April 2008
Art of NetworkingConverting Visitors into Members
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These conclusions are based on my recent experiences of trying to grow my Islington chapter, which didn't go too well at first. We've had loads of visitors—17 at a recent Visitors Day—but all that effort gained us just one new member, and to my mind, this was a wasted opportunity and not a fair return for the members who invited them. It made me reflect on how we can all improve in this key area—by focusing on our Attitude, Approach & Action.
Attitude
Many of us need to change the way we perceive visitors and Visitors Days, and this starts by not regarding our guests as visitors. Visitors come to your house on a Sunday afternoon to drink tea and eat cucumber sandwiches, or bring you flowers when you're sick—and then they go home. The invitees who arrive bleary-eyed at our early morning meetings are potential customers and, hopefully, future colleagues and advocates for our businesses—as we will be for theirs. Our task is to demonstrate this, making them see the benefits of our working together. So let's start by treating them as people with whom we'd like to do business, rather than casual visitors who are just passing through.
Approach
Many years ago I read Neil Rackham's book Making Major Sales, which spawned a sales training and management phenomenon by showing how to make major sales of any product in any market or environment. But, what made it work weren't clever sales techniques. It was the recognition that in order to make any sale, you first need to build a relationship with the customer. And it showed that long-term relationships are the best of all.
So how do we develop relationships with prospective members? There are a number of stages to developing a long-term relationship, and that means not rushing things. You don't meet someone, decide you like them, buy a house and move in together all on the same morning—and expect things to work out fine. Yet, isn't that sometimes what we ask our visitors to do?
Action
Instead, I'd suggest the following exercise in relationship building. The first time a prospective member usually hears about BNI is when we talk to them in glowing terms about our chapter. Now there's lots of advice in our manuals about how to introduce the BNI concept to someone, but something as simple as talking about the great bunch of people who are constantly looking out for business on our behalf, coupled with the suggestion that maybe they'd like to come along and see for themselves, works well for me.
When a prospect agrees to attend a specific breakfast, the inviting member gives their details to a nominated person in the Leadership Team at least 48 hours before the meeting, who collates the visitors' list for that week. Numbers should be limited to what your chapter can manage effectively—even if this means having just two or three guests. The nominee then contacts Leadership Team colleagues to brief them on the visitors and agree who will call each one the day before the meeting. The call should be brief and friendly, like this:
"Hello [Laura], I'm [Tom Brown], Director of BNI's [Anytown] chapter. [John Smith] tells me he's invited you to our breakfast tomorrow, so I thought I'd give you a ring and tell you we're looking forward to seeing you. Try to get there by 7:00 so you can meet a few people before we start the business agenda … Okay, that's great, Laura. I look forward to meeting you tomorrow."
Choose your own words, but understand that the purpose is to start a relationship. Until you called her, the only person Laura knew in BNI was John. Now she knows you're also aware she's attending and hopefully impressed that you've taken the trouble to call.
It's also useful because, if she was wavering, she'll now be letting two people down. At breakfast, once your Visitor Hosts have greeted Laura, they introduce her to the member who rang her the previous day—confirming that someone other than John is going to talk to her. That person shows her where to sit and offers her a drink before passing her to the next member. At this stage John should do little more than say hello and thank her for coming. The priority is to show that other members are interested in her.
Taking the time to speak to prospective members and asking about their intentions reinforces the belief that joining is normal. To this end, make sure that visitor orientation is done properly and visitor packs are ready, along with someone who can talk to guests succinctly about the commitment required before dealing with the application process.
After the meeting, the Leadership Team should decide who will make the follow-up call(s) the next day to Laura (and every other visitor). The conversation should go something like this:
"Hello Laura, it's [Tom Brown]. We met yesterday at BNI. It was good to see you. What did you think of the meeting?"
Assuming a positive response, you would add: "Now you've had chance to think about it, are there any questions you'd like to ask me?"
Dependent on her response, you might say: "Great, so we'll look forward to seeing you next week with your completed application and payment, unless you'd prefer to post it to me today?"
Or, if she's not ready to make the commitment: " … OK, so why not come along again (next week) and see the results of how we work for each other's businesses."
In any event, ring her the day before your next meeting. If she was going to join, this reinforces her decision. If she planned a second visit, you're confirming this is okay. And if she wasn't inclined to come again, your call encourages her to change her mind.
Attitude, Approach, and Action. It might seem like a lot, but that's why every member must be involved—since everyone will benefit from increased membership.
Ian Cooper runs Eyedeecee Management. Contact him on 020 8365 8183
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