Intentional One-to-Ones
Last we talked about how to create real commercial returns in BNI through intentional One-to-Ones. One-to-Ones are essential for generating referrals, but they need to be more than just a catch-up to take referrals to the next level.
When you look at your fellow chapter members, if you have visibility and credibility with them, they will be in one of these categories.
Advocator: Refers to you when someone asks for a referral.
Promoter: Volunteers’ referral information when they hear about a key situation.
Creator: Reaches out to their network to promote you without waiting for prompting.
Being a creator for other members and having other members be creators for you is how large commercial returns are created in BNI.
Who to One-to-One with?
You cannot be a creator for all members and not all members can be creators for you. There is a range of reasons why that is true. Personalities, Industry Type, Client Type etc.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t meet with these members but if you want to be intentional with the time you have available for One-to-Ones, prioritize members that are already advocators for you and members you are already an advocator for. Remember that this is Givers Gain®.
New Members
The very first thing you need to do is have a One-to-One with every new member. Because, you know, for selfish reasons and for giving reasons.
Selfishly, there are a whole new set of contacts. You know, they have their own family, they have their co-workers, they have their networks. And it’s a whole new world that you could become a part of. But you know, the giving part is, that we need to have an intentional One-to-One with them to coach them on how to have one themselves.
Retention of our new members is always a focus of ours. There isn’t a better way to make them feel comfortable and welcome than to reach out to meet them. Don’t want them to ask, it will be daunting for them to ask. A great thing to do is to show them the chapter list and say, “Hey, who on this roster would you like to meet? I’ll be glad for the three of us to have lunch together next week.” And help them through that One-to-One and ask some questions to get that going. So, they can get some good referral partners in the room right off the bat.
Meet with the Givers
The next type of member that you want to meet with is a huge giver in BNI. So, figure out from the summary PALMS report, the Thank You for Closed Business, who the huge givers are in the room. Most of us know who those are but have a One-to-One with them. Most people automatically think I want to have a One-to-One with a huge giver because I want a piece of the pie that they’re giving.
But take a little bit of a different point to it. You want to pick their brain as to who they’re giving to: How are they giving to them? What do they say? What key situations do they look for? What kind of golden goose referral partners are they referring to? This way, you get the opportunity to learn from the best of the best, right?
Uneven Relationships
Evaluate your fellow members. Are they an Advocator, or are they a Promoter, or are they a Creator for you? And then on the other side of the name, I want you to write what you are to them. So, look and see who has given you one to two referrals in a six-month period, she’s an Advocator for me. Who am I giving six to eight in a six-month period, I’m a Creator for them. I bring them up in conversation whenever I possibly can. So, I want to do that to figure out who I want to have One-to-Ones with. If I’ve got an uneven relationship, I want to learn what I need to do to fix that.
In the one-to-one fill out the GAINS exchange, fill out the three add-ons: the bragging point, the key situation, and obviously, most importantly perhaps, the golden goose referral partner. Concentrate on that member for 30 days. Then meet another member and do the same thing again.
Summary
Intentional One-to-Ones in this way will keep you fresh and engaged in the chapter while improving the commercial returns for everyone in the chapter, building stronger members and chapters.
