Your BNI online meeting is to be treated the
same as your face to face meetings, so consider what you do online should be
the same as a face to face meeting.
Remember, you are meeting with your referral partners AKA your sales
team. These are the people you are trying
to educate and train on how to find you quality referrals. These are the same people you are trying to
build relationships and creditability with.
These are the people who you want to find you business. So, give some thought to your actions and whether
they are building or hurting your creditability.
Here are a few reminders of policies and expectations
–
-
Policy #5 - Attendance
is critical to the group. If a
member cannot attend, you may send a substitute (not a member of your chapter)
to the meeting. This will not count as an absence. A member is allowed three
absences over a rolling six month period. More than this and the member’s
classification is subject to being opened by the chapter’s Membership
Committee.
-
Policy #3 - The weekly meetings lasts for
90 minutes. Members need to arrive on time and stay for the entire meeting.
o For
online meetings, members are expected to be logged on prior to the time their
meeting is scheduled to start.
§ At a
normal face to face meeting, typically the first 15 minutes is for open
networking, i.e. catching up and chatting with your fellow members. Build some rapport. So, if your meeting is scheduled to start at
8:30, then log on a few minutes early to ensure everything is working and
network with your fellow members.
§ Members
are expected to be present and focused for the entire meeting, which for a face
to face meeting is 1.5 hours.
§
-
During a BNI meeting, members are expected
to be fully present.
o That
email, text, phone call can wait. You
are at your meeting to promote your business and give and receive referrals.
o The thing about video conferencing is that your
video presence tends to be magnified and it will be more obvious to other
members that you aren’t paying attention if you constantly appear to be
fidgeting, moving around, or gazing elsewhere while someone else is talking.
Taking notes on the content discussed during the meeting is fine, but other
activities should be kept to a minimum or avoided.
o Be
engaged in the meeting. Using the chat
window to make comments, praise, etc. shows your fellow members you’re paying
attention.
-
For online meetings, members are expected
to be on video.
o Members
want to see the other members.
o Members
are expected to be dressed appropriately.
§ It’s best to match your video call look to how
you’d normally look at a face to face meeting or how you dress when you go to
your office or meet with a client.
o Members
want to see the other members engaged and attentive.
o Members
need to see you.
§ Just
like in a Face to Face meeting - remain
focused!
§ Active
Listening is critical. When you speak, do you want people to listen and pay
attention to what you have to say? Then
have the same respect for others.
o Position
your camera so that you are well in the frame.
§ When
you speak, look at the camera.
o Have a
pleasing background. What is behind
you? You want the other members looking
at and listening to you, not trying to figure out what’s in the boxes behind
you.
§ Many,
due to working from home, have had to set up makeshift workspace. Many have gotten very creative with the video
backgrounds, even creating ones with their company logo.
o Put
plenty of light on your face so that we can see you and your awesome smile.
§ Everyone
has had several weeks now to get used to being on camera and figuring out the
lighting etc.
o Mute
your mic when not speaking.
§ Your
microphone amplifies even the slightest noise which can be distracting.
o Be
prepared for your meeting. Don’t wing
it.
§ Again,
it’s even more obvious on video than in person
§ The
more prepared you are, the more professional you will appear.
People want to do business
with and help people they know, like, and trust. Think about how many people are in your
chapter. Each member knows 250 to 300
people. Some members who are very well
connected know even more. Your fellow
members are the ‘gate keepers’ to their databases. Building creditability with them will open those
doors to those referrals quicker thus you getting to profitability sooner.
Visibility + Credibility =
Profitability
In the words of Ralph Waldo
Emerson – ‘What you do thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the
words you speak.’
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