BNI SuccessNet - Third Quarter 2002

BNI HAPPENINGS — UNITED KINGDOM


	BNI UK members and guests at seminar.

This past April, the BNI UK Headquarters Office sponsored a seminar at which Dr. Ivan Misner was featured. Over 410 members and guests were in attendance. Dr. Misner's presentation was well received and everyone enjoyed the seminar immensely.


	BNI UK ribbon-cutting ceremony

While Dr. Misner was in the UK, he performed the ribbon cutting for the new BNI headquarters' offices in London. In attendance were Martin and Gillian Lawson, Co-National Directors (pictured holding the red ribbon), Dr. Misner and the BNI UK staff. Congratulations to the BNI House!


	Gillian and Martin Lawson present to UK and Irish Directors

During the UK/Ireland National Conference held in April in the UK, BNI Directors met together for extended training and workshops to learn how to promote BNI in their areas and support the chapters and members. This was the 5th Annual Conference held in the UK by Co-National Directors Gillian and Martin Lawson.

BNI HAPPENINGS — United Kingdom

Business Blooms - at 19

When you're just 19 and starting out in business, the world can seem a hostile place. Not least, when you live in a small village community where potential customers are few and far between.

That was the situation faced by landscape gardener Peter Squires until he invited by a fellow villager, writer and media relations consultant Pam Austin, to accompany her to a meeting of Corby Chapter, since when his fledging business had started to bloom.

"Pam and I have known each other for a few years and she was aware that I'd started my own landscape gardening business in the summer. Things were moving rather slowly but in September she invited me to attend a business breakfast meeting with her, and said it might be good for me.

"I'd never heard of BNI but from what I saw at that first breakfast, I knew she was right. I've only been in BNI for three months but already I'm averaging one referral a week and at least 50 percent of all my work comes through my chapter colleagues," he added.

At 19, Peter is believed to be the youngest member of BNI in the UK, but his relative youth has not inhibited his integration into the Chapter.

"I'm very keen on amateur dramatics and enjoy acting, so having to present my business to 30 strangers wasn't too difficult - especially since everyone gave me such a warm welcome."

BNI HAPPENINGS — EUROPE


	Gunnar Selheden, BNI National Director for Sweden

BNI Sweden held its 1st Annual National Conference this past April. Dr. Misner was also able to attend this conference and was a featured speaker.


	Gunnar Selheden speaks at Stockholm Visitor's Day in April.

Dr. Misner visited the Stockholm Visitor's Day while in Sweden for the conference. This chapter meeting was the first non-English speaking chapter Dr. Misner has attended. He remarked that he was able to follow along somewhat with Gunnar's presentation, and he enjoyed hearing an entire BNI meeting in another language.

BNI HAPPENINGS — AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Celebrates Success!


	Prize winners pictured above are Mark Hamilton, Renee Lambert, Bill Tasker, Dianne Chalk and Peter Dimoski

Last month the inaugural BNI Illawarra Awards Night was held at the Albion Park RSL club which is home to BNI Shellharbour. The theme of the evening was "Celebration of Success." Executive Director, David Martin, was keen to acknowledge those who had contributed to the success of BNI in the Illawarra region in its shore two-year history.

Over 50 members and spouses were in attendance with BNI National Director Geoff Kirkwood giving a motivational address. Awards of gift baskets were given to the winners from each chapter for the greatest number of referrals and the Networker of the chapter.

They were:

Networker of the chapter: Bill Tasker, Shellharbour, Peter Dimoski, Wollongong, and Dianne Chalk, North Illawarra.

Leading referral giver: Terry Stretton; Shellharbour, Mark Hamilton; Wollongong, and Renee Lambert; North Illawarra

There was also a Director's Award provided for the BNI member who has shown the most improvement in BNI, which was won by Steve Wise of the Shellharbour chapter. Assistant Director, Nevenka Dragovic, was thanked for helping with the orgranisation of the Awards Night, and providing spot prizes on the night with help from Joshua Martin Jnr.

BNI HAPPENINGS — NEW ZEALAND
Chance Encounter

Visitors' Day several weeks ago for Orly Jacobsen of Insync Productions, a member of the Christchurch Thursday Chapter, turned out to be extremely memorable.

On that day, each member invited a least seven people along to a BNI introductory breakfast. Members and visitors alike gave 60 second presentations after which the business card box was passed around.

Orly's card was selected by one of the visitors whom she never had the fortune to actually meet that morning. However, a phone call from a mutual friend confirmed that the visitor had been looking for an Event Manager and after Orly's 60 seconds, he knew he had found the one.

This referral has turned into a big contract for Orly, requiring domestic and trans-Tasman travel as well as the possibility of passing some work onto another chapter member.

Orly's advice, always treat visitors well, because you never know when the big breakthrough referral is likely to occur.

BNI HAPPENINGS — NEW ZEALAND

WE'RE GROWING!

In recent weeks new chapter have opened, or are about to open, in Timaru, Paraparauma, Manurewa, plus a second chapter in Hamilton. Chapters are also being formed in Warkworth, West Harbour, Mt Maunganui and Rotorua. We now have 37 chapters in New Zealand with almost 900 members!

PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS
Is BNI for Me?

So you've recently been invited to a BNI meeting and wonder where you fit into the mix! First of all, let me say, thank you for checking us out. We've been putting business professionals together for over 15 years in a word-of-mouth marketing environment. To date, we are the largest business-to-business networking organization in the world! 40,000 plus members feel that BNI is certainly for them. We hope you will agree!

BNI was started in 1985 with a single purpose: to develop the referral business of the members. From that point, BNI has grown to the vast networking group it has become. We allow one person per profession to join each chapter, thus guaranteeing exclusivity to the members in their business category. If you are a florist, you will be the only florist in your chapter! One member values his chair at the table each week to be worth over $30,000, because that is the amount of referral business his fellow members generated for his company in one single year.

Annual membership in BNI costs less than a business suit—it's the most cost-effective way to market yourself in today's highly competitive marketplace. If you value having 20 to 30 other business people marketing you to others, then BNI is the right place for you! We hope that you like what you see and that you will join a chapter near you and experience firsthand the difference a structured referral system can make in your business.

FAQ's
Ask BNI

This is the place where you can ask any question about BNI. If you have a question for BNI's CEO and Founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, send it to askbni@bni.com. He will post his response here, as space allows. From time to time, a guest Director will post a response.

Q: How many times can a member holding a seat in the chapter have a substitute? (name withheld by request)

A: Under PROGRAM GUIDELINES in the MEMBER POLICIES, it states:

"A member should have a substitute come when they are absent, but not replace them on a continuous basis."

Nine out of thirteen weeks is roughly 70% of the time. That feels continuous to me. I recommend that the President (called the Chapter Director in some countries) or the Vice President (called the Membership Coordinator in some countries) have a one-on-one conversation with the 'member' (not the sub).

My advice to them is - DON'T start the conversation with the policy. People don't care about policy, they care about "why". So, show them "why" it is important to be there.

BNI is all about building relationships with other business people. By sending a sub 70% of the time, the group is developing a relationship with the sub and not the member. The Chapter needs to develop the relationship with the member. The number of referrals passed, depends not only the quality of the service but, on the quality of the relationship as well. Therefore, the 'member' needs to attend regularly if they expect to get referrals. In addition, it's difficult for the member to GIVE referrals if they're not there to hear about the services that the various members offer.

Clear, open, honest, and direct communication is always the best way to handle problems or potential problems. Explain the "why" AND have high expectations. If after explaining why, the member disagrees or is unwilling to comply - then, and only then, review the policy with them and explain that the Membership Committee has the authority to open someone's classification over issues such as this.

Chapters that act from a position of caring - while NOT ACCEPTING MEDIOCRITY, are the most successful groups in BNI.

Good luck.

Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO, BNI

Q: Why does BNI discourage chapters from scheduling outside speakers?

A: The subject of allowing outside speakers speak at a regular BNI meeting is an important one. This request comes most often from a newer chapter. The reasoning behind this desire for an outside speaker is usually, because the internal speakers are -

not very interesting,
boring,
saying the same thing over and over again, or
individual members have not learned to listen carefully to the message of the speaker.

The anticipated hope for an outside speaker is that outside speaker will liven up the meeting, teach a new useful technique and or be a "drawing card" for new guests.

In a "normal" organization, the calling card to get more members or, a larger audience is to feature a well-known and established speaker. The group responsibility is then to sell the potential audience on coming to hear a great speaker. BNI is NOT however a "normal organization" as we focus on promoting the success of our own members. While we may not be a normal organizational, we still have normal organizational dynamics to deal with.

One such pressure is to make the routine weekly behavior interesting, stimulating and inspirational. If the weekly meeting has the above three elements present every week, it would be hard to imagine anyone ever wanting an outside speaker. As you point out, it is the task of each member to act like a sales manager at his/her weekly sales meeting and work diligently to educate, stimulate and motivate the audience or the sales team.

BNI is designed to help members generate new business through establishing strong relationships among members. The purpose of the speakers spot is to allow each member to better education, stimulate and inspire the fellow members to find referrals for the speaker. Each member gets an equal chance to present his/her material which hopefully is educational, stimulating and inspires the fellow members in the audience to go out and find that speaker referrals the following weeks. At the next week's meeting, it is the previous speaker's turn to listen and be inspired by yet another member and so on.

By bringing in an outside speaker, the group may create temporary interest for that week, but the speaker will not be particularly interested in finding ANY of the members new business. Instead, the outside speaker is looking for his/her own business, and has not agreed to the Givers Gain philosophy.

In other words, they will be pleased to have members' give them business, but they have not agreed to find business for the members on an on-going basis.

What some members may not realize is that each member in the chapter must work hard to create their BEST and most polished presentation every opportunity available. If every member spends time and energy on presenting new elements to their industry each time they have the opportunity, word like "boring, tired and same old thing", will not be words used describing the chapter's atmosphere.

Instead, here is what we promote in Canada and some chapters in the USA:

Call the speaker's spot, the "Member's Show-Case Presentation."

Teach the members to coach the others on the best people to invite to hear his/her presentation. Give the members tickler information about what will be included in their Show Case Presentation. Give out lists of people who could be potential buyers of the service or service presented by the "Sales Manager."

Each Member's Show-Case Presenter should plan on having at least 10 Non-BNI guests in the audience to hear their presentation. Obviously, the Show-Case Presenter better prepare their presentation well.

If another member is able to get someone to attend the meeting to hear the show case presentation, then that can also be considered as a referral to the member giving the talk.

As the members learn to better prepare for their show case talk, the quality of the presentations will increase which will go a long way to fighting boredom. It doesn't make sense to bring in outside experts, when each chapter has 15-40 experts within it's own membership.

Two examples of this...

One member invited the neighbor to hear a show case presentation by one of the members. The neighbor was an senior retired person in their mid 70s. Because the neighbor who showed up to the chapter meeting to hear the show case presentation was so impressed with the "nice group of young business people in the chapter" this same senior person began referring her own needs to members in the chapter such as the plumber, carpenter, financial advisor, and so on. Of course the old person was not interested in joining, but the chapter members got business, which is what we are all about.

In Toronto, there is a translator in the chapter. When she gives her show case presentation she typically invites about 50 people to hear her talk. She does a great job and very animated. Her members know who her potential customers are and invite as many people that they can to hear her show case talk. Typically she has about 20-25 non-BNI guests out to hear her 10-minute presentation.

Now compare the potential for a non BNI speaker to come in and take the speaker's spot with having BNI members take more care and concern with preparation of their own talk.

Bringing in outside speakers, cheats the members out of the opportunity of becoming more responsible about how they deliver their own talks and present themselves.

Ways to liven up the group, and begin a process of creating more lively presentations are to: 1) call the 10-minute presentation a "showcase presentation," 2) invite guests to hear the speaker, and 3) create a contest for the most lively chapter show case talk to be operated each month for six months. The person voted each month to have the best presentation will win some sort of small prize or be posted to the website as a director's speaker of the month giving them more recognition and marketing exposure.

Please urge your leadership to "think out of the box" in respect to bringing in outside speakers. The problem may be boredom in the chapter, but the solution is not to bring in someone else to talk about how to fix the problem. The outside speaker does not fully understand the BNI process. They will not necessarily be in a good position to offer suggestion on the solution to internal boredom.

From an organizational perspective, organizational boredom and staleness must always be fixed by the participants in the organization. The solutions are easy. Sometimes, if an individual member is not willing to be part of the solution, then they are part of the problem and may need to be coached out of the BNI chapter.

Starting a "Buzz" about the BNI chapter will come from the members' spark, and not from a dynamic speaker invited once from the outside.

I hope this helps spark some ideas for you.

Best,

Don Morgan, MA
Founding National Director, BNI Canada

GIVERS GAIN
Competition Results in Referrals and Visitors


	Studs and Knights Work the Day Shift

The Farmington Friday Chapter was looking for a way to breathe some life into their chapter. They were getting stale, according to VP Neil Hartzog, so President Sean Kelly looked in his Leadership Manual and decided that the chapter would play the BNI Game during the months of March and April. The chapter was divided into three teams: the Networking Knights, the Studs, and the Haywoods, who were the eventual winners. The Studs and Knights now owe the Haywoods a free barbecue, which is why you see them wearing lobster bibs above!

In the BNI Game, points are awarded on a weekly basis for referrals given (5 points), sales generated by referrals (10 to the person who gave the referral), first time visitors (10 to the member who invited him/her), and new members (10 to the recruiting member). Points are deducted for being late or leaving early (-5), being absent without a sub (-10), and for late breakfast dues (-5 for each week late).

"The competitive nature came out in everyone," according to Hartzog, and the results were staggering. They had more guests in the past 2 months than they had in the five previous months since the new term began in October, including five at the April 26 meeting alone! People were on time, or had subs and referrals and closed business went into the stratosphere!

Hartzog emphatically states, "I would recommend this to any chapter that has been feeling stale. Every chapter should try it!!"

The Simple Power of a Referral

I would like to share with you a great BNI/Networking story and an example of how helping others helps ourselves.

I placed an ad in the Coffee News and received only one call from a company in Walnut Creek. As it turned out I was not able to help the company, because they wanted someone with strong File Maker Pro skills. I could have just said, "Thank you very much for calling," but I didn't.

I asked him more questions and found out he was also considering a much bigger Oracle system as well. I told him that I would get him in contact with someone who could help him with that. The person I referred him to is a BNI Member in San Ramon, Mark Magnum, who I met through another BNI Member, Steve Garske.

Mark met with the client and found out he was also considering an accounting system. So, I quickly got on the phone and called my friend, John Wheat, who implements Solomon for companies, and got him to connect with Mark.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to find a File Maker Pro person for this company. I finally got a referral from another File Maker Pro person who was too busy to take on the job. This other person contacted me and through conversation I found out that he has two clients that could use my Access help.

Last but not least, the original man who called me has passed my name to his human resources manager, who is interested in getting some Outlook classes set up for their company. All of this activity stemmed from one person I tried to connect up with others, not to mention just one response to an ad in the coffee news. All this is because of BNI!

Dawn Duhon
Pleasant Hill, CA, Chapter
Calliope Consulting

Dr. Misner: I am a 3 year member of BNI and I just wanted to thank you. I owe much of my business success to you. I learned "how to conduct business" from BNI.

Sincerely,

Brenda Howard
Electric Checks
mailto:info@electricinfo@electricchecks.com
Massachusetts/Rhode Island Region

Winner of Founder's Award

This year Minnesota is proud to announce that the Lake Superior Chapter in Duluth is a winner of a 2002 Founder's Award. Their hard work and enthusiasm got the area off to the right start. In September the chapter will be two years old, and it stands as a fine example of what BNI can do for you and your business.


	Lisa Hansen, ST - Aaron Hansen, Pres - Rolf Flaig, VP Nancy Giacomuzzi, Exec. Director

MEMORY HOOKS
7 Second Marketing

Name:	Michael Raymond
Chapter:	Michigan -Grand Rapids Chapter III
Hook:	"We put consumer spending into the hands of Business"
Profession:	Territory Manager Lynk systems, Credit card processing, Welcome to mikeraymond.com

Name:	Christine Guise
Chapter:	Metro South BNI group, St. Louis, MO
Hook:	When you need it written to sell - call me to tell it well.
Profession:	Freelance Copywriter

Name:	Terry Abrams Berger
Chapter:	Greater Weston, Florida Chapter
Hook:	Remember to see me before you go!
Profession:	Estate Planning Attorney

Name:	Morris L. Panter, D.C.
Chapter:	Orange Grove Breakfast
Hook:	Since the word "chiropractic" is Latin for "done by hand" I have always used hands as an icon for my clinic. At Panter Chiropractic...we'll give your back a Hand!
Profession:	Chiropractor

Name:	Steve Gamlin
Chapter:	Salem-1, NH
Hook:	ACE Productions provides the soundtrack to YOUR success.
Profession:	Audio production/On-hold messaging www.aceproductionsnh.com

Name:	Ted Jordan
Chapter:	Independence, OH
Hook:	When you're tired of IT, call JordanTeam.
Profession:	JordanTeam IT Services.

Name:	Dr. David A Schneider
Chapter:	Networking Professionals Chapter
Hook:	I help you navigate the inflammation superhighway.
Profession:	Chiropractor

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Writer's Guidelines for SuccessNet

We want to hear from you! SuccessNet Online needs your input. SuccessNet is truly YOUR newsletter. We ask you to consider the following tips when preparing your submission for SuccessNet:

Writing style should be clear and concise. Keep your sentences short and give us details. Be specific.
Use the inverted pyramid format, with your information leading us to the point, rather than giving all the details up front.
Use dialog in your submission: John said, "BNI made a huge difference in my business."
Be sure to include your name, chapter name and business name. When applicable, list your web address and we'll insert a hyperlink to direct readers to your website.
If appropriate, give us dollar values for your chapter brags and testimonials.
We would like digital photos of your chapter or regional events! As you can see from this first issue, we are able to have many more local-flavor articles and reviews. With your photos, include a brief description of the event, who's in the photo, and the name and city of your chapter.
Please also include your web address with your submission, so we can direct our readers to your site.
Please send your submissions to newsletter@bni.com

The types of submissions we are seeking are for Chapter Brags, Memory Hooks, BNI Happenings (your regional news), any other special announcements, success stories, or things your chapter has tried that have been successful.

Thank you!

Editors

Gold Club Members

Congratulations to the following winners of the Gold Club:

Izzy Macaluso with Chapter 10 in New York City, NY

Cheryl Johnson - Nashua North Chapter

Paul LaFlamme - Nashua North Chapter

Creating The "Business" Olympian Within
By Andrew L. Botieri, founder of Total Peak PerformanceTM, a business coaching and sales training company

The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics experience, which I shared with my father, was incredible. As a former amateur athlete myself and a successful business executive, I could really appreciate all the training, preparation and commitment it takes to be successful. From the hundreds of thousands of people attending the events, to the snow capped mountains surrounding Park City, Utah and with the colors of all the countries flags and the festival atmosphere of the Olympics; I really walked away with the feeling of what it takes to be an Olympic athlete - "the best of the best."

Imagine if you will - working on one goal, one dream, everyday for four years and having it come down to an event that in most cases only lasts for a few precious seconds. All that blood, sweat and tears to see if you get the gold medal ... and either the glory is yours or you go home without the prize. Incredible isn't it? In my view these athletes, whether they win or lose, are all Olympian champions for just having the opportunity to represent their country and show off their stuff in these Olympics.

While enjoying the events we saw at the Olympics, it was apparent that each of these participants possessed the same key qualities: intense discipline, focus, world-class training, the will/determination to succeed and a passion about their future. And these qualities are certainly the qualities that we need as business leaders within the sales/service industry. The only major difference is that Olympic athletes have coaches around them everyday, helping them keep these critical qualities in front of their mind as they aim for a gold medal. When coaching my sales teams/clients over the years I have always told them they were like athletes. The only difference is that as sales/service leaders, they wear a different uniform and play on a different field than an Olympic athlete. But like the athlete, my clients incorporate the same use of discipline, focus, world-class training, the will to succeed and the ability to have fun. Mastering their business, practicing their "art", growing and executing will deliver the desired results and peak performance.

Let's look at the qualities of an Olympic athlete and see how you can incorporate these world-class qualities:

1. Discipline: Because you are a leader within the sales/service industry, discipline is such a key "attribute" for you to possess to be successful in the business world today. You need discipline in your work habits, in performing your genius work, discipline in your vision of what you want and clarity on where you want to be.

2. Focus: What are your goals? What are your company's goals? Are they compatible with each other? Are they attainable? Define your mission statement and the steps to help you achieve your sales/service company's success. Remember: a goal/mission is a dream with a deadline in writing.

3. Proper Training: The Olympic athletes train for a minimum of four years to achieve their ultimate goal. They train, train and then train some more. Can you apply this mind-set to your sales/service company and its training programs? The Olympic athletes go over the same training techniques, again and again and again - it's called learning "the basics" and develops their mental muscle. I'm sure you've heard "we need to get back to the basics" before, and this is the reason why. Train your mind and it will perform at a world-class level, day in and day out without having to be prodded to perform. Are those on your advertising sales team trained to perform like this? What are you doing to train and grow that "mental muscle" of your superstars? As I always say "when you're green you grow and when you're ripe you're rotten."

Let's face it, we spend more time at work than we do at home so make sure either you love what you do (be passionate) or make your work environment a fun place to be. Half full is all about attitude and altitude!

TPPTip: Being an Olympic athlete is not much different than being an "Olympic" business athlete. Just adapt these four principles to your business acumen and watch your success and sales/service company grow!.

About the author: Andrew L. Botieri is the founder of Total Peak PerformanceTM, a business coaching and sales training company. Andrew has over 47,000 hours of coaching and training sales/customer service companies around the country. Andrew is the former Vice President of Sales & Operations for SpringStreet.com, a division of Homestore.com, a publicly traded Internet company and was the former "Turnaround Specialist" and National Sales Trainer for HPC Publications, a division of Primedia. Andrew conducts sales/leadership/motivational seminars for sales/service companies and is a nationally published author. For additional information on this topic or other coaching and training topics on sales and customer service, Andrew can be reached at 508-747-9883, by E-mail andrew@totalpeakperformance.com or visit our website at www.totalpeakperformance.com.