Episode 624: BNI Gives Us an “At Bat”

Synopsis

Daniel Haverman from the Palm Beach Business Exchange chapter joins Dr. Misner on the podcast this week to explain what a referral is and isn't--and how to increase your chances of turning referrals into business.

In baseball, an "at bat" is the opportunity to get a hit. It's not a guarantee of a home run.

A referral in BNI is the opportunity to do business, but it's not a guarantee of a sale. BNI members have to go through their regular sales process before the referral turns into closed business.

If you're not getting good referrals, you need to educate your fellow members about what's a good referral. If you get good referrals and they aren't turning into business, go back to the person who gave you the referral and ask for help "heating up" that cold connection.

Here are some of the ways to increase your likelihood of hitting the ball out of the park.

Ask the person referring you to set up a three-way phone call or an in-person meeting with the prospective.Tell your fellow BNI members not only what makes a good referral, but where to find those people.Find out as much as you can about the person you've been referred to. Ask the person who gave you the referral about them. Check their LinkedIn profile and their website so you understand what they do and what matters to them.Don't promise anything you can't deliver. Remember to turn in your TYFCB on BNI Connect. That motivates people to give you more referrals.

Complete Transcript of Episode 624

Priscilla Rice Hello, everybody, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the chief visionary officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you?

Ivan Misner Thank you so much, Priscilla. I'm in Hartford, Connecticut this weekend. It's been a long time since I visited the region. I'm really excited to be back here.

I have a guest. His name is Daniel Haverman and he's a Florida Bar board certified civil trial lawyer. He's been in BNI for 20 years. He has served in every leadership team position. He's currently the Vice President of his chapter. Condolences, Dan. I'm so sorry. That's the tough role. And he's an ambassador for the Palm Beach and South Florida regions. And he's been a member of the International board of advisors, an active member of the International board of advisors. For a long time. I don't know, how many years have you been in?

Wow. Well, it's it's great having you on being a podcast and you have a fantastic topic. BNI gives you an "at bat." Tell us what that means.

Daniel Haverman Well, first of all, Ivan, it's an honor and a privilege to be on the podcast, and an app that is where we teach our new members that a referral is an opportunity to do business with someone, but it's not a guarantee of a sale. And they hear that message. But often they as time passes, they tend to forget that.

So, BNI referrals, as you know, tend to be much better prepared referrals for the recipient. But our BNI members still have to go through their regular sales process and not make any assumptions that the referral is ready to do business immediately. I was in a membership renewal meeting and the member mentioned that he was getting a lot of referrals, but he wasn't always closing them. And this was frustrating to the member and one of my membership committee team, a long time BNI member, John Salik, said to him "BNI gives you an at bat."

As you know, Ivan, in baseball an "at bat" is defined as an opportunity to get a hit, right. He explained to the member that in BNI, we passed referrals, which don't always lead to closed business. The referral will get you to the plate, but there's no guarantee you will get a hit.

Ivan Misner And I think sometimes we just assume that our referrals are going to turn into business.