Synopsis

It’s not what you know or who you know–it’s how well you know them. If you approach networking with a genuine desire to get to know others, you’re going to increase your success. This applies not only to fellow BNI members, but to people you meet in any context.

Here are four tips to help you deepen relationships.

* When you meet someone new, make a personal phone call and set up a meeting to get to know each other. Do not attempt to sell this person.

* Make personal phone calls to anyone who has helped and referred you in the past. Find out what they’re up to.

* Create a touch point list of 50 people you want to stay in touch with over the course of the year, and get in touch with them.

* Two weeks after your first touch point, follow up with a call and make an appointment for a one-to-one.

Once you find your overlapping areas of interest, the relationship will begin to grow by itself.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 476 –

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:

Hi. Actually, I am back in Austin, Texas again. I have spent a few weeks here this month. I am on the road so much it is great to be home for a few weeks.

Priscilla:

Great.

Ivan:

I am doing this podcast from Austin today.

Priscilla:

Perfect so-

Ivan:

Yeah, go ahead.

Priscilla:

No, I was just going to say why isn’t it about who you know?

Ivan:

You know, there is the old adage “it’s not what you know but who you know”, right? You have heard that. We have all heard that. You have probably said it. I know years ago, I said it. But I am here to tell you it’s not about what you know or who you know. It really is how well you know each other.

Priscilla:

Yeah. That’s good.

Ivan:

You know, networking can be so mercenary, especially if we treat networking like chess pieces, using them for your own best advantage. If you approach networking from a personal angle with a genuine desire to get to know others, you can have far greater success.So how can you deepen the relationship with people to get to the point where they are willing to help you or refer you in the future?

In this podcast, we are talking about not only BNI members but people you may meet in your networking efforts, people you may meet in a service club, people you may meet at a chamber function and, of course, people you may meet in BNI. So this applies to not only to your members that you know but also to others that you meet in networking opportunities.

I am going to give you four different techniques that will help you deepen your existing relationships with people to get to the point where they would be willing to help you or refer you in the future.

Priscilla:

Okay.

Ivan:

One is give them a personal call. I know, I know- calling someone on the phone is so last century, but hear me out here. Sending an email or a text won’t get the same results as someone as actually making the effort to call someone. So set up a 1-2-1 and do not, do not, do not try to sell them something. Set up this meeting to deepen the connection to start to build a professional relationship.

Now, if you don’t want to do a phone, I think Skype calls are great, especially Skype video. So you know, if you are dealing with somebody who does Skype video, Skype video them and have a conversation with them...

Synopsis

If you’re a business owner or an entrepreneur, you know how difficult it can be to find the path to business leadership that works for you. Leadership styles are a dime a dozen, and no one has time to try every idea.

Being a leader doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are four steps that aren’t often talked about.

* Focus on solutions, not problems. Read The Solutions Focus by Mark McKergow if you haven’t yet.

* Collaborate with your team. Collaboration is a force multiplier.

* Be a culture champion. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s never too early to think about this.

* Care about the success of others. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Leadership is about accomplishing more than people thought possible. Share the important factors in your own success in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 475 –

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 today?

Ivan:

Hi. This week, I am back in LA visiting the regional office for Los Angeles. As most people probably know, we moved BNI headquarters from Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Caroline. The global headquarters is now in Charlotte, and I have a local home office in Austin, Texas. But I am back in Los Angeles this week.

A lot of people don’t know that I spent 50 – 50, I know, sounds crazy. 50 years of my life in the Los Angeles area. So I have been there a long time. It is good to go back and visit.

Priscilla:

Yeah. It’s nice to go home. Not home but previous home.

Ivan:

Previous home. A lot of people don’t know this. This is way off subject but then I moved from Pittsburgh when I was six years old, moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I was born to South Central Los Angeles. I lived in South Central which is not one of the better neighborhoods in Los Angeles. I lived there for for about a year and then moved to Azusa. I grew up in the Azusa area.

I am back home.

Priscilla:

Good. Well, I grew up in LA also, since we are on the subject.

Ivan:

Whereabouts?

Priscilla:

Beverly Hills.

Ivan:

You were on the good side of the tracks. I was on the south side of the tracks.

Priscilla:

Yeah. That’s true.

Ivan:

Well, nice. Alright. We should talk about that offline. I want to hear about that.

Priscilla:

Anytime.

Ivan:

Alright. So today we are going to be talking about the path to business leadership. Last week, I shared with everyone a story about John Maxwell. I was really honored to receive the John Maxwell Award. John shared a story about his early days in learning leadership as a pastor and how he went about doing that.

It got me thinking about some of the key factors of leadership. If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, you know how challenging it can be to find the path toward leadership that works for you. With all of the information that is available to us online, leadership styles are like a dime a dozen and no one has the time or resources to try every idea.

So it is about getting back to the basics and understanding what things can improve your business. Being a leader doesn’t have to be complicated. You have heard the acronym Keep It Simple Silly or Keep It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.).

Synopsis

If you’re a business owner or an entrepreneur, you know how difficult it can be to find the path to business leadership that works for you. Leadership styles are a dime a dozen, and no one has time to try every idea.

Being a leader doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are four steps that aren’t often talked about.

* Focus on solutions, not problems. Read The Solutions Focus by Mark McKergow if you haven’t yet.

* Collaborate with your team. Collaboration is a force multiplier.

* Be a culture champion. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s never too early to think about this.

* Care about the success of others. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Leadership is about accomplishing more than people thought possible. Share the important factors in your own success in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 475 –

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 today?

Ivan:

Hi. This week, I am back in LA visiting the regional office for Los Angeles. As most people probably know, we moved BNI headquarters from Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Caroline. The global headquarters is now in Charlotte, and I have a local home office in Austin, Texas. But I am back in Los Angeles this week.

A lot of people don’t know that I spent 50 – 50, I know, sounds crazy. 50 years of my life in the Los Angeles area. So I have been there a long time. It is good to go back and visit.

Priscilla:

Yeah. It’s nice to go home. Not home but previous home.

Ivan:

Previous home. A lot of people don’t know this. This is way off subject but then I moved from Pittsburgh when I was six years old, moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I was born to South Central Los Angeles. I lived in South Central which is not one of the better neighborhoods in Los Angeles. I lived there for for about a year and then moved to Azusa. I grew up in the Azusa area.

I am back home.

Priscilla:

Good. Well, I grew up in LA also, since we are on the subject.

Ivan:

Whereabouts?

Priscilla:

Beverly Hills.

Ivan:

You were on the good side of the tracks. I was on the south side of the tracks.

Priscilla:

Yeah. That’s true.

Ivan:

Well, nice. Alright. We should talk about that offline. I want to hear about that.

Priscilla:

Anytime.

Ivan:

Alright. So today we are going to be talking about the path to business leadership. Last week, I shared with everyone a story about John Maxwell. I was really honored to receive the John Maxwell Award. John shared a story about his early days in learning leadership as a pastor and how he went about doing that.

It got me thinking about some of the key factors of leadership. If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, you know how challenging it can be to find the path toward leadership that works for you. With all of the information that is available to us online, leadership styles are like a dime a dozen and no one has the time or resources to try every idea.

So it is about getting back to the basics and understanding what things can improve your business. Being a leader doesn’t have to be complicated. You have heard the acronym Keep It Simple Silly or Keep It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.).

Synopsis

Dr. Misner won the Maxwell Leadership award for 2016. While at the conference, he learned a terrific lesson in networking.

Back in the 1970s, John Maxwell offered a quarter of his annual income for the opportunity to interview the top ten pastors in his field. Only two of them took him up on it. At the end of each of the two interviews, he asked whether they could introduce him to any of the remaining eight. Because of the quality of the time they had spent together, both of them happily did, and he was ultimately able to interview all ten.

Here are four lessons that Dr. Misner took from this story.

* Don’t expect something for nothing. Asking for favors from people you don’t know just doesn’t work.

* Be prepared. Don’t waste people’s time.

* Take notes and follow advice when you’re meeting with people who are more successful than you are.

* Ask people who meet with you whether they thought the meeting was worth their time. Only ask for referrals if they think it was.

This story is not just a lesson in leadership: it’s a lesson in networking.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcrpt of Episode 474 –

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:

Hi. I am actually at home this week in Austin, Texas in the library on the second floor overlooking Austin Lake, Lake Austin.

Priscilla:

That sounds nice.

Ivan:

It’s very nice. It’s a great place to do a podcast.

Priscilla:

Tell me a little bit about this lesson that is in the title here.

Ivan:

You know, some people know that I was given a fantastic opportunity

to spend a few days with John Maxwell at his leadership conference in Orlando in August. I was very honored and humbled to win his Maxwell Leadership Award 2016. It was really an amazing event. I genuinely appreciate the honor that John gave me in recognizing the work that we have done in BNI.

While I was there, John shared a story that I just thought was an incredible networking lesson. It was something that I wanted to share on my podcast. He began his story, sharing it with me, that he was a very young man. He was a pastor in the 1970’s. He wanted to learn. He wanted to grow in his field. He decided that he would try to interview 10 of the most successful pastors from across the U.S. Being a thoughtful young man, John realized that their time was valuable. He wanted to pay for it, but at the time – this was in the early 70’s- he only made $4200 a year. A year. In salary.

But he knew that he was going to be taking up valuable time and he wanted to pay them for their time, compensate them for their time, and they could do whatever they wanted with the money for their time. Donate it to their church or whatever.

John reached out to the 10 pastors that he wanted to seek advice from and he offered them $100 each for less than an hour of their time. Now, you do the math. 10 pastors, $100 each. $1000. That was one fourth of his annual income that he offered. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the ’70s, $100 was a lot of money. When you take a look at what his salary was, that was a huge percentage of his income. So even though it doesn’t sound like a lot, multiplied by 10, like I said, it was almost a quarter of his annual income.

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 376.

Synopsis

Andy Lopata, co-host of The Global Networking Show, joins Dr. Misner this week to talk about networking globally and strategically.

Most networking training focuses on networking skills rather than networking strategy. Knowing how to network is good, but you need to know what your intended outcome is for any networking group or meeting.

The mindset of BNI is “Givers Gain,” but that doesn’t exclude setting goals for the number and type of referrals you want to get and how to help people give you the best referrals.

Picture a conversation between your “champion” and your prospect. What is your prospect going to say that cues your champion to think of you? It won’t often be the obvious thing, e.g. “I’m looking for a great financial advisor.” Instead, it will be a statement of a major life change that a financial advisor can help with.

Make sure your statement about who you want to meet can pass the ten-year-old test. Will a ten-year-old not only understand it but listen all the way to the end? Be as specific as possible.

The only differences in networking globally are the macro-cultural differences.  Ultimately, people are very similar. Business around the world is about building trust.

Networking strategy comes down to investing in relationships, no matter where you are in the world.

Brought to you by The Global Networking Show.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 376 –

Priscilla:

Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by the GlobalNetworkingShow.com, a monthly Google Hangout show hosted by Andy Lopata and Dr. Ivan Misner. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, how are you today?

Ivan:

I am doing great. I happen have a person that you mentioned in the introduction. I have my cohost with me on the Global Networking Show here on the podcast today. Andy Lopata has been labeled one of Europe’s leading networking strategists by the Financial Times. He is well known to many BNI members as the cohost of the Global Networking Show, which you mentioned. He and I regularly interview leading networking and business experts from all around the world on our YouTube show, Google Hangout show.

Andy is also a blogger for the Huffington Post. He is a regular contributor to SuccessNet, our newsletter. And he writes for a number of business magazines in the UK, as well as being quoted in the media in the UK and overseas.

You know, there is a handful of people who I would consider really an expert in networking, and Andy is one of the few people on that list. Andy, it is a real pleasure to have you on the BNI podcast.

Andy:

Thank you very much, Ivan, and hello to Priscilla as well.

Priscilla:

Yes. Hi, Andy. Welcome.

Ivan:

You know, the Global Networking Show- great idea. It was your idea. I appreciate you inviting me to cohost it. If listeners here on the podcast haven’t heard the show, go to GlobalNetworkingShow.com. You can see all of the shows that we have done there. They are recorded and are available in archive, so you can go back and listen to old shows.

Andy, we aren’t here to talk about the Global Networking Show. We want to talk about networking globally and strategically, which leads me to my first question. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of approaching your network strategically?

Andy:

Of course, yes.

Synopsis

Because you give away a little bit of your reputation when you make a referral, trust is very important to the referral process. BNI can accelerate the process of developing trust between BNI members through regular 1-2-1s.

To be effective, a 1-2-1 needs to be both structured and social. The more you can find overlapping areas of professional and personal interest, the more successful your 1-2-1 is going to be. The Gains Exchange form (see below) is an effective tool for discovering these common interests.

As you can see from the graph below, there is a direct linear correlation between the number of 1-2-1s conducted and the number of referrals given and received. Those who do three or more 1-2-1s per month give and receive twice as many referrals as those who do one or fewer 1-2-1s in a month.

Listen to Episode 191 for a great example of how this works.

Do you have a story about how 1-2-1s have helped you get referrals? Share your story in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 472 –

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:

Well, I am actually home this week. I am in Austin, Texas trying to catch up on some of my writing. Today I am going to talk about, I think, a really interesting topic. It is based on some research that Beatrice Sparacino did recently. It is about 1-2-1s.

When you give a referral to someone, we have talked about this in the podcast before- when you give a referral to someone, you give a little of your reputation away. If it is a good referral, it enhances your reputation. If you give a bad referral, it hurts your reputation.

The referral process works most efficiently if you know, like and trust someone. Trust is particularly important. Therefore, referrals and trust tend to go hand in hand. Trust is important to the referral process. How do you expedite that within the context of networking? How can you move that along?

BNI can be, I think, an accelerator of the process, reducing the time required to build trust between individuals. One of the best ways to accelerate that trust is through regular 1-2-1s.

Research involving hundreds of BNI members in Europe was recently concluded by Beatrice as part of her thesis in Milan, Italy. She had a really interesting thesis, and over the next few months, I am going to be sharing some of the results of that. I have co-authored an article with her in SuccessNet. That is what I am talking about today, material from that article.

In here, there will be a graph. So if you are listening to this on iTunes, when you get a chance, go to bnipodcast.com so that you can see the graph that I am going to be talking about. I am going to post the graph up here.

What is key in conducting an effective 1-2-1 is that it needs to be both structured and social. It’s kind of interesting. You want it structured but you also want it to be social- a combination of a business discussion with enough personal information to allow both parties to get to know one another better.

If you continue the process, you will soon discover that this is the key to overlapping the areas of professional and personal interest. The more you can find overlapping areas of professional and personal interest, the more the 1-2-1 is going to me.

One of the BNI tools that we recommend you use to achieve this is the GAINS exch...

Synopsis

The LCD in the title does not mean “liquid crystal display.” It stands for Least Common Denominator, a term from mathematics. If you can break your business down to its smallest components and focus on just one aspect of your business in your weekly presentations, it works much better than providing a laundry list of things you do, or a vague and meaningless term like “full-service.”

For instance, a real estate agent might do 60-second presentations about first-time home buyers, condos, single-family-homes, investment properties, house flipping, downsizing your home for empty-nesters, buying a larger home for a growing family, the communities you focus your business on, and so forth.

No matter what your business is, you know enough about it to break it down in the same way. If you do a whole series of LCDs over the course of a year, by the end of the year everyone in your chapter will know so much about your business that they can give you great referrals.

Make up a quick list of ideas for LCD presentations right now. Share your list–and your stories of how LCDs worked for you–here in the comments.

(Hear more about this topic in Episode 221: Your Business 101.)

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 471 –

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 in Charlotte, North Carolina today at BNI headquarters doing Director Orientation Training. BNI Directors from all over the world come to the global headquarters and get trained. So I am visiting. They go for three days of training, 24 hours. They get out there and hopefully help members worldwide grow their businesses.

Priscilla:

That’s great. So-

Ivan:

Today – oh go ahead.

Priscilla:

I was just going to ask you what this LCD episode is about.

Ivan:

You know, I just realized somebody was asking me about LCDs the other day because I talk about them in Givers Gain. I think it is in our orientation audio as well. In fact, I am sure it is.

So they asked me about it and I said to look up a podcast on it and get more details. Then I looked up a podcast just to make sure it was there and I have never done a podcast where I do a deep dive into LCDs. So that is what today is, to give a little bit more description to people.

LCD stands for least or lowest common denominator. It is actually part of algebra, where you take your least or lowest common denominator when you break a number down to its smallest increment. Believe it or not, this actually works in networking or doing presentations as well.

If you can break your business to their smallest piece, it works so much better in BNI. So you talk about your business and really chunk it down and talk about just one aspect of your business, we have found that it works much more effectively than trying to say everything that you do.

Now, I talk about this in a different variation in episode 221, so if you are listening to this one, go back and listen to 221, where I talk about Your Business 101, where you break it down. The usual term that I use with this is the least or lowest common denominator.

You see, people will come into a BNI meeting and they will do one of two things. The first thing that they will do is give you a laundry list of everything that they do. “I do this. I do that.

Synopsis

If you try to make networking transactional (like a vending machine) instead of relational, it won’t work. People will always keep a scorecard, but it’s not really possible to keep score. Two referrals to a florist and two referrals to a real estate agent are not the same thing. It’s not practical to expect people to provide you referrals of exactly the same value that you provide them.

If you make referral marketing into a transactional process, it will absolutely, categorically fail. You have to enter into the philosophy of Givers Gain, which is based on reciprocity. By working with people over time and developing relationships with them, the value of the referrals you give will come back to you. What goes around does come around in BNI.

Take time to get to know and trust people before you refer business to them–and give them the opportunity to get to know and trust you.

Share your own experiences with transactional vs. relational networking here in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 470 –

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 in Orlando, Florida this week. I have been invited to a John Maxwell Leadership event. I am going to be at his event for the next couple of days.

Priscilla:

That sounds like a lot of fun.

Ivan:

Yeah, it should be a blast. I have never met John so it will be really nice to meet him.

Priscilla:

Will you tell us about it sometime in the future?

Ivan:

I will, indeed. Absolutely. Happy to do it.

Priscilla:

Okay. What is this episode about, coin-operated networking?

Ivan:

Coin-operated networking. So coin-operated networking is like a vending machine. Take two coins, stick them in the slot, push the button and wait until the candy bar pops out. That is what I would call transactional networking.

While the transactional process is great for vending machines, it is just the opposite for networking. If you are trying to network by saying, “I will give you business now, but you will have to give it to me back,” then you will be really sorely disappointed, I think.

The proper mindset is let me help you out. I have some ideas. I have a referral for you. Over time, it will get back to me, I’m sure.

If you try to make it transactional instead of relational, it won’t work because people will always keep a scorecard. So I think in order to make networking successful, you really have to focus on building the relationship and not expecting this sort of this transactional process, that I like to call coin-operated networking, where I am going to give you two referrals. Now you give me two referrals back.

It really doesn’t work that way for so many reasons. First of all, just logically, the value of referrals can be substantially different. The numbers alone are never really relevant. Two referrals to a florist are vastly different than two referrals to a real estate agent.

Priscilla:

Right. That’s for sure.

Ivan:

Yeah, you have got to get a lot of referrals for the florist to make up for one really good referral to a real estate agent. You know, by the same token, it is unreasonable to expect the same amount of dollars in referral from someone just because you passed referrals of a certain magnitude big enough.

If you pass a referral worth $1000 and you have an expectation that the per...

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 308.

Synopsis

The one secret to success in BNI is that there is no one secret. There are at least three–plus one.

The three are

* Embrace quality

* Grow your team

* Seek engagement

The illustrations below show the advantage to growing your team. (Click for larger image.)

 

And the one is sharing stories. Sharing stories is the way that you embrace quality, grow your team, and get people engaged. A story is a fact wrapped in an emotion that compels people to take action that transforms them in some way. If you don’t have any stories of your own yet, go to BNISuccessNet.

Share your own stories here in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 308 –

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, which is in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you doing?

Ivan:

I am doing great, Priscilla. Today, I am going to talk about what I believe is the formula for transforming chapters into really great groups. As I travel around the world, BNI members will oftentimes ask me what is the one secret to success in BNI? So would you like to hear the one secret?

Priscilla:

I know the one secret.

Ivan:

You probably heard me or a good friend of yours say it because I know Mike who we both know says this as well. The one secret to success in BNI is that there is no one secret. In order for members to be successful in BNI, there are a number of things that members have to do in order for a chapter to really do well. I believe there are at least three plus one, and I will explain why the list I have plus one. Three plus one. That is where the title comes from. 3+1=member success.

The three are embrace quality, grow your team and seek engagement. Those are three. Then there is plus one.

First is embrace quality. Quality is first on the list for a reason. The process begins by being very selective about who you bring into your chapter. You want quality business professionals with positive, supportive attitudes. You also want people who are good at what they do. Networking is dependent on the quality of the relationships that you actually develop as a group. If your network is a mile wide and an inch deep, you won’t be getting the referrals that you expect. Therefore, it is important to build deep relationships with your referral partners if you want to generate more referrals.

In order to ensure quality participation, there has to be accountability in the group. You have to have accountability. I talked about this in last week’s podcast. Without accountability and some structure, you can have a coffee clatch and that is not why people generally join the organization.

If you expect the best from your members, you are going to get it. If you expect less than the best from your fellow members, you are going to get it. So why accept mediocrity when excellence is an option? Accountability in a group helps you achieve excellence, and you want quality people who are willing to commit. That is one.

Two, grow your team. Years ago, I learned that there is a dramatic correlation between the size of a group and the number of referrals that are generated by that group. Groups that are under 20 tend not to generate nea...

Synopsis

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

Today’s question comes from Johann, a self-professed networking addict:

Can a person network too much within the BNI framework?

The short answer to this question is yes. But it depends on whether you are networking wide or networking deep. It’s possible to network too widely and not deeply enough. A story about someone known as “The Queen of Networking” illustrates this.

People called this woman “The Queen of Networking” because they saw her at every event and she always talked to every single person there. When she met Dr. Misner at one of these events, she told him that she went to 8-10 networking events every week but wasn’t getting any business.

The problem was that she was focusing too hard on the Visibility part of the VCP process, and spreading herself too thin. What she needed to do establish Credibility by making deeper connections with people she had already met. Only then would she be able to get to Profitability.

If you are networking too widely, do more one-to-ones and GAINS Exchange. But even then, you want to pace yourself. If you’re spending more than 8 hours a week on networking, you might be at risk of networking burnout.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 468 –

Priscilla:

This is part of our Ask Ivan series. If you have a question for Ivan, email him at this address: [email protected]

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:

Wow, I am actually home this week. I have been traveling a lot and I am back in Austin, TX, doing this interview overlooking Lake Austin and working from home this week.

Priscilla:

That sounds beautiful. So can you network too much?

Ivan:

Yeah, this is a question that comes from Johann. Johann gave me a story. It is a great story. He admits to basically being in a networking 12 step program. He says he is a bit of a networking addict and he has accumulated a ton of CEU points from doing one to ones. His question is can a person network too much within the BNI framework?

Johann, I am going to answer the question both from within and outside BNI. It is important that I go through the whole answer because the short answer is yeah, people can definitely network too much. I know that is counterintuitive to the Founder of the world’s largest networking organization, that you could be networking too much. But that is really the truth.

The key here to me is networking wide or networking deep. Johann, you say that you do a lot of one to ones. To me, that is networking deep. If your personal network is a mile wide and only an inch deep, it will never be a powerful personal network. So if your networking is really about building strong referral relationships with people, it is a little harder to network too much- but it is absolutely possible to network too much.

I will gave you a case in point. I was traveling through the midwest a few years ago when I kept hearing people talk about a woman who was at this event. They called her the Queen of Networking. She was not a BNI member. This was a big event. They called her the Queen of Networking. By the way, this is not Hazel Walker.