The Official BNI Podcast

Synopsis One of the readers of Dr. Misner's blog asked about when it was appropriate to hand out a business card. (Blog post here.) Some people are "card-pushers." They think that networking is handing their business cards to as many people as possible. This amounts to cold-calling. Dr. Misner's advice is "Don't hand out your business card unless someone asks for it." So what happens if you want to make a connection and the other person doesn't ask? Easy: ask for their card instead. You can also ask whether they attend the event where you met them regularly. If they do, you'll have another opportunity to talk. Note: just receiving a card from someone doesn't give you permission to add them to your mailing list. You're more likely to offend them than to develop the connection. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 390 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which 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 of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. This week, I am at a Transformational Leadership Conference in Maui. I know it’s a tough place to be, but I guess there are worse places to have to do a conference. But we have some great BNI groups in Maui and it has been years since I have been to them, so I am really excited to meet a lot of BNI members over the next week during the event that I am doing here. Priscilla: Oh, that sounds great. Tell me what you want to share with us today. Ivan: You know, I received an email some time ago from someone who read my blog. I blog at IvanMisner.com, so podcast listeners, if you haven’t seen my blog, go on over there because I have a lot of content. Some of it similar but a lot of it on different topics relating to networking. It’s not BNI-centric. It’s about business networking and about business, as a matter of fact. I had a blog reader who asked the question, “How do you go about giving out your cards? Is it just spray and prey? Do you just go around there and pass them out?” They specifically wanted to know how to tell when it is the right time to offer your card to a new contact. I answered her there and I wanted to talk about it here a little bit on this podcast because I think it is an important topic. How many times have you been to a networking function and you have just had people come up to you and literally push their cards in your hand or your pocket? I think that is kind of card abuse. It warrants a phone call to the business card police. I call these people card pushers because they come directly from the school of this power of networking where they are taught to sell, sell, sell. Of course, they go to networking events and force their cards on every person they meet. They kind of use networking as a face to face cold calling opportunity. Their goal at each networking event is to kind of get rid of as many cards as they possibly can and have this delusion that simply having a card and passing it out automatically gets you to be part of their network. They really don’t make any real effort to make a connection or build a relationship. Obviously, you can’t build a relationship the first time you meet, but then they think it is just about handing out the cards and that is what networking is about. Being on the receiving end of these very aggressive card-mongering approaches to networking is really awkward and oftentimes, you feel very sold to with no consideration of your interests or their interests. So I really think this is basically a form of cold calling. Here, the seller, other than cold calling on a phone here- on a phone, they are out of reach. They are on the other end of the line. But here,

Synopsis Today's podcast was inspired by a conversation that Dr. Misner had with a trainer at the Referral Institute. The topic was how to handle it when you don't seem to be getting much back from your referral marketing efforts, even though you're giving a lot. The fact is, that when you are networking, you may have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find Prince Charming. How do you avoid kissing more frogs than you have to? The GAINS Exchange takes you through Goals, Accomplishments, Interests, Networks, and Skills. Make sure you go through all of these with your potential referral sources, but there are two more questions that make it work. Do you have the time to invest in another professional relationship? Anyone who doesn't have time is not Prince Charming. Do you like what I do, and from what you know so far, can you envision the two of us having a referral relationship? A person who doesn't like what you do is not Prince Charming, and neither is someone who isn't willing to help. Without those two questions, you may have an interesting conversation, but you won't have a commitment. Brought to you by The Global Networking Show. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 389 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by the globalnetworkingshow.com which is 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 of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, how are you and where are you? Ivan: I am in California today. Just finished up the Directors’ Orientation Training at headquarters. I am headed up to northern California. One of our strategic alliance partners for BNI is the Referral Institute, and I will be visiting that BNI region and the Referral Institute’s conference in the Bay area. That is important because the podcast I have today actually comes from a conversation that I had some time ago with a trainer from the Referral Institute, which is, as I said, a strategic alliance partner with BNI. It’s an unusual title, isn’t it? Kissing frogs. Priscilla: Yeah. What is that supposed to mean? Ivan: I was speaking to a Referral Institute trainer a few years ago and she told me that she often comes across people who are good at giving to others but they don’t always get an equitable return from their relationships. A lot of people want to know how to discern whether a potential referral source is a good match and what they can do to increase the likelihood that their time and their efforts are being invested in relationships that will actually harvest a positive return. So the trainer shared with me what I think is a great metaphor in what she uses to refer to referral sources that don’t pan out. She said, “When we are looking for a good relationship in life, we sometimes need to kiss some frogs to find our prince. People are searching to avoid this slippery, sloppy drawn out kisses which prolong over months, sometimes years, only to discover that the frog never really turns into a handsome prince.” How do we avoid those empty, disappointing referral relationships that turn out to be slimy frogs instead of princes. I think that some of the ways we came up with can definitely help qualify a potential referral source or alliance partner sooner rather than later. The first five questions are things that BNI members should be aware of because in BNI, we do share and we train on the GAINS Exchange. So I am going to talk about that very briefly and then there are some additional questions that make it all work, so when you are doing the GAINS Exchange, you have to wrap it up with these two additional questions, which I think will really help to determine whether somebody is serious about helping you or not. GAINS is an acronym. It stands for goals, accomplishments, interests,

Synopsis January 8th marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of BNI, and today Dr. Misner introduces the new CEO and an upcoming video series, "BNI Then and Now." Graham Weihmiller recently served as the CEO of a 32-year-old nationwide franchisor of homecare services.  While there, he was a founding director of a foundation that provides homecare to those who cannot afford it. Mr. Weihmiller received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BBA from the College of William & Mary. There are five things Graham wants to focus on today: Broadcasting BNI's culture of Givers Gain Codifying members' expectations Using technology Leveraging internal and external content The BNI Foundation Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 388 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, 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 of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. I hear that you have somebody very special on our podcast today. Ivan: I do indeed, Priscilla. This is kind of a great week for me and for BNI. Tomorrow, January 8, marks our 30th anniversary as an organization. 3o years ago tomorrow, BNI started in southern California. So I think it is really fitting to have this opportunity to not only celebrate our 30th year anniversary but also mark the coming of, I think, a new era for the organization. I am going to introduce to everyone the new CEO of BNI. Before I do, I want to let everyone know that we are going to be doing a new video series this year called BNI Then and Now, 30 Years of Changing the Way the World Does Business. Look for that. We will put a link up here on one of these podcasts. We will also be putting a link up on social media. We literally have dozens and dozens of videos from me and from many members and directors talking about our 30 years in the organization. Today, on the podcast, I want to introduce the new CEO for BNI. His name is Graham Weihmiller. He recently served as the CEO of a 32-year old nationwide franchise, Aura Homecare Services. While he was there, he was also the founding director of a foundation that provides homecare for those who cannot afford it. He has previously worked with Pioneer Equity Partners, American Franchise Company, Blues Allen, JP Morgan. He has a Six Sigma certification, which for those of you who don’t know, it is a continuous improvement or quality management processes program. Graham received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Graham, I am so honored to have you as part of the BNI organization, and I would like to welcome you. Graham: Thank you very much, Dr. Misner. I appreciate it. It is an honor to be here and especially at a point where the organization is turning 30. It is a very exciting time, so I appreciate it. Ivan: Yeah, it is an exciting time and I think with you at the helm as a CEO, I think it is really going to take an organization that has grown dramatically and grow even at a greater pace and create an even better program for our members worldwide. There were five things that you wanted to talk about today. What I would like to do is just kind of touch upon those five things and then have you hit them one at a time. One is broadcasting BNI’s culture of givers gain. The second was a better understanding of members’ expectations and codifying those expectations. Using technology was the third one. The fourth one was using internal and external content. Last, the BNI Foundation. I think these are great topics and I am really curious to see if we can get through them in 10 minutes, so let’s see what we can do. What would you like to talk about with codifying, emphasizing and broadcasting BNI’s culture of givers gain? Graham: Well,

Synopsis Steve Tannuzzo returns this week to continue the dialogue on the subject of substitutes. Priscilla's BNI chapter has rebelled against the directive not to allow substitutes to talk about their own businesses. They think that both substitutes and visitors should be able to give their own infomercials, in order to reward substitutes for making the effort to come to the meeting. Steve says that every chapter offers those same objections when introduced to this ideas. The answer is to consider how much more money your chapter will make if substitutes only speak for the person they are representing. Visitors are there to talk about themselves and sell themselves as potential members; substitutes are there to talk about YOU. It was never the intent of the substitute program to be "visitor lite." If you put your BNI chapter---and your own business---ahead of the good of the substitute, it should be easy to make the change. Inviting a substitute who doesn't know you or your business is an abuse of the intention of the system. If your group is resisting the idea of using substitutes as originally intended, play this podcast for them. How is your chapter handling substitutes? Post your comments here. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 387 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. I am at BNI headquarters this week and we are doing something we have almost never done on BNIpodcast.com. We are continuing the dialogue from last week because it was so controversial. When we finished the podcast, we continued the conversation and we wanted to actually continue the podcast. So we have decided to do another continuation of our discussion from last week. I have got on the podcast Steve Tannuzzo. Steve is a freelance contractor writer. He is also an Area Director for BNI Massachusetts. Steve, welcome back to the podcast. I have almost never had someone back two weeks in a row. Thanks for coming back again. Steve: My pleasure. It is just that I am very popular. That must be it. Ivan: That’s what it is! Listen, when we finished the podcast last week, Priscilla kind of started a dialogue that kind of led us into this podcast. So, Priscilla, I am going to let you open it up. Be candid. Talk to us about your chapter and about why we are doing another podcast this week on the same subject. Priscilla: Okay, great. Last week, the two of you were trying to teach all of us that the best method for having success in a BNI group is not to let the substitutes give an infomercial because they are there to substitute for a member and that should be their main goal and purpose. Now, I am in a group and we have been told to do that. We totally rebel against it, and the reason that I think- Ivan: Wait a minute. You rebel, Priscilla? You rebel? Priscilla: We call ourselves No Ordinary Chapter. That is the name of our chapter, and we are kind of- Ivan: Hang on just a second. People often say that BNI is a cult. Have you heard that, right? So if BNI were a cult, everyone would do what I tell them to do. And they don’t. So I am just shocked that you guys aren’t doing what I am telling you to do, Priscilla: Well, this is the perfect example of a renegade chapter because we think that not only should the substitutes be able to give their infomercial, but in addition, the visitors should be able to. The reason I think that people feel- Ivan: The visitors should. There is nothing wrong with the visitors doing it. Priscilla: Okay, well, you know,

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. So talk to us a little bit about some of the appropriate use of the substitute program in BNI.: Steve: Sure. We believe that when you choose the right substitute, you have a potential member but not always. In fact, most of the subs that we get don’t turn into members. Once in a while, they do, but we do find that when they come in they are potential clients for our members. So it is important to carefully choose who you are going to use as your substitute and to train them about the meeting, what to expect. One of the things that you are not going to say is, “You are going to talk about your business.

Mobile devices put us into a state of continuous partial attention, which interferes with our ability to make connections. Try a phone-free BNI meeting.

Steve Suggs joins Ivan Misner to share the 5 traits of a top performer--whether that's an employee or a BNI member. Pro tip: build your recruiting network!

Dan Romero joins Dr. Misner to explain the ROI of BNI membership. He gets 650 times the value of his membership dues in referrals each year.

Both new and experienced BNI members can benefit from reading this short guide to success in networking. Find your inner networker and learn to love networking!

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 172. Synopsis When Dr. Misner and his wife Beth were on safari in South Africa, there was a suspension bridge between the main lodge and the guest suites. When they didn’t walk in sync, the flexing of the bridge jarred them, but if they walked in sync, with the same stride, it was much easier to cross. The same is true of networking. You need to walk in sync with your referral partners. You need to cooperate and to collaborate, and that requires two things: Proximity: you have to stay in contact with each other. Have one-to-one meetings. Stay focused on how you can help each other in business. Keep looking for things you can do for your networking partners. If you do these things, you’ll build deep relationships and trust, and everyone’s business will benefit. Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner. Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 172 - Priscilla: Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking. I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you? Ivan: Hi, Priscilla. I am doing great, and today I’m actually at the University of La Verne. I sit on their Board of Trustees. And one of the things I talk about in networking is the importance of diversifying your networks, and one type of network that I recommend that people participate in are community service organizations, service clubs like Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, non-profit organizations. And this is one of those kinds of organizations that I participate in that I think fits that mold. It’s a private university in Southern California, University of La Verne, and I’ve gotten to be very good friends with the president of the university. And I’ve been sitting on their Board of Trustees now for a year or so. It’s a great way to meet other business people. Unfortunately, the president of the university is stepping down after 25 years as president. That’s really rare. And so I’m on their selection committee to select their new president. And this is a university that I’ve talked about in some of my blogs and how their starting to teach – they have a really good dean in business, and they’re starting to teach more social capital and emotional intelligence. That’s where I’m at today, but today I want to talk about something that happened on my recent trip to South Africa. Priscilla: Oh, great! Ivan: And the title of this podcast is Being in Sync With Your Networking Partners. And I’ll tell you how we came up with this. My wife, Beth, and I, we were in South Africa recently on a safari at Camp Jabulani, which is in the Kapama Reserve – and by the way, unbelievable place. Their favorite words are, “Whatever you want.” You’ve got to love someplace like that. You know, “What time is dinner?” “Whenever you want.” “When are we going to go out on safari?” “Whenever you want.” I mean, it was just an amazing – “What’s for dinner?” “Whatever you want.” It was just an amazing place to go. We really enjoyed it. And they have a beautiful suspension bridge between the main lodge and the guest suites. And if you’ve ever walked over a suspension bridge, you know that the feeling of the springiness, especially if it’s a long suspension bridge, the feeling of the springiness under your feet as you walk. It’s almost like wearing those moon boots that I got for Christmas as a boy many years ago, very bouncy. And I’m talking about a walking suspension bridge, obviously, not a driving one. Priscilla: Right. Ivan: So as we made our way across that suspension bridge, we noticed really quickly that when we didn’t walk in sync, the bridge’s flexing and bending kind of jarred us both.

Synopsis Any time you hold a leadership position, you face the challenge of getting people to follow the direction you think they need to go. It's important not to burn down the barn in order to roast the pig. There are two sayings that Dr. Misner shares with aspiring leaders, in or out of BNI. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Unsolicited advice is never acceptable. If you are new to a leadership position, talk to the members of a group before making sweeping changes. Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way. You need to learn how to work with people rather than through people. Note that this saying is about collaboration, not manipulation. These two sayings between them form the cornerstone to great leadership. Share your own techniques for successful leadership, or occasions when you've used these. Brought to you by The Global Networking Show. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 378 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by the NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloyou by the GlobalNetworkingShow.com, a montly 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. I just got back from New Orleans for the US Member Extravaganza trip that we had. Everyone had a great time. We had hundreds of people come, mostly winners of the membership drives in the US. A good time was had by all. Priscilla: Good. Did you eat some great food? Ivan: There is always great food in New Orleans. Always. So today I am talking about two tips for moving people in the right direction. Let me see if I can give you a sense about what this is about. There are always people who are experts and have knowledge and information. The challenge is trying to get people to listen to that knowledge and information. This is particularly true- if you have ever had a leadership team role in any organization or in BNI, if you are on the leadership team, are an educational coordinator or whatever, whatever role of leadership that you have, but frankly, it could apply anywhere. You know, it’s getting people to go in one direction, particularly with business professionals, entrepreneurs, and salespeople, it is more like herding cats. It’s not very easy to get people to follow in the direction that you think they need to go. So I had a person who is a leader in BNI who went to one of the groups and was really appalled by how bad things were being run by the members. She let them know in no uncertain terms what they were doing wrong and what they needed to do to turn it around. What I found interesting later- I wasn’t there but heard about it- was that her assessment of the situation and the solutions that she proposed were spot on. Absolutely correct. But her presentation of the solution was dead wrong. She was so blunt with the group members that she received a really negative reaction from them, leaving the place in a bigger mess than it was when she first walked in. When I met her and talked to her about what she might have done differently, she was furious with me for not supporting her since she was right and the members of the group were absolutely wrong. I kept talking to her about the fact that I wasn’t arguing that she was right because she was. The problem that I had with how she handled the situation in that area- it was the way she handled the situation. It wasn’t whether she was right of wrong, because she was right, but how she handled it. I tried to explain. I shared one of my favorite sayings for a dilemma like this, which is “don’t burn down the barn to roast the pig”. If you are doing something,

Synopsis Priscilla recommended this week's topic based on Dr. Misner's blog post reflecting on the death of Robin Williams. Albert Pine, an English author who wrote in the early 19th century, said, “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we d...

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. Thank you, Ivan. You know, I term myself a business networking strategist because for years, people have been talking about networking skills but not networking strategy. The focus has been on how to work a room but not why you are in the room in the first place. When I ran networking groups, what I found was a lot of people were coming along to networking groups because they were invited. They were staying and they were joining because they really liked the buzz.

BNI conducted a survey for the book Masters of Networking that asked business professionals what the most important traits of a master networker were. The most important trait was following up on referrals.

This week Dr. Misner shares one of the biggest weeks ever in BNI, from the BNI Professionals of Bellaire chapter in the BNI Houston West region. This chapter passed $1,132,087 in closed business in one week!