Referrals for Profit - an 8 point plan

By Adam Manning

How can I make more money? 

That is the burning question that ignites interest in joining networking groups such as BNI, the world’s largest business networking organisation.

Making more money for your business is straightforward in BNI terms – you do so by having more referrals.  The more referrals a business networking group has for its members, the more money the members will make.

So – how do we get more referrals? Receiving referrals relies on other people giving referrals. So in turn, the question is; how do we give more referrals to fellow members?

Givers of referrals can be thought of in three categories:

Reactors – A reactor immediately responds to a need directly expressed by someone.  For example, you may meet someone who is excited about organising their wedding and wants to talk to an experienced wine dealer for the best wines to accompany their celebratory meal.  If you have a wine dealer in your group, you can recommend them and hopefully this will become a referral for that member.

Promoter – Here, someone has expressed a general need but has not put it into specific terms. A bit more imagination and empathy is needed on your behalf to find the referral. For example, if someone mentions they are getting married and are in the throes of making all the arrangements, you may suggest, do you know a good wine dealer? Or possibly a caterer, events organiser or entertainer? Or more – people getting married usually needs lots of services. This is like a Reactor, but involves taking that further step in creatively finding referrals.

Creator – This is really making it happen. An example here might be a wine dealer at your meeting who says they want to speak to an event planning company. A Creator goes and finds an event planning company and puts them in touch with the wine dealer; this maybe someone they already know, have done business with and so forth.  The Creator proactively makes connections between business people.

A classic example of this is where a BNI group included an insurance broker who was really keen to speak to landlords of buildings about their insurance. Another member knew they regularly drove by a large building and one morning decided to go in there and speak to the owners about their insurance. In the end, they made the connection between the landlord and the insurance broker, their fellow member, and this ended up as a great referral.

A networking group works best if there is a good mix of all three approaches.  Whilst creating a referral like the example above is exciting, it’s important not to neglect simply reacting when someone expresses a need that you know a fellow member can respond too. A good member will be using all three methods of increasing referrals.

BNI works in part because we all have an unused capacity to sell.  If I just restrict myself to promoting my services as a Solicitor, my opportunities to do so can be rather limited.  If on the other hand I have thirty or so businesses that I am seeking to promote, my opportunities to make a connection between a provider and a customer or client are greatly enhanced.

Ideas to increase referrals

To apply this theory in practice, the following are some suggestions of actions we can make to increase referrals.

1. Open your mind to opportunities that are always around you and be ready to act! A BNI group is full of exciting networkers who make things happen. Go and do it.  I’ve found in BNI that there is a satisfaction and excitement from simply making a connection between business people that wouldn’t have taken place without your intervention. Giving someone a great referral that could possibly take their business to the next level is a wonderful feeling.

2. Share details of the business people are looking for.  For example, every week members at a BNI meeting mention who they would like to speak and the more specific they are, the better. Write this down and share it with your colleagues at your business – you never know who knows someone.  Most groups have a contact list to jot this information in; scan it in and email it to your contacts in case anyone can help.

3. Bring along guests to your meetings – colleagues, family members, friends, clients, customers. Think of these as potential substitutes as well.  They may know other contacts which can help members in your group.

4. Wear your BNI badge or carry a BNI bag.  It’s a well known brand and someone you meet may surprise you by asking or knowing about it, which can lead to a referral.

5. If you have an office, shop or other premises, have a business card holder in reception or a waiting area or similar with the cards of the members.  Visitors can either take the cards or it can be the focus needed to start a conversation that leads to referrals.

6. Developing this idea further, have a business card board in your premises for visitors to take cards from or note contacts that you have.  Again, it can also be the focus of conversations and discussions that can lead to referrals.  We’re having one put up at Gurney-Champion & Co. Solicitors!

7. One great idea uses LinkedIn, which many members of your group may be on.  LinkedIn is a useful way to promote your business and networking group.  More specifically, one idea is to look through fellow members’ lists of contacts and see if there is anyone amongst them that you would like to speak to.  This could be a great way to be introduced. I have heard that some people do this by focussing on one fellow member each week when reviewing their contacts.  You might find someone you want to add as a LinkedIn connection as well.

8. Keep doing the BNI way! Everything in BNI is ultimately about more referrals – the 121s, inviting Visitors, the presentations; all of it. Throw yourself in and enjoy your business networking.

Always remember the BNI principle of GIVERS GAIN;  if you give lots of referrals, you will receive in return.

So, you have no excuses now – get out there and make it happen!

12 Points about Visitors in Business Networking

by Adam Manning

Visitors, it is often said, are the lifeblood of a business networking group such as BNI, the world’s largest business networking organisation. The following are 12 points to consider about why this is so true and how you can get more visitors to your group.

1. Statistics have shown time and time again that visitors are often the highest source of referrals for members of a business networking group.  This is true both in the number of referrals they give and also the amount of money people earn that those referrals lead to.  People generally join a business networking group to make more contacts in the hope that these lead to us earning more money for their businesses and these statistics show visitors to the group, whether they join or not, are the best source for this.

2. Almost as importantly, visitors are hugely important in growing a networking group. Quite simply, you can’t grow your group without more visitors.  The more visitors there are, the more will apply to join and the larger the group will grow.  The larger the group, the greater the number of referrals and the greater number of referrals, the more money the members make.

3. When a networking group has visitors in the room, it’s clear that they will have better meetings. Everyone is just that bit better behaved – more professional and more business like.  The members feel more motivated and the atmosphere is more positive. If there are no visitors, meetings seem to have less interest and less point to them. Fresh faces mean fresh interest and sometimes, fresh jokes!

4. In BNI, as a baseline, Charlie Lawson, a national BNI director, recommends that each week a BNI group should have at least two eligible visitors at a meeting.

5. It’s important to remember what a visitor is, in terms of BNI. They have to be someone where there is no conflict with an existing member.  Also, they cannot be a member of a business networking group that competes with BNI.   We are perfectly happy to have visitors from groups that don’t compete; in fact that is great as they are likely to have more contacts.  If you have any concerns about these points, please check with your group’s leaders or your regional Director.

6. In short, they have to be eligible to apply to become members of BNI.  But this doesn’t mean that you should only be thinking of inviting people to visit who are interested in becoming members of our group – far from it in fact. We want visitors to see us, regardless of whether they may or may not be interested in joining.  As stated before, visitors are a great source of referrals for the Chapter and that is what we really want – lots of referrals.  In terms of inviting people to apply to join, visiting us and enjoying our meetings is really the best way to do that. So, don’t even think about who may or may not want to join when seeking to invite people to visit us.

7. So, visitors are of the utmost importance to a chapter that wants to be successful – but how do we go about inviting them? Firstly you will need to find details of visitors. You can do so from google searching the type of business you are interested in inviting. The Checkatrade website is a good source of information about this as well. Also, have a look for vans or cars with details of businesses on and think about inviting them.  Local magazines may have details of businesses that are advertising – they might be interested as well.

8. Now, how do you invite visitors? As a basic step, send out invitations. These can be letters in the post or by email.  In BNI branded postcards are available which you can send as well – new members should have some in their new membership pack. I like to send a postcard with my invitation letter.

9. You can also invite people using social media. Over the years I’ve been with my BNI group, we’ve had people come along to visit through spreading the word on Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn.  They do work, so keep going. As well as messages and posts, also think in terms of Liking other members posts – these do get spotted.

10. Attending other networking meetings is a great way to meet potential visitors. Please think of your group as your core network but for your business’ sake as well, as the group, we should all be out there doing more networking. There are lots of the other networks and groups to visit, some more formal than others.  There are the curry nights that meet regularly and other groups that do not compete with our group.

11. Also, why not create your own event? Some businesses have open days or evenings to invite new clients, customers or contacts in. This could be a great way to meet potential visitors.

12. Finally, get out there and network generally. We are social creatures and all the people in a networking group should be interested in meeting new people – otherwise why would you be here? Get out there and meet new people, whether it be charity or cultural events, community groups, barbecues, dinner parties, sporting events – you name it, there’s always an opportunity to meet new people. So, go get lots of visitors in and take your business networking group to the next level of growth and success!

The Empty Chair

by Adam Manning

Those who join BNI, the world's most important business network, do so in the hope that it brings them more business and more income. Everything about the way BNI works is designed with that goal in mind – more business and ultimately more income for our members.

One of the core principles of BNI is regular and consistent attendance. This isn’t some code of honour or rule of good behaviour – it’s simply because regular and consistent attendance has been shown to be a key way to get more referrals. That’s why it’s one of the most important rules and one point that the Membership Committee monitors the closest. The rules are very clear and this point is set out in bold: Attendance is critical to the group.

The value in regular, weekly attendance is that it is the best way to help relationships flourish. Referrals happen when other members know enough your business to be able to refer you to their contacts. The better, deeper relationship you have with other members, the more likely this is going to happen. If you attend consistently and regularly, in accordance with the rules, other members will know more about your business and, just as importantly, about you. They will be in a better position to be able to refer you with confidence to their contacts as a result.

Attending every week is a fundamental way to allow those relationships to develop to begin with and then to strengthen and ultimately mature. Seeing other people every week is an easy way to get to know them quickly.

If you don’t attend every week, as the rules require, you are implicitly telling everybody that you do not fulfil the commitments that you have taken on by agreeing to attend regularly. You are letting everyone down by showing that you are not dependable or reliable. You are telling everyone that you cannot be trusted or relied on.

If you don’t attend, you won’t get to meet any new Visitors to the meeting that week – you will be missing out on a potential source of new contacts, clients and referrals. Members work hard to bring Visitors in the hope that they will be a good opportunity for new contacts for everyone. By not attending, the message is that you don’t care about any of that.

By not attending, people don’t see you and you are less to the forefront of members’ thoughts about getting referrals for you. Out of sight, out of mind. Members will be more reluctant to refer you if you can’t be trusted to be there. These principles can be summarised in three words – Visibility, Credibility and Profitability. Visibility – letting people know who you are. Credibility – letting people know you can be trusted. Profitability – making money from your membership.

The Empty Chair, ladies and gentlemen, is all people will see if you fail to turn up. Don’t do it. Don’t do it, for your own sake. Woody Allen is famously reported to have said that 80% of success is showing up. BNI takes that message very much to heart. If you snooze, you lose!