And here’s how: coming to BNI, having not done any work behind the scenes, is like an athlete going to the Olympics without training – neither is likely to win any medals. 

Medals in BNI terms = getting or giving any business.

Olympic athletes follow strict routines around exercise, conditioning, mental strengthening, practice, rest, recovery as the competition builds up. Even after all this effort, only one can win GOLD once every four years in any one event. 

In BNI, however, all the members can win GOLD multiple times every week, and instead of competing, we collaborate to help each other win.

So, in BNI, what can members do to get BNI Fit to win GOLD for themselves and help others achieve GOLD as well?

Let’s be honest; athletes know what works to achieve GOLD. They need natural talent, ruthless and selfish dedication, plus a touch of luck. 

In BNI, it’s much more relaxed and the opposite of selfish, but we do know what works: Have a good, referable business, be a good person, prepare for the meeting (in terms of your weekly presentation, referrals, and testimonials), attend weekly meetings, carry out effective regular one to ones, make referrals, and follow up on referrals you receive, invite visitors and record your activity.

Pretty simple formula. You don’t even need much luck!

What about those Olympics?

Who enjoyed the Olympics? Some incredible performances, records were broken, hard-luck stories, some expected performances, some come from nowhere stories, and some come from hard time stories. Equipment failure, accidents, medical issues. The Olympics had all the drama.

All the medals have been awarded; some have gone home happy regardless of getting a medal or not. Some would have been unhappy with just one gold or the color of the medal they got.

Of course, the vast majority missed out on a medal. There are only 3 medals per event and only one GOLD. 

What we do know is that no one turned up without massive preparation. The athletes put in a ton of hard work. 

There was an incredible amount of practice, the proper diet, help from the best coaches, genuine natural talent, and a little bit of luck. Even then, the conditions needed to be just right for things to go their way.

In BNI, we know, like the Olympics, just turning up without putting in some work and preparation into your membership means you and the chapter won’t get the medals.

Go for the GOLD in BNI

So, what activities get us BNI going for the gold? The good news is we know what activities work. They certainly aren’t as difficult as trying for an Olympic medal. If we all do them consistently, everyone in the chapter wins, not just us. And we aren’t competing for one gold medal; there are medals every day, every week. 

We aren’t even competing with each other; we are collaborating, so everyone wants us to succeed, not fail, so we can win instead of them.

This is all we need to do consistently; we don’t even need luck or things to fall our way.

1. Have a good, referrable business. This is your natural talent.
2. Be a good person. This is like not cheating by taking performance-enhancing drugs.
3. Prepare for the meeting (your weekly presentation, referrals, and testimonials). This is like getting ready for the big event.
4. Attend meetings. Can’t get a medal without turning up.
5. Carry out effective, regular one-to-ones, especially in your power team or contact sphere. One to two per week is recommended. This is like meeting your coaches, nutritionist, etc.
6. Make referrals and follow up on referrals. This is like working with other athletes and using the advice you receive.
7. Invite visitors. Great athletes attract others to their sport, so the sport grows.
8. Record your activity. Athletes need data to see how they are going and where to improve.

Pretty simple, really.

BNI is where everyone can win GOLD

BNI is where everyone can win GOLD, not just the super talented, super dedicated, or super lucky. But you must be in it and prepared for everyone to win.

“In today’s complex society of comparably skilled, interdependent people, it is more true than ever that success is less a function of what you know than who you know and who knows you.”

Dr. Ronald S. Burt, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago

One of the most valuable and often ignored assets any business professional has is their network of personal contacts. If you keep an organized list of contacts, you’ll be able to effectively and efficiently build and deepen your relationships, ask for referrals, or simply keep in touch.

Understanding your business (and personal) network, what makes some relationships stronger than others, and how to evaluate a robust community of influential contacts is critical to efficiently achieve your goals.

You can create your own contact list using your email system, such as Gmail (personal or business), Outlook, contacts app (on Mac, PC, or Smartphone), or at the very least keep one in a spreadsheet. You could even use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) app if you plan to do regular outreach and want to maintain a log of how and when you had contact with them.

When you create your contact list, be sure to categorize each contact with their industry or practice area. E.g., Finance, designate what kind of contact they are, such as Referral or Client; and what they should receive from you like a holiday card so you can easily pull your list when the time comes.

A professional social network is a group of individuals who are in contact with one another and serve each other as an unpaid labor source furthering their mutual business interests.

There are three kinds of contacts in such a network:

• Everyone you know
• Everyone you have ever known, and
• Everyone who knows you (but you don’t know them)

The first group is where we focus most of our attention. They are the easily-met people and the people to whom you feel closest, including family, colleagues, neighbors, and friends.

The second group is the one most professionals tend to ignore. “Everyone you have ever known” includes the contacts that you have allowed to fade over time. This includes people you once knew well but no longer see often, if ever, or feel close to. This group – former neighbors, past customers or clients, someone you “did a deal with last year,” classmates, a person who served on a committee or board with you – is a group worth focusing on.

Research shows that professionals often get essential information, access to scarce and critical resources, some of their best leads, and referrals from this second group. That’s because these people are most likely to know about opportunities unknown to you. It’s fair to say that a considerable measure of success in business lies with those from your past.

The third group of contacts is essential in another way. They are a resource you have, but of which you are unaware. Awareness comes from the unexpected phone call, email, or text message that begins: “I was talking with your friend Joe Jones, and he said you would be perfect for this project I’m working on,” or “Hi, we have not met, but Brenda said that we would be lucky to have you help with our new project.”

One of the goals in assessing your list of contacts and connections is to emphasize this third kind of interaction, commonly called the “power-” or “endorsement-referral,” so that your network does the work of furthering your interests for you. 

How do you accomplish these endorsement referrals? By maintaining regular contact with members of your entire network, clearly communicating who you are, and demonstrating to those contacts the specifics of your expertise over time. Do that, and reciprocate when helped by others, and you’ll develop a full pipeline of market information, leads on new connections, and referrals to profitable opportunities.

A study by Stetson and Clarkson Universities concludes that “liking” plays a vital role in influencing the development of trust, more so than other necessary ingredients like common interests, shared outlook, and demographics. According to the study, the emotional bond can become the driving force in the relationship and nurturer trust.

In other words, several elements are needed for trust, but ‘liking’ is the magical shortcut to that privileged status of being trusted.

As a member of a BNI chapter, you are already in some way sharing common interests and a common outlook, but that does not automatically mean that your fellow BNI members will “like you” and eventually trust you.

It is not uncommon for BNI members to expect referrals based solely on being a member of the chapter, especially if the sum of their efforts is the occasional “hello” once a week, coffee meeting once or twice a year, 60-second presentation, and bi-annual ten-minute presentation. These aren’t quite enough to build an emotional bond that is the basis of trust. These mandatory activities of BNI provide the foundation for a relationship, but the relationship itself must still be built and maintained, and only you can do that.

It also doesn’t help to go through the motions. Even worse (when we go back to in-person meetings) is to sit in the same place week in and week out and interact mainly with the same people you feel comfortable with. In other words, even within your BNI weekly meeting, you must guard against complacency and against slipping into a comfort zone.

The three steps to getting to “trust” are relatively simple:

1. Get to know your BNI members. Demonstrate a genuine interest in them as people – how many children do they have? What are their dreams, hopes, and fears? Do you know these things about everybody? Getting to know your fellow members, or anyone in your network, can be very rewarding and easily achieved because most of us are instinctively drawn to form bonds. By getting to know somebody better, you find it easier to discover ways to help them get ahead.

2. Spend time with your BNI Members. When you show a genuine interest in people, and when you spend time with them and demonstrate the desire to help them (referrals, advice, a listening ear), “liking” automatically develops more quickly than it might if you do the minimum mandatory BNI activities.

3. Trust. As BNI Chairman Dr. Ivan Misner maintains, “trust” is the key to a profitable relationship – but we’re not just talking money and referrals. Those things follow, but you will find the interpersonal bonds you develop with your fellow BNI members to be far more enjoyable and rewarding.

So there you have it: 3 easy steps to “liking” as a shortcut to ‘trust,’ which will make it easier to pass referrals.

Part of my role as Education Coordinator is to bring you BNI Education in small bite-size pieces each week so that we reinforce those ideas and are easy to digest.

BNI Mission Statement:

The mission of BNI is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional referral marketing program that enables them to develop meaningful, long-term relationships with quality business professionals.

BNI Core Values:

BNI is built on a set of guiding principles that form the foundation on which members interact, conduct themselves, and fulfill their goals. These are our BNI Core Values.

One of those core values is Lifelong Learning and that there is more to networking and BNI that you can use to your advantage that can’t be learned by just attending the weekly meeting. 

There are many learning and training resources available to you, like BNI Business Builder (formerly BNI University), the BNI Podcast, and BNI books that we can access and manage individually. While BNI offers these resources, you can read non-BNI business books and listen to non-BNI business podcasts too.

However, we also have the opportunity to use the BNI Education Moment, which is only 3 minutes long, to deepen and reinforce our BNI understanding each week as a chapter rather than as individuals. And as you all know, I send out a weekly email reinforcing what Jack, Ron, and I talk about in our education moments.

BNI tracks and counts all that training in “units,” and if you go into the BNI Connect App, you can add a slip to get credit for CEU’s you’ve earned. One hour of “training” translates into one “CEU.” You only need 1 CEU per week.

And that email I send out counts as 1 CEU. So launch the BNI Connect app right now, and log 1 CEU just for reading the email I sent yesterday. And remember to do that each and every week.

BNI tracks and counts all that training in “units,” and if you go into the BNI Connect App, you can add a slip to get credit for CEU’s you’ve earned. One hour of “training” translates into one “CEU”.

So, listening to a few podcasts, reading a BNI or business improvement book, or attending a webinar or virtual training outside of the meeting are all great ways to rack up these points. BNI says we should average 1 hour per week.

I’ll be the first to admit….most of my CEU’s come from listening to the BNI podcasts or reading through and actively participating in this weekly newsletter (which counts as a CEU!)

But you can also get training online from BNI Business Builder (formerly known as BNI University), which houses videos, documents, and other resources that BNI HQ passes down to chapters. You can take training on your pc, or in an app for iOS and Android. If you don’t have this app or haven’t checked it out in a while, take a look at it, or go to bniuniversity.com (which shows the recent name change). Log in, and see the abundance of videos, documents, and resources that are there to help you get the most of your BNI membership.

SO – your challenge for today is to make sure you have the BNI Business Builder App installed on your phone/tablet (or make sure the website works with your login) and watch something to earn yourself a CEU this week.

In a recent blog post I wrote about how “The Early Bird Catches The Worm,” and “The Fortune is in the Follow-up.” are old sayings that go hand-in-hand. They’ve become old sayings because they are true. Following up with your clients and prospects will make you look professional personally, and enhance your brand reputation exponentially.

A timely follow-up can also mean the difference between closing a sale and hearing that they hired someone else before you got around to it.

The challenge however is that while we know the importance of following up, sometimes we forget to do it in a timely manner. Another was the time it takes to write that follow-up, making those critical decisions between sending an email that was too long or didn’t have just the right amount of information.

One solution was to prepare a ready-to-use email template that reduced the time it takes to craft an appropriate follow-up email.

The other solution was to create a reminder to follow up. For this, I use an automated approach using IFTTT.

If This Then That (IFTTT) is a freemium service that allows a user to program (and I use that term lightly) a simple action in response to a trigger event. For example, IF someone tags you in a photo on Facebook, THEN a copy can be saved to your Dropbox automatically. It’s really more like making a two-sep recipe than programming. While the Facebook example is simple, there are ways to do more complex automations too. IFTTT is free for five “Applets” (what they call recipes). More than five will incur a subscription fee starting at $4 per month. I only use three automations using IFTTT, so the free account works just fine for me.

To use IFTTT you’ll need to sign up for a free account, and then connect some of your services to make the applets. For this example, I’ve connected my email and calendar. Both are via Google Workspace (formerly known as GSuite and Google For Business), but any email and calendar service should work.

Once you have connected your services, you can create an applet that responds to an event in one service and triggers a response in another service.

Today I’m going to share with you my automation hack where a reminder to send a follow-up email is sent to me when an event on my calendar (like a prospect call) ends.

Step one: Craft your follow-up email template.

A follow-up email can be used for a variety of reasons. So having one all-purpose template may be a challenge. But for the purpose of this automation, I developed one that really serves as a good starting place. I always customize it based on the type of meeting I just had. Here is my template for the purpose of this automation:

Hi NAME,

Thanks so much for taking the time to connect today. I really appreciated your insights on [SOMETHING-I-AM-SPECIFICALLY-GRATEFUL-FOR].

Also: I really enjoyed learning about [SOMETING-WE-HAVE-IN-COMMON-OR-SHARED-INTERST-OR-SHARED-CONTACT].

Anyway, here are the next steps and key takeaways as I remember them from our conversation:

• [INCLUDE-BOTH-COMMITMENTS-MADE-BY-YOU-TO-THE-OTHER-PERSON-AND-BY-THE-OTHER-PERSON-TO-YOU].

If you feel I missed anything, please let me know. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to [IMMEDIATE-NEXT-STEP]!

Thanks,
Andy

I keep this template handy in Evernote so that I can quickly copy/paste it into a new email, and draft my follow-up because not every meeting is in my calendar (e.g.. I just met someone at a networking event).

Step two: Set up your IFTTT automation.

For this step, you’ll need a free IFTTT account with your email and calendar services connected. IFTTT is fairly easy to use, and when you sign up you’ll be prompted to add services (e.g. email, calendar, social account, etc.). There are thousands of services you can connect to your account to create Applets. One nice thing about IFTTT is that you can browse a library of pre-set-up Applets that work with your services, and then all you need to do is customize them.

For the follow-up Applet, here is what you want to do to set it up:

1. In My Applets, click Create a new.
2. Next, on the next screen, click If This: Add to add your calendar service. I use “Google Calendar” and on the next screen scroll down to “Any event ends”. It will then prompt you to choose which calendar you want to use (if you have more than one associated with your account). Then click create trigger.
3. On the next screen, click “Then That: Add” and in the search bar type “email” to filter out all of the other services. Click “email” and on the next screen you’ll only have one option “Send me an email”, so click that too.
4. On the next screen, you’ll be faced with two open text fields to enter HTML text. If you know HTML, go ahead and edit these fields to have the email subject and body you want to be in your follow-up reminder. If you don’t know HTML, copy/paste the snippets below.
5. After you add your HTML click “Create” and then “Continue” and “Finish” on the next screens.

On the last screen click “check now” to make sure it works and then you’re done. Now, after any event in your calendar ends, you’ll get an email in your inbox that looks like this in about 15 minutes:

With this reminder in your inbox and a template that you can copy/paste to get you started, you’ll never forget to follow-up again. And the template serves as a starting point for your message.

Here are the HTML snippets you can copy:

Subject: Follow-up reminder for {{Title}}

Body: Hey – Your meeting – {{Title}} – from {{StartTime}} to {{EndTime}} just ended. Should you follow up?<br>

<br>

Heres a quick template:<br>

<br>

Hi [!First Name],<br>

<br>

Thanks so much for taking the time to connect today. I really appreciated your insights on [SOMETHING-I-AM-SPECIFICALLY-GRATEFUL-FOR].<br>

<br>

Also: I really enjoyed learning about [SOMETING-WE-HAVE-IN-COMMON-OR-SHARED-INTERST-OR-SHARED-CONTACT].<br>

<br>

Anyway, here are the next steps and key takeaways as I remember them from our conversation:<br>

<br>

– [INCLUDE-BOTH-COMMITMENTS-MADE-BY-YOU-TO-THE-OTHER-PERSON-AND-BY-THE-OTHER-PERSON-TO-YOU].<br>

<br>

If you feel I missed anything, please let me know. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to [IMMEDIATE-NEXT-STEP]!<br>

<br>

Thanks,<br>

<br>

Andy

NOTE: Change the name in red above, to your name.

On average, visitors spend $1,000 on members’ services in a chapter, even if they don’t join, and they can add interest and energy to the meeting.

The Visitor Process

Once you meet someone who has the right attitude, ask them, using your version of something along these lines: 

“I’m part of a local business networking group, and I think you’d enjoy coming to the meeting. Can I invite you to next week’s meeting?” 

If they are interested, invite them to the meeting using BNI Connect App. If you invite them, they will still need to RSVP and register. You may want to consider using the registration link instead.

From here, the primary care of your visitor passes to the Visitor Hosts and the visitor process that the chapter has established.

The chapter’s Visitor Process ensures that visitors receive a consistently positive experience. It should also identify if they have further interest in applying to join and, if so, what is the next step.

The process starts following registration with an automated email to your visitor telling them when and where to come to the meeting. Following registration, visitors will receive two automated email reminders.

Ideally, one of the visitor hosts will also call them the day before the meeting to let them know everyone is looking forward to meeting them and ensure they know what to expect on the day of their visit. 

When we meet in person: On the day of the meeting, the visitor hosts will be set up by the door of the venue to welcome the members and visitors. Ideally, they will sign the visitors in, give them a name badge, take their business cards, help them order their breakfast and coffee, collect any fee payable, find them a seat to place their belongings, and introduce them to a member who will look after them until the meeting starts. All chapter members are visitor hosts from here on, and in fact, they should want to meet as many visitors as possible.

While we are meeting online, the President (or whoever is facilitating the Zoom session) could start the meeting with members doing 1-to-1’s in breakout rooms and have the visitors join visitor hosts who can welcome them to the meeting. 

During the meeting, the President will guide visitors as to how they participate in the weekly presentations part of the meeting and explain how they can contribute to the referrals and testimonials section.

At the end of the meeting, the visitor hosts will make sure each visitor gives their feedback about their intentions around applying for membership, so they don’t leave the meeting not knowing what the next steps are. The visitor process will work out if they are suitable applicants (if they even want to apply), and then the application process will ensure they are a good fit before the chapter accepts them.

After the meeting, the visitor hosts will contact visitors who have further interest in applying.

Summary

Once a visitor is registered, the responsibility for the visitor passes from the invitee to the chapter.

Once they are at a meeting, everyone in the chapter is responsible for making sure the visitor is welcomed and looked after. The visitor hosts have extra responsibilities before, during, and after the meeting, especially ensuring that the chapter and visitor understand the visitor’s intentions and any next steps they want to take.

Visitors don’t know our rules or processes, so it’s up to the President and the chapter to help them understand what is happening in the meeting and what they need to do.

On average, visitors spend $1,000 each on the services provided by BNI members and add interest and energy to the meeting.

So, who should you invite to the meeting?

It’s just a matter of A, B, C, and D.

A = Attitude: If you are thinking of inviting someone to the meeting, the first and almost the only consideration is the potential visitor’s attitude. Do they seem like they would enjoy the vibe of the meeting? If the answer is YES, then invite them. After all, who wants to ask a party pooper to the meeting?

Why is the visitor’s attitude almost the only consideration? If we recognize that visitors bring business (an average of $1k closed business each) and energy to the chapter meeting, anyone with a good attitude makes a good visitor. The only other consideration is that if the visitor is in a business (a visitor doesn’t have to be a businessperson), that doesn’t clash with an existing member’s business. And that doesn’t have to be an issue either if it is handled properly. Possibly the biggest myth about visitors is that they have to be potential members. They don’t. We have an application process to qualify if visitors would be good members once they apply. Just invite freely.

B = Business: Visitors bring business to the meeting, again an average of $1,000 each. In essence, our chapter meeting is like a grocery store; each of our businesses is an aisle in the store, and our weekly presentations let them know what they will find down the aisle. 

Visitors come to our store, see what we have to offer, and choose to buy something from our aisle. The more visitors we have to our “store” the more potential for sales we can make. So, when considering who to invite, think about people with a great attitude that might need to hear our offer rather than if we might want to give business to them. 

C = Clash: If a potential visitor has a business that could clash with an existing member’s business, that doesn’t mean we can’t invite them; we just need to be considerate before inviting them. 

Calling the potentially conflicting member is the right thing to do. The member may even want to give the prospective visitor a call to check if there is a clash. There may be no clash, or the member may still be comfortable that the prospective visitor comes along anyway so they can meet up. Who knows, they could become Power Partners.

D = Deliberate: Using the “ABC” formula of who to invite can open up our “store” to more shoppers. We can be more deliberate by inviting specific visitors to build up a particular business category, Contact Sphere, or Power Team, or bring in a client or a supplier to create a referral relationship for another member. 

Looking in your contacts to see who you already know in business, who you already buy from or sell to, and inviting them to create or further build a referral relationship is very smart. 

Inviting to build your power team is also brilliant. Invite the best of the best to join your team. 

Summary

It’s as simple as ABC to decide who to invite. It opens up who we can ask to enjoy our meeting with us without worrying if they might be potential members. Deliberate inviting to increase membership is a complementary strategy, but we still must consider if they have the right attitude for our chapter.

So, in the coming weeks, look around you and see who you know that would like to come and enjoy the meeting.

The irony of this is that we were all visitors to a BNI meeting at some point. So, we know that inviting visitors works.

We also know that a regular stream of visitors is necessary; why?

• To keep the chapter growing (or at least going). 
• To keep the chapter from getting stale. 
• To provide extra business opportunities even if the visitor doesn’t join (there are plenty of stories about referrals from visitors turning to gold).

Consider this: Chapters have natural attrition due to several reasons, including:

• 70% of members leave just because of life changes.
• Around 30% of members leave after a year. 

Based on those percentages, how many new members will our chapter need to stay the same size per year?

• Chapter Size 15-20 will need five new members per year.
• Chapter Size 21-25 will need 6-7 new members per year.
• Chapter Size 26-30 will need 8-9 new members per year.
• Chapter Size 31-35 will need 9-10 new members per year.
• Chapter Size 36-40 will need 11-12 new members per year.
• Chapter Size 41-45 will need 13-14 new members per year.
• Chapter Size 46-50 will need 14-15 new members per year.

Not all visitors can or will join. In BNI, the average conversion rate is 1 in 7 but can be as low as 1 in 14! Working on 1 in 7, how many visitors a year does a chapter need to stay the same size? Remember, these are unique first-time visitors, not the same visitors returning week after week. 

• Chapter Size 15-20 will require 35 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 21-25 will require 42 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 26-30 will require 49 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 31-35 will require 56 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 36-40 will require 84 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 41-45 will require 98 unique first-time visitors per year.
• Chapter Size 46-50 will require 105 unique first-time visitors per year. 

As you can see, chapters of any size need at least one first-time visitor per week, along with returning visitors. In other words, every week we should have at least two visitors in the room. 

Don’t know who to invite? Think about Inviting F.R.O.G.S

F = Friends: Who can you invite among your friends who might be looking to grow their business through referrals?

R = Relatives: Who can you invite among your family who might be looking to grow their business through referrals?

O = Organizations: Who do you know in an organization or association that you belong to, who might be looking to grow?

G = Geographical – Who do you know who works near to where the chapter meets who might be looking to grow their business through referrals?

S = Social Media – What about your connections on Facebook, Twitter and, LinkedIn who might be looking to grow their business through referrals?

Inviting is easier than you think: Just ask them to join you for a fun meeting with your local business network. Don’t promise immediate referrals as an inducement. BNI meetings aren’t “spray and pray” your business card around events. It requires trust to be built up by following the program to build referral partnerships, and the first step is to visit to see if it might be something that could work for their business.

Invite OR Register?

The easiest way to send an invitation to your prospective visitor is to use the BNI Connect App. This sets in motion the visitor host process.

In the app, click the “Visitors” icon at the bottom of the home screen. Then choose one of the three options – EMail, SMS, or Share – to send an invitation. However, this step requires your visitor to RSVP and register themselves, which they rarely do.

Instead, click “Visitor” under the Register a Visitor section (on the bottom of this screen). This will register your visitor and send them a confirmation with meeting details.

It’s surprising how many visitors are needed to keep the group at the same level. Inviting visitors is easy if you practice doing it.

Remember you were invited o a BNI meeting once, so pay it forward!

This Podcast references: Episode 613, The Value of Visitors

Your commercial should be divided into five sections:

1. Your introduction.
2. Your focus.
3. A story or testimonial.
4. Your Referral CTA (call to action) or ask.
5. Your closing and memory hook (or tagline).

Your Introduction

How you begin your commercial should be the same every week, for members and visitors to hear who you are, the company you are with, and the range of services you provide. Use this as a template for your introduction:

I’m [YOUR NAME] from [BUSINESS NAME], and we help [YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER] to [THE BENEFIT YOU PROVIDE].

Example: I’m Steve from Left-Handed Widget Global, and we help inventors to make machined parts quickly. 

Your Focus

Next, you’re going to let your audience know what kind of referral you are seeking. Start this off by saying ONE of the following:

• This week I would like to focus on…
• Recently, I have had several people come to me for…
• This week I would like to increase my business in the area of…
• Today I would like to talk to you about a specific type of business/person…

Example: This week, I would like to focus on 3-D printing.

A Story or Testimonial

Now tie this to your focus above by telling a story, or share a customer testimonial highlighting your expertise, relating to it,. If you share a customer testimonial, be sure to tie it to your brand positioning by highlighting your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your value-added services, the benefits of your services, and/or the differentiating factors from your competitors.

Example: 3-D printing has become a valuable tool for makers and inventors, but the equipment cost is prohibitive for most of today’s home-based garage inventors.

Your Referral CTA (call to action) or Ask

Ask your “Sales Team” to take action by saying any of the following:

• Who do you know who …(requires your services)
• An ideal referral source for me would be a ….(target market)
• A contact sphere that I am looking for…(target market)(BNI Specific)
• A great referral for me this week…(target market)

Example: A great referral for me is a hobbyist or “maker” that needs one-off parts or prototypes for their projects.

Your Closing and Memory Hook (or tagline)

The more powerful your memory hook, the more it will be in the minds of your “Marketing Team” and translate into more business opportunities for you!

Here is a simple closing template you can use:

I’m [YOUR NAME] from [YOUR BUSINESS], [your tagline or slogan]. 

Example: I’m Steve from Left-Handed Widget Global; we make ideas take physical form.

Now that you know how to construct a weekly presentation or commercial, let’s take a look at the entire example again:

I’m Steve from Left-Handed Widget Global, and we help inventors to make machined parts quickly.

Today I want to talk to you about 3-D printing. 3-D printing has become a valuable tool for makers and inventors, but the equipment cost is prohibitive for most of today’s home-based garage inventors.

A great referral for me is a hobbyist or “maker” that needs one-off parts or prototypes for their projects.

I’m Steve from Left-Handed Widget Global; We make ideas take physical form.

Final Tips

It would be best if you aimed for a variety of commercials each week. It’s also a good idea to practice your commercial to have a smooth delivery and don’t go over your allotted time. Check out the website Convert Words to Minutes for a calculator to see how long your commercial is based on word count and how fast you speak. It might be a helpful tool if you need to cut your commercial down to 20 seconds for larger BNI chapters.

If you are struggling with your introduction, memory hook, or tying what makes you unique to testimonials, then you might have a brand positioning challenge (meaning you don’t know what yours is).