Episode 547: Interviewing Prospective Members

Synopsis

This episode goes hand in hand with Episode 541, “Inviting Visitors.” That episode explains that the best way to invite a prospective member to BNI is to say “I’m in a referral group. We’re interviewing people from your profession to find the best person from that profession that we can give all our business to.”

Once that person visits, you have to conduct an interview. Remember, this is an interview, not an interrogation. Keep it conversational, and choose just a few of these questions. Start with questions based on the BNI membership application.

* How did you get to where you are in business?

* How have you progressed over the years you’ve been in business?

* Has your education helped you in business in some way?

* Are you willing and able to arrive at the weekly meetings on time and stay for the 90 minutes?

* What are your thoughts about our Code of Ethics?

* Who would you send as a substitute if you’re not able to make it to a meeting?

Here are more questions, suggested by BNI members:

* What about BNI appeals to you?

* Where do you see your business going a year from now?

* Where are you currently networking?

* Why would BNI be good for your business?

* How do you think you can help the group?

* How is it the group can help you?

* Would you be open to having a mentor work with you?

* How would you implement the Givers Gain philosophy in your business?

* Are you prepared for the success that can come with referrals?

* Do you consider yourself a team player?

* Of all your marketing efforts, what has the best ROI?

* What percentage of your clients/customers/patients refer business to you now?

* If you could wave a magic wand and grow your business in an incredible manner, what would that look like?

* How important is referral marketing in your business today?

Don’t ask all these questions. Stop when you feel like you have enough information about whether the visitor is a good fit for your chapter. If you interview applicants like this consistently, you’ll build an incredibly successful chapter.

If you have a question that isn’t in the PDF, leave it here in the comments.

Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube.

Complete Transcript of Episode 547 –

Priscilla:

Hello everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI podcast brought to you by The Networking For Success channel on YouTube. Which features Dr. Ivan Misner and many other networking experts. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from LiveOak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. 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?

Ivan:

I am doing fantastic! I am sitting in my library in Austin, looking over at Lake Austin, doing the podcast. So all is good!

Priscilla:

Well, good! What is today’s podcast about?

Ivan:

Well, this is a podcast that goes hand-in-hand with episode 541 “Inviting Visitors.” That was a classic podcast that we did earlier. And we broadcast it as episode 541, so after you are done listening to this, go back and listen to it. But right now, I’m going to give you the summary quickly. It is what I believe is the best technique to invite visitors to BNI:

I’m in a referral group and we get together regularly. We interview people from your profession to find the best person in that profession that we can give all of our business to.