If visitors or potential visitors experience a less than excellent first impression of BNI, we are inadvertently cutting down visitor activity, denying members the chance to do business with visitors and potentially reducing new member applications.
This week we are looking at why any and all visitors should be made to feel welcome.
In BNI visitors are the lifeblood of any chapter
Along with adding extra energy to the meeting and business opportunities for members visitors are needed to provide potential new members.
Aside from anything else, as an international average 20% of the members in a chapter leave BNI each year for reasons outside of our control e.g. business sale, retirement, job change, change of city etc.
Without a constant stream of visitors, your BNI chapter will likely wither away, never mind grow.
However, with visitors comes the question: What if the visitor competes with my business? Any visitor to a group that potentially competes with you, in any way whatsoever, presents a multitude of opportunities, not a threat. How?
Firstly, let’s consider anyone in direct competition with you.
If you are concerned that they will receive a referral from the chapter members instead of you, this is very unlikely if you have Visibility and Credibility in the group. If a visitor was to receive a referral it means you haven’t communicated your message well or perhaps you haven’t been providing a good service.
Even if they do exactly what you do, it provides you with the opportunity to do business with them in different regions, with different client types, to build an association, perhaps employ them, buy from them or sell to them.
Having a direct competitor visit, builds your credibility with the chapter and the competitor may also see you in a different way. Why? Because you show that you are confident and skilled and the competitor will see you as an expert.
Secondly, what if they are not a direct competitor but offer some of the same services as you and your business?
All of the above still applies, but in addition, you will be representing your BNI Category rather than all of the services your business has to offer.
When considering your BNI Category you should be thinking about what do you love doing and which products or services bring the most revenue to your business.
Representing a wide swathe of activities that you don’t do much, do well or don’t even enjoy, just to stop competitors is ineffective and actually cuts down on potential referrals.
The more specific you are with what you do, the more referrals you will receive and the more likely they are to be the right referrals.
Members that keep their category tight and work co-operatively and collaboratively within the chapter do much better
What else should we consider?
Category exclusivity applies to membership not visitors and category clashes are handled when a visitor applies for membership, not when they visit.
It makes a lot of work for visitor hosts trying to exclude visitors that may clash with members. It’s probably impossible to do and will often do more harm than good.
It’s also impossible to know what a visitor may say in their pitch. This is one of the reasons why some groups only allow visitors to briefly introduce themselves and their business, rather than being allowed to present a full weekly presentation as the members do.
If we are unwelcoming to a visitor before, during or after they visit, it can reflect very badly on us individuals, the chapter and BNI as an organisation.
To enhance your Visibility and Credibility (and possibly your profitability) think about inviting your competitors to your chapter meeting!
