BNI Blog » BNI Workshops

Min Workshop – Referrals 005

Geoff Kirkwood — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:37:09 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight different ways to ask for referrals.
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Start by asking the members…

At last count I listed 6 different methods you could use to ask for a referral.

What I want to see is whether you know those 6 and any more. So turn to the person next to you and see if you can come up with at least 6 ways.

To make sure you are on the right track let me give you the first one – it is face-to-face.

So take 60 seconds now and see how many other ways you know of.

Let them have 60 seconds and then ask….

Did anyone get more than 6?

If someone did ask them to stand and repeat all of them.

If any are different to the following list then repeat the list and add in the new ones.

Then ask…

How many of you are using even half of these methods?

If you aren’t then now is the time to start and be able to bring more referrals to your team.

The Referral Master®

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Power Teams

Graham Southwell — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:31:07 +0000

You may have heard your BNI Director talk about Power Teams and how they can help you to maximise the results of your participation in BNI – however it has been my experience that not everyone realises the full potential of a Power Team until they are actually involved in one. That being the case, this short video from David Wimblett – BNI Director in North West London may help to highlight the benefits. If this sounds as though it is something you might like to instigate in your chapter then talk to your BNI Director as to how he/she can help you as an individual or as a chapter to set up some Power Teams in your chapter.

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6 Ways Your Referral Source Can Turn a Referral Into a Customer

Ivan Misner — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:57:42 +0000

Let’s say that upon getting a business referral, you simply take down the name and contact information of the potential customer from the referral source.

Sometime later, you call the prospect and introduce yourself: “Hello, Ms. Prospect, my name is John Businessman. Larry Source recommended I call you. I’m an accountant…”

Handling referrals this way, as you might expect, gets minimal results. Your chance of converting the referral into a customer will be greater if your referral source:

1. Makes the initial contact with the prospect (his acquaintance) to assess her need and, if appropriate, alerts her that you will be getting in touch;

2. Sends the prospect background information about you and your business;

3. Lets the prospect know the nature of his relationship with you;

4. Gives the prospect a brief description and endorsement of your products or services;

5. Arranges to introduce the prospect to you;

6. Follows up with the prospect after you contact her.

Unfortunately, if you don’t ask your prospective referral source to do some of these things, he probably won’t – not because he isn’t willing, but because he doesn’t know how these actions could make a big difference; doesn’t have enough information about you or your business, or simply doesn’t know how.

Make it your goal to communicate to your sources the actions you wish them to take and then provide them with all the materials necessary to accomplish those actions.

If you do this, I guarantee you’ll get better-quality referrals that will more quickly turn into actual business

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Mini Workshop – Referrals 004

Geoff Kirkwood — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:02:57 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight other places to find referrals.
—————————————————————————-
Start by reminding the members…

Last week we talked about asking our best customers for referrals.

How many of you tried it during the week? Let me see a show of hands?

Can anyone else suggest a vast network of people that most of us have and yet few tap into?

Seek responses and repeat any you get.

The network I am thinking of is “family”.

How many of you have family living in the same country as you?

Most of us are blessed with family, most of who work for someone or for themselves.

Ask yourself the following questions….

1.   Have any of them bought a house in the last 12 months?
2.   Did they use your chapter mortgage broker/provider?
3.   How many of them sent flowers, booked travel, bought cars, arranged insurance, purchased a mobile phone or computer?
4.   Did you introduce them to the chapter member who provides these services?

Many of us overlook our family as a source of referrals.

So let me ask a question?

How many of you have heard a family member at a recent family get-together complain about poor quality service or product?

Let me see a show of hands?

Never forget these words…

When someone else complains, you are standing in the middle of a referral!

The Referral Master®

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Min Workshop – Referrals 003

Geoff Kirkwood — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:09:26 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight other places to find referrals.
—————————————————————————————————-
Start by asking the members…

Where are the best places to find referrals?

Seek responses and repeat the best 2 or 3. Now ask the chapter…

How many of you ask your best clients for referrals?

Seek responses and ask 2 or 3 to tell their story – in brief.

Then say….

The best way to do this is as follows…

1.   Tell your existing customers you are always looking for referrals, for yourself and your referral network.

2.   Take your Card Wallet into meetings with some of your best clients. Let them see it and tell them what it is.

3.   As part of your presentation let them know that you belong to BNI – this will only add credibility to your business.

4.   When you ask for referrals, and explain for whom and why, you value add in the eyes of your client – you demonstrate that you are well connected.

One of the challenges with small business is that many of us are single operators. Membership of BNI makes us part of something much bigger and makes us smart, well-connected business people in the eyes of our clients.

Ask the group…

Write down the names of your 10 top clients.

Prompt them to take out a piece of paper and actually write down these names.

Now let me see a show of hands of members who have approached all of these people in the last 12 months and told them about BNI – who have actually asked these people for a referral?

Seek responses. Then finish by saying….

If you haven’t, then what are you waiting for?

The Referral Master®

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Mini Workshop – Referrals 002

Geoff Kirkwood — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:05:18 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight the need for focus to get referrals .
—————————————————————————————————

Begin by asking the members the following question…

Who do you want to meet?

Tell me who it is that you want to meet in business?

Give me one name?

Some of them will give you an answer but it is likely most won’t.

So ask them to do the following….

Please write down the names of three people you want to meet?

Go on, pick up a pen and write down the names of three people who you would like to be your next three customers?

Here you need to ask as many people as you have time for to say out loud the names on their list.

Now, say out loud their names, one member at a time?

Stop after each member and ask….

Does anyone here know these people?

Does anyone here know someone who knows these people?

At the end of this ask the following two questions.

1. Will all of you who do have names, start asking for them on a rotational basis each week or every second week.
2. Those of you who do not have any names need to think about how your team will be able to find referrals if you have not told them who to look for.

If you are struggling with this process maybe we need the Reciprocity Ring seminar!

The Referral Master®

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Mini Workshop – Referrals 001

Geoff Kirkwood — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:14:17 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight how important Dance Cards are for referrals .
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Ask the chapter the following question and repeat some of the responses.

In the last three months, how many members here have not received either one referral or enough to justify their membership?

Those members please keep their hands up?

Do the rest of you want to lose these members?

Now ask those members to put down their hands and say the following to everyone.

The only way to make sure that everyone benefits from BNI is to follow the system.

Those of you who are satisfied with your referrals and/or those of you who may be having difficulty getting referrals for our members who put their hands up need to do the following…

1.   Book dance cards with those members today
2.   Focus especially on them for the next few weeks
3.   Ask them those five most important words……… HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
4.   Make them a priority

You will be amazed what some focus will do for all of you, even those of you who are receiving plenty of referrals.

The Referral Master®

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The expert from overseas…

Graham Southwell — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:53:37 +0000

We all know that a regular flow of visitors is essential to a chapters’ health – but how easy it is to slip out of the mindset of inviting visitors. Sometimes it takes hearing the same message from overseas for a point to really hit home. David Wimblett is a BNI member and Assistant Director in the UK. The following excerpt from his blog – My BNI Day:

There are many ways in which you can tell if your chapter is healthy or not, but the number of visitors your chapter has each week is an easy way of telling if your chapter is growing or in decline.

Over the long term three or more visitors each week mean the chapter is growing, whereas two or fewer visitors mean that the chapter is in decline. Now you may be wondering why this should be the case and the answer is simple. On average all chapters lose one member per month.

Now before you say ‘Not my chapter!’ remember I said on average. Some chapters don’t lose that number, but then others lose more. In fact, my own chapter has lost four members in the past month – it really does happen! So, during the term of a Leadership team, your chapter could lose up to six members (maybe more).

Therefore, just to remain a group of the same size, you need six new members. Now, again on average, one out of every five eligible visitors will join your chapter. However, we all get a lot of ‘other’ visitors as well, so the joining rate is actually more like one in every eight visitors.

LINK TO BLOG

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Mini Workshop – Phone 001

Geoff Kirkwood — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:31:54 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To highlight the way we need to answer the phone.
——————————————————————————————–
Start by saying…..

One way that you market yourself through Word Of Mouth (WOM) Marketing is the telephone. In particular, the way you answer incoming calls.

Give me some feedback please?

Exactly what do you say when you pick up your phone to answer it?

Wait for answers – repeat for the group. Comment positively on 1 or 2 better ones.

Let’s look at the impression you want to give to the person who has called you.

What words could describe that impression?

Wait for answers – you are looking for words like… positive, friendly, competent, happy. Make sure you repeat these when you summarise the responses.

Now ask….

Does your voice always give that impression?

Here are some tips to make sure it does.

1.   Have a mirror at your desk and look at yourself when speaking on the phone.
2.   Smile at all times – it comes through in your voice.
3.   Take a deep breath and clear your mind BEFORE you pick up the receiver. The way we feel comes through in our voice.
4.   Have a standard way of answering the phone every time – and stick to it – a suggestion is to give a greeting (e.g. good morning) and then say “this is ……. …….” (your name)
5.   Speak clearly and slowly so people can understand exactly who it is that has answered the phone call.
6.   Then listen carefully to what the other person has to say.

What you say in the first 10 seconds of a phone call will make the difference and could set the tone for a long term relationship with the caller.

The Referral Master®

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MIni Workshops – Substitutes 002

Geoff Kirkwood — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 10:28:35 +0000

This is a 2-3 minute activity that involves those at the meeting.
You will need to read it through beforehand and be prepared.  What you say out loud to the group is in larger type in bold. 
Purpose: To show members alternative ways to find a substitute.
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Start by asking the members…

How many members here have trouble finding a substitute?

Show of hands please?

This morning I want to suggest two alternative places to find substitutes.

1. The local university or business college.

Here you approach any tertiary institution that runs a business course and talk to the teacher/lecturer.

Tell them briefly about BNI and tell them that you are offering the opportunity for students to mix with experienced business people.

Then set up a contact point where students can arrange to be a substitute.

2. The local retirement village.

There will be many retired business people who would relish the opportunity on an occasional basis to mix with a motivated group of positive business people.

I suggest that, as well as the normal ways of getting a substitute, these two will guarantee results.

The Referral Master®

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