VCP - The Basics

The VCP acronym is one you will hear about in BNI quite a bit and there are many articles and podcasts on these principles, i.e. Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.  Let’s examine the basics from the perspective of becoming a new member in a new chapter or core group. 

Visibility – In order for the other members to get to know you, you have to show up.  Attendance is key.  In Podcast #329, Woody Allen said that 80% of success is showing up.  In BNI, you’re not just a name on a roster.  We have an attendance policy which is to help all the members.  You paid to be part of a group that works together to help each other to grow their respective businesses. Visibility is the first step in getting referrals and training your referral team.

Credibility – Think of someone you trust.  You probably trust that person because you know they will do what they way.  Building your credibility in BNI, is building relationships with your fellow members by doing what you say you will do when you say you’ll do it.  It starts with showing up for your meeting each week on time or being early is even better.  Dressing the part, even on Zoom.  And being prepared with your part of the meeting and your weekly presentation.  After all, this is your time to train your referral team.

Also, consistently inviting and having visitors is another great way to build credibility with your referral partners, because visitors equate to possible business for someone in the group and possibly a potential member. 

The third element of VCP is Profitability – That’s what we’re all here for, right?  To get referrals.

-       You cannot have profits if no one knows you

-       You cannot have profits if no one trusts you

How do we measure VCP?  By the referrals we receive.

So, in order to get the results you desire, you must learn to do the activities efficiently and effectively.  Statistics have shown, the more you learn, the more you earn.  Be open to learning how to network differently and more effectively.

So, ask yourself these questions…

-       Are you willing to do the activities, i.e. the Key Performance Indicators to get the results you say you desire?

-       Are you willing to accept feedback to improve your results?

-       Are you coachable?

-       Are you willing to be held accountable?

This is a process that’s all new to most of us.  For the process to work, we need to be ‘all in.’ 

BNI provides us most everything we need to be successful; we just have to come with a positive attitude, be prepared each week to learn, and work the process.

In appreciation,

Annette

Area Director

BNI Facebook Chapter Business Page - What to post

Each Chapter has an official BNI Facebook Business page.  This page is a great tool to build visibility in the community to build the chapter’s creditability in order to attract those businesses looking to network with like-minded business owners.  This is an awesome tool that most BNI chapters are underutilizing.

Here are some suggestions on how to use and what to post on your Facebook page.

First, you will need someone in your chapter to be the designated editor for your page.  Most chapters have someone who does social media as their business, or they are good at it for their own business. Ask them to be the editor for the Chapter Facebook page. In some chapters, this person is the Communications Coordinator. This person will need to request access to the page in order to post as the page and have the posts actually show up on the main feed.  Here is the link to request access or to have someone removed as the editor of your Facebook page - https://form.jotform.com/200375625736154  When completing the form, be sure and use the personal email that the editor uses to log into their personal Facebook account. This information is sent to Mike Barbieri who will review the information and grant access to the Chapter Facebook page. 

Once you have an editor for your page, have them review the Social Media Guidelines and resources which are found on BNIATL.com, click on Resources, then click on Leadership Team Resources and scroll down.  There are links to BNI branded material that you can use on your page.

Here is a list of suggested material to post on your page.  Some have links to existing pages so that you can get ideas on what other chapters are posting.  Just like with your own business page, post as often as possible and be consistent.

The Chapter Information and Members -

-       Review the ‘About’ section and make sure the location address, day, and time of your meeting are correct.

-       Update the chapter page banner (especially if you’re in-person now) See the three that are currently being used on BNI Atlanta - https://www.facebook.com/bniatl/

-       Ask your members to ‘Like’ the BNI Chapter page. Copy the page URL and send it to all your members.

-       Ask the members to invite their friends to ‘Like’ your BNI Chapter Facebook page. 

o   Huge shout out to the BLAZE chapter and Heather Winston as they have over 1600 followers for their page.  https://www.facebook.com/BNIBLAZEGA

-       Create an album and post all your member’s headshots along with their industry and company name.  Tag their name and business name so that it links to their page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.383352703299274&type=3

-       Take photos of new member inductions.  Include their sponsor in the photos.  Tag the members. https://www.facebook.com/BNIResourcesofIncome

o   BNI Atlanta also uses a template welcoming new members, share it on your BNI Facebook page.  See some on https://www.facebook.com/recordbusters

-      Events -

-       Every week your weekly meeting is an event.  From your BNI Facebook Chapter page, set up your weekly meeting as a recurring event. Ask members to mark ‘Going.’  The more people are ‘going’ to an event will create interest and improve the algorithm on Facebook so the event will be shown to more people.

-       At the beginning of each meeting, ask your members and visitors to ‘Like,’ ‘Check In’, and make a comment on the page.  All of their friends will see these posts.  This creates more visibility.

-       Create an event and highlight the featured presenter with their photo and/or logo and their bio for your weekly meeting - https://www.facebook.com/events/3916548035136527/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D   Members can share this to their personal or business pages, as well as other community pages/groups.

-       When you are having Stack Days or Focused Inviting Days, create and event - https://www.facebook.com/events/1976326439242857?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D  Ask your members to comment and share

-       Take photos and videos at your weekly meetings/events and post to Facebook, i.e. Featured presenters, their props and displays, etc. - https://www.facebook.com/BNIBLAZEGA

-       Share the regional events from https://www.facebook.com/bniatl to your Chapter page, such as Monday Mugs that visitors can attend.

Achievement and Recognition

-       Take photos when certificates of completion for MSP and Passport to Success are presented and post to Facebook.

-       Take photos of your Notable Network winners and post

-       Take photos of your weekly ‘Ivan’ award winner with the presenter, the winner, and the trophy.

o   Check out the posts of the BLAZE Chapter https://www.facebook.com/BNIBLAZEGA of their trophy they nicknamed ‘Beanie.’  Beanie gets to go to conferences, lunch, on vacation, etc.

-       Take photos of Members being presented with their Gold Badge Award for sponsoring new BNI Members.

-       Take a Group Photo of all of your Power of One Green Members.

-       Take photos of your door prize winner being presented with their door prize by the Featured Presenter.  Hopefully, the gift is something photo-worthy. This is an opportunity to promote the giver and the receiver and even perhaps the maker of the gift, which could be from one of your members.

-       Share posts of your members' awards and recognition outside of BNI to your BNI Facebook page.  Shows community involvement.

-       Share members’ events on your BNI Facebook page. i.e. Their business holds an open house or members do a Lunch and Learn.

 

Miscellaneous –

-       Post Most Wanted industries for those seats you are trying to fill.  Use the BNI Brandshare templates - https://bni.canto.com/v/BNIBranding/album/P3AQD?display=curatedView&viewIndex=0&gSortingForward=false&gOrderProp=uploadDate&from=thumbnail

-       Post Most Wanted average seat values - https://bni.canto.com/v/BNIBranding/album/QFJLA?display=curatedView&viewIndex=0&gSortingForward=false&gOrderProp=uploadDate&from=curatedView

-       Highlight special guests and visitors.

Hopefully, this is helpful information.  Let us know what else your chapter posts to their Facebook business page.

Getting More Referrals - Having Effective One to Ones

From March 2019

 The purpose of having One to Ones is get to know your fellow members in order to build relationships which build credibility and lead to profitability, i.e. to give and receive more referrals.  Statistics show that members who are having 3 or more one to ones per month receive twice as many referrals.

So where are you with your fellow members?  

- Visibility - I remember you and I may know your name and what you do.

- Credibility - There are two parts of Credibility

- Early Credibility - I know more about you and I like you

- Deep Credibility - I trust you and I may pass referrals to you. 

- Profitability - I refer you consistently because I trust you and know your business so well.  When I win a client, you win a client.

 

So how do we move the relationships with fellow members from Visibility to Profitability?  By having more effective One to Ones. i.e. Getting to know your fellow chapter members at a deeper level, getting to know more about their business, what good referrals are for them, and who are good referrals partners are for them.  So how do you do that?

Most One to Ones are more 'coffee talks' and are not effective one to ones.  

An effective One to One takes planning.  Here are the steps:

1.  Schedule ahead of time allowing at least an hour especially for the first One to One.

2. Start first with the members who are in your contact sphere because 70% of your referrals will come from your contact sphere.

3.  Complete the GAINS profile sheets.  This step is extremely important.  (GAINS stands for Goals, Accomplishments, Interests, Networks, Skills)

a. The GAINS profile sheets include a list of your last 10 clients. The sheet has areas for notes about one. All of this information helps your fellow member understand the type of work you do. Rank your last ten clients on a scale of 1 to 10 (#1 being the best) according to good, better, best. Make notes as to why the top 5 are the type of clients you're looking for. Share this list as it will help your fellow members understand the type of clients you are seeking. Even letting your fellow member know what are NOT good referrals is good information.

b. Also, part of the GAINS profile sheets is Contact Spheres. Contact Spheres are businesses or professionals that provide a source of referrals for one another. They are good Referral Partners/Sources. For example: A good referral source for a chiropractor would be a Personal Injury Attorney. A good referral source for a pressure washer would be a painter. A good referral source for a home inspector would be a Realtor. Don't just think of who you can get business from, but who can refer business to you. Share this list also. (You can also use the Referral Hub for this). Many times an introduction to a Referral source will lead to a referral that just keeps on giving. And guess who gets the credit for TYFCB.

4. Send your completed GAINS profile sheets and your bio to the person you have a One to One scheduled with.  Send these a couple of days ahead of time to give each other time to review and make notes for questions, discussion points, etc. you would like to have.

5. Plan to meet at a location that is not loud and you won't be interrupted.  Meeting at a fellow member's office/work is always good.

6. Time for a One to One - Typically a good One to One can be done in an hour.  This gives each member 30 minutes to explain their business and answer questions.  Please be considerate and don't monopolize the time.

7.  

THE PURPOSE of a One to One is to learn about the other person's business so that You can identify and find referrals and referral sources for them.  

 

IT IS NOT to try and sell them your product or service. Your fellow referral partners will be turned off by this tactic. By asking who do they know who would be interested in your product or service, they may refer themselves. But NEVER try to SELL to your fellow BNI Members. You will receive 0 to no referrals by doing so.

8. Questions to ask: (Remember you are there to find out how to refer business, find referral sources for this person, and to strategize as to who else you need to invite to be part of your referral team, so ask questions that will help you understand who to look for.)

1. From your review of the other member's GAINS profile, you may have questions for clarification.
2. Ask what you should listen for?
3. Ask what questions you should ask a potential prospective client for them?
4. What are good conversation starters?
5. Ask who are their 'bread and butter' clients?
6. Ask what would be their dream referral?
7. Who are good referral sources?
8. Who else would they want as a member of their Power Team?

9. Agree on a plan of action. For example, that could be an introduction to a potential referral partner and/or inviting a potential referral partner to your BNI meeting for an introduction.

10.  Schedule a time to follow-up and your next One to One.  Things change in a person's life and business.  It's good to have One to One's with your fellow members on a regular basis to get to know your referral partners better and to strengthen the relationship, especially your Power Team members as well as find out what's new with their business.

Here are some additional resources:

Effective One to Ones 

Getting to Profitability

Getting More Referrals

Doubling the # of Referrals

Why Have multiple One to Ones

Effective Questions to Ask

I encourage you to access the podcasts via BNI University so that you show up on the Leaderboard 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.

Are You in Profitability?

From November 2018

VCP - Visibility + Credibility = Profitability

 

What is this formula and what does it mean?

 

Visibility is pretty self-explanatory. People know who you are and may know what you do.

 

 

Credibility means that people know who you are and understand that you do a good job at what you do. They may use your products and/or services.

 

Profitability is when someone knows, likes, and trust you, uses your products/services, and gives you referrals.  You will know you are in 'profitability' when you are getting tier 3, 4, and 5 referrals that resulted from your involvement with BNI.  

 

We all became a part of BNI to increase our business, get referrals, and make more money. Depending on a person's industry and how well they follow the BNI formula for success will depend on how long it takes them to get to Profitability.

VCP is a referral process, not a sales process. If the majority of your clients aren't giving you referrals, then you are only at Credibility with your clients, not at Profitability. It's possible that you can have a lot of Visibility and a lot of Credibility, but NOT have Profitability. Rather than a formula, VCP is a continuum. Profitability does not result automatically from Visibility and Credibility.

Getting to Profitability takes time and work. Here is one BNI member's story when asked does BNI work.

A member was asked about the investment and how much money he made in BNI as a member.  The member responded with... "In my first year in BNI, I made 4 times my membership fees investment.  It wasn't until my second year where I saw the real difference.  This year I have already made over 20X my investment and the year is only half way through.  It took me a year to learn how to talk about my business effectively, learn how to give and get qualified referrals, and conduct enough 1-2-1's to understand the other members in the room.  See BNI takes time.  There are no quick fixes and fast results here.  It takes time and work to do anything worthwhile and to build strong lasting relationships.  The VCP model takes time to move from visibility to credibility and it took longer to move from credibility to profitability.  I am now in profitability with my best referral partners."

 

Mike Barbieri, Executive Director adds - There is "WORK" in Networking.  We have many 90-minute members in BNI.  Where some of our members are present for the 90 minutes during our weekly meeting and forget about their BNI team until next week's meeting.  We are all busy.  That is not an alibi nor excuse.  I hear people say, "I do not have time to work on BNI."  What I hear is... "I do not have time to work on my business."  No matter what excuse you are telling yourself, you should not be working on BNI in the first place.  You should be working ON YOUR business.  Do you tell people that you are working on your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system?  No, because that is a business software tool.  Why do you say I am working on BNI?  Isn't BNI a framework, a platform or a tool to help you and your business be accountable and generate more money for you and your team?  Maybe we should change how we think about BNI.  So, block some time each week in your busy schedule and work on your business.  Go out and network, meet new people make new friends, develop new relationships, invite new visitors, learn more, and generate more money.  They say that your net worth and your network is the new currency.  It is not always what you know, but who you know and sometimes how well you know them.

Here are some additional resources:

Podcasts - #420 - V+C Does Not = P

#580 - Keeping the VCP Process ALIVE

#528 - How many networks - How many hours?

Power Of One Podcast #233 - What is Missing in VCP

I encourage you to access the podcasts via BNI University so that you show up on the Leaderboard 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.

Leadership - Getting the Right Team in Place

From June 2018

 

This time of year Chapters are in the process of selecting the Leadership Team for the new term which begins October 1st.  Your chapter may have asked you for your input as to who do you think should serve in certain positions (and/or may have asked you to serve.)  This also gives you the opportunity to write your name in for a position in which you would like to serve.

So why should you serve in a leadership position?  

- More visibility in that serving in a leadership role gets you in front of your fellow chapter members as well as the visitors

- Build credibility - by serving in a leadership role and carrying out the responsibilities, you are building your credibility with your fellow chapter members.

- Leads to Profitability - One member recently gave a testimonial that she received 51 referrals last year and she attributed it to her serving in a leadership role.

So now is the time to let your current Leadership Team know you are willing to serve.  Which positions do you think you could be the most effective?

In Podcast #357, Dr. Misner and his guests discuss the Secrets to Great Leadership Teams.

Here are some key points from the podcast - 

• The speed and tone of the leadership team affect the speed and tone of the chapter.
• It's that way in any business. It is that way in any organization. Chapters that just rock, almost always have a leadership team that is really on top things, highly engaged. They are, in fact, leaders.
• Accountability is the key to successful chapters.
• Accountability is important and focusing on those metrics is what makes a chapter successful. Predictors of success include looking at the metrics of a chapter. It is one of the reasons why so as much information is put into BNI Connect, our online program, as possible. How is the attendance? How many referrals are being passed? What is the thank you for closed business?  Then, focusing on that accountability with the leadership team is really key. That means you have to have discussions people about how they are doing. 
• Leadership teams are the key to accountability.
• They are the keys to accountability and the way they do it can make a big difference in the culture of the chapter.  There has to be rules. You can't run a sports match without having rules. You can't run a network effectively without having rules, unless you just want to make it a social club. There has to be rules.  There need to be discussions that are positive and supportive.  So you have got to hold people accountable, but you have to do it in a caring way. Leadership teams who get that down really work.

People who make good leadership team members make good leaders in general. Serving on your BNI chapter's leadership team develops your abilities as a leader-and it will also bring you more business, because it increases your professional credibility.

So perhaps you think you don't have the skill set for a particular position?  That's OK.  If you are committed to helping to build a better chapter, let your current Leadership Team that you are willing to serve.  BNI will provide the training.

 

Here are some additional resources:

Secrets of Great Leadership Teams #357

 Dog Sled Leadership #351

A Path to Leadership #475