ACTIVATE

 

Hopefully, by now you have heard of ACTIVATE. If you have been around BNI for a while you've heard of Member Extravaganza, which is our Spring Membership Drive. BNI has rebranded and revamped this program and for Spring 2021 it is called ACTIVATE.

Each Chapter and Core Group is asked to choose from 3 Growth Accelerators and appoint Growth Champions to lead the activities to help their chapters grow their membership. There will be training webinars and support material for each one of the Growth Accelerators.

There will be lots of recognition, cash prizes, as well as a grand prize! Each member who sponsors a new member will receive $50 and for those chapters/core groups who sponsor a total of 6 new members, the sponsoring member's names will go into a drawing for a new iPad or $1000!

The three Growth Accelerators are a Visitor's Day, BNI Game, or Contract Spheres. Get with your Leadership Team to find out which one your chapter will be doing.

So how can you prepare and participate?

• Start making your list of Referral Partners you would like to have on your team.
• Go through your database and see who you know who has a business. And/or follow up with friends and clients you haven't talked with in a while. Some may be looking for an opportunity to network.
• Ask people you know if they know people in the industries that you want as referral partners, i.e. if you need a web designer, then ask everyone you know if they know a good web designer and ask for an introduction. Contact them and ask if they are looking to grow their business. If so then invite them to come to your chapter meeting to meet other business professions who can pass them referrals.
• Ask on social media for a good web designer. From the replies and testimonials, do a search and find their contact information. Contact them and ask them to come and network as described in the bullet point above.
• Do you get phone calls from salespeople and vendors? Tell them you would like to introduce them to some business people who can help them get referrals. Invite them to network.
• Do you get mail, both emails and snail mail from people advertising and soliciting for business? Contact them and offer to introduce them to your referral team. Tell them you don't currently have anyone in your group to pass referrals to.

Get the idea? It's all about having an inviting mindset. For instance, recently a BNI member was pumping gas, and next to him was a person in a truck with a sign on the truck for his business. The BNI Member started a conversation with him and asked him about his business. Guess what? The BNI Member invited the person to their BNI meeting and they attended. Are you looking for opportunities to invite?

So why do you want to invite visitors to your chapter meeting?

• Visitors are consumers. As business owners, we are all looking to get in front of new people. Visitors can use the products and services of the chapter members. So when you meet someone new, rather than trying to sell to them, invite them to come and network. It's all about Givers Gain. They come to your meeting. They not only get to hear about what you do and the other members, but also they have an opportunity to present their business.
• Visitors add energy to the meeting.
• Visitors know people. I often hear from members that some of their biggest and best referrals come from visitors.
• Visitors become members. We all want more referrals. The more members a chapter has, the more referrals will be passed.

Click Here to watch a short video of Dr. Ben McDowell telling about how he learned to invite with some help and coaching from one of his fellow members, David Kapper.

It's up to every member to do their part. Don't be that member that sits back and expects everyone else to bring visitors. Everyone knows someone they can invite.

If you have questions about ACTIVATE or need help and support, reach out to your Support Director Consultant.

Here are some additional resources:

• Culture of Recruiting - Podcast #220
• Inviting is Easy Online - Podcast #659
• I've Invited Everyone I Know - Podcast #633
• The Value of Visitors - Podcast #613

For previous articles refer to the Notably Green Blog.

And join the Facebook Group - Notably Green

I encourage you to access the podcasts via BNI Business Builder so that you show up on the Leader board for your Chapter and your area. To make it easier, you can also download the app to your smart device. It's available from ITunes and Google. Also, be sure and report your CEUs, 1 hour = 1 CEU.

Let me know if you have any questions and how I can be of help.     To Your Success, Annette Mason Area Director Consultant    Please let me know of other topics you would like to know about that I can add to future newsletters.

Networking at non-Networking Events

From December 2017

This week's topic comes from Pod-cast #339 and is based on Chapter 23 of the book Networking Like a Pro.  I sent this out to my own chapter a few weeks ago, but thought everyone could benefit from the information.

The holidays are here and the time of the year when we attend many holiday events.  In podcast #30 we learned we can network anytime, anyplace. We can network anywhere as long as we honor the event. The important thing is to find a way to help people or make a connection with them, not to sell to them.  The reason that it's perfectly okay to network anywhere is because of givers gain, which is when you are networking, you are actually trying to help the person that you are networking with. You are NOT trying to do a sales job on that person. You are trying to deepen the relationship and find out how you might be able to help that person.

Dr. Misner goes on to say, 'I believe you can network anywhere, anytime. And you should be networking at non-networking events because I believe it is more of a lifestyle. Networking is more of a lifestyle that is about relationships. It's not just a skill. It is a mindset as well. You have to apply that mindset to the way you live your life. That is why I think if you honor the event, you can network anywhere, anytime, any place including at those holiday parties.'

Holiday parties are a great opportunity to really connect with people and to get to know them a little bit better on a personal level. 

It's a great way to get to network up if there are people there that you think are very successful and you want to get to know them better.  Don't be like everybody else. Everybody else is trying to sell to people. Don't be one of those guys. Don't be one of those ladies. Instead, get to know more about what people do and find an opportunity to somehow help them or make a good connection with them. It is the only chance you may have of ever seeing that person again on a regular basis.  Find a way to help them or connect with them.   

The secret sauce to networking at non-networking events is about generosity. It's about looking out for the other person. It's about being helpful and useful.  You really have to kind of put your personal needs in your pocket and just really focus on the other person.  Believe in the law of reciprocity, that what goes around comes around.

This technique is an effective one and people who use it definitely benefit it. Every now and then it doesn't work, but I can guarantee you that trying to sell to people when you meet them for the first time especially at non-networking events (or networking events) definitely doesn't work most of the time.

Just last evening I was at a holiday event and was able to introduce two friends who are in the same industry.  They were happy with the introduction, exchanged information with the purpose of referring business to each other.  And also provided a contact to a friend for a service she mentioned she needed.  It felt good to be able to help.