

Mike:
Well, I think if you look at the three core competencies, first, knowing what to do, secondly, doing it- the third thing is to have an educated network. Sometimes the third one is the stumbling block, but let’s take it in order.

Ivan:
The right referral marketing knowledge. Tell us about that.

Mike:
I think the first thing to go to is Ivan Misner who is a wealth of information on this. The one thing that I will say that we see out there in the world is that the information on referral marketing and networking runs from fantastic to fumbling terrible. The stuff that just fumbles along as good technique, in a lot of cases just doesn’t work at all. As a matter of fact, Ivan, you and I wrote an entire book on the truth or delusions of good networking.

One of the first commitments that any business owner needs to make at being effective in referral marketing is to go out there and learn from the experts. Find out what is working. Again, I will go back to you, Ivan. You have a wealth of information and knowledge that you share. This podcast is one of them. People on this podcast, obviously, are hungry for the knowledge and they want to learn from the best.

I also see BNI as having an endless amount of other resources, such as their Member Success Program, Leadership Team trainings, your books, the Del Fuego programs. Ivan, you probably have a list of others that you can share.

Ivan:
The SuccessNet is probably one of the best resources for BNI members, the Ask Ivan Misner website, which is sometimes a sponsor of the podcast is another great site. And as you mentioned, the many, many books.
So the right marketing knowledge is the first one. What is the second one? Stay immersed with the information. Tell us about that.

Mike:
We know the old saying, knowledge is not enough. We have to take that knowledge and apply it. Immersion is really where we take what we know and we start letting those lessons stick and behaviors changed to repetition. It is no different than exercise. You can know how hard to work out, but unless you are doing it and doing it on a regular basis, you are not going to get any significance in performance.

The more frequently we stay engaged in referral marketing and the longer we stay engaged in referral marketing, the more we fit it in to our lifestyle. It is not simply an event or something we turn on and turn off. One of my experiences with referral marketing is that a lot of it is counter-intuitive. When we think about going out there and looking for business, we go out there and look for business for ourselves. So much of referral marketing also involves looking for business for other people.

Ivan:
That is so true, Mike. I just read something on Entrepreneur.com’s Facebook page where people were talking about networking. The number one complaint was that they just go there to be sold to. They go to networking meetings and everybody and their mother is selling to them, which is very frustrating.

But staying immersed. In my podcast, I talk a lot about being immersed and engaged in a culture of learning. That is very important. But the third one is very important and you have a lot of additional information on this. This is the three core competencies to referral success. The third one is have an educated referral network. Do you want to talk about that?

Mike:
Yeah. This sometimes is where the referral process gets a little sticky. As listeners to this podcast, you probably are immersed in education. You are immersed in the process. You probably have some very frequent skills, but some of you actually may be frustrated with the process because your network isn’t equally as educated and isn’t equally as skilled. This is critical to the referral process because it is a team sport.

On the first level, of course, they need to know who you are, what you do, who to refer to you and how to refer you. Just as importantly, they need to have an understanding of the referral marketing process. What are the strategies? What are the things that are going to make them more effective in generating more referrals for you? It would be equated to a professional athlete going out on the field with a peewee team. He is going to get very frustrated with their skills.

One of the nice things about BNI is it offers so many opportunities for the chapters to get educated and the chapters to learn together how to perform better as a team. You know, years ago as an Executive Director, I started to notice trends in my region. I would notice that certain months, the chapters would have significant growth. They would pass a significant amount of business. Then it would come down, and then it would take off again. When I looked at those trends year in and year out, I was noticing they always happened following our Leadership Team trainings.

Of course, the initial reaction was it has to be the training. With more training they were getting better at it and performing better after they left the training. But there was another thing that I started to notice. I started to notice that the chapters who had the most members attending the Leadership Team trainings were producing the better results in the region. Again, I misinterpreted that because I thought it was just the number of members at training that was producing the results.

It took me a number of years to actually realize that it was all of that plus the fact that they were experiencing the training together. Individually getting training would help, but when they did it together, they came back and played better as a team. I think this is one of the greatest opportunities that BNI members have. They have Leadership Team training, and these opportunities to go together.

I know, Ivan, this is unique, and I’m just experiencing my experience in the United States. But you would know better- is that something that happens across the organization?

Ivan:
Yeah. It absolutely does, and when you see regions that have everyone in the Leadership Team going through the training, which they are required to do- but when you have it happen consistently, that is when you have regions that tend to be more successful. But the ones that are really successful are the regions where more than just the Leadership Team goes. There are many regions of this organization where not just the three people- President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer (in some countries called the Chapter Director , Membership Coordinator, Secretary, Treasured). Whatever the title, oftentimes, many other people go to the Leadership Team trainings: the Visitor host, the membership committees, people in other roles within the chapter go.

When you have a chapter that sends a lot of people, that is really getting the group immersed and engaged in this culture of learning that I think is so important. So do you want to summarize for us, Mike?

Mike:
Yes. Just to review, our three core competencies is get the right education and learn in from the true experts in referral marketing. Secondly, take the information and stay immersed in the information. Practice the skills and make it a lifestyle. Lastly, take every opportunity you can to get your network educated about what you do and who you are looking to get referred, but also on the referral marketing process. Again, BNI offers a great opportunity for us to do that with our members on a consistent basis weekly, but also on the training that happens throughout the year.

Ivan:
Thanks Mike. The Referral Institute certainly takes that at an even much deeper level. I would like to let all of the members know that BNI has a long term strategic alliance with the Referral Institute. I like to call it a strategic alliance on steroids. You know, I am involved in both organizations. You run the Referral Institute, but the Referral Institute uses a lot of the content that I developed in my books and in our books. We have a really strong relationship.

I think that BNI is sort of vocational school for networking. It is where the rubber meets the road. You learn what you need to know to make a BNI meeting successful for you, but Referral Institute is really graduate school training. It’s where you go deep and explain how to build your business through referrals. So take a few seconds, if you don’t mind, Mike, to tell everybody about the Referral Institute, which is really the basis of much of your expertise in this field.

Mike:
The Referral Institute is a training and consulting company. Our specialty is referral marketing. Along with success in BNI, we also look at all the other sources of referrals that a company has and make sure that they have systems and a message in place that can be marketed by word of mouth and referrals. With getting a lot of the information that you have provided, Ivan, and a number of our other trainers in the company, we’ve had the pleasure of expanding into an international company doing well working side by side with BNI.

Ivan:
If someone wants to get information on the Referral Institute, where do they go?

Mike:
They can come to the website, which is ReferralInstitute.com, or feel free to email me at mikem@referralinstitute.com.

Ivan:
Mike, thank you so much for being on this podcast. We are also going to have you on next week to talk a little bit more about what your referral network really needs to know in order to pass you business. We are going to do that next week. To the listeners of the BNI Podcast, thank you so much, and I’ll turn it over to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Thank you both very, very much. I think that is it for this week. I would 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 will join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.