Building real relationships, follow-ups, staying visible, asking for help
Not every business deal is about immediate profit—some opportunities create long-term value that leads to greater success. Taking on strategically valuable projects, even at a lower rate, can refine services, build strong relationships, and open new doors. Knowing when to pursue an opportunity and when to say no helps balance profitability with sustainable business growth.
Referral marketing isn’t just a strategy—it’s the backbone of sustainable growth. Referrals harness the most powerful form of advertising: personal recommendations. Turning satisfied customers into enthusiastic advocates can build trust, attract new clients, and create lasting loyalty without stretching your budget.
Here’s a little tale about why you’re always networking, even when you’re just grabbing a plate of free food.
During the week, people all over the world attend BNI meetings to get and give referrals. But as it turns out, few members tap into the full potential of their BNI chapter. There is a system for generating business referrals, and you have to be willing to do the hard work it takes to get them. Here are six step-by-step instructions for helping people to help you.
Going to a BNI meeting 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.
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.
Most of us are familiar with the BNI expression 'people do business with people they know, like and trust'… what few people realize, however, is that trust takes a combination of factors to develop. Still, it may be short-circuited with "liking." A study by Stetson...
If anyone in the room owns a business with staff, you have likely experienced “leaky bucket” syndrome where we train our team only to find a few weeks later they’ve forgotten the training. We have to keep topping off the bucket!
BNI is notorious for acronyms, and one of my favorites is the CEU, or “continuing education unit.” What exactly is it? When you joined, you might remember some discussion about how BNI is big on education and helping you improve your business, and giving you the...
As you know, visitors are the lifeblood of BNI. Natural attrition means 20% of members leave due to factors outside of the chapter's control. Visitors provide the possibility of new members to maintain and grow the chapter. On average, visitors spend $1,000 on...
A steady stream of visitors is necessary to keep a chapter healthy and growing. But we don't need to invite visitors just for chapter growth. Whether they join or not, visitors contribute to your growing network of business partners, potential referrers, and even new...
When we look at the overall levels of member engagement in terms of attendance, one to ones, referrals, and visitors, generally, the weakest area is inviting visitors. The irony of this is that we were all visitors to a BNI meeting at some point. So, we know that...
During business networking meetings, such as BNI or Chambers of Commerce, you will have one minute or less (usually less) to do your weekly presentation (in BNI) or a round of introductions (Chambers and other networking events). This “commercial” is your chance to...
Are you stressed out about your upcoming featured presentation? Are you worried about whether you're going to get your message across? Concerned if anyone will remember anything you said? Some people think that a featured presentation is merely to give a talk in front...
Here are some secrets for planning and preparing for your 10-minute featured presentation. You'll learn about the 3+3+3=9-minutes rule. Please listen to this very carefully: what you put into your featured presentation is what you'll get out of it. Don't use your time...
Business professionals who want to do business by referral are often far too general in their requests of other people. In referral marketing, it’s crucial to teach others how to refer you. This is why you need to be specific to be terrific. Why? Because sometimes,...
So often, BNI members are frustrated about not getting more business referred to them. After all, isn’t that what business networking is all about? The fact is, it’s not enough that you’re great at what you do and can offer a lot of value to new clients. To win...
If you’re like me, you have changed your approach to networking over the last seven months. As we have learned in our chapter, we can all find new clients by watching out for each other on Facebook. But Social networks are multifaceted tools being used to create awareness, promote, and build relationships!
It’s been eight+ months since we started doing our weekly referral networking meetings over Zoom. For some, it’s comfortable and natural. For others, we’re either still finding our way or getting pretty tired of doing this virtually.
With social distancing becoming the norm, networking has moved to online platforms, but it is still an essential tool for building relationships. To be successful, you must have the right mindset, where you focus on how you can help others, not how they can help you. This approach builds mutually beneficial relationships, which is the goal of networking. You can start by nurturing existing relationships, checking in on close friends, family, and colleagues. To meet new people, you can target specific groups or be open to random connections. Allocating just 30 minutes a day to LinkedIn can be an effective way to network online by skimming your feed, commenting on relevant articles, and sending personalized messages to your connections.