My favorite approach for inviting visitors to BNI^? is what I call the ?We?re interviewing? technique.

Suppose your chapter needs a printer. When you meet a printer, explain that you?re in a referral group and say, ?We?re interviewing printers now to find the best printer in the area to give all of our business to. I think you might make a good candidate.? (Replace ?printers? with the profession your chapter needs.) Here?s how the script could be phrased:

?I?m in a referral group (you don?t have to go into much detail). ?I have been a member for [however long]. We get together on a regular basis, and we?re all about passing business to each other. We?re interviewing [fill in the blank for the profession] right now to find a really good one in the area to give all of our referrals to. I think you might make a good candidate.?

This shows people the value of BNI membership and helps the chapter to be selective about new members. Good groups don?t take just any candidate. They want to take qualified candidates, and this approach helps set that expectation.

Of course, this also means you have to interview the visitor after the chapter meeting ? and you should only request that they submit an application if you think the person is a good fit.

This is simply the most powerful way to invite people to visit a BNI group. It?s much better than just telling people how great BNI is. It is great ? but sometimes the excitement from a member can come off as too strong to someone who has no idea what it?s all about: ?Oh, you have got to join this organization. It?s the best organization around. They get a lot of business.?

People who don?t know about BNI, or don?t even really know the person inviting them, are like, ?Who are you? And why are you trying to sell me on this? Read the palm.?

Right? They are put off.

The Power of Exclusivity or FOMO (Fear of Missing Out!)

One of the things that I found is that if members of BNI can, in an appropriate way, be more exclusive about who they bring in, they are actually going to get more interest from people. It?s a little bit counterintuitive, but it?s absolutely accurate.

Why? Because most entrepreneurs and sales people hate not being picked!

What is the implied meaning of the sentence: ?We are interviewing and you might make a good candidate?? The implication is that they might not be picked. Again, entrepreneurs hate not being picked. They want to be picked. The idea that they might not is much more interesting to them than if they have the impression that the group will accept anyone with a check, ready to pay for the membership.

And this concept of being exclusive benefits every member of the chapter. We ask members to think of their BNI chapter as their room, and we ask them: Who do you want in your room?

Chapters whose members are selective about who they bring into their room are much more likely to fill it with good, qualified business professionals. The interview concept is not only important for building interest in visitors to the chapter, it is also important to knowing the right candidate to extend the invitation to.

Here?s the important thing: If you say you are going to interview candidates for the open position, then you?d better do just that. Don?t just say you are going to interview them? really interview them. Sit down with them after the meeting and ask them questions, such as the following:

• Can you tell me a little more about what you do?
• What is your target market?
• How do you view us being able to help you?
• How do you think you can help us as a group?
• Would you share some of your professional background??

The BNI member application is a great tool to use, following the questions listed there when interviewing the candidates and to get them to open up and talk about the various topics. After the interview, if there is a good fit, then they can be invited to submit an application.?

This is a very powerful technique, and I honestly believe it is one of the best ways to invite people to visit BNI, and to decide if they are going to benefit the group while benefiting from the membership.

Why is it so important for potential members to visit a BNI meeting first? It?s because members can tell them what BNI is all about until they are blue in the face, but no one really understands until they attend a meeting and see the vast amount of business that is gained by referrals between the members.

I have found that trying to explain the details of the BNI process to someone who has not actually experienced a meeting is like trying to train someone to ride a bike without getting on one. But it?s important to phrase the invitation in such a way that it entices the potential member, hence, the interviewing approach.

If potential members push for more information, by all means answer their questions? however, the focus should be less on the features of the meeting and more on the benefits. For example, talking about the details of how a meeting runs is a focus on the features? talking about getting referrals is a focus on the benefits.

I opened 20 chapters in one year using this approach, so I know it works.

Has it worked for you and your chapter? We would love to hear how your interviewing process works.

Would you like to substantially increase the number of referrals your BNI chapter generates? If you answered yes, read on, because here’s how.

Many years ago, I had a chapter President call me with a proposition.  He said his chapter felt the attendance policy was a hassle and they didn’t believe it made any difference in referrals, and was actually a drawback to membership.  I told him I didn’t create the policy – it was created by the Board of Advisors, made up exclusively of BNI members.  He replied that his group wanted to show me and the Board of Advisors that attendance had no impact on referrals or membership.  None.  He asked me if I would publish the findings in our newsletter AND ask the Board to reconsider this policy if they could document that it made no difference. 

I happily agreed to both.

They used the prior quarter as their baseline and began focusing on improving attendance starting the upcoming month.  It’s important to note that during this time, they did nothing else other than improve attendance to show us it wouldn’t make a difference. 

So, what were their results?  Well, after six months they significantly dropped absenteeism by a whopping 71%.  What about referrals you ask?  Well they went up by 62%!  And as an added bonus, membership in the group went up by 50%!  At the end of their little experiment, the President called me and said, “never mind, it’s clear that absenteeism hurts the performance of the group.”  I thanked him, and I thanked the group for doing this study. I asked if I could publish the results.  They graciously agreed, and the table below is based on their original work.

But wait, the story gets better. 

You see, after I published the original article, I had another chapter President call me up and tell me his group had read the article, and they thought I made it all up!  I told him to “call the President and confirm it” himself.  I’ll never forget what he said next.  He exclaimed, “No, this guy’s probably in your pocket, and he’ll say whatever you tell him to say!”  (Wow! He clearly doesn’t know the average BNI member, I thought.)  “So, how can I help you,” I asked?  

He went on to say his group felt that even if the data was true, six months wasn’t long enough to confirm the results.  It should be done for at least a year. He wanted to focus on reducing absenteeism for a year to show me the results would be different if the study went longer.  I told him I thought that was a great idea.  I also discovered there was, in fact, a big difference in tracking the results longer.

The second group had very similar results after six months.  They dropped absenteeism by more than 50%, their membership went up by 55%, and their referrals went up by 71%.  Pretty close to the first group – right?

But here’s where it gets truly incredible:  At the nine-month mark, their absenteeism was stable with a drop of over 50%, but their membership had increased by a whopping 90%, and their referrals went through the roof with an increase of 164%!!!

At this point, the President called me and he also said, “never mind – we get it, absenteeism clearly brings down results… a lot.”   Although they stopped tracking the data, I stayed in touch with the chapter for a long time.  They continued to focus on attendance, and they grew to a 40+ member group. By that time, they were passing more referrals than they ever thought possible.

You can’t get a haircut – over the phone!  And, you can’t have a successful BNI group if you don’t show up.  Absenteeism effects membership and referrals.  The results are clear. There is a direct and dramatic, linear correlation between absenteeism and referrals. As the groups decreased their absences, they increased their membership which substantially increased their referrals.  High absenteeism results in low referrals. Low absenteeism results in high referrals.

The lesson here is: if your chapter is lax on attendance, it will affect your pocketbook.

It is in your best interest to reduce absenteeism in your chapter. If this is done in conjunction with a concerted effort to get back to basics — like finding good members and having them immerse in our educational content — you will end up with a chapter that is more successful than you ever thought possible. 

Why accept mediocrity, when excellence is an option?  Excellence is an option.  Start today and bring excellence to your group.