BNI Minnesota & N. Wisconsin Blog

This is a great article that was recently sent to me and I wanted to pass it on to all of you! I’ve included the contact information to make it easier for members to follow up if you’d like more info or want to get involved.

What does summer have to do with my BNI meetings?

The answer  - “sometimes not much!” 

We say this because we hear from folks during the summer where the chapter momentum lags. We’re all used to having summers off like we did when we were kids, no matter how old we are, and it’s hard to muster the same enthusiasm for things we have to do during the summer. Excuses run high.

We’re finding that summer is actually a great time to focus on a chapter program where everyone steps off on the same page really ready to take advantage of the fall.  That’s one reason why we have the HOT summer regional promotion going - to help chapters get the fundamentals down so they can kick off their fall with engines revved and ready to go.  You can get more information on that at http://blogs.delfuego.com. We’ll talk more about it on our call this Friday.

And speaking of our call this Friday, we’ll hear from Tim Houston, Area Director, and his BNI experience. Then, we’ll answer your questions and yes, give a sneak preview of when the new BNI Visitor Experience CD set and curriculum will be ready - the sequel to BNI Networking Secrets.
Conference Call Information:
July 9th 10:00 AM Central Time
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 895-3922
Access Code: FASTTRACK# (327887225#)
Fast Track Tip of the Week

If you want to change up your Fast Track program, here’s an idea other chapters are doing and really having a lot of fun with it. Select members, other than the Educational Coordinator, to deliver the Educational Moment.  You can draw from a hat, ask for volunteers, or choose a fun way to select - like the person who lives the closest to your meeting place, or the person whose birthday is coming up the soonest.  Sometimes having different members deliver keeps everyone on their toes and gives them another way to build their Visibility and Credibility with the chapter.  If you decide to do this, just make sure you help them prep with the Education Coordinator manual.

All our best,
Flynn, Sara, and Linda
512-736-8716
512-576-0556
“Lives that Matter, Lives that Work, Businesses that Succeed”

By B. Scott Binion

Do this and don’t do that!  Concentrate here and you will be successful.  If you can make sure this gets done, watch out for the referrals!  We all have our “lists” to keep track of.  But what if we looked at networking from a different perspective - would that be helpful?  Most likely will.

So here goes - Do you know 4 sure-fire ways to NOT be a successful networker?  Here’s the list:

1. Show up to your networking meetings late most of the time.
2. Expect your sales force or chapter members to think of you when you’re not there.
3. Only meet outside of the networking meetings when asked.
4. Make sure to always leave your networking book of contacts in a drawer.

I know what you’re thinking - these are just way to simple.  After all, any networking education would lead you to another way.  Obviously, if you follow these rules, your networking success will be lacking.  But everyone needs to realize we all have made one or all of these mistakes before - or at least you should admit it.  I know I have!

Now here’s the way to be even more successful at your networking efforts.  Ready for the blinding flash of light?  Do the complete opposite of the four above!  Again the four suggestions restated:

1. Show up early and stay late for your networking meetings - you might even close some business.
2. Being in front of your sales force or chapter members allows them to get to know what makes you successful.
3. Be the first to initiate member meetings over and over again throughout the year.
4. Enter your networking or chapter members in your Blackberry or Droid or at the very least in your day-timer or portfolio.

Now you have no excuses - be that great networker that everyone looks up to.  Better yet, share your knowledge and networking success with others.

This past weekend I had the honor and opportunity to attend and present 2 workshops at Get Connected 2010. The crowd was small and conversations were poignant. One-to-ones were meaningful and focused. Connections were made and relationships strengthened.

Before leaving for the conference, I pondered on what referrals and introductions I should ask for. I was going to be bold in my “ask”! I knew that if I chickened out and didn’t ask, the answer was definitely a “no”. I decided to ignore the little voice that told me to be “realistic” because my passion was stronger than my fear.

Jeff Stay provided insights into a deeper level of referrals. He asked us to participate in an exercise where we met each person in the room and asked how we could help them. In my “boldness” I asked for personal introductions to someone connected with any of the home shopping networks for my Tiara Experiment Journal. I only got to meet about 10 people (we talked too long) but here’s what happened:

I didn’t get find anyone who could give me an introduction to someone connected with a home shopping network. I got something even BETTER!

I met someone who knew a program director (or something similar) for Dr. Phil. She said she’d make sure she made the connection after the conference was over. Yesterday I received the introduction!

To be honest, I don’t know if anything is going to come from the introduction. Time will tell. But if I hadn’t been bold and specific in my ask, the answer would have automatically been “no”!

While I was driving home from the holidays at the end of December I was radio surfing and stopped on a station where a minister was promoting a new education series his church was offering.  He was talking about the story from the Bible where Nicodemus visited Jesus during passover.  One of the verses he read was John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Now it may say something about my state of mind that I heard this and thought about networking. But I think this verse really describes how many people network.

They go to a networking event or a trade show or some other opportunity to meet people and when they meet someone new they immediately judge them based on their ability to BUY their product or service.  They don’t look past the immediate gratification of making a sale and look at the persons ability to introduce them to potential clients or referral partners. These people we meet are like the wind, we don’t know where they came from (who they know) or where they are going (who they will meet in the future). We here them talk but instead of truly listening to them, we think about “How long are they going to talk to me?” And how “I would rather be talking to that person over there.” Or “How do I get out of this conversation?”

The best referral I received while I was selling cellular phones and data applications a few years ago was to the facilities manager at the local IBM facility.  I had talked about how the company I was working for at the time had a data application that worked on BlackBerry phones that allowed facility managers to send jobs to their service techs and track the status of the jobs.  Since it was technology based, one would think that I would have received that referral from someone in technology, computer networking or something of that sort.  But that isn’t who passed me the referral.  The lady that makes gift baskets is the one who made the introduction!

Little did I know that she had worked for IBM in the facilities management department at the IBM headquarters. She knew ALL the facilities managers and was able to make a personal introduction to him for me.

If I hadn’t taken the time to build a relationship with her, and instead wrote her off as someone who couldn’t help me, I would not have had that opportunity presented to me.

When we meet people, we can never know what is going to come of that meeting.  If we don’t make the effort to learn about them and how we can help them we may be losing the chance to meet our next client.  Now not all the people we are going to meet will be able to help us like that, but until we make the effort none of them will be able to help us.

So the next time you meet someone who doesn’t have what you think is the right title or job to be able to use your services or be a referral partner, take time to find out more about them.  It will keep you from just blowing in the wind.

by Linda Aasen

There are several things that often happen in BNI meetings that absolutely make me crazy. I’m sure that the members who do these things are unaware that they are doing something wrong and, I’m even more sure, that they don’t know that they are driving me crazy.

The first situation is a visitor who is standing alone. No members are talking to them. No members are asking about their business. No members are asking what a good referral is for them. No members exhibiting behavior that will convince the visitor that the people in this chapter care about them and would like them to join their chapter. Never, ever leave a visitor alone.

The second behavior exhibited by members is disregarding the 60 second time limit for their

60 Second Commercial. Other members, not just me, get irritated by members who think that what they have to say is more important that everyone else and they can take more than their 60 seconds. I find that members who take extra time are adding extra “stuff” which detracts from the message that they are trying to convey to their sales force. Every members’ commercial is important. No members should take more than their allotted time!

The third thing which drives me crazy is during the “I Have” portion of the meeting. Some members will stand and say, “Good presentation speaker”. Many times it was a good, or even great, presentation. That is why we applauded when the speaker was finished. I have big news for members who say this routinely…we know you do not have a referral! We know you are copping out by saying, “Good job speaker”! If you do not have a referral, give a testimonial. If you do not have a referral, make sure you have a One-to-One, so you can tell us something you learned during your mini-meeting. If you do not have a referral, work hard to find one for your members! Do not say, “Good presentation speaker”!!!

So, if you exhibit any of these behaviors, be on notice your members are of your behavior.

Remember that everything you say and do or not say or not do can move you up or down the Referral Curve. If you are making me crazy and you may be doing the same for the other members of your chapter.

by LuAnn Buechler, CMP, PMC Events & Travel

I just love it, when I am attending a professional development event or training seminar and they speak the language of referrals. The world is beginning to resonant with the same messages we deliver in BNI. I attended a training just this last weekend for my travel business. Everything they were teaching us reminded me of BNI. I was so proud to already understand the concepts. Sometimes affirmation of our knowledge is just as empowering as learning knew things. It’s also a good reminder to keep doing what your doing.

To remind you just how much you already know here are a few of the concepts that they taught. See if you are already doing these things:

1. When is the best time to ask for a Referral? As soon as you close the sale, ask your client for a referral to the person in their circle of contacts that could also benefit from your product or services.
2. Go for the Low Hanging Fruit. Work your relationships. Work your networks. Rather than mass marketing pieces or direct mail trying to find new clients. Work with the ones you already have. Get referrals from the people you know. Who know, like and trust you. Ask them for referrals to the people they know who could benefit from your products or services.
3. Who do you know that already sells to businesses? Or who shares the same client? Build relationships with those individuals who share the same client. One of you will see them first and can pass business to the other. Talk with them openly about how you will share those referrals.

Hopefully, you are already doing all of these things. Otherwise, consider it a reminder. Keep it simple. Go back to the BNI play book and stick to the basics. It’s economical and effective. The rest of the world is starting to speak exactly the same language. The language of referrals, it will make sense to your clients & colleagues. Build on that, rather than looking for new ones.

If you continue building on the relationships you have, the referrals will follow. Remember to reciprocate when you receive those referrals! (That’s a subject for another day.)

By LuAnn Buechler, PMC Events and Travel

This morning I presented at my third Visitors Day of the season and once again, heard mention of the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Is that the way we really ought to be thinking?

Some time ago I wrote a blog about the Platinum Rule “Treat others as they want to be treated.” I believe this is truly the way we should think about referrals and customer service. I combine those two subjects, because after all, our referral sources are our greatest clients correct?

Let’s look at referrals first. If we “treat others as they want to be treated” we find them the referrals they are asking for. For example if the Realtor says a FSBO (For Sale by Owner) is a good referral for them, then we deliver them FSBO’s right. That is then considered a good referral. We have treated them as they asked to be treated.

That’s a simple one to visualize. Would they want a more qualified referral if we can deliver it? I am sure they would. So, what if I ask for a personal introduction to a specific person and instead I get a generic referral to a company or associations 800#. Am I being treated as I asked to be treated? Is that a good referral for me? Unfortunately, No. Is it building good relationships or “customer service” delivery? Unfortunately, No.

Now let’s look at customer service. In a training that I deliver, we teach people to serve others as they want to be served. Rather than how you want to serve them. This means you need to learn more about how your clients want to be served. Listening is a good start as it is in finding good referrals.

Here is an example of what I mean. My father-in-law had made a reservation for 4 people at a local restaurant at 5:30pm. At the last minute, I was able to join the party and called the restaurant to increase the reservation to 5 people. They would not accept the change. From their perspective, they could not put us at a larger table because they had reservations on those tables at 7pm. Although, I explained that we would easily be done in time and gone by 7pm. They stated that their “service” style takes 2 hours and it would be impossible for us to be out in time. They have at this point alienated me as a customer (strike one).

However, my father-in-law was adamant that he could change their mind when we arrived. Having over 50 years in the Hospitality Industry under his belt, one would think he could. In this case he was unable to persuade them (strike two) to give us a larger table. At this point we convinced the waiter that as little people we could squeeze around the table for 4 which they had assigned us. The entire time we were dining, the round tables for 6 people on either side of us sat empty.

We left the restaurant by 7pm as we knew we would. Simply put the two senior citizens in our party only last for an hour and half at one sitting. We knew our group; we asked to be treated in respect of our needs. The restaurant simply refused to look at it from our perspective.

Think about it. Think about how you are serving your valued clients. Are you serving them as they wish to be served or as you want to serve them? Are you applying the Golden Rule or the Platinum Rule? We want to hear your customer service stories that exemplify the difference between these two approaches; for better or for worse.

Your stories may be used in a book my dear friend Bob Nicoll and I are writing called “Remember the Ice: Exceptional Care for Your Valued Clients”. Email your stories to LuAnn@PMCEvents.com or Bob.Nicoll@RemembertheIce.com. OR contact us if you’d like advice on providing exceptional care for your valued clients and referral sources.

LuAnn Buechler, CMP and Ivan Misner, Founder, BNI

Recently I heard from Dr. Misner about the Platinum Rule, by Tony Allessandra. Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule (”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”), but to network effectively, you’ve got to be relationship-based, so you need to use the Platinum Rule-not only with your referral source, but also with the prospect. You need to treat others as “they” want to be treated!

There are three people involved in a referral: 1. You. You need to know how you work best and where your strengths and weaknesses lie. 2. The referral source. How does this person like to communicate? How does he like to be treated? If you want him to help you, you’ve got to treat him the way he wants to be treated. 3. The prospect. How does the prospect like to be sold to? What’s the best way to communicate with the prospect?

Strive to be adaptable and accommodate the behavioral style of your source when you’re working with him or her, and of your prospect when you’ve been put in touch with him. If you seek to find out how people want to be treated and then treat them that way, you won’t make the mistake of assuming everyone likes the same things you do. Looking for a fast way to destroy a budding relationship? Assume that your client or referral partner enjoys deep-sea fishing as avidly as you do and insist that he come along on your next Old Man and the Sea adventure. Then watch as he turns green and hugs the rail of the boat the entire day.

By learning about the other person’s goals, accomplishments, interests, networks and skills, you can establish the groundwork for a smooth-running referral relationship from the start. All of these factors together will tell you the best way to communicate and what to talk about.

Carry these concepts through to your Customer Service delivery. Serve your customers as they want to be served, not how you want to serve them. There is a Referral Institute workshop called the GEMS program, which helps to identify your customers personality type so you can serve them based on their preferences. If you have the opportunity in 2009, attend one of these programs to help you both in developing referral partners and strengthening your customer service skills. After all, the goal is to make them one in the same by customers providing you with referrals to become your referral partners.

Think about it, and learn how to apply these skills. 2009 is going to be our greatest year ever!

by Beth Anderson

I had a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) today regarding cold calling. Someone posted that a company who called him got all their business from LinkedIn and he was wondering if that was possible. The company was an IT recruitment firm, and the guy asking the question was an IT working at a large company. So yes, I believe their statement was true. But how did they do it?

They did it by cold calling. LinkedIn is FULL of IT people, of course. And getting on an HR person’s list of recruitment firms is simple, as is getting an IT person to agree to let you call them if there might be a job in it for them. The world of recruitment, I remember it well. I have both worked in it and been headhunted. All via cold calls. So what’s wrong with that?

Nothing, in the world of recruitment. But what about your business? If you can cold call and get a customer, what does that mean? To me it’s a BIG RED FLAG. Because if YOU can cold call them away from their current vendor, someone is sure to do it to you.

I prefer clients who come to me referred by someone else. Why? Because they are presold. They have had someone who they know & trust tell them to do business with me. So I start with a huge lead against my competition. And they are someone who asked someone else for advice. They didn’t go to a Social Network site, they didn’t go to the yellow pages, they didn’t (God forbid) Google looking for a web designer. They asked someone who to call…and I am connected to the person giving the recommendation.

If someone does cold call them - provided I am doing my job - they won’t be interested in even looking at someone else’s product. Or if they do the bar is set very high for that person to overcome a personal recommendation to me.

So go ahead and continue to cold call, but don’t be surprised when your client jumps ship the next time someone calls them with a better deal. They have no loyalty, and I don’t need them as my customer. I prefer referrals!

by Beth M. Anderson

While I was at the BNI International Conference last week I was fortunate enough to have breakfast with one of the best speakers I have ever had the privilege of meeting - Frank De Raffele. Among other things, Frank has a radio show each week that is syndicated in 10 markets across the country. If you don’t live in one of them, you can listen to it on the web.

I have known Frank for years, always select to hear him speak over anyone else at conference, and he is a speaker at our International Networking Week event in Florida in February 2009. I have some visibility of what Frank does for a living, and know that he does a radio show, but I’ve never actually passed him a referral.

After talking with Frank last week (that’s him in the picture!) I realized that I could help him and help the BNI members in my area by promoting his radio show. So here it is, www.eeradioshow.com. Each Monday Frank has great guests to help you learn more about networking. Dr. Misner, founder of BNI, has a spot each week, as well as 9 other business professionals teaching you everything from taxes to marketing. Go to his website, sign up to receive notifications on the show each week, and then check it out on the air or on the web next Monday and let me know what you think. Or let Frank know!

So what are you doing this week to help your referral partners in a proactive way? If you do a newsletter, can you have others write tips to include. How about on your website? Do you list the people you refer on your website? Do you have your members’ marketing materials in your office, your waiting room, on a sheet that you include with every invoice? There are dozens of ways to be proactive in helping your partners get more business.

Click the comment button below and let us know what you are doing to be proactive in finding referrals!