This week are returning to have a somewhat light hearted look at visitors. Why? Because when we look at the overall levels of member engagement in terms of attendance, one to ones, referrals and visitors , generally the weakest area is inviting visitors.
We know for absolute certain that a regular stream of visitors is necessary, Why?
To keep the chapter growing (or at least going).
To keep the chapter from getting stale.
To provide extra business opportunities even if the visitor doesn’t join (there are plenty of stories about referrals from visitors turning to gold).
A regular stream of visitors every week is essential. The irony with members is, that in all likelihood they were once invited to BNI themselves, so they know how it works!
So this week we are going to consider how many visitors a week a chapter needs to stay the same size, a simple way for members to think about who to invite and a look at a subtle change in the BNI Connect App that occurred in the last update.
How many of you were once invited to BNI?
Note: Probably most in the room will raise their hands, a few may have invited themselves after hearing about BNI. •Great, so it is safe to say if someone hadn’t invited you the room would be fairly empty right now? •We know that inviting Visitors works to bring new members to the chapter, additionally having visitors in the room adds energy and they are also potential business opportunities!
Who has done business with a visitor that didn’t join?
Note: Some members will probably have a story, if not you can mention that a BNI member at BNI North Harbour once received a referral worth over $1m from a single visitor.
Therefore, we can agree that if a member brings a visitor it potentially provides significant business opportunities to the other members?
Note for advanced groups: It can be a misconception that we bring visitors to give them the opportunity to sell to us, or that when we invite visitors to the meeting, we offer the inducement of the opportunity to make a sale as a reason to come.
Receiving referrals is a privilege of membership and earned through building Visibility and Credibility in the group. Visibility and Credibility can’t be established in 1 or 2 visits. In the same way Richie Macaw was not the great Richie Macaw because he played one or two tests.
How many visitors do we need to keep the chapter going (if not growing)?
Every group will have natural attrition for a number of reasons, 70% of members leave just because of life changes. •Around 30% of members leave after a year. Sometimes a chapter will have higher retention but then they can have a sudden drop of several members at once.
Based on that, how many new members a year will our group need to stay the same size?
Choose one of these:
Chapter Size 15-20 will need 5 new members per year
Chapter Size 21-25 will need 6-7 new members per year
Chapter Size 26-30 will need 8-9 new members per year
Chapter Size 31-35 will need 9-10 new members per year
Chapter Size 36-40 will need 11-12 new members per year
Chapter Size 41-45 will need 13-14 new members per year
Chapter Size 46-50 will need 14-15 new members per year
Is that more than we thought?
Not all visitors can or will join. So, on average how many visitors do we need to get 1 new member (conversion rate)? In BNI, the average conversion rate is 1 in 7 but can be as low as 1 in 14!
Working on 1 in 7, how many visitors a year does our chapter need to stay the same size? Remember, these are first time unique visitors not the same visitors returning week after week.
Note, choose one of these:
Chapter Size 15-20 will need 35 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 21-25 will need 42 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 26-30 will need 49 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 31-35 will need 56 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 36-40 will need 84 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 41-45 will need 98 unique first-time visitors per year
Chapter Size 46-50 will need 105 unique first-time visitors per year
So, you can see, that chapters of any size need at least 1 first time visitor a week and along with returning visitors, any week we should have at least 2 visitors in the room.
If the chapter wants to grow, it requires more visitors above the number in the ration of 7 extra visitors per year per extra members wanted.
So, what is an easy way to think about people to invite?
Think about Inviting F.R.O.G.S
F = Friends – Who do you know who is in business and wants more work?
R = Relatives – Who do you know who is in business and wants more clients?
O = Organisations – Who do you know in organisations that you belong to, who is in business, and wants more work?
G = Geographical – Who do you know who works closely to your chapter venue who wants more clients?
S = Social Media – What about people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
How to ask a someone to visit – just ask them to join you for a fun breakfast with your local business network. Don’t promise immediate referrals as an inducement, BNI isn’t a “spray and pray” your business card around hunting environment. It requires trust to be built up by following the programme to build referral partnerships and the first step is to visit to see if it might be something that could work for their business.
Invite OR Register?
The easiest way to send an invite to your prospective visitor is to use the BNI Connect App. This sets in motion the visitor host process.
The BNI Connect App has been updated slightly and the terminology has changed subtly.
In the app use the “Register a Visitor” tab, this registers your guest. If you use the invite a visitor tab it requires your guest to RSVP and register themselves which they rarely do.
It’s surprising how many visitors are needed just to keep the group at the same level. Inviting visitors is easy if practised and you find the right words for yourself to use. Remember you were invited once so pay it forward!
Podcast reference: Episode 613 The Value of Visitors
