From the Founder
2005 — And Beyond
By Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder & CEO, BNI

Over the past 20 years BNI has set a firm foundation for continued success and growth. It makes sense to improve on the key building blocks that have made BNI a success: education, strategic alliances, improved technology, creative marketing, word of mouth growth and a unified vision. Building on these key components will propel BNI forward—to another success-filled 20 years.

Education
Networking is one of the best ways to build a business, yet we don't teach it in colleges or universities around the world. We give people business degrees, but we teach them hardly anything about the one subject that virtually all business people say is critically important to their business: networking.

Although BNI is not an educational institution, education is a cornerstone of its success. We have spent several decades developing and codifying a body of knowledge and material that is second to no other organization in the world. Today, BNI has thousands of pages of support material to help any business person in the world who is willing to take the time to study the concepts and, most important, practice the procedures BNI has developed.

It's worth repeating: no other networking organization anywhere in the world devotes as much time and energy to teaching people how to build their business through word of mouth. Training is one of the core competencies that BNI must continue to emphasize.

Opportunity has been known to knock, but it doesn't turn the knob and walk through the door for anyone. That part is up to you. As a member, you should expect your Leadership Team to be well trained and your director to provide value-added information with each visit. You should also take advantage of the wealth of information available through your online newsletter, SuccessNet, as well as national and international websites such as www.bni.com.

You are part of an organization that offers a wealth of networking-related support material and assistance second to no other referral organization in the world. To ensure that BNI remains the world leader, we will continue to enhance our support materials, Meeting Stimulants, and manuals, and to introduce other creative programs, such as the Reciprocity Ring, a networking tool designed to enhance the sharing of referrals.

Strategic Alliances
As we continue to become a global force, strategic alliances with select organizations will help us to achieve that. I believe that BNI will continue to build strong relationships with key companies and organizations around the world. I believe we will continue to develop strategic alliances with companies that have a symbiotic relationship with the organization. Some of our early alliances have involved the Royal Bank of Scotland, Brian Buffini Seminars, Coffee News, Brian Tracy International, the Referral Institute, and Jim Blasingame's radio show, "The Small Business Advocate." Each of these organizations has in some way helped us design a process that will continue to spread BNI's name throughout the business community worldwide.

We also have strategic alliances with many authors and speakers who spread the word about networking and word-of-mouth marketing. People like Susan RoAne, Bob Burg, Robyn Henderson, Ron Sukenick, Robert Davis, and many more are important to the organization because they act as unofficial ambassadors for networking and have helped make the BNI name an international brand. Today, most books on networking either discuss BNI at length or at least mention it. To keep our name in the marketplace, we will continue to maintain and enhance BNI's relationship with popular authors.

Integrating Techonology
BNI is already invested in new technologies that will help us grow and develop to our full potential. One example I've already mentioned is our new database system. BNINET enables us to accurately measure our key success factors, such as the number of chapters in a region, average membership per chapter, retention, and—in the future—market penetration. This will help us keep tabs on our rapid growth and will revolutionize the way we manage our operations worldwide.

Strategic alliances with companies like ZeroDegrees.com and Knowmentum.com will keep us on the cutting edge of rapidly developing trends such as social networking technology, which support the kind of in-person networking that BNI is all about. Online communities such as Coachville's "Networking & Social Capital" website and Yahoo's "BNIOfficialGroup" chat room provide a forum for BNI members and nonmembers to talk about networking, word-of-mouth marketing, and social capital. They flatten the communication hierarchy and let members, directors, and other interested parties communicate with one another from anywhere in the world.

Creative Marketing
BNI is a word-of-mouth-based organization. We've built this company through word of mouth, and I believe that's the best way to continue to build it.

In local terms, the best way to build a chapter is for one person to ask another person to a meeting. In global terms, however, it's about spreading the brand through books and articles about the organization—that is, word of mouth on a larger scale.

To keep our name and worldwide brand in the business community's radar, we will continue to publish books and magazine articles regularly. Our fingerprints are all over these materials. When people read our books, they not only learn many examples of how word of mouth works, they see occasional references to BNI.

I learned many years ago that the media doesn't want to interview you about your business. Want to be in the paper? "Take out an ad." But they'll interview any idiot with a book - and I have lots of books. This strategy has worked well for us. In our first ten years, BNI opened more than 300 chapters. Over the next ten years, with books and articles spreading the word internationally, we opened more than 3,000 chapters!

Vision
You are part of a remarkable organization - an organization whose primary purpose is to help you increase your business through referrals. I've often said that in a local chapter you see only the tip of the iceberg. I hope my insights have given you a glimpse of what lies beneath the surface. This organization rests on an incredibly strong foundation that is made up of some of the hardest-working and most dedicated people I have ever met. I have seen amazing commitment at all levels, from the BNI staff to directors, Leadership Teams, and members. You are part of something bigger than what you see from week to week.

If all the people in an organization row in the same direction, that organization can dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time. BNI has dominated its industry in almost every market, against all the competition, for almost a decade now. It has happened because of a shared vision and a shared implementation of that vision.

I invite you to share the vision and be part of Givers Gain.


Last month's From the Founder article was entitled "20/20 Vision." To read that article, click here.

"20/20 Vision" and "2005 — And Beyond" are excerpted from Dr. Ivan Misner's new book Givers Gain, The BNI Story which will be available to members in 2005.