The Official BNI Podcast show

The Official BNI Podcast

Summary: The Official BNI Podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization.

Join Now to Subscribe to this Podcast

Podcasts:

 Episode 545: Full Participation in BNI (Classic Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:14

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 116. Synopsis In week two of BNI Fundamentals, Dr. Misner addresses “Full Participation in BNI.” (Remember, Education Coordinators can download all this material in advance from BNI.com.) * Be there every week. Out of sight, out of mind. And if you show up late for BNI, we assume you’ll show up late with clients. * Participate in the networking time that starts each meeting. Don’t sit down until the president calls the meeting to order. Pay special attention to visit. * Participate 100% in the meeting. Treat whoever is speaking as if they were the biggest client you could possibly land. * Attend the BNI trainings and embrace a culture of learning. All four of these practices demonstrate the Givers Gain mentality. The more you put into BNI, the more you’ll get out of it. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 116 – 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’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan and how are you? Ivan: I’m doing great, Priscilla. This week I’m still up at Big Bear. We’re doing master trainer meetings with the Referral Institute people. One of the companies I run is called The Referral Institute. For BNI members, if you have a chance, go to ReferralInstitute.com, and it’s a great program to help teach people to go really deep in learning how to create referrals for life. I’m meeting with the key master trainers this week in Big Bear for the referrals. Priscilla: That sounds great. Well, what would you like to share with us this week? Ivan: Well, last week I started the 12 weeks of BNI Fundamentals, and this is week number 2, which is called Full Participation in BNI. If you’re an education coordinator, you can download these 12 weeks ahead of time by going to BNI.com and putting your user name and password for education coordinators. If you don’t have that, go to you local BNI director and get that information. And you can get this ahead of time and then follow along with us and help train and support members on these podcasts as we do them. Last week we made the point that success in BNI comes when the rest of the chapter members trust you enough to open up their best referrals to you. You have to remember that until we’ve experienced your work, you have to earn that trust by showing us how professional you are and by treating us like prized clients. So we talked about the things not to do to be a good member in BNI. This week the subject is how to really play full out, full participation in BNI for fun and for profit. The first simply is showing up each week at our meetings. That means be there every week; be there on time; actually participate. Why? Two reasons. First, if you’re not there, you’re not fresh in everyone’s mind, and you’re not in the minds of the members each and every week. We won’t think of you when we’re standing smack in the middle of a great referral for you. The second reason is if you don’t show up or you show up late, we assume that’s just your style. This is really important. If you don’t show up or you show up late, we assume that’s just your style and that that’s the way that you’ll operate in a referral that we give you, that you’ll do the same thing with people we might refer to you. Remember, your actions here are all we have to go on to judge your professionalism with our referrals.

 Episode 544: 5 Great Questions to Ask at a Networking Event | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:57

Synopsis The easiest way to be seen as a bore is to talk about yourself. Your goal at a networking event is to make yourself memorable by not talking about yourself. In honor of International Networking Week, Dr. Misner shares 5 good questions to ask at a networking event. * What do you like best about what you do? * What got you started in this profession? * Where else do you usually network? * What are some of your biggest challenges? * How can I help you? (Don’t ask this unless you mean it and plan to follow through.) Everyone has a story. It’s your job to find out what that story is. Listen to Episode 83 and Episode 183 for more great networking questions. Do you have favorite questions to ask at networking events? Share them in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 544 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 today? Ivan: I am doing fantastic and I would like to wish you and everyone listening a Happy International Networking Week. It is the first week of February every year, International Networking Week. So this is International Networking Week. If you get a chance, go to internationalnetworkingweek.com or to my blog IvanMisner.com and just check out a very short video. It’s only about four minutes long about International Networking Week. I talk about diversity. I have been doing this now for 10 years, I think 11 years, International Networking Week. I have a lot of content to do today so let me jump into that. It’s an interesting topic, as you told me offline, five great questions to ask at a networking event. So here we go. What is the easiest way to be seen as a bore? Talk about yourself. That is probably the easiest way. So why would anyone thing that successful networking means cornering as many people as possible and telling them all about your business? That is a bad idea. The best way to entertain a new contact and potential future referral partner is to get them to talk about themselves. So your goal at a networking event is to make yourself memorable without talking about yourself. Now, that sounds paradoxical, but it really works. If you know how to do it, you will stand out in people’s minds when they look back on the event. The secret really is to ask people about themselves and their business. A lot of people you run into at networking event are so busy talking about themselves, their products and all the great things that they can do for you that they never take a breath and ask about you. Instead of competing with these folks, imagine the result of asking questions that encourage them to freely share that information. You can really create a networking environment in which they are talking and you are listening. A good networker has two ears and one mouth and uses them both proportionately. People are feeling heard. This all begins with your opening conversation, so if you lead off by asking the right questions, and you demonstrate a genuine interest, cultivate an attitude of trust and rapport from the start. So here are five good questions to ask at a networking event.

 Episode 543: How to Use the BNI Podcast | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:39

Synopsis In business, if you really sit down and think about what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it, you tend to be much more successful. Dr Misner came up with 9 different things to think about when preparing to listen to The Official BNI podcast, and Priscilla adds a suggestion. BNI Members * Listen in your office and take notes (or print the transcripts and highlight them). * Listen to the podcasts in your car. Anything you can listen to and learn when you’re in traffic is awesome. * Download the podcasts from iTunes and listen to them on your mobile device. * Listen to podcasts when you’re doing the dishes, walking the dog, or exercising. Education Coordinators * Education coordinators can provide short summaries of an episode or play a clip from one. * Hand out a transcript at a meeting and talk about it. * Assign specific podcasts based on what the group needs and discuss them at the next meeting. * Use the search function on the BNI Podcast website to find the episodes most relevant to you. * Assign podcasts to new members or those who are struggling with part of the BNI program. BNI Directors * BNI Directors should be assigning podcasts to people who are working on developing networking skills. Some Podcast Stats as of January 2nd, 2018 There are 538 published episodes, minus 78 rebroadcasts = 460 unique episodes. Each episode is approximately 10 minutes long. 460 x 10 = 4600 minutes, or 76 hours and 40 minutes of listening time–and that’s a conservative estimate. Listening to every single episode is a marathon task, but you can sort podcasts by category, tag, or series to find the ones that interest you most. If you have more ideas about how to listen to the BNI Podcast, let us know in the comments. And thank you for listening! Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 543 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 today? Ivan: I am doing fantastic, Priscilla, thank you. We have an interesting topic, I think, today, how to use a BNI Podcast, how to listen to BNI Podcast. I started thinking about it. Sallie Goetch, the person who manages the BNI Podcast website, answered somebody’s question. She started throwing out some stats. I thought this is interesting. I started thinking about ways people could listen and how you could use the podcast as a result of it. I am going to share those stats with you at the end of this podcast. I came up with a list of eight different things to think about as you listen to the podcast and what you can do with the podcast. Priscilla, we haven’t talked about this much, but if you have something to add to it, I would love to hear that. I think this is a great podcast to kind of – I have found that in business if you really sit down and think about what you are going to do and how you are going to do it, you will be more successful at doing it. This is kind of contemplating how to effectively use this amazing content. We have hundreds and hundreds of podcasts, Priscilla, that you and I put together over the years. So here is my list. I have eight. Feel free to add any at the end here. First, personally, if I were listening to the content,

 Episode 542: How to Make a Million Dollars Networking | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:31

Synopsis Michael Maher of ReferCo, author of 7L: The Seven Levels of Communication, joins Dr. Misner on today’s podcast to talk about how he was able to net more than $1 million per year through networking, thanks to BNI. When he joined BNI, Michael set an annual referral goal: give 1000 referrals and receive 500 referrals. The first year he received 250 years and 8 years after that he received more than 500 referrals, when most real estate agents get 3-5 referrals per year. How did he do this? Through what he calls the networking stack: stacking networking appointments back to back before and after your BNI meeting. You can also introduce these referral partners to each other between meetings: clients to potential clients, BNI members to potential BNI members, and so forth. The next part of this method is to develop a home court advantage. Orchestrate the ultimate first impression by becoming a regular at a local restaurant and having your networking stack meetings there. The staff of the restaurant provides additional endorsement for you, their valued customer, and takes great care of your guest. The effectiveness of these two techniques is increased by an increasing “Givers Gain” type of mentality in consumers, who are members of what Michael calls the Generosity Generation and want to work with people who say “I am here to help.” The 7L system is designed to get you from giving to gaining. You can find Michael’s 7L book at thebookonreferrals.com and Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents, which is not just for real estate agents, at miraclemorningagent.com. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 542 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 just got back from a trip. I was in Oahu. It’s a great place to do business, but we had a Transformational Leadership Council meeting. I got to peak to the BNI chapters there, so it was a great visit. Priscilla: Sounds wonderful. Ivan: Today, I have a guest on my show. It was a guest actually recommended by you, Priscilla. Thank you so much for recommending Michael to me. Michael Maher is the CEO and Founder of ReferCo. He is a leading authority on business referrals. Michael rocketed to the top of the real estate profession by netting one million dollars in his third year of real estate. He has been called one of the greatest sales people in the world by Ninja Selling’s Larry Kendall, and he currently has two top selling book on Amazon. Two. I know that is really difficult. I know that firsthand. Well done, Michael. He has Seven Levels of Communication, Going from Relationship to Referrals, which I am very pleased to have personally endorsed and The Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents. He built his business with networking and referrals. He is a former BNI President and Educational Coordinator. I would like to welcome Michael Mayer to the show. Thanks, Michael. Michael: Well, thank you. It is an honor and a privilege and you have be...

 Episode 541: Inviting Visitors (Classic Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:18

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 278. Synopsis Dr. Misner’s favorite technique for inviting visitors to BNI is what he calls “We’re Interviewing.” Suppose your chapter needs a printer. When you meet a printer, explain that you’re in a referral group and say “We’re interviewing printers now to find the best printer in the area to give all of our business to. I think you might make a good candidate.” Replace “printers” with members of any profession your chapter needs. This shows people the value of BNI membership and helps the chapter to be selective about new members. Of course, this means you have to interview the visitor after the chapter meeting. Only submit an application if you think the person is a good fit. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 278 – 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, 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, Priscilla, and today I have a topic that somebody asked me about. It’s inviting visitors, a technique that I call the “we’re interviewing” technique. They said have you talked about this on a podcast and I said, yeah, I thought so. I did a search and I saw a mention of it in one of my podcasts, but I never really went into any detail. It’s such an important topic that I can’t believe that I haven’t talked about this thoroughly on one of the podcasts in the past. People ask me how do you invite people? What is the best technique? What I think the best technique is, the one I really like, is “we are interviewing.” So take a profession, whatever it is- a printer. Let’s say your chapter decides they need a printer. What you want to do is, when you meet a printer, to say to them, “We’re interviewing printers right now.” Start it with, “I am in a referral group. We get together on a regular basis. We are all about passing referrals to each other. We are interviewing printers right now to find the best printer in the community that we can give all of our referrals to. I think you might make a great candidate.” So let’s review this again. I want people to use this. You can use the transcript. I want you to use the transcript. “I’m in a referral group.” You don’t have to go into much detail. “I am in a referral group. I have been a member for [however long]. We get together on a regular basis and we’re all about passing business to each other. We’re interviewing [fill in the blank for whatever profession]. We’re interviewing printers right now to find the best printer in the area to give all of our business to. I think you might make a good candidate.” That’s a really powerful way to invite people. One of the reasons is whenever- sometimes when people invite others- one of the great things about BNI is people love BNI. They love BNI, and so they maybe come on just a little bit too strong,. “Oh, you have got to join this organization. It’s the best organization around. They get a lot of business.” People who don’t know you are like, “Who are you? And why are you trying to sell me on this? Read the palm.” Right? They get put off. One of the things that I found is that if you can, in an appropriate way, be more exclusive about who you bring in, you are actually going to get more interest from people. It’s a little bit counter intuitive but it’s absolutel...

 Episode 540: Country-Wide Referrals | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Synopsis Jeremy Walsh joins Dr. Misner again this week to talk about country-wide referrals, which are made possible thanks to Dr. Misner’s vision of how to tie the world together through BNI Connect. Since BNI Connect was first launched in 2012, it’s been possible to pass referrals to members in other chapters–but only in your own region. The most-requested feature has been the ability to pass referrals to BNI members in other regions. It’s now possible to pass referrals to anyone in your own country with the BNI Connect mobile app. BNI members have always passed referrals to members in other regions, but now you can get credit for them, because it’s possible to confirm that the referral was made. Passing referrals worldwide has to wait until the BNI Connect team has dealt with the problem of currency conversion, but they’re working on it. If you have a story about a referral you’ve gotten through BNI Connect, share it in the comments. Visit Jeremy’s website, The Right Click. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 540 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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: I am in your neck of the woods today, Priscilla, I am in the Bay Area for an Asentiv conference tomorrow where I am speaking. I will wave to you. I won’t be far away. Priscilla: That sounds good. Ivan: We have a guest who was with us last week. He has been on a number of podcasts. He is a good friend, Jeremy Walsh. He has been a member for 16 years. He handles the customer service for BNI Connect. He has done that amazingly well for the last seven years. He has been President of his chapter, Vice President,. He has been a Director Consultant. I forgot to mention last week that he is now a a member of the Board of Directors for BNI Foundation. Congratulations on that, Jeremy. I really appreciate your contributions to the Foundation by being on the Board. He is also PResident of The RIght Click. I didn’t ask you this last week. When we are all done, you should give your website for The Right Click as well. So today, Jeremy, welcome to the podcast, by the way. Jeremy: Thank you so much i. It is such a pleasure to be here. Ivan: You have been on a lot. You have probably been here as much or more than any one other guest that I have ever had, so you must be doing a great job. Jeremy: Thanks. I could talk about BNI Connect all day. Ivan: Especially now. WHen it first came out, maybe not so much wanting to, but you are always good at it. You are always good at calming people down, but now it is such a fantastic tool. Last week, we talked about the app. If you didn’t listen to last week’s podcast, go and listen to it. It is about the mobile app. So this week, we want to talk about country-wide referrals. So you have six or seven talking points on this. Jeremy, I will let you run with it. Jeremy: Awesome. Well, I have to say that since BNI Connect was released- which by the way, if nobody has thank Ed you recently, Dr. Misner for even having this vision of how to tie the world together through BNI Connect,

 Episode 539: The BNI Connect Mobile App | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:41

Synopsis Jeremy Walsh, who manages customer support for BNI Connect, joins Dr. Misner on today’s podcast to talk about the BNI Connect mobile app.This app is meant to enhance the BNI member experience on a day-to-day basis. The app is more than BNI Connect in the palm of your hand. So what can you do with the BNI Connect app? * As soon as you log in, you can see your stats–even if you’ve only used paper. * You can pass referrals directly from the app. * You can record TCYB and CEUs. * You can find and share contact information for your chapter members. * You can invite a visitor to a BNI meeting. * You can watch BNI educational videos and webinars in the learning center. They’re adding new features constantly based on member feedback. You get the app from Google Play or the iOS App Store. Just go to the app store on your phone and search for “BNI Connect.” Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 539 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 today? Ivan: I am doing fantastic. I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. It is going to be a great 2018. I am starting it off with a bang. I am driving later today to Dallas to do a big Ask Ivan event tomorrow. Priscilla: Okay. Great. Ivan: Dallas is about two and a half to three hours from where I am. I have a guest today. He is a gentleman who has been on our podcasts many times. His name is Jeremy Walsh. Jeremy has been a BNI member for 16 years. During that time, he has been President of his chapter. He has been Vice President of his chapter. He has been a Director Consultant in the region for some time. He is the President of The Right Click, an IT company, and he has handled the customer service for BNI Connect for the last seven years. I have to tell you that, you know, people always hate customer service departments, but not with Connect. I know I have said this on a previous call. We had one Director who was really upset with BNI Connect. “I am really mad at BNI Connect, but I love Jeremy Walsh and his team. They are just so fantastic. They make it so good.” I have never known a customer service department to have such raving fans as Jeremy and his team, so Jeremy, welcome to BNI Podcast again. Jeremy: Thank you so much, Ivan. It is such a pleasure to be here. Honestly, one of the things about the customer service aspect is when we take one of the core pillars, one of the principles of BNI – and that is “positive and supportive”- and apply it to your business, that is one of the things that we can do with it by being positive and supportive with every caller that calls in. Ivan: Another thing that has gone over real well in addition to the customer service that you guys provide for the BNI Connect program is the BNI Connect mobile app. That is what we are going to talk about today.

 Episode 538: The Collaborative Economy of BNI | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:52

Synopsis Laura Hurren joins Dr. Misner to share a story that illustrates the difference between a scarcity mentality and an abundance mentality. A new BNI chapter was launching in a small town in Italy. They held an enormous launch event and Visitors Day, attended by more than 100 visitors. The members of the new chapter went to extraordinary lengths to make it a great event. But to Laura’s horror, when the visitors started to leave after the event, the leadership team stayed on stage taking selfies.When she tried to persuade them to go outside and speak to the visitors and invite them to join, they assured her that all was well. When she went out to see what was happening, she found the members of another BNI chapter, who had come 28 kilometers to welcome the visitors, answer their questions, and get them signed up to the new chapter. Laura had never seen anything like it, but BNI members in Italy are very focused on the community. The most recently-formed chapter helps the next chapter get started. The members of this chapter described it as a collaborative economy. The BNI chapters in this region (Piemonte Sud) recognize that if they work together, they can build their chapters more quickly and more strongly than if they work in silos. This is a perfect illustration of the abundance mentality: there’s a lot of business out there, and if you work with chapters nearby, all of you are going to be more and more successful. Chapters that support their fellow chapters and support each other’s members build the BNI brand, build business, and build BNI globally. These chapters also participated in the Business Voices program from their desire to support the community. If you hear of a chapter opening up near you, volunteer to help them. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 538 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 today? Ivan: I am doing fantastic. Thank you, Priscilla. I have a guest who has never been on the podcast, but I have known her for many years. Laura has been an Executive Director and a Co-National Director. For over 20 years, she has been involved in BNI. Laura started when she was only 16 years old and she has been in BNI forever. She has been in the Founders Circle of BNI. She has been on the Franchise Advisory Board, which is sort of like a membership committee but for executive directors. I consider Laura a great friend, a long-time BNI Director, and she is also the CO-National Director besides coming from London and was also the Co-National Director in Italy. Welcome to your first interview on the BNI Podcast, Laura. Laura: Thank you, Ivan. Thank you for such a warm welcome. Ivan: It is awesome to have you on and I don’t know if I gave your last name. Laura Hurren. Laura has a fantastic story. She told it to me at the BNI Convention recently, and I asked her if she would share it in a podcast because it is an amazing story that I think shows the difference between a scarcity mentality and an abundance mentality. So why don’t you tell the story,

 Episode 537: Specific Is Terrific for Referrals (Classic Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:18

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 416. Synopsis If you’re engaged in referral marketing, it’s very important to teach others how to refer you. In this episode, Dr. Misner leads listeners in a live exercise. * For the next 15 seconds, write down as many silly things that people have done in the world as you can. * In 15 seconds, write down as many silly things that your children have done (or children you know if you don’t have any) as you can think of. * In 15 seconds, write down as many things that are white in color as you can think of. * In 15 seconds, write down as many things as you can think of that are white in color that you might find in a refrigerator. Did you get more answers for 2 and 4 than for 1 and 3? Most people do, because it’s easier to respond to a specific request. Referral marketing works just the same way: the more specific you are about what you do and who you do it for, the more referrals you’ll get. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of Episode 537 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: Hey, Priscilla. I am in Mexico this week. You ask that every week and I am sure people wonder why. I like to remind people from time to time. Years ago, I had people saying, “Oh, I van is on the beach, just hanging out, not doing anything these days.” I just want people to know that I am out visiting regions a lot, or out on business. This week, I am in Mexico for a Transformational Leadership Council meeting. I am a member of TLC, which is an organization started by Jack Canfield. It is a lot of fun. Very interesting. I get some great content that I end up using in BNI. The whole phrase, “changing the way the world does business” came from TLC, from a brainstorming session I did at TLC. Priscilla: That is great. You may end up on the beach. But you just wouldn’t tell us, right? Ivan: This one is not going to be on the- we are nowhere near the ocean on this one. Priscilla: Okay. Well, tell me what this topic is about- specific is terrific. Ivan: Specific is terrific. This is so important. If you are a BNI member, this is so important because if you are engaged in referral marketing, it’s very important to teach others how to refer you. So we are going to do an exercise. We are going to do something that I don’t think we have ever done before. Priscilla, I am going to do a live exercie. We are going to have dead air on a podcast for 15 seconds at a time. Priscilla: Okay. Ivan: Alright? Are you ready for that? Priscilla: I am. Ivan: If you are listening to this podcast, I want you to do this live if possible. If you are in a car, don’t do it, but if you are not, take out a piece of paper. I want you to be prepared to write some things down in these two very brief exercises, okay? Do you have a piece of paper, Priscilla? Priscilla: Yep, I do. Ivan: Alright. For the next 15 seconds, think of as many silly things that people have done in the world as you can. [15 seconds] Okay, stop. How many did you get? Priscilla: I only got two, Ivan. Ivan: Okay. That’s fine. Alright.

 Episode 536: What My Children Taught Me about Networking | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:35

Synopsis Today’s podcast topic comes from the second edition of Dr. Misner’s book Networking Like a Pro, which is now available on Amazon. If you want to build a powerful personal network, it’s really important to connect and engage with your network via the social media platforms that they use rather than the ones that you use. Dr. Misner learned this lesson when his children moved out. His oldest daughter only responds to text messages, not email or telephone. His second daughter only wanted to communicate via WhatsApp. His son didn’t respond to any of these channels, but spent a lot of time on Steam. In order to talk to his son, Dr. Misner downloaded Steam and purchased a game so he could talk to his son. This applies to face-to-face networking opportunities as well as to online networking opportunities. You have to go where your connections are instead of expecting them to come to where you are. If your children–or your clients–have taught you about how to communicate more effectively and what platforms to do it on, share your story in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 536 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 today? Ivan: I am doing fantastic, Priscilla, and I have kind of a fun topic. You have actually heard this when I saw you recently in the Bay areas, I think I told this story. I really enjoy this topic. We chatted before we went on here on the podcast and you said you enjoyed it. I said you’ve got to laugh in all the same places. Priscilla: That’s easy to do, Ivan, because you are very entertaining. Ivan: Well, thanks. I appreciate that. This is actually some material from a new book that I have – well, a second edition of a book. Networking Like a Pro is now out in its second edition, and this is some of the new material that is in Networking Like a Pro, Second Edition. So, you want to build a powerful professional network. It is really important to connect and engage with your network via the social media platforms that they use more than the ones you use. Now, this is particularly important if you need to develop a relationship with someone and you want to get to know them professionally. I am here to tell you that you have to go where they are, not where you are. I learned this lesson in a really unusual way. A few years ago, my children all moved out and were on their own. One at a time, they eventually moved out over a few years. And it soon struck me that I was communicating regularly with them in completely different ways. Now, my eldest, would not respond to emails ever. She would not even answer the phone when I called her. I discovered, however, that when I texted her, she responded immediately. So I even tested this once by calling her. No answer.

 Episode 535: Stepping on Your Toes in the Margins | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:22

Synopsis Josh Perry, winner of the BNI Foundation video contest, joins Dr. Misner this week to talk about how it’s not always in your best interest to protect “your” industry spot too aggressively. The people who “step on your toes” because they overlap with some areas of what you do can be your best referral partners and let you focus on what you love, for two reasons: * Abundance. Givers Gain tells us there’s enough work for everyone. The more people who are doing similar things to what we’re doing, who are meeting similar people to those we work with, the better chance there’s going to be someone they meet who needs what we do. * Focus. By having great referral partners you can turn to, you can help your clients solve problems on the fringes of what you do while still concentrating on the part of you work that you love most. Having these people in your chapter also helps you focus your weekly presentation and ask for the best possible referrals. Don’t be a classification cowboy. Clear, open communication turns the members who “step on your toes” into your best referral partners. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 535 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 Priscilla. I am back in Austin. I took part of the week off last week. I went to Galveston and had some vacation time last week. It was Thanksgiving here in the United States. It is good to be back home. Priscilla: Great. Ivan: I have a guest on today. His name is Josh Perry. Josh and I met about a month or so ago. Josh was the winner of the BNI Foundation video contest and his punishment for that was to be required to spend a day with my wife and me with his lovely wife, Kay. I joked a lot about the fact that we jammed so much into one day. It’s like I wouldn’t normally do all that in a week, but I wanted to make sure that we had lots of things to do. By the end of the day, Josh, I think you were probably pretty exhausted, but I will let you comment in just a seoncd. Let me introduce you to everybody. Josh is a consultant with Fusion Forge. He is a disciple of continuous improvement, an advocate for small business. He is a BNI member of just under two years. He is a native of Indiana. He has been a BNI member, a great BNI member. When we met, Josh told me about a couple of things that I thought was really interesting and would make a great podcast. So I asked Josh to be on. Josh, before I throw your first talking point at you, how bad was it hanging out with me for a day? Josh: Good afternoon, Ivan. It was a great day. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If anybody out there is listening and has the chance to come and visit Austin, it is a beautiful city. Your hospitality couldn’t have been better. Thank you and the foundation for sponsoring the contest and allowing us to come and enjoy a week with you in a day. Ivan: A week in a day. I like the way you put that. It’s good. For anyone interested in the foundation, go to bnifoundation.org.

 Episode 534: I’m Too Busy for BNI | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:23

Synopsis Tiffanie Kellog joins Dr. Misner this week to talk about why you’re never too busy for BNI. Here are three ways you can maximize your membership and get better results from the time you spend networking. * Get better referrals. When your referrals are ready to do business right away, it saves a lot of time. * Prepare your weekly presentations in advance to help your fellow members give you better referrals. * Schedule your one-to-ones efficiently. Make appointments either right after or right before your BNI meeting, or stack them at a single location to save travel time. * Learn while driving. Listen to training CDs or the Networking for Success videos. You can find more ways to maximize your BNI membership on Tiffanie’s website. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 534 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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: Hey, Priscilla. I just got back recently from the International Convention in Long Beach. It was the last convention in the US for a few years because we are now- 60% of the organization is global. We are going to hold these international conventions all around the world. Priscilla: That is a great idea. Ivan: It was awesome. There were over 1000 people. It is like a United Nations meeting. If you ever hear of a conference or a convention for BNI in your area, you have to go. I promise you, you have to go. First, I would love to meet you. Second, you are going to be blown away. So we should jump into the topic. I have here a guest. Her name is Tiffanie. That name may sound familiar. Tiffanie Kellog. Tiffanie has been a member since 2005. She is a top Asentiv trainer. Priscilla, you mentioned Networking for Success, and I think the phrase you used was “top networking experts”. Well the truth is there are about three or four other people who I have said, “Yeah, you are a top networking expert. You get to go on the site.” One of them is our very own Tiffanie Kellog. I think, Tiffanie, you have been on what, 25 of these podcasts now? Tiffanie: I don’t think that many yet. I think it is only six or so. Ivan: You have been on more than any other person. It is great to have you back. The topic of your podcast is , oh my goodness, did you say, “I Don’t Have Time for BNI”? Talk to me about that. Tiffanie: It is something I hear BNI members say all of the time. How about doing a 1-2-1? “I am so busy.” How about doing this training? “I am so busy.” I just remember all the time talking about “I Am Too Busy for BNI.” Really, if we are too busy for BNI, does that mean we are too busy for referrals? Ivan: Yeah. That is exactly right. It is crazy when I hear people say, “I am so busy that I need to step back.” It’s called hiring people. Have you ever heard this commercial? I know we have a lot of material to cover. Have you heard this commercial? I think it was for the telephone. I will really date myself. It was for the Yellow Pages. It was called Tom’s Desk. Tom had one desk in his retail shop.

 Episode 533: There’s No Substitute for a Good Substitute (Classic Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 18:10

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 386. Synopsis Steve Tannuzzo joins Dr. Misner this week for what they expect will be one of the most unpopular podcasts in BNI history. It’s important to understand the appropriate use of the substitute program in BNI. Massachusetts BNI piloted a substitute program in 4 chapters, two very successful, two not so successful. All four chapters and their revenue grew. One chapter went from 18 members to 50 and $200,000 to more than $1 million in revenue. The core of the program is that substitutes do not speak about their own businesses.It was never Dr. Misner’s intent for substitutes to be able to give their own 60-second presentations. When the same substitute attends frequently and talks about his or her own business, it’s good for the individual, but not for the chapter. Good substitutes are valuable to the chapter by giving great presentations about the person they’re representing. Substitutes are not there for themselves: they’re there for you. Don’t accept mediocrity when excellence is an option. Try this in your own chapter. Brought to you by The Global Networking Show. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 386 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by the GlobalNetworkingShow.com, which is 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 and I have a guest here on the show, Steve Tannuzzo, who is a freelance copywriter with a focus on website content, newsletters and advertising. He joined BNI in 2002, so Steve has been a member for 12 years and over the course of his membership was able to fulfill his dream of starting his own business in copywriting. He has been on the BNI Massachusetts team since 2003 and currently serves as an Area Director for over 1,000 members in more than 37 chapters. Steve, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. We really appreciate you being on. Steve: Thank you, Ivan. My pleasure. Ivan: Listen, we are about to do what I think would be one of the more unpopular podcasts in BNI podcast history. How do you feel about that? Steve: I am very excited about it because while it is unpopular, I think by the time this podcast is over, we will change some minds. Ivan: You know, I couldn’t agree with you more. I think it might end up being a little bit unpopular at first, but the truth is what we are going to talk about will have a more significant impact on chapters than the overwhelming of the 380 podcasts that I have done so far because I think this is really, really important. I created the substitute program because I thought it was really important to have an opportunity for people to be able to bring someone else in when they have a problem or some meeting that they absolutely have to do. I will be the first person to say that it has been extraordinarily abused in BNI. I think that as important as substitutes are to a membership, I think it is also important to understand the effective use of the substitute. And there are some real positive uses of the substitutes, one of which is bringing in fresh faces rather than the same old person coming in again.

 Episode 532: Why You Might Not Be Getting Referrals | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:41

Synopsis Tiffanie Kellog joins Dr. Misner this week about why you might not be getting referrals in BNI. One of the big reasons you’re not getting referrals is because you aren’t doing good weekly and featured presentations. If you’re doing any of the following things, it’s time to adopt better techniques. Weekly Presentation Mistakes * Reading your presentation. It’s better to practice than to read, and better to have a few bullet points to remind you what you want to say than to read your whole presentation. * Being vague. Remember, “specific is terrific,” especially if you only have 30 seconds. Focus on one product, or service. Never say “anyone” or “everyone.” * Giving up your weekly presentation when you do a featured presentation. Your weekly presentation can be a great introduction to your featured presentation. Featured Presentation Mistakes * Focusing on your history instead of why you do what you do and how you help your clients. Remember the goal is to drive referrals. * Not making an emotionally charged connection. People won’t do business with you if they don’t know, like, and trust you. * Staring at the screen. Reading your slides will send your audience to sleep. Use images and a few bullet points in your slides. * Opening up for Q&A. This can take your presentation far off track. Instead, invite people who have questions to schedule a one-to-one with you or ask them to write it on their business card so you can answer later. * Saying “I haven’t had time to prepare.” You’ve had six weeks. Saying this makes you look unreliable. * Spewing tons of details about your business (verbal vomit). People won’t remember it all anyway. Share a couple of points people can hang onto. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 532 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 doing fantastic and I am at the BNI International Convention in Long Beach. It is the last time that we are going to hold it in Long Beach for many, many years. It is always awesome. I feel like I am at a United Nations meeting because there are flags from all over the world. It is awesome. Talking about awesome, I have an awesome guest this week: Tiffanie Kellog. If that name sounds at all familiar, Tiffanie and I figured out that she has been on the BNI Podcast more than any other guest that I have brought on to BNIPodcast.com, so if you are listening to this, that should tell you something about the quality of her content. She has been a BNI member since 2005. She is one of the top trainers in the world for Asentiv. It is awesome to have Teffany on today’s podcast. Welcome, Tiffanie. Tiffanie: Thank you, Ivan. I am glad to be back. Ivan: You have a great title for this podcast. Repeat the title for us. Tiffanie: Why you might not be getting referrals in BNI. Ivan: Okay. Now, I want you to hear that title because what we are going to actually talk about are your weekly presentation and your featured presentation.

 Episode 531: Why Is Positivity Important to Networking? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:10

Synopsis 30-year BNI member and former BNI CEO Norm Dominguez joins Dr. Misner this week to talk about his book, The Magic of Positivity. A positive attitude makes people want to associate and cooperate with you. According to the survey of 3400 business owners that Dr. Misner talked about in Episode 501, a positive attitude is the number two characteristic of great networkers. Positivity has tangible benefits. Not only is positivity a great tool within BNI, it’s a great tool for life. When you have and practice a Positive Attitude, you will become more excellent in whatever you do. Be Positive and you will be Happy. Here are three of the six pillars of strength that support this law of positivity. * Always Think Remarkable (ATR). As in “How are you?” “Remarkable.” * Enjoy A Little Craziness (EALC). Fun and silliness are an antidote to stress. * Show That You Care (STYC). It can be as simple as a thumbs-up gesture. Find out more about the positivity movement and the six pillars on Possi Global. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 531 – 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 Miser and many other networking experts. 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 doing fantastic. I am in Austin right now, but I am getting ready to go to the international BNI convention, which I will be at next week. I am going to have a thousand of my closest friends from all over the world. More than 70 countries will be there, and my guest today is also going to be at the BNI convention. My guest today is a long-time friend. I want to introduce him here in a minute, Norm Dominguez. I have known Norm for about 30 years. This is his 30th anniversary in BNI, and you will get a 30 year anniversary pin, my friend, I promise, at the convention. Norm started in BNI as a member. Then he became Executive Director. Then District Director. Then National Director for the United States and did a brief stint as the Chief Operating Officer and had the role of CEO for 8 years. Today he is Vice Chair Emeritus of BNI. The reason I have invited him on the podcast today is that he has written a book called The Magic of Positivity. So I just have a couple of questions for Norm on why positivity is so incredibly important for networking. Norm, welcome to the BNI Podcast. Norm: Well, Ivan, thank you very much. After all of these years, it is really a treat and an honor to share this podcast recording with you and your audience because positivity has really been a part of my life way before BNI. But why is it important? Because it makes us feel good. It is pretty simple, and if I can’t make it simple, it’s not worth it to me. To me, positivity cones from within. Ivan: Can I just add one other thing? If you go back and listen to my podcast earlier, for those of you listening, I did a podcast earlier when I talked about the five or seven ways that I listed for better networking. Number two, and this is based on a survey of 3400 people–number two was positive attitude.

Comments

Login or signup comment.