Last week we discussed former BNI member Richard Christie’s excellent blog relating to his experiences in two different BNI chapters in New Zealand.
Balance Transfers – A Kiwi Microfinance Blog was created by Richard to discuss inflation and a range of other issues. In a section relating to networking, Richard discussed BNI’s unique secret sauce that has led to international success for our organisation. In the same blog Richard outlines 5 key questions that a chapter needs to answer to ensure its success. If your chapter isn’t implementing these, then when the leadership team changeover occurring next month, it could be timely.
- Have you set group goals as a chapter? Has the chapter outlined specific goals for what they want to achieve going forward in the year? Do these goals sound reasonable and achievable based on all the factors in play, and furthermore, do they impress new members? Ideally, goals should break down into group and individual goals. The sum of each member’s closed business adds up to the total closed business for the chapter. And you will only get closed business in the first place if each of the members are putting their weight behind generating referrals.
- How well has the chapter performed in relation to its goals in 2016? Visitors will ask the hard questions about your chapter’s performance in terms of closed business. Without this key metric, they can’t make a suitable decision. What industry segments are particularly strong in this chapter, and how do they relate to your business? Having a specialisation in one field can make a world of difference in terms of closed business – however it can also distort the value of closed business for you if you aren’t connected to that field. For example, at the first BNI chapter Richard joined, there was a very strong focus on property development, which is how the group made such high numbers. Although there was nowhere near as much closed business for other industries within the group, there was enough trickling down to make it worthwhile for other members. But this may not be the case for all groups, even if the numbers are high.
- What are the chapter’s plans for growth in 2017 and next year? Does the chapter have a clear direction? How regularly do new prospective members attend the chapter? Over 20% of total referrals come from new or visiting members in some chapters. How well does your chapter attract members on a weekly basis? Understanding the appeal to new members is critical to understanding whether or not your chapter can reach critical mass.
- How well does the chapter enshrine BNI’s core principles? BNI’s core principles are what make BNI stand out and stand the test of time in a world full of networking organisations. How well does the chapter achieve its day to day adherence to these principles? In particular, looking at managing time? One key difference between the two chapters Richard belonged to was that the first chapter used a hand held ringing bell to measure time. As soon as someone’s speech went over time, the bell would sound clear. An old school approach to time administration, which went a long way towards ensuring order and positive feelings as 60 seconds were delivered.
- Do you succeed, and then celebrate your success? When a chapter achieves its stretch goal, what does it do? Move on to the next thing? Or take some time to celebrate the success? Does your chapter hand out awards for high performance? How does the chapter recognise performance as a team and also an individual level?
Ask these 5 questions regularly to help your chapter develop and adapt towards the overall goal of success for all BNI members.
