To The Next Level
Capitalize on Opportunities
By Karl Heckman

Make BNI a part of your business marketing strategy. Many business professionals view BNI activities as separate and distinct from regular business activities. This is often evident by the lack of eager participation in chapter activities including planning sessions, growing the chapter, Leadership Team meetings, Membership Committee meetings, attendance, and timeliness, etc. Difficulty in scheduling meetings or activities outside the 90 minute weekly window and getting everyone there on time and prepared suggests that these activities are not seen as valuable or as profitable as other business activities.

Why lay awake at night thinking of ways to do more profitable business when a proven system is available and you are already a member? BNI was specifically designed and is continuously dedicated to helping people succeed in business. Yet how often is "BNI time" viewed as an obligation of 90 minutes per week instead of a primary key to business success?

When BNI is integrated into business life on a daily basis, the overall marketing success of a business increases while the amount of effort decreases. We know the value of business by referral and the long-term worth of forming business alliances and lasting relationships. The success of a chapter increases as each member becomes more successful. When business people are wildly successful others notice and want to know how they are doing it. Friends and associates ask to join rather than waiting to be invited. Attendance and participation issues dissolve. Who wouldn't be there on time when business thrives through the benefits received from the weekly meeting?

How do we maximize the benefits we receive from the system? Number one on the list for success in any endeavor is this: Get out of the bleachers and get in the game—all the way in the game! Wearing the uniform and showing up is a start, but the game of business is not played by sitting on the bench. Get on the field and contribute. The relationships formed and the people networked with is marketing. The prequel to Business 101 is this simple axiom: No clients, no cash, no business. There is a term for a business without clients or positive cash flow. The term is "hobby." Are you engaged in a hobby or a professional endeavor designed to provide an honorable product or service in exchange for fair compensation?

What about your BNI membership? Do you take on your BNI activities as a hobby or as a serious part of your business endeavors? To help you be objective with yourself here are a couple of litmus tests:

• If you only think of the relationships you have in your BNI chapter for 90 minutes a week, you are missing opportunities.
  
  
• If you are creating your 60-second commercial while the others at the table are giving theirs, you are missing opportunities twice as fast.
  
  
• Have you said in a meeting "I have the 3 minute today so I will pass on my commercial"? You're telling me that you don't care enough to take advantage of every opportunity to help me send you business.

People are making decisions about you and your business every day. These decisions are sometimes conscious, sometimes subconscious. It is presumed that how you do one thing is how you do everything. How you show up to BNI meetings tells much about how you show up to other daily business activities. What message are you sending? When a member says, "I believe that 'Givers Gain,' and that is a principle I live by" but through their actions says non-verbally, "meeting with you/helping you/this event/that meeting/our chapter is not important to me," which message is believed?

How do we maximize the impact of our BNI investment? How do we grow our business as rapidly as possible? The simple answer is action. Get engaged. Work it. Here are some specific steps:

• Schedule recurring time on your weekly calendar in advance of your chapter meeting to prepare to maximize the opportunity.
  
  
• Plan a three-month strategy for educating your marketing team (chapter members) to assist them in successfully finding the business you want.
  
  
• Seek feedback about your message. Do chapter members really understand how to find the referrals you want? Hint: They don't need to know all that you know about your business.
  
  
• Be conscious of the message you are delivering through your behaviors. Are you all about minimal effort or maximum impact? Remember, if you tell me you give the best service and yet everything I experience from you is a series of absolute minimums, I will believe what I experience rather than what you say.

A member of the BNI Willamette Chapter in Portland, Oregon, Karl Heckman specializes in helping people become more successful in business. Contact him at Karl@Coach-Think.com.