Submitted by Claudia Lowry, Executive Director, North & South Peninsula
Leadership means different things to different people. It does have a lot to do with what age you are and how you were raised. But today leadership has evolved into a magnificent animal, which can be the main driving force behind a successful team. It can also be the downfall. While some say you have to choose the type of leader you want to be according to your personality and strengths, we say a leader should always have certain traits, no matter the type of person holding the role.
According to business studies, there are 6 main types of leaders:
We will not go into those types specifically, but rather pull the best parts of them to mould the perfect leader.
Let us add one other to the mix … the Inclusive Leader.
Inclusive leaders are on the up and up and they encompass all the positive strengths from all the types of leaders out there.
What can we learn from an Inclusive Leader?
As the name says, Inclusive Leaders believe that their team needs to be anchored with inclusion and diversity. They take their personal values into account and they merge them with the team’s strategy as a whole.
Inclusive leaders are very much aware of their biases and strive to see passed them, should they not be for the greater good of the team.
The company culture is very important to an inclusive leader and therefore he needs to believe in it 100%. He will take the time to help his team understand the culture, why the company does what it does and why they too should do what they do.
Seemingly small matters will be handled by an inclusive leader as if they were big. From how they treat staff to how they treat clients, the inclusive leader is very much aware that even the smallest gripes, concerns and issues can blow up into something bigger. They nip these in the bud quickly and deal with them like a true professional. Everyone and everything is treated equally well.
Inclusive leaders know their strengths and weakness, and work at improving all the time. Where they are not good at something, they delegate. Where they are brilliant, they coach others to follow suit. With all this, their aim is to benefit the team, always.
This leader knows that everyone is different and in knowing this, they see those differences as where the brilliance lies. He or she will exploit people, but only for the good of the team and the company.
Submitted by Donald Church, BNI Premier, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, United States
I joined BNI back around 2010. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew that part of the process of building trust among the members was to have One-to-Ones with others.
My very first One-to-One was with our chapter’s commercial litigator. I joined him at his office and we both exchanged information about each of our businesses, what we do and what an ideal referral would be. At the end of the meeting, I told him that I sort of felt bad. Of course he wondered why, as though he had said something wrong. I told him that now that I know more about what he did, I didn’t see any likelihood that I would ever be able to refer any clients to him. I really didn’t run in circles where anyone had ever asked me where they could find a good commercial litigation attorney.
He laughed and said, that’s really not how BNI works. He said that the way it works is that he may refer to me, I may refer to other members and other members will refer to someone else. He may not necessarily be a natural referral for me. In addition, what he was looking for was a little different than most other members. He said that his goal was to get one solid referral per year. I thought that was odd, as my business relied on many repeat referrals, most of which were smaller dollar amounts. He said that as a commercial litigation attorney, one good and solid referral could change his business.
That first One-to-One had an impact on me and I have told that story to many new members that I’ve met through many years as a BNI member.
I hope that in some way, what I share with other new people to BNI will make as big of an impact as what was shared with me as a new member.
A referral is a referral, right? Well, not so much. Once a referral source has given you the name of a person to call, what more could you hope for?
Actually, there’s quite a bit more you can expect from referrals that have been properly developed by their sources. Referrals come in several different shades. I’ve identified five types of referrals that vary in quality according to how much involvement your referral source has invested in preparing the referral for you. The more time and effort your source puts into qualifying, educating, and encouraging the prospect before you become involved, the higher the quality and level of that referral. Conversely, if your referral source only passes an interested prospect’s name to you, most of the work of converting that prospect into a customer falls on you, and the likelihood of a successful conversion diminishes significantly.
Now let’s cover the five levels of referrals, ranging from nothing but a name and contact information to the “Full Monty” (which despite the movie, actually means to do everything possible). We call this the Referral Continuum and we’ve ranked the levels of the continuum in order of ascending quality.
Please note that this is a “referral” continuum, not a “leads” continuum. All of these levels are true referrals not leads (including the first one). The person giving the referral knows both parties and is recommending the person providing the product or service to the person who is receiving the product or service.
Note that each level below builds upon the previous. So a Level 2 referral includes much of what is included in a Level 1 referral. A Level 3 referral includes much of what is in a Level 1 and 2 referral etc. etc.
Level 1: Name and contact information. Your referral source has recommended you to someone and given them your contact information. They have done just enough work to provide you with a phone number, address, email, or some other way of contacting the prospect and that prospect knows you might contact them. If the prospect is expecting your call, this is a legitimate referral, it’s just not a high-level referral. That said, we’d take this over a “cold-call” any day of the week!
Level 2: Supplementary material. In addition to the recommendation they gave, the referral source provided either your marketing literature, website information, or other content to the prospect for their review but nothing substantially more. This additional information can positively influence the prospect by providing more material for them to review in addition to their verbal reference.
Level 3: Share experience. In addition to some or all of the items above, the referral source gave a personal written testimonial or a strong verbal recommendation about you to the prospect. They spent time talking to the prospect about their experience working with you or their understanding of other people’s experience in working with you. This is the first level of referral that truly involves a modicum of effort on the part of your referral source. It usually includes background information and a description of your product or service as filtered through the lens of the referral source.
Adding the element of promotion increases the effectiveness of your referral source’s effort on your behalf. Promotion is advocacy—an outright recommendation of your product or service with a description of its features and benefits.
Level 4: Introductory call and/or arrange a meeting. This is another level up in terms of effort from the referral source who makes a personal phone call on your behalf and/or arranges a phone or in-person meeting between you and the prospect (in addition to many of the things outlined above). When your referral source arranges a call or a meeting between the two of you, they move beyond the role of a promoter and move into the role of a connector or facilitator. This takes effort and is the sign of a committed referral partner who you should definitely support in return.
Level 5: In-person introduction and promotion. At this level, your referral source is making a serious commitment of time and energy in support of your business. They haven’t just arranged a meeting, they participate in the meeting. At this level, your referral source has done the work of assessing the need a prospect may have for your product or service and has gauged the prospect’s interest in learning more about it. They share this information with you which enables you to tailor your products or services to emphasize the specific benefits that the prospect is looking for.
This level is practically a “closed deal.” Generally, a level 5 referral means, the business is nearly closed before you even contact the prospect, solely on the strength of your referral source’s efforts. Not much is required from you except to answer some questions and deliver the product or service and collect the payment. People who give you Level 5 referrals are prized referral partners. Make sure to treat them as such. You should have a reciprocal relationship with these individuals. They are worth their weight in referral gold.
The Referral Continuum that shows the amount of work you must do to close a prospect, based on the level of the referral. If you’re given a Level 1 referral, you have to do 95 percent of the work to close; this is not much better than other marketing efforts. On the other hand, if you get a Level 4 or 5 referral, then the person giving you the referral has already done most of the work for you. It’s easier for your referral source to edify you than it is for you because your source already has a relationship of trust with your prospect. For this reason, it’s important for you to do a superb job in fulfilling that referral so your referrer will get great feedback and want to refer you again. The referral giver is, in essence, lending you his or her credibility; this is not something to be taken lightly.
Of course, the effectiveness of your referral network in providing you with quality referrals depends on the amount of work you do to develop your sources. There are many ways to encourage them to become active and enthusiastic members of your marketing team. The Networking Scorecard from Networking Like a Pro 2nd Edition will enable you to manually track the work you are doing to develop your network. However, you can also download a free app of The Networking Scorecard at www.IvanMisner.com/Scorecard. By using this scorecard to keep a weekly record of your networking efforts and the quality of referrals you receive, you’ll begin to see the relationship between the two.
Submitted by Braith Bamkin, Executive Director – BNI Melbourne West & Geelong and Melbourne Central
Do you have shares or an investment portfolio of some sort? How do you treat that investment? Chances are you spend some time in looking after it, ensuring it grows year after year. What if I said to you that rather than buying a membership in BNI, you were buying shares in a chapter. Would that change your attitude towards being part of a BNI chapter?
Like shares on the stock exchange, you want your BNI shares to grow and return you a dividend. Unlike shares on the exchange, your investment in purchasing your ‘BNI share’ can return you tens, hundreds or thousands times returns every year.
When I train chapters on this concept, inevitably the members are extremely excited about the prospect of what their one BNI chapter share can yield each year and they all start talking about how they can increase the value of their shares. To say the least, they always have an ‘ah-ha’ moment.
Just like stock exchange shares, there two metrics to consider with your BNI share. The first part is yield and the second part is capital growth
Thie week, I want to take a look at Yield.
Your BNI share’s yield is measured as TYFCB (Thank you for closed business). This is the dividend your share delivers on a regular basis. To get this dividend in BNI, shareholders need to meet the KPI’s of BNI. We make things very simple, we have the “Power of One” activities. Some of you may see these on the member’s traffic light report, some may use Member Commitment reports but whichever tool you use, the metrics of BNI are really simple.
Turn up.
Just like in life, you have to show up to get a result. You simply won’t get an ROI on your share in BNI if you’re not there. This is the most basic and easiest KPI to meet.
Listen to this podcast from BNI founder, Dr Ivan Misner and get the hard-core statistics on attendance.
One 1×1 per week.
Your fellow chapter shareholders will never be able to deliver you business if they don’t know what it is you want and how they can deliver it to you the way YOU want it delivered.
Listen to this podcast from BNI founder, Dr Ivan Misner and learn how One to Ones equals more referrals
Bring visitors
Visitors are the lifeblood of your chapter. Some will join, some won’t, so what? As a member, all you need to do is bring people to meet your trusted network. They’ll do business with other chapter members and everyone will benefit.
Listen to this podcast from BNI founder, Dr Ivan Misner and learn how one visitor per month will generate YOU USD$12K pa
Pass referrals
If you want to get business first you have to give business
Listen to this podcast from BNI founder, Dr Ivan Misner to find out just how easy it is to generate referrals with absolutely no extra effort in your daily life
Not many investments have such simple actions to follow that will deliver you an ROI to the same degree that your “BNI share” can do. Now that you know how easy to is to get a dividend, what can you do to increase the activities you are doing so that you meet the KPI’s developed by BNI.
Submitted by Russell Bibens, BNI Vermont Ambassador
Often when we attend our weekly BNI meeting our minds tend to wander and we lose track of the importance of active listening. For me, this can happen during the induction of a new member. We all have heard this induction many times, as your chapter’s newest member goes through the same series of statements with the President that we went through when we were inducted.
Our President starts by welcoming and congratulating the new member, and then asks them to respond with “I will.” This is the point at which you may start to wander. You might think about how you are not properly prepared for your Weekly Presentation, so you’re glancing down at your notes. Or you start to drift thinking about the client meeting you have right after your BNI meeting. For many of us, distractions such as these are common. Although you’re looking at the President and the new member go through the induction procedure step by step, you’re not really there. Are you listening?
You are not unique in this Mind Drift. You’ve lost sight of the importance of staying in the meeting, both mentally and figuratively. Consider all the reasons you want to listen and pay attention to the Induction Ceremony. What do you think when you hear each statement?
“I will provide the quality of service at the price I have quoted” We wouldn’t think about the last customer we just had… or would we? Nah! We really think, “I do that!”
“I will be truthful with the members and their referrals” Remember how important referrals are? You may just have remembered that you forgot to call John or Mary to follow up on a referral you either gave or received.
“I will build goodwill and trust among members and their referrals” This is important, right? Who wants to refer someone they can’t trust? No one! That makes this statement critical. So… are you honest? Do you build goodwill? Do your actions build trust among the members?
“I will take responsibility for following up on the referrals I receive” Darn! You just remembered that you need to follow up with Jennifer or Richard! You may even stop to write down a note to remind yourself.
“I will display a positive and supportive attitude” We all do that, right? Of course, we do. This is how we build relationships in and outside the chapter. And a Positive Attitude is a critical Core Value of BNI!
“I will live up to the ethical standards of my profession” After all, this is a professional business organization. I present myself and my business in a professional manner in both conversation and appearance.
These are BNI’s Code of Ethics, created by BNI members, and followed by each member of our chapter. We all stood and stated “I will” at our own induction. Take a moment and reflect on these, and each time we get to hear BNI’s Code of Ethics, re-reflect on how you are following them. What can I do to better represent myself and my business through these actions? The next time you are thinking about why you joined your chapter, remember what was said and what you heard at the last induction. Go over the Code of Ethics to strengthen your resolve, combined with your commitment to participating in you chapter, and watch your business soar!
BNI Foundation Sets Ambitious Goals for the 2018 National Conference
The BNI Foundation is striving to award additional Givers Gain® Grants in 2018 by attracting more monthly donors. In past years, the BNI Foundation has awarded ten $1,000 Givers Gain® Grants to schools and educational organizations to help fund specific programs. This year’s US National Conference goal is to raise enough funds to be able to double the number of grants awarded from ten to twenty. Here are the details:
20 New Heroes
20 New Super Heroes
$20,000 New Direct Donations
With the additional funds, the BNI Foundation will be able to award a total of twenty $1,000 grants to fund much needed educational projects around the world. Grants will be awarded as follows:
5 Grants in June.
5 Grants in October
A Special Grant Cycle from Nov 15 to Dec 15th with 10 additional grants
The Heroes program designates those giving $50 a month as Heroes and donors who commit to giving $100 or more every month as Super Heroes. A Hero or Super Hero can be an individual, couple, Chapter, or even a BNI Region
Speed Mentoring at the BNI National Conference
At this year’s BNI National Conference in Las Vegas, the BNI Foundation will once again host a community activity to highlight its work with schools and children. Students from Mission High School in Las Vegas will have the opportunity to participate in speed mentoring sessions with various BNI members and leaders. Each student will talk to several entrepreneurs for a few minutes each and then take part in an open session where they can expand on their conversations, meet more business leaders and get a sense of how business networking operates.
The successful speed mentoring program truly encapsulates the BNI Foundation’s mission to create a conduit between business and education to meet children’s educational needs.
Mission High School opened its door in 2017. It is a school designed for students who are recovering from substance abuse. You can learn more about Mission High School at their website, http://missionhighschool.ccsd…..
A Chance to Win Dinner with the Misners, and More
The BNI Foundation will be holding two raffles at this year’s BNI US National Conference in Las Vegas. In the 50/50 raffle, the winner will receive half of the 50/50 Raffle proceeds. The second raffle’s prize is dinner with the BNI Foundation co-founders, Dr. Ivan and Beth Misner.
Please reach into your pockets for a chance to win one of these great prizes, and more importantly, help the BNI Foundation continue its work helping schools and students around the world.
Visit our booth for more information and foundation prizes.
Please stay tuned by visiting our website, http://bnifoundation.org, where we will be posting 2018 BNI US National Convention updates.
For the first time in our history, BNI?s Global Convention is going overseas. We hope you are planning to join us 7-10 November in Bangkok, Thailand! This year?s event will bring together BNI leaders from around the world ? including BNI Members and Directors ? to learn from one another and share best practices as we work to build the BNI of Tomorrow.
This year there will be a number of new opportunities for all attendees. Of particular excitement is our two-day Members? Event taking place 7-8 November, in conjunction with BNI?s Global Convention for BNI Directors, taking place 7-10 November. We will also be hosting a full trade show open to both Members and Directors alike. One hundred individuals will have the unique opportunity to promote their businesses, and showcase their products and services, to a truly global audience who generate over $13 billion annually. To reserve spot as a trade show exhibitor, register here and select your exhibit booth today.
Until 31 March, we will be offering an early bird registration rate for both the Members Event and BNI?s Global Convention for Directors ($129 for Members, $249 for Directors). If you haven?t already, we encourage you to register today to take advantage of this special pricing.
Email events@bni.com with any questions, and we hope you and your entire family can join us in Bangkok for #BNIGC18 ? it will be an event you will not want to miss!
It’s important to connect and engage with your network via the social media platforms “they” use more than the one’s “you” use. I learned this lesson in a very unusual way.
A few years ago, my children all moved out and were on their own. It soon struck me that I was communicating regularly with them using completely different methods. My eldest, would not respond to emails – ever. She wouldn’t even answer the phone when I called her. I discovered however that when I texted her, she responded immediately. I even tested this once by calling her… no answer. Then I texted her… immediate response. So, rather than try to get her to move over to my preferred platform, I figured that in order to keep a good line of communication open with her – I would mostly text her. It was great. We started talking more (albeit by text).
My second daughter wouldn’t use email, didn’t use the phone (to talk), and wouldn’t consider texting (it was so old school). No, she communicated by “WhatsApp!” Now, I had no idea how to use WhatsApp (I barely know how now). However, my wife pointed out that if I wanted to keep a line of communication open with her – I needed to download WhatsApp. I did. I still have no idea how to use it other than send a text to my daughter whereby she almost immediately responds.
My son didn’t use email, didn’t use the phone (to talk), wouldn’t consider texting, and didn’t use WhatsApp! What was I to do? Then, I realized that he is a big online gamer and he was using a platform called Steam. I also discovered that Steam had an instant messaging feature. So, I downloaded Steam and purchased a game so that I could instant message him. Yes, that’s right, I bought a game so I could talk to my son. As crazy as it sounds – it worked. If I called, emailed, messaged him on any social media platform – I’d get no response. None. However, if I saw him online and texted him – I’d get an instantaneous response! Success.
The bottom line is that if I wanted to communicate with my children, I needed to use their platforms, not mine. Although their platforms have changed over time, this, taught me a lesson in networking. If I want to stay connected to the people I meet through my networking efforts, I need to go where they are – not where I am.
This applies to face-to-face networking opportunities as well as online opportunities. If building a powerful personal network is important to you – go where your connections are – don’t expect them to always come to you.
Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization.
Back in 2008, I attended my first BNI Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. I was a manager, but I saw the power and immediately told my father that owns a business in Florida about this global network… fast forward a few years, and my father joined a chapter in the Tampa Bay Area.
Over the years, he went from selling his products at flea markets to nearly 100 percent through BNI referrals. His network really changed his life!
About 3 years ago, I moved back to Florida to begin to take over my dad’s business as he transitions into retirement.
I joined my own BNI group, and the results have been phenomenal. I’ve made the investment into the Ignite Your Business, then turned up the volume even more by enrolling in the Referrals for Life program with Tiffanie Kellog.
I’m writing this to say thank you for all BNI has done. BNI has changed the path of my dad’s life, my life, and my daughter’s life as she is completing her massage therapy schooling and will eventually become a great member to the BNI family.
#BNIForLife
Share your own BNI story with us at successnet@bni.com
Submitted by Claudia Lowry, Executive Director, North & South Peninsula
BNI’s Member Traffic Lights (Power of One Report) and Chapter Traffic Lights are tools that are provided to help members analyse what’s working and what’s not working, and how we can make it better.
This concept is something that all business owners and professionals do in their businesses, usually when strategizing around growth or reviewing a past period.
The benefit of having this tools in BNI is that it becomes a goal setting system, to help members get the most out of their membership.
Solveig McCormick, Administrator at the BNI National Office has shared this analogy with us:
Visualise an aircraft preparing for Take Off.
People buy tickets and arrive for check in. Fuel is loaded and luggage, freight and meals are loaded. Then the people board but as yet it is immobile. There is a flight plan but nothing is happening yet.Refer to this as being in the Grey Zone on the Traffic Lights.
Refer to this as the Red Zone.
Now there is the long climb to reach altitude and set course. A lot is happening. The air crew are hard at work taking care of the passengers and there is positive tension in the cock-pit. It takes a long time to reach cruising altitude. It takes a lot of fuel and have you ever noticed that the stewards and stewardesses are pushing the service trolleys uphill? Or bracing against the gradient from the other direction?
This period of effort is the Amber Zone. (Amber is a warning light. One needs to be aware and cautious to avoid mishap.)
Finally the aircraft reaches cruising speed and the course is set. People relax, they have eaten, start visiting the amenities. Out come the laptops; and in the cock-pit, auto-pilot is set while the flight crew relax a little and have a meal. The co-pilot updates his data.
But we are never out of danger. It takes as much work to stay in the green zone as it took to arrive there. This is where people relax and slip off their shoes and read books and forget for a while about the business of reaching a destination. There could be a storm or some cloud turbulence, or there could be a very slight course deviation that on a flight takes a good deal of correction to avoid intruding on the paths of other aircraft.
I have seen when monitoring the traffic lights that the brightest, the biggest and most sure chapters suddenly hit the slippery slope because they became complacent.
When a plane is into a bit of a nose dive it takes considerable skill and herculean effort to direct it back up again.
Chapters in the Green look like this:
All members arrive early
All members to at least one 121 per week
Members are proud to bring visitors, there are visitors at every meeting.
Members arrange and attend outside chapter events, such as mixers, dinners and regional events
Chapter participates in Business Open Days (Visitor Days)
Members have a supportive and friendly culture
Members exude high energy and a positive attitude
They enforce accountability but still have fun.
Members are making money and have a Givers Gain mindset.
Submitted by Braith Bamkin, Executive Director – BNI Melbourne West & Geelong and Melbourne Central
Recently, I went to a networking meeting of an organisation I have recently joined where I knew absolutely nobody. It reminded me what must be like going to a BNI I’m meeting for the very first time.
Firstly I was a few minutes late because directions, the venue and parking instructions given to me were poor, so I arrived bit frazzled as I don’t like being tardy (even though I added 15 minutes, but clearly not enough time). I walked in the room and everybody had already started networking with each other in tight groups which is a very difficult thing to break into, even for a seasoned networker like me.
I’m quite comfortable talking to strangers and I was able to manage to engage with a small group of people and start conversing. Some of these people had name badges on which made it very easy for me to remember I was being introduced to, whilst others had nothing to indicate their name. As I was meeting with a group of strangers I found it quite difficult to remember most of their names and really appreciated those that have name badges on and tend to gravitate towards them.
I found it strange that there was nobody to greet me at the door and welcome me or even introduce me to people in the room. There was nobody to sign me in at the desk or give me a name badge or tell me what was going to happen that evening, how to order food or drinks. All in all, it was a very unwelcoming experience.
A little while later most people started to make their way into the meeting room itself. I had no idea what the process was, whether the seats were allocated or what was going to happen that evening, I was a complete newbie. So I followed the crowd in and hoped I’d work it out.
I sat down between two guys, neither of whom introduced themselves to me, so I reached out to introduce myself and started conversations. I was amused by the fact that both of these guys were actually on the board of this organisation, an organisation that I had recently become a member of. Neither of them know I had joined and didn’t have answers to any of my really basic questions about what was going to happen that night. Not a great welcome for a new member, to say the very least.
One of the things that I like the most about BNI is the fact that we have formal visitor hosts to welcome people to a meeting. Having experience for myself last night how uncomfortable it can be to go to a new meeting, I realised how extremely important a good quality visitor host team is to a successful chapter. Whether these people join or not is irrelevant, you’ll never know who they know and whether they’re going to be the bearer of your ideal referral, so every single visitor to your chapter should be treated like your best customer.
If all chapter members wear their badges and leaders wear their leadership ribbons, new members and visitors can clearly identify who is actually a member of the chapter. This adds to the credibility of the member being identified as part of that group. It demonstrates a level of pride in being part of this chapter which is the reason that BNI members have name badges and leaders are given leadership ribbons.
Thinking back to my experience last night, had the group given me clear instructions about where to park, what part of the building the meeting was in, how to access that part of the building (because it was after hours and not easy to get to) and what the process on the night was going to be, my impressions would have been positive and I would have arrived in that meeting feeling comfortable and ready to contribute.
Whilst in BNI we have formal visitor hosts, last night made me realise that it is so important that each and every member reaches out to new people as they walk into the room. Imagine how I would have felt if a number of existing members reached out to introduce themselves to me congratulate about on joining and given me some information about what was going to happen that evening. Each and every BNI member has the opportunity to reach out and engage with new people in the room and I encourage you to do so.
I want to tell you a story about a colleague of mine, Sarah, who started in BNI when she had only two bookkeeping clients. Over the course of 8 years, Sarah built her business to having 16 fully engaged subcontractors. As a member of BNI, she made a point to introduce herself to each and every visitor. Sarah would do one to ones with many of them and learn how she could help them in their business. Over time many of them became her clients and stayed with her for years, but much more referred work to her because they saw her as a friendly, welcoming person, genuinely interested in helping others. The power of welcoming people to her BNI chapter meant that she was able to build a very successful bookkeeping business and sell it for a premium.
Whether you are a bookkeeper, a real estate agent or a mortgage broker, every member of BNI has the opportunity to be the Director of First Impressions at their chapter. Wear your name badge with pride and reach out to those strangers as they enter your room. It’s these simple actions that will set you and your chapter apart and ensure everyone shares in the success of being part of a highly functioning BNI group.
[This article is about “tough love” in a chapter. We have seen this work for decades. Trust in the process and have an open mind to the concept. It really works.]
(Ivan) I was chatting with a member of a local chapter and asked her how things were going with the group.. “Great!” she exclaimed. “We’re up to 35 members now! However, we’re getting about 25 members each week to the meetings.”
Warning, warning!! It is important to know that things are not “great” if a group has over 25% of the members missing the meetings every week! Believe it or not, it is time for some pruning.
(Beth) Pruning is always a scary thing for me, but I know with roses, it is a necessity. I am usually amazed as I cut away branches, leaving only four or five bare canes from which next year’s growth will emerge. It seems counterintuitive, but it is a fact that the more you prune away, the fuller and healthier the new growth will be in the spring.
Pruning is my chance to reshape the rose bush, selecting which canes to leave and which ones have served their purpose and are ready to go. If the plant needs to be opened up in the middle, so sunlight can reach the other leaves, or if there are canes which have begun to cross one another, this is the time to rectify that situation in order to make a huge impact on next year’s yield.
(Ivan) Chapter growth is a lot like that rose bush. There comes a time when you have to exercise “tough love” with members who are not showing up to the group regularly.
We know a chapter president who inherited a chapter that looked healthy on paper, but when you went to their meetings, you could instantly see that things were not well. There was infighting, bad business being passed to members and lots of complaining. Thankfully, she and the Membership Committee understood the concept of addition by subtraction and they set about to “prune” the membership roster and develop a strong, healthy, large chapter.
In the management book, Design by business guru Tom Peters, he writes about entrepreneur, Charles Wang who says “If a project team is behind schedule, what do you do – double assets (people)? No, no, no. You do the opposite. You identify the least productive 25% of the folks on that team… and eliminate them! Wang Rule: No job being done sloppily and slowly by 30 people can’t be done better by the best 23 of those people.”
OK, the Wang Rule sounds pretty blunt; however, look past the bluntness of the message and consider the potential impact of the idea. This is a good analysis of why addition by subtraction works when developing a strong and healthy BNI chapter. The members who are not fully behind the success of the chapter make a huge and positive impact on the health of the chapter by leaving. But this seems hard to do for most groups. Why is that?
You see, one of the strengths of BNI is that everyone becomes such good friends. I’ve often said that one of the weaknesses of BNI is that everyone becomes such good friends! It is difficult to hold friends accountable or to (gasp) open his or her classification; however, there comes a time when the greater good of the chapter has to be considered.
What if you have a membership committee who realizes that there are 4 or 5 members who really qualify for having their classification opened: they have missed over the maximum allowable absences, they have more than one complaint filed against them, etc…but the chapter fears that if they drop 5 members overnight, the morale of the chapter will suffer and it will be a huge struggle to make up for the loss of those 5 members? I hope that this membership committee can take an honest look at the situation and see that the drag on the chapter, the negative energy being expended on these individuals, is keeping the entire chapter from being what a chapter of 5 less members with none of this negativity would actually be!
(Beth) When I’m tending my roses, I sometimes have to cut blooms away that are fading. They have sent up beautiful shoots with big buds, the buds have opened all the way and now the cycle is going the other way. The flowers are dying, yet the plant is still sending nourishment to those dying roses. It draws away from the energy it can be sending to the new buds. Cutting away blooms that are expended is the way to maintain healthy blooms on the whole plant. In other words – “addition by subtraction”.
(Ivan) Remember our friend who inherited the chapter that looked healthy on paper? They cut back to about a dozen core members and rebuilt from there. They are now over 30 strong, dedicated and supportive members. They have successfully seen their chapter go through this pruning phase and well into next season’s growth. It took a 6-month period, but it was well worth the effort. This new chapter filled with the right members will be a success for years to come, all because they were willing to look down the road and prune where necessary.
We have both experienced this personally time and time again over the last three decades in BNI. Cutting back can be scary and we don’t deny that, but the growth your chapter will see as a result of being able to maintain the BNI system and have an appropriate level of accountability, will be well worth biting the bullet and doing the pruning that needs to be done. Your Director has been trained in how to do this effectively and has probably guided other chapters through this process. If you see this kind of challenge developing in your group, we urge you to consult him or her and then set a positive course of action.
Why accept mediocrity, when excellence is an option. Excellence is an option in BNI. Strive for that and you will have a great group.
On Monday, January 8, 2018, BNI® celebrated 33 years of growth. The first official meeting of The Network, the original name of BNI, was held by Dr. Ivan Misner in January 1985 in Arcadia, California. This founding Chapter was launched with over 20 Members.
By the end of 1985, BNI had expanded to 20 chapters. Since then, over 229,000 business professionals around the world have found their referral network through BNI. Operating in 70+ countries, with nearly 8,300 networking meetings a week, BNI is truly the world’s leading referral organization. In 2017 alone, our member businesses generated over $13.6 billion USD in referred business for one another.
Competition is healthy for your business. It helps you develop new services and products, keeps you honest with your quality and pricing, and gives you naturally ingrained goals (to become number one in your field, of course!).
You may be so used to working against your competition that the idea of working with your competition to help you both grow your businesses seems ridiculous. “Why would I help them?!” you may be asking.
Depending on the needs of a project, you may find that working with your competition can not only provide greater value to your client, but also help you look at other sides of a problem that you may not have otherwise considered.
As you work to develop a strong relationship with your competition, you can improve the overall landscape of your industry and find ways to better yourself and your business.
As you think about your competition, take a moment to write down answers to the below questions.
What is something your competition does better than you do?
What are questions you have for your competition, or things you believe you could learn from them?
What is something you do better than your competition?
And finally, be honest, who has a more powerful place in your industry – you, or your competition? What can you do to either keep your upper hand, or move into a more powerful position?
It is important that as you evaluate your business as it compares to your competition, you set goals that correspond. Perhaps your direct competitor has branched into a new service that you’d like to learn more about. Your goal shouldn’t be to perfect this service, but use your relationship with your competitor to start learning the basics.
As for your competition coming to you for advice? Teaching peers always accomplishes more than snubbing them just because they are your competitor. Helping develop someone else can help you develop goodwill in your industry, and may allow them to give you fresh perspective on something you have been doing for years.
What are your tactics for building a relationship with your competition? Share them with us at successnet@bni.com.
Interested in learning how BNI National Directors fall into their roles? Check out this question and answer session with Ryszard Chmura, BNI National Director in Poland.
Q: How did you learn of the BNI Franchise Opportunity?
I started my BNI journey as a BNI member. I had a small advertising company with only one employee. After joining a BNI chapter, I learned how to grow my business and other BNI members helped me. After five years my company grew to 200 employees and my advertising agency was one of the fast growing marketing companies in Poland. I knew BNI is a great and easy way for all business owners to do business. So, when I learned about the Franchise Opportunity in Poland, I was highly motivated to get involved.
Q: What was the deciding factor that made you become a BNI National Director?
I realized that we can build the biggest network of thousands business owners in the country. SME are the foundation for economic growth in Poland. As National Director, I get the opportunity to help people to grow their businesses and at the same time help the Polish economy to grow. How cool is that?
Q: What Core Value do you most identify with and why?
Positive Attitude is one of the most important Core Values for me. There is enough negativity in the world but I am working with people that are happy, have a positive mindset and want to do something good for their business, region and for the country. BNI Members are looking for solutions instead for problems.
Q: What are some of the benefits of owning a BNI franchise?
One of the most important benefits for me is that it allows me to interact with business people across the world. As a franchise owner, I grow my personal network and learn a lot from others.
Q: What are you most excited about in the year ahead for BNI Poland?
I am very excited that despite the fact that we are already the biggest organization for business owners in Poland and in the world, we are about to put ourselves in second gear and move forward even further. We have many game changing projects that will launch in 2018 and help us to be even better.
Q: Are there any nearby neighboring countries that you think BNI has significant opportunity in?
As an Eastern European country we have shorter history of free market than some other countries, but we are catching up fast! BNI has a great opportunity to grow in countries like the Czech Republic, Ukraine or Russia.
Q: What recommendations do you have for anyone considering becoming a BNI National Director or Executive Director?
My recommendation would be to think fast, because there are a lot of people that want to bring BNI to their country or region. If you think that you will be able to lead the biggest business organization in your country or region, I encourage you to apply and check if you are qualified to do so. Myself and other National Directors would be more than happy to help you bring BNI to your country.