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BNI MID-DAY POWER PARTNER
REFERRAL GOALS
BNI tells us that each member
of a *strong* chapter will give, on average, a referral a
week. There will always be members who have no problem
making that goal and others who struggle with bringing in
referrals on a regular basis.
Because of our rapid growth
and many new members, our chapter set the goal during this
last term of having each member average 3 referrals a month.
This is NOT a quota. It is simply a goal we developed for
the chapter to attain to maintain good momentum.
Again, remember from a
previous email I sent out that these referrals do not have
to be GUARANTEED BUSINESS. A qualified BNI referral is
locating a *potential* client interested in speaking with
the person to whom you are giving the referral about their
services. Please also remember that a referral is only given
ONCE for each new potential client--after that we use the
closed business slips for repeat business from the same
client.
We provide the Vice
President's report both online and hand it out at the end of
each month so our membership can see how they are doing (in
all categories--referrals, 1-2-1s, visitors and absences),
and also to see how you compare to the rest of the
membership. We fully expect newer members to take some time
to become good referral givers. We also ask that new members
be aware that it may take some time to GET referrals as you
let your "sales force" know what you do, and build trust
with them. This is a process that BNI likes to call
"farming" rather than "hunting"--since you are planting
seeds and having to nurture them before they come to
fruition. So patience--both with your ability to give AND
get referrals--is necessary as a new BNI member.
Following are a few
opportunities BNI offers for you to develop your
referral-giving abilities.
- Mentoring. Each
new member is assigned a mentor. Our mentors are
dedicated members who know the BNI "ropes." They have
been trained specifically for this program and have a
variety of materials to help new members get the most
our of their BNI membership--including how to maximize
their ability to give referrals. BNI Midday Power
Partners put this program into place--it is NOT a
standard part of a BNI chapter. New members, please do
not pass up the opportunity to use this valuable
resource. Your mentor is there to provide a single point
of contact for questions and concerns.
- Chapter Books and
CDs. Our Education Coordination has materials out on
the resource table at every meeting. We ask that you
give us a check to hold while the materials are checked
out, but this is a free resource for the membership.
These materials are developed by BNI and the founder,
Ivan Misner, specifically to help you find qualified
referrals. We strongly urge that if you wish to get the
most out of your membership, you check these resources
out.
-
Member Success
Program trainings. The first Monday of every
month there is not only a Member Program Training in
Novato, which gives all the fundamentals about how
BNI works, but also provides a seminar following it
that teaches BNI members different aspects of how to
become a better referral giver. On August 6th the
Advanced Workshop is from 7:30 to 9:00 and is on
"How to Generate Outside Referrals" presented by
Trey McAllister. (An "Outside Referral" is a
referral NOT for another member of your chapter, but
for a prospective third party client.) For
information on location and price go to:
www.bni-sfbaymsp.com.
New members have already paid for this as part of
their membership, but longer-term members are
encouraged to go more than once as these workshop
topics change regularly.
- The Referral
Institute. This is a company that was developed as a
training grounds to become a better referral giver.
There are various seminars and workshops that help in a
variety of aspects. There are a a wide choice of courses
and seminars available through the Institute:
-
1-2-1s. We
cannot stress enough that the BEST strategy to be
able to give another member a qualified referral is
to get to know them personally and learn more about
their business. Over and over, folks who have done
these meetings comment they learned all sorts of
valuable information about their fellow members they
never knew by just listening to their 30 second
infomercials. Very often they are able to come up
with prospective referrals on the spot after
getting more detail about what they do. Please set a
goal for yourself of meeting one member a week--or
even three or four at a time--to get familiar with
the membership as quickly as possible. I had
supplied you all with forms a few weeks ago that
included a list of members as a check-off sheet to
prioritize your 1-2-1 meetings.
Armed with these resources,
you should find yourself "inside a referral" more frequently
as you train yourself to be on the lookout for them. We look
forward to your participation!
Cheers,
Caren
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