The Four Pillars of a Successful BNI Group

Tim Paulin BNI Executive Director from BNI Louisiana Mississippi joins Dr. Misner on the BNI Podcast to discuss the four pillars of a successful BNI group:

1. Many (4-7) visitors or guests at each meeting. Not all of them have to qualify to join: bring people who can do business with members.
2. A well-run professional meeting. Pay special attention to the hidden elements. (See Episode 9 and Episode 16 for more about these.)
3. Follow-up post meeting. The leadership team needs to follow up with visitors and guests, and members need to follow up about the business they’ve passed.
4. Accountability for the chapter members. One of the most important parts of accountability is attendance, and it’s up to the membership committee to maintain this.

If you can do these four things well, you’ll have a successful chapter.

Unsolicited Advice Is Rarely Appreciated

Here’s an excerpt from Dr. Misner’s podcast that I think is terrific. As BNI members we can all apply this advice.

Every contact you have with someone is a chance to either construct or de-construct a relationship. Be sparing about the way you criticize people, especially if you don’t know them well. Before you either press the “Send” button or open your mouth to criticize, ask yourself

1. Is your criticism unsolicited? Unsolicited advice, especially from people you don’t know, is rarely appreciated.
2. Do you know the person to whom you’re sending the criticism? If not, why are you really sending it?
3. Is it your intention to give constructive suggestions, or just to vent? If it’s to vent, tell a friend who loves you instead.
4. Does this communication help construct a relationship? Remember what your mother said: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

More than £111,000 in Business in 4 Years

This is a story I read in BNI SuccessNet and I think that it succinctly describes the value of BNI.

Submitted by Alan Johnson (SuccessNet April 1, 2012)

I applied to join BNI at my very first meeting in November 2007 thinking, Why on earth didn’t I know about this earlier?
By Christmas, with not a single decent referral and not a penny invoiced, my mind was now racing: What have I done?
But luckily the relative peace and quiet between Christmas and New Years gave me some time to listen to the CD, read the manual and the book. In one of those eureka moments, I realized I had the whole concept wrong.

The people in the room weren't potential customers; they were my potential sales force. It seems so obvious now.

So I changed tack, rewrote my 60-seconds, and resolved to "train" these sales people in how to sell Teknicare; 1-to-1s frantically followed.

The results?

I've never looked back. January saw BNI related sales of £1,778 and February £10,208. In 2008 I made £27,832, in 2009 £23,571, in 2010 £25,250. And last year, (with all the doom and gloom, I hardly expected to do well) I made £34,949. This year is already looking good with over £3,000 invoiced.

Loving numbers as I do here are some more for you:
Total Invoices 303. Average Invoice Value £368.32. Number of weeks attended 208. Invoice value per week £518.53 (after costs).

So every Thursday morning I'm sitting in my van driving to meet a great bunch of friends and getting paid over £500 for the privilege.

Monetary benefit after four years: £111,603; personal benefit after four years: priceless.