Synopsis

This post is part of the Ask Ivan series. If you have a question for Ivan Misner, email [email protected].

Michelle asked this question after discussions with fellow BNI directors and members.

If I stand up as a member and give my weekly presentation and say that my referral request is that you “Like” my business Facebook page, can my fellow members “Like” my business and submit a referral?

To answer this question, we have to return to the definition of a referral. A referral is the opportunity to do business with someone who is in the market to buy your product or service.

As a BNI member, you can redefine “referral” as it applies to you only. For some people, a referral to an unpaid speaking engagement can lead to a lot of business. So is it a good idea to count a Facebook “Like” as a referral?

* Is it really an opportunity to do business?

* How would the VP perform the referral reality test?

* Is it going to generate a “Thank you for close of business”?

Dr. Misner believes a Facebook “Like” is an endorsement, but not a referral. Your group can ask members to “Like” each other’s pages and recognize them for doing so without counting them as referrals.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 467 –

Priscilla:

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am 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:

I am on the road still. I am in northern California at the Transformational Leadership Council meeting. I have mentioned it a number of times here on the podcast. I am a member of TLC, which is the organization which was founded by Jack Canfield, who wrote this book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. We do these events twice a year. I really learn a lot and come back to BNI with a lot of great concepts from it.

Priscilla:

Great. Well, what is this topic that you have about Facebook?

Ivan:

There is a broader topic in here. That is what constitutes a real referral. The question, as it was asked- it was asked by Michelle. Michelle is a BNI Director. The question is pretty straightforward. It also has an addendum. I will read the whole thing.

Michelle says she has been having some interesting discussions with a few Directors and members regarding referral requests for Facebook page “Likes”. A member is standing up in a chapter and requesting a “Like” for their Facebook page and saying it would be a referral.

“So if I stand up as a member and give my weekly presentation and say my referral request today is that you ‘Like’ my company’s Facebook page, can my fellow members that go to Facebook, ‘Like’ my business, and submit a referral?”

That is the question. I am going to give you the pros and cons to this answer. Many of these were suggested by Michelle and I am going to give you some of those.

Let’s first start with talking about the definition of a referral. A referral is the opportunity to do business with someone in the market to buy your product or service. I will repeat that. A referral is the opportunity to work with someone, to do business with someone who is in the market to buy your product or service.

Here is the caveat that many people have heard me talk about that makes this topic come up. That is you, as an individual member,