No fun, no referrals

by Colin Kennedy 16 July 2010

written by Colin Kennedy 16 July 2010

Does your BNI “crackle, snap and pop”? Or is it a bit “Ho Hum”?

“Crackle, snap and pop” is good – you will attract new members no matter how small you are. “Ho Hum” is bad, very bad. You will lose members, no matter how big you are.

I talk to hundreds of BNI members and they all tell me that they come to BNI for referrals, but they also come to the meetings because it’s their weekly booster and a chance to mix and mingle with other like-minded businesses owners.

The problems begin when we all start to get a bit familiar with each other. When we start to stand up and say “I’ve done this so many times, you all know how my business works”. No, no, no – this is very bad. When this happens it’s time to shake things up a bit.

One way to do this is to introduce regular meeting stimulants (located on the www.bni.co.nz) website. Another is to applaud everybody’s 60 second – it may seem lame or ‘uncool’ but it gets the blood pumping and the pulse beating. It injects ENERGY!!!

If your visitors come to a meeting and have fun, they’ll stay no matter how small your chapter is. If your members come to a meeting and they have fun, they’ll also stay.

No fun, no referrals.

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.

No fun, no referrals

Min Workshop – Referrals 003

Raj Patel – The Value of Nothing!

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