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 understand what it is the members are selling to their customers.

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Start the workshop by saying the following to the members and any guests!

I want to start this morning by asking you a question.

Are you selling what your customers and prospects want?

Now you might say… “of course I am!”

So I want you to think about this:

If you are in the recruitment business your potential customer is looking for a great employee, not a great headhunter.

They don’t care that you placed 100 people last year. They only care that the person you place with them will be superior. Talk about the quality of people that you place. Talk about increasing productivity, morale, and profitability and you may have somebody actually interested in talking to you.

Or you can brag about yourself on into the night and wonder why your business is not increasing. Sell what they want – not what you do.

So now I want you to take 45 seconds to write down 2 things that relate to your products or services that fit this criteria.

Let me give you three examples:-

1. 1. Customer wants a beautiful brochure, not a great graphic designer.
2. 2. Customer wants more enquiries from the website, not a great website designer.
3. 3. Customer wants higher price on the house they are selling, not a great real estate agent.

Go – you have 45 seconds. Write down 2 things that fit the criteria of “what the customer wants” rather than “how good you are” in relation to your business.

Give them 45 seconds and then call for 2 or 3 responses and repeat them. Then say…

Next time you do your infomercial you can incorporate these.

The Referral Master®

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.

The purpose of this workshop is to highlight the difference between selling and referrals in BNI.

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Ask the members the following question.

What is the main function you have in your own business?

Repeat some of the responses. You are looking for the word “selling” or “sales”. If you don’t get it from the responses you need to suggest it to them as a question.

Then ask them….

What is your main role as part of the team in this BNI Chapter?

Again you are looking for the words “selling” or “sales”.

Now tell them that you want to suggest a different role for them.

I want to suggest that your role, when a member of BNI, is different to other business people!

Your role is not selling……. it is networking!

If you truly believe in the basic principles of BNI, then you need to change the way you think about business.

You are a networker. Delete the word sales and salesperson from your vocabulary as they belong to people who do business the hard way – selling!

In BNI we do business differently – by networking – by making our net work!

Think about it…. and change the way you do business!

The Referral Master®

 It was great to see  both new and  long term members from five chapters using this training session to network with other BNI Chapter members.  This encapsulating training session was led  by the National Director, Graham Southwell and  Assistant Directors for South/East Auckland Paul & Rosemary Meyer were also in attendance.

It is awesome to see how members can become more motivated by attending these sessions.  Training covers a variety of areas during the session, but the focus is on how to educate  your fellow BNI members by enabling you to deliver 60 second and 10 minute presentations that the members will remember you by.  It is through some gems and tips given by Graham that allays some members fears of having to stand up and do a 10 minute presentation for the first time.  It is all about following the plan and the structure of the presentation.

I would just like to reiterate that it is most  important for all new members to attend MSP training and in the majority of our chapters the policy is enforced that members cannot present a 10 minute until training has been undertaken.  Long term members are also encouraged to re-attend an MSP as its amazing how you can pick up some new and refreshing ideas and put more “zing” into your 60 second infomercial and 10 minute presentation.

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.

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The purpose of this workshop is to highlight the value of a positive guarantee about the members’ product or service.

Give me a show of hands please from those people who have a guarantee that they offer to their clients?

Ask for some specific responses and repeat them to the group.

Read out the following examples of guarantees, telling the members that these are samples of guarantees that not only work – they also bring in extra business.

Here are some examples that work!

Italian Restaurant – If we don’t offer the best service you have had in an Italian restaurant, the meal is free.

Carpet Cleaner – The cleanest carpets you have ever had, or your money back.

Divide them into groups of two and ask them to brainstorm for 60 seconds a guarantee that one of them could offer.

When time is up, seek 1 or 2 responses.

Then ask them all to write out during the week, a guarantee that they can share in their infomercial next week.

The Referral Master®

The purpose of this workshop is to highlight the value of ongoing education in business.

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Ask the chapter the following question and repeat some of the responses.

Give me a show of hands please from those people who have participated in some type of business training during the last 12 months?

Ask the members for some specific examples – repeat some of the responses to the chapter.

Now ask those who responded  – “What value was the training to you and your business?”

Repeat some of the responses to the chapter

Now ask the members “Would you like better business results for the coming 12 months?”

Quote the saying “It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results!”

“So what will you be doing differently over the next 12 months?

What training could you do that would help you to be a better person and a better businessperson?

Write down at least two areas in which you would like to improve?

Now, put some dates on achieving the goal you have just set yourself?”

Remind the members that Member Success Programme is available as a refresher as well as reminding them about any other training that BNI offers in your area.

The Referral Master®

Ask the chapter the following question?

This morning I want to focus on where we are going?

In particular, where each member, and their business, is going.

It has often been said that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

With that in mind, let me ask the following question. Do you have a WOM Marketing Plan?

Seek responses – ask individual members if necessary. You will probably get very few “yes”.

Now ask the question.

Why? Why is it that you do not have a plan?

Seek responses.

So lets look at some things a WOM Marketing Plan might have in it.

1. How many referrals do you plan to give each week/month?

2. How many dance cards have you planned for each month?

3. What extra networking activities have you planned each week?

4. What results have you gained from the referrals you have already received?

5. Have you kept your Referral Tracking System up-to-date?

These are just some of the aspects of an effective WOM Marketing Plan. Other things needed are – thankyou letters/cards, catch-up phone calls and added value activities for your existing clients.

However, one thing is for sure, for you to get maximum value from BNI the minimum you need is the above.

Another step you could take is to revisit those aspects of the Member Success Programme that focus on planning.

The Referral Master®

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Start by saying…..

This morning we are looking at what you are marketing. So please, can I have some responses to that question… “what are you marketing?”.

Wait for responses. You will probably get answers that nominate the person’s product or service. Yet this is not what they should be marketing if they want to succeed. Then ask the following question…

Is that what people buy? Your product or service?

Nominate one or two answers. You may get someone who actually understands and gives you a description of the potential result rather than the product/service.

Now highlight the focus of this workshop by saying……..

Clients respond to and buy what your product/service will do for them. This has often been called “selling the sizzle… not the steak!”

So what do we need to concentrate on? Establishing what your product/service does for clients and then focus all your marketing activity on those things.

Particularly in WOM Marketing.

And especially when you do both your 60-second infomercial and your 10 min presentation.

So lets get some feedback now on what you are marketing?

Repeat one or two of the better responses.

So, when next someone asks what do you sell, tell them in terms of what the result will be!

The Referral Master®

This is a 2-3 minute workshop. What you say out loud is in bold – the rest are instructions.

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Start by asking the members…..

Show of hands please who would like more business?

And a show of hands those people who would love to make contact with a particular business – someone they want to do business with?

So what are you doing about it?

Electronic networks like LinkedIn and Ecademy can help you get that connection, that introduction.

Yet are you really making use of them?

A search of LinkedIn would almost certainly show that less than 100% of members are on LinkedIn.

And on Ecademy the stats may be even less.

AND more to the point… show of hands please those people who have used either network to ask to be connected to someone in the last 6 months?

So turn to the person next to you and tell them two things:-

a. What electronic networks you are one

b. How many connections you have

Give them about 45 seconds and then say….

So what was the result? Hands up those members who are on LinkedIn?

And keep your hands up if you have over 100 connections?

Over 200?

Over 300?

Over 50?

Keep going till you find the top number of connections. Then say….

Considering that someone who has 850 1st level connections could lead to approximately 180,000 2nd level connections and over 6 million 3rd level connections, show of hands please those members who have asked to be connected to someone recently?

So the message here is that to get what you want you first need to be connected and then …….. you have to ask!

The Referral Master®

Give me a show of hands please from those people who have participated in any type of business training during the last 12 months?

Ask the members for some specific examples – repeat some of the responses to the chapter.

Now ask those who responded…..

What value was the training to you and your business?

Repeat some of the responses and then ask the members….

Would you like better business results for the coming 12 months?

Wait till you get a commitment from the members. Then say…….

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results!

So, what will you be doing differently over the next 12 months?

What training could you do that would help you to be a better person and a better businessperson?

Write down at least two areas in which you would like to improve?

Now, put some dates on achieving the goal you have just set yourself?

Remind the members that Member Success Programme is available as a refresher as well as reminding them about any other training that BNI offers in your area.

The Referral Master®

In my experience very few companies I have seen have taken the time to identify the most effective process for selling their products or services which brings me to a sales principle which states:

“For every product category and market segment there is a best practice sales process which ensures optimum sales”

The key is to identify what creates sales and what doesn’t and develop the process into a standard operating procedure.  This will only come about through measurement.

Unfortunately without a process salespeople are left to their own resources and do the best they can.  These same salespeople are given sales targets to meet and budgets to achieve without the sales formula/process to follow and spend most of their time “flying by the seat of their pants”.

So if we agree we need to have a formulated approach to our sales the process could look something like this –

-Introductions and pleasantries
-Agenda set
-Discover needs through prepared questions
-Discussing solutions
-Ask for commitment

Let’s look at introductions and pleasantries.  This is the most critical phase of the whole sales process as the decision to buy from you will be made in the first few minutes of meeting you. The fact that we make decisions about people so quickly is just part of human nature.

Research done with 267 Human Resource Managers from the Fortune 500 companies in America showed that on average they decided that a candidate would get the position being applied for within 40 seconds of meeting them.  They then went on to conduct exhaustive tests and interviews to prove they had made the right choice. 

Think of your own attitudes – have you ever had the experience where you have met someone for the first time and taken an instant dislike to them?   The fact is we don’t buy from people we don’t like!

The keys to this phase are to be on time or 5 minutes early, be professionally presented, have professional tools e.g. high quality compendium, a good quality pen, professional looking business cards, rate cards etc.   There is nothing worse than asking someone for their business card and they pull a dog-eared looking card out of their wallet and hand it over!   Your dress and stationary need to be appropriate to the type of clients you are presenting to.     I was meeting with a senior executive recently and suggesting the company invest in some very good quality leather compendiums for their sales team.   He very graciously pointed out that the majority of their clients were intent on preserving nature – we agreed a recyclable/hessian type compendium would be the order of the day!

You look good, you are on time – now what do you say?

The old school sales trainers would suggest you identify something the buyer may be interested in through observation e.g. they may have a marlin mounted on their office wall – most salespeople would begin by commenting on the fish.  I believe there is a factory in China producing these fish to sell to buyers as an accessory to catch newby salespeople who are trying to build rapport!

My recommendation if you are serious about helping the prospect is to thank them for their time, mention your referral source and then get down to business.

Most prospects are short of time and have answered the same fish questions hundreds of times before– respect their time.

We will look at how to set the agenda of your sales meeting in my next article.

Quote of the Week:

Most people think “selling” is the same as “talking”.   But the most effective salespeople
know that listening is the most important part of their job.

                                                                                       Roy Bartell

Brett Burgess is a Programme Developer and Sales Trainer for Sales Impact Group Limited based in Hawkes Bay