Attract and Retain Referral Partners

A BNI member asked BNI Founder, Dr. Misner how to combine attracting and retaining new members with passing high-quality referrals. Here are the three keys:

System

BNI works best when you use the whole system as outlined in the manuals. If you remover pieces, the whole thing will fall apart.

Accountability

How many referrals is the chapter giving? How many do we want to be giving? Are they high-quality referrals? Are members attending?

Culture

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. The attitude of the group, the way it behaves, the way it feels when you walk into it. If people are laughing and enjoying their meeting and following the system, they have a healthy culture. One person can ruin a group’s culture.

System, accountability and culture are three crucial keys to attracting and keeping the right referral partners. On a scale of 1 to 10 where does you chapter fit? With a few tweaks all chapters can be an 8+.

Read the complete BNI Podcast.

“Interview” Instead of “Invite”

This is Dr. Misner’s inviting approach:

“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 whatever profession] right now to find a really good one in the area to give all of our business 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.”

We all know that it is a privilege to be part of a BNI referral network. Our achievements, in BNI, show the process is successful and the process works. By presenting BNI as an exclusive privilege to potential new members, we are establishing the value of the BNI experience right away. We should be very selective about whom we choose as referral partners, but let’s not forget, that to find the right people; we must interview a lot of people.

Invite all your contacts to meet your BNI members, (everyone benefits). But not all your contacts are potential new members. Bottom line: tell everyone you know about BNI, but only “interview” those whom you feel will be a solid addition to your referral team.

Excerpt from SuccessNet. Read the full story.

A New Definition of Networking

When BNI Founder Dr. Ivan Misner wrote the first edition of The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret, he defined networking as:
“The process of developing and using your contacts to increase your business, enhance your knowledge, expand your sphere of influence, or serve your community.”

This definition stood the test of time for many years, until . . . it didn’t. Since then, Dr. Misner realized the definition of networking was evolving.

There were definitely some truths in the original definition that needed to be retained, but a few just no longer felt right.

One word he wanted to address was “using.” Today, this word sounds rather harsh, even cold. People today tend to react negatively to the concept of “using” someone for personal or professional gain. The other word he scrutinized was “contacts.” The term has become synonymous with a person’s database. And a database is, by design, impersonal, practical and, again, rather cold.

After many discussions about modifying the definition, Dr. Misner came up with this representation of the concept of networking:

“The process of developing and activating your relationships to increase your business, enhance your knowledge, expand your sphere of influence or serve the community.”

For years, Dr. Misner has talked about the “hunting versus farming” mentality when it comes to growing a professional network. The “hunters” run from one business event to another gathering business cards; they diligently add business cards to their database (read:“contacts”); then they run out again in search of more to add to the ever-growing list.

The bigger the list, the better they’ve “hunted” and, in their often-misguided opinion, the better their “network.”

But the farmers are the ones who cultivate steady, growing, genuine, and authentic relationships with the people they feel are important to include in their network. They have steady back-and-forth interactions that benefit not only them. Everyone involved is rewarded. Why? Because the time taken to really get to know people enough to make a relationship means that when it comes time to make a referral, it’s much easier to call upon them.

By simply changing a couple of simple words in Dr. Misner’s original definition, he  was able to fine-tune it into what he believes is the true meaning of effective networking. The revised definition is much more congruent with the style of networking we participate in every day—and what we know really works.

See Dr. Misner’s full story.