It is my privilege to bring you the networking nugget for this week. I am Graham Greenhorn, a member of almost 12 years in the BNI Howick chapter. I recently spent close on a year as a BNI Ambassador working with Director Consultant Richard Foulkes, and then for just over the past year have been teamed up with Richard as a Director Consultant myself, working with nine chapters in the Auckland region.
The education this week covers one of the most fundamental, but extremely important aspects in BNI – MEETING ATTENDANCE. We talk of building trust and relationships in order to be comfortable finding referrals for, and giving referrals to our fellow members. When we give a referral our reputation is also on the line, in other words that close trusting relationship is vital, not only to us as individuals, but also to the ongoing health of our BNI chapter.
Building strong relationships isn’t done via social media, emails, or telephone calls (although these may add to them). It is done by face-to-face encounters and meetings, and where do these face-to-face encounters start; yes, you guessed it, at the weekly BNI meeting.
Please listen to the following podcast: Episode 490: Show Up. Make Money. by Dr Ivan Misner https://www.bnipodcast.com/2017/01/18/episode-490-show-make-money/ Dr Ivan Misner says really well in this episode. Also there is an excellent video by him on attendance that every BNI member should watch: https://youtu.be/bdlr7t5uM_I.
To supplement the PowerPoint file I have also made a video working through the PowerPoint slides. You’ll find this video at the address https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLHWYpElv8&t=36s If you aren’t going to use the actual PowerPoint, the detail with the PowerPoint, together with the slide notes should give those educators more than enough material to educate on Meeting Attendance.
In the concept of VCP, your ‘V’ begins at your BNI meeting. If you are not present… your ‘V’ (Visibility) decreases… your ‘V’ decreases thus you ‘C’ (Credibility) takes a knock and decreases… finally at the end of the chain is the ‘P’ (Profitability)… if everything else is going uphill the ‘P’ can follow.
So very simply put, the lesson is “Be visible, Be present”
Graham Greenhorn
BNI Director Consultant – Auckland Region
