A good 60-second presentation is not cute or oblique. Simple and succinct beats rambling every time.

As a BNI assistant director, I visit a lot of chapters and I’ve noticed that a lot of members deliver 60-second presentations like they’re telling a joke – not necessarily funny, but with the punch line delivered at the end… by which time you’ve lost your audience.

A good formula is the proven AIDA principle – grab Attention, stimulate Interest, create Desire and call to Action.

Let me use as an example a 60 second presentation I delivered to my chapter last week. It’s not a shinning example, but I think it does the job…

Example:

“When Elias Howe invented the sewing machine, women laughed at him.

“‘What,’ they wanted to know, ‘would we do with all the extra time your machine will give us?’

“As business people we’re always striving to be innovative, to be the first to deliver a bigger, newer and better offering to the market ahead of the competition.

“Elias Howe’s sewing machine was all of these things.

“Yet Elias Howe lived his life in borrowed suits, little knowing that one-day his machine would be instrumental in making the very suits he could not afford.

“It doesn’t matter how good, or commonplace, your product or your service is, you will end up in the poor house if you don’t know how to sell.

“What matters most, is how well you market your products and services – just ask a successful insurance salesman, or mortgage broker.

“My job is to help you sell your products and services better than the competition.

“A good referral for me this week is any broker groups or companies in the insurance, mortgage and financial planning industry.

“Sovereign recently retained me to present to their brokers around the country on how they could use social media to optimise their existing referral networks. I would like to offer that seminar, with a manual, to other broker groups.

“Colin Kennedy, Iron Road Communications. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few well chosen words will paint a picture.”

In this example I used a story to get attention, I turned a common belief on its head and then showed people that the ‘holy grail’ is actually far more attainable than they thought, provided they just do what they do well.

And then I was very specific in my referral request. That’s what is most important. Be very specific in your referral request.

“If this video makes you stop and think about just how BNI is able to make a difference to the lives of others – why not post it to your Facebook page – collectively we can start to get the word out through Social Media that BNI is not just about business referrals but it has a part to play in the lives of our families and reaches into the very fabric of our communities.” – Graham Southwell.

- Stay positive. The dripping tap fills the cup

- Enthusiasm conquers all

- Remember to stop and smell the roses

- Visualise what you want! Visualise customers walking through your door and they will

- Good quality costs, poor quality costs more

- Be open to what’s around you, other people and feedback

- Get out and have fun, and you will make money along the way

- Do one thing each day that is for you and for fun

- Support a charity (any charity) – givers do gain!

- Learn to set goals, and learn how to achieve them

- Happiness is not a condition, it’s a choice

- Exceed the expectations of your clients

- Four Ls for the year: Live – every moment, Love – everyone and everything, Laugh – every day, Lean – on people around you

- Be active – go fishing or diving!

- Look at people around you, appreciate them, compliment them, do a random act of kindness

- Ask your clients for more business and referrals – a very simple thing that can help you grow your business

- Enjoy what you do

- Stand in another person’s shoes to understand what it’s like for them

- Show your customers you love them more than your competitors do

A strong chapter:

• Does not focus on numbers. The strongest chapters are not necessarily the biggest. (They are not the smallest either I may add.)  It sounds odd, however numbers come through the strength. When a chapter focuses on numbers alone it can lose sight of the currency of BNI – trust. When this happens the membership committee become less than discretionary about who they allow to join, putting everyone at risk. I always say, grow strong not fast. Always remember that the reputation and the quality of your least strong member can impact on the reputation of all of you.
• Everyone is involved – from the meeting to the out-of-meeting activity. A strong chapter has 100% commitment from all members. They believe in BNI and they believe in the Givers Gain philosophy. My ‘weaker chapters’ tolerate low performance and it ultimately becomes their undoing.
• They promote training and insist on training before they do a 10 minute. This is not just about the 10 minute – it is about getting members who have a high level of understanding of BNI. Until you attend training you really don’t fully get it. I think chapters who allow members to not attend training put themselves at high risk. It is irresponsible of a leadership team to allow this. They let all their members down. Come to think of it, a strong chapter has all members attending training at least annually. I am really impressed by the numbers of members I see at training more than once now. They know that it is a great tool in getting the most out of BNI. Strong chapters have a culture of education.
• The meetings are run professionally, with fun injected. Fun is really important and so is professionalism. From a President standing up to run the meeting (a President that runs a meeting sitting gives off a ‘I can’t be bothered’ attitude. Doesn’t inspire me) through to the prevention of reference to personal stuff, is important in professionalism. Members can feel safe to do something fun and different in chapters where this balance is reached.
• They enlist the support of the director. We do not know everything however with experience and the backing of BNI support we can often find powerful solutions. We are there to support you and when we comment on something that concerns us it is because it concerns us – not because we think you are wrong or doing a bad job. We have seen a lot and tend to be clear on what works and what just doesn’t.  I am very open about my belief in all members getting the most they can out of BNI – I am passionate about it.
• They deal with attendance – I won’t harp on about this however it is consistent in strong chapters. Absences are just not tolerated.
• They have a great venue. It is not an easy task, however work with your venue. It is an important relationship and anyone who has attempted to find a venue knows of it’s challenges.

Remember it takes all members to create this culture. BNI works – that I do know. The stronger the chapter, the greater the return for everyone involved. It is a set of systems that are there to support you – why would you decide you know better.

Good luck with strengthening your chapters.

Niki Gunning
Regional Director – Lower North Island

With Christchurch having such a rough time and so many people still in limbo, BNI New Zealand members (mostly SME owners and the self-employed) around the country banded together to pack the surprise Christmas hampers full of ‘love and goodies’ for their fellow members in the earthquake struck city.

Pictured above: Dennis Inkster (BNI Kinesis) collects his hamper. In the background, left Denise Robinson (BNI Otago Director) and right BNI New Zealand National Director Graham Southwell.

The entire initiative was co-ordinated, planned and carried out by BNI Auckland directors Mariska Mannes and Rosemary and Paul Meyer.

Mariska said BNI is about comradeship between members who do business by the mantra ‘Givers Gain’, and the surprise Christmas hampers are a great way to articulate that comradeship and that spirit of mutual support.

Christchurch members, many teary-eyed, were clearly overwhelmed and touched by the gesture and, while there was hardly a dry eye in the house, there was certainly joy on every single face.

BNI Canterbury director, Sam Williamson, said people were very emotional.

“’Blown away’ were the words used often. People said they were really just humbled that other people up and down the country would show such a sign of support.

“Everybody was very surprised; they had no idea whatsoever. I’ve had a huge number of messages from people with their thanks – many want to get in touch with whoever made their box, to pass on their thanks.

“It certainly lifted our spirits to know that people are thinking of us and that we haven’t been forgotten,” said Sam.

BNI New Zealand National Director Graham Southwell told the breakfast that sometimes the toughest times are those that follow a tragedy or disaster, when everybody else has started moving on with their lives, leaving those affected to pick up the pieces.

“This is our way to say that you haven’t been forgotten. That we are still thinking of you, still supporting you and we are here to help in any way we can,” he said.

Mariska Mannes says she got the idea for the early Christmas surprise when talking to Kathryn Mountain, a member of BNI Epsom in Auckland, about how they felt quite helpless and not sure of how to help people in Christchurch.

“Kathryn remarked that it would be nice to send them a Christmas hamper, and that really was how the idea got started.”

Julie Cunningham (BNI Hibiscus Coast Chapter) and Mariska Mannes drove a van across New Zealand to collect the hampers, with the road show culminating in Christchurch on Tuesday 29 November at the big breakfast in the city.

“Chapters around New Zealand put in a phenomenal effort to raise money to pay for the boxes, ribbons, cards and goodies for the hampers.

“The road show started when I collected hampers in Northland in mid-November, and included a big breakfast in Auckland where 128 people gathered for a big breakfast to assemble the boxes, write the cards and pack the goodies.”

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker was the guest speaker and took the opportunity to challenge Cantabrians to be innovative, and to think long term about rebuilding Christchurch into something truly unique for their children and their children’s children.

(Pictured: Don Wilson delivers his 10 minutes)

As a result the BNI Whakatane visitor host and local business owner continues to inspire everybody around him.

“Age is only something on a calendar,” says Don. “If you want to do something and you feel like doing it, go out and do it.

Don has been in business in the Whakatane area since 1967 and sold his water filtration outlet just a couple of years ago. After that he wanted to do something that would make a difference to the environment, so he did.

Called Farmercy, his business supplies more than 60 biodegradable cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting products to customers such as farmers, workshops and motels.

Don spends six weeks to two months on the road cold calling in the entire Eastern Bay of Plenty, but has never officially missed even one of his 104 BNI meetings (he provided a sub to the one single meeting he couldn’t make).

“I look forward to my BNI meetings because we’re like a family,” says Don. “They’re a good bunch – it’s social as well as business.”

When he is away his wife looks after the shop, which has been set up in the couple’s garage at home. The business now has a good base of repeat customers.

He says he first became interested in the biodegradable products when a conman called at his door.

“He did a bunk without supplying me with all the product I paid for. I looked up the actual manufacturer and now deal directly with them.”

He says the biodegradable products are gaining widespread acceptance, particularly because people like farmers are concerned about the environment, and the penalties are so high.

“A farmer could be fined up to $100,000 if they damage a waterway – that’s probably a higher penalty than you could get if you punched a policeman on the nose.

“I’m no tree hugger, but I wanted to make a difference to the environment. We’re all going to go one day, but I’ll be leaving behind children, grandchildren and great grandchildren… and if we carry on as we are, we’re going to make an awful mess of things.

“This is a way for me to make a difference in my old age. I was in Japan in 1946, just after the War and I saw the devastation from the atom bomb. Then I went to Korea for two years during the Korean War and saw the damage caused by things like Napalm. We have to stop making a mess of things,” says Don.

Begin by being showing your face more.

Here’s a tip:

Social scientists have shown that the more often we see somebody – even an image of them – the more we grow to like them. It’s one reason why celebrities are so popular and why there is such an outpouring of grief when one of them dies – even if their fans never got to within a thousands kilometres of them in their life!

It’s because we see so much of them, we feel like we know them.

Does this mean you can send a life-size cut-out of yourself to your BNI meetings?

Well, your leadership teams wouldn’t like it and there’s always the real risk is that your fellow members might end up liking the cut-out more than they do you…

Jokes aside, if you want to be relevant to somebody, you need to be present. We all know that ‘absence does not make the heart grow fonder’. It just makes it colder.

If you want to increase your referral business, make sure you’re getting regular face time with your network. And that’s how your face can make you money.

Colin Kennedy is a keynote speaker, writer and content marketing consultant. As BNI New Zealand’s marketing director he is responsible for the organisation’s communications strategy, and also serves as an assistant director for North Central region of BNI.

According to a report in ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2011), “a study of the biotech industry has revealed that opportunities which arise, and whether or not they are exploited by biotechnology entrepreneurs, depends to a large extent on how well connected is an individual business person and how well they mobilise their social network.

“Cristina Sousa and colleagues at “INETI,” the National Institute of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, in Lisbon, Portugal, explain in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business that success is determined, not only by an entrepreneur’s capacity to identify an opportunity, but also by their ability to mobilise resources and skills.

“An entrepreneur’s established network and the ability to create new, useful connections is usually the key,” the report says.

You might think this is nothing new. We all know networking is key to success in business (although its amazing how many people will still rely heavily on cold calling and advertising).

However, the major point here is that…

1. It’s not what you know
2. It’s not who you know

3. It’s what you know, about who you know. Get it?

Being connected to a huge network has its uses. But being connected to a handful of influential people – who you get to know well and who get to know you well – can help you conquer the world!