How to get what you want

by Colin Kennedy 8 October 2010

written by Colin Kennedy 8 October 2010

“You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Zigler

Why do you attend BNI meetings? Why does the person next to you attend BNI meetings?

There are many good reasons, but one of the most important reasons is that you want business referrals that will help you grow your business.

We want referrals because:

They’re easier than cold calls
There is a third party expecting your call
The third party is in the market for your products or services
The third party knows about you because he or she has been warmed up
Third party endorsements are powerful for building trust and credibility

While relationships are important, remember that a BNI meeting is a business meeting and your fellow members are assessing you against business criteria.

That’s why its important that you give those people what they want, so that you in turn can get what you want. Your fellow members want:

Consistency – regular attendance
Performance – referrals, dances, good 60 second presentations
Quality – promising third party referrals that match the above criteria
Teamwork – helping each other to grow

Givers gain is fine, but it only works if you give people what they really want.

Colin Kennedy

Colin is the Marketing Director of BNI New Zealand, a director of Iron Road Ltd and a professional speaker and copywriter. While this is an outsourced function, Colin manages - at an executive level - all marketing and communication functions for BNI New Zealand. Colin is also the official spokesman for BNI New Zealand, and is responsible for building relationships with media and partners, including Hospice NZ, as well as representing BNI at all public speaking engagements (when BNI receives requests to talk at those functions). The core focus of his business is writing compelling copy for clients. Colin believes that in this era of low trust, social media and word of mouth dominance, a different approach to marketing is needed - one about conversation, relationships, engaging stories, delivering value... "We have to engage the market with compelling 'stories'; we have to influence the people who influence the customer's buying behaviour, we have to join the conversation. "People don't like to be sold to anymore. They like to shop." His business is to develop strategies for clients using compelling messages and stories for websites, email blasts, newsletters, brochures, press releases, articles etc. to increase leads, improve conversion rates and raise profile.

The networking disconnect

3 comments

Andreas Becker 12 October 2010 - 5:25 am

Great post. That statement from Zig says it all. I often have to remind myself. Thank You.

Diane Crawford 28 November 2010 - 5:13 pm

Great post, timely reminders, will be using this in our education slot this week.

thanks

Colin 29 November 2010 - 3:57 pm

Thanks Diane

Comments are closed.

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3 comments