The Official BNI Podcast

Synopsis Dr. Misner has three guests today: Regina Russo and Lisa Frederick from the  BNI Inner Circle chapter in western Pennsylvania and Phillip Pasek from the BNI Referral Net chapter in Palm Harbor, Florida. Deanna Tucci-Schmitt suggested the topic. When the BNI Inner Circle chapter suddenly grew from 34 members to 50, they had some concerns about how to handle their growth. They listened to Episode 186 on 50-70 members at a BNI meeting but they still had some questions about fast growth and categories, so Regina arranged a conference call between Lisa and the presidents of groups in the Florida region that were successfully managing 50+ members. If you're in a chapter that has fewer than 55 members, here's some information about what to do when you get to that point. The major concerns that the long-term members had were Will we have to cut down on the time for commercials and the presentations? How do we keep the close connections and intimacy in the group so we can keep making referrals? How do we define categories so that they're still broad enough to allow everyone to get enough business? Do we still have to have visitors? Aren't we big enough? What do goals look like for a 55+ member chapter? Phil responds that change can be uncomfortable; the long-term members need to experience the added energy from the larger group. As for categories, the profession you put down on your application is your classification, and there's no place for classification cowboys. As for goals, the more members you have, the more thank yous for close of business. Increased membership means increased goals. Brought to you by NetworkingNow.com. 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. Thank you. I am this weekend in Austin, Texas meeting with some members and doing some recordings for Del Fuego. If you have heard any of our podcasts, listeners, I have talked about several of the recording that I have done for Del Fuego, like the Visitor Experience, which I highly recommend. We are doing some new recordings this week, so I am keeping busy. I have with me three guests. I think we have a world record here for a BNI podcast. Three guests on this one podcast. They were recommended by our Director in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my home town. Deanna Tucci Schmidt recommended this topic and I love the topic. We have with us Regina Russo. Regina is the Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics. She is also a Director Consultant for the BNI Inner Circle chapter in Western Pennsylvania. And Lisa Frederick. Lisa is President of Unity Printing Company and she is also President of the BNI Inner Circle in western Pennsylvania as well. Phillip Pasek. Did I get that right, Phillip? Phillip: Correct. Ivan: Phillip Pasek is with Fast Breaks Entertainment and his is President of the BNI Referral Net in Palm Harbor, Florida. So we have someone from Tom Fleming’s region, I believe and then a couple of people from Deanna Tucci Schmidt’s region. Let me start with Regina. Regina, tell me what led to us getting to this topic. The topic today is How Big Is Too Big? How did this come up? I love the concept but I think it is important to lay the groundwork for our listeners to understand why this topic is being addressed today. Regina: Sure. The BNI Inner Circle chapter was the first chapter in the western Pennsylvania region to reach the 50+ member mark. They had been at 34 members pretty consistently for years and had a very successful branded Visitor’s Day in May and added 16 new members in one week.

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 189. Synopsis In order to evaluate your sphere of influence, you need to take inventory of the people you know. When was the last time you really went through your complete contact list? Check your e-mail address bo...

Synopsis BNI Great Lakes District Director Deanna Tucci-Schmitt joins Dr. Misner this week for the second episode in the "Get Connected--Stay Connected" series. This episode focuses on how to use BNI Connect for networking education. Confucius said "I came to learn what I already know," and this is especially appropriate for BNI training. Available education units are all listed on BNI Connect. You can find podcasts, newsletters, and webinars on BNI Connect. To access the webinars, log on to BNI Connect and click on the circle with the question mark in it. For every 5 podcasts or webinars you listen to, you get a point toward your CEUs, which you can track on BNI Connect. Submit your CEU slips on your "my business" page. Be sure to join Dr. Misner's "From the Founder" group on BNI Connect. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 331 - 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? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla. This week we are at the International Conference for BNI. Usually this week of every year and today's topic is the second in the series “Get Connected Stay Connected”. This one is Get Connected Stay Connected: Engage in Networking Education. I have a special guest who is with me today. This is her third appearance on the BNI Podcast. She is episode 160. I love the title of that: Spinach in Your Teeth. And episode 220, Culture of Recruiting. We have with us today Deanna Tucci-Schmitt. Deanna brought BNI in 1998 to the western Pennsylvania area. Her and her team of directors provide structure, training and coaching to over 700 business owners and sales people in BNI. She is also a BNI District Director. That is a big deal, for those of you who don't know. She is a BNI Disctrict Director for Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Milwaukee and Indiana. And she is a contributing author to the bestselling books, both Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. But most importantly- well, I can't say that. Importantly, Deanna is also coming from Pittsburgh, PA, my hometown. Deanna, welcome. Deanna: Thank you. And that is my most important link. Ivan: I don't buy it but I appreciate. Deanna: I am glad to be here. I am glad to be here. Engage in Networking Education. Ivan: And there are three things that we would like to hit on in this podcast. First of all BNI Connect is an amazing tool for members. That is what we want to talk about. We are doing this year-long campaign on getting on BNI Connect and staying connected. When it comes to education, Deanna, there are three things that I want to talk about today. The first thing is how members can benefit from networking education and how it relates to BNI Connect. Deanna: Networking education is always, always good. We are going to talk about it as it pertains to the continuing education units, the CEUs, that can be tracked on BNI Connect. One of my favorite things is I came to learn what I already know. I came to learn what I already know. Confucius said that, particularly a great saying when it comes to education on your networking skills because it is an ongoing process and I swear every time I listen to the orientation CD, I pick up something new or get refreshed on something new. So I came to learn what I already know. Let's talk about how it benefits members to engage in networking education as it pertains to the CEUs, the chapter education units. I bet you a lot of members didn't know that they can actually track their education units right on BNI Connect on My BNI Business page. Ivan: I think you are right. A lot of people probably don't know that,

Synopsis "Givers Gain" is a philosophy based on the law of reciprocity. It's a great standard to apply to ourselves. But it shouldn't be used to judge others. Accusing others of not having a Givers Gain attitude usually means those people are not doin...

Synopsis People often quote Woody Allen's saying "80% of success is showing up." But is that accurate? It's true that showing up at BNI meetings increases the number of referrals you get, but showing up is just the beginning. Part of the law of attraction is action. Here are five actions you can take for success in BNI. Create a 60-second introduction that changes each time. Train a sales force rather than trying to make sales. Schedule a one-to-one meeting with someone from your group every week. Take on a leadership role in your group. This raises both your visibility and your credibility--as long as you do a good job. Bring legitimate referrals for other members. Immerse yourself in referral education. Priscilla also recommends using the services of the other members of the group--this makes it much easier to refer them. What are your ideas about what it takes to be successful in BNI? What action steps have you taken? Let us know in the comments. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 329 - 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? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla, and I think I have an interesting topic today because people often quote Woody Allen and his often-quoted phrase, “80% of success is just showing up.” I think it's a great phrase. There certainly is some truth to it. I have had members say that most of success, 80% of success is showing up. However, I had to ask is it completely accurate? My answer is I don't believe so. I do believe that showing up is the first step toward success but there is a lot more that has to be done besides showing up in order to have any significant degree of success. Now, you are talking to a person who has witnessed first hand the fact that people who come to BNI meetings regularly generate a lot more business- that there is a direct correlation between attendance and absenteeism and referrals. So I believe that but, I really also believe that there is more to it. I bring this topic up because a year ago, I had a conversation with a man about his participation in a BNI group. He used this quote that Allen had to argue that he should be experiencing significantly more success from his networking effort than he was because he was just showing up. I had to have a conversation with him about it. It takes a lot more than just showing up. It is sort of the law of attraction, the thing with the secret, the movie and then the book. I am a believer in the law of attraction. The thing is the word “action” is part of the word “attraction”. I firmly believe that taking action beyond simply showing up is really the key in order to achieve real results. Putting it mildly, that didn't particularly make him happy. He was kind of agitated with my response but he felt that just being there regularly should have been it. I said that based on results, it's not. That is the beginning. It is critical. If you are not going to show up, everything else kind of falls apart. A lot of people don't know this, but I was actually filmed by Rhonda Burned for the film, The Secret, on the law of attraction. If you saw The Secret and don't remember seeing me in it, that is because my segment was cut out. It ultimately ended up on the editing floor. Priscilla: What did you say in your portion? Ivan: Well, it was quite a few years ago and I don't recall, but it was very hands on kinds of things. It would be things like “action” is part of the word “attraction”. It was a different message that she was trying to get across, and I get that. In the initial plan,

Synopsis When Dr. Misner's daughter Cassie was 8 years old, she made him a stick figure from red pipe cleaner and called it Bob. He promised to take it everywhere with him, as in this photo from Hong Kong. He started taking these photos so he could send them to Cassie when he wasn't able to make it to one of her events. Dr. Misner still carries Bob in his briefcase, even though Cassie is in her twenties. Bob teaches us two lessons about networking. First, he is a great example of how small gestures can forge powerful connections between people. Even when you can't be there with your professional connections, reach out to make contact. Staying connected is part of building a powerful network. Second, Bob is a terrific representation of why it's so important to explain the value that you and your business bring to the table. If you ask a stranger to photograph you with a pipe-cleaner man, you need to explain why. Once Dr. Misner explains his reason for wanting that photo, people always understand. Bob has his own photo album--if you go to the public Ivan Misner page on Facebook, you can see all the pictures. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 328 - 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? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla, and I have a topic today that is a little unusual. I try to do things that are educational to try to help members improve their game in BNI. This one is a little personal and educational. The educational part will come in. It is actually about Bob. Let me introduce you to Bob. Priscilla: Who is Bob? Ivan: I am glad you asked that, Priscilla, but I know you know who Bob is. You have mentioned that you have seen him. So let me explain for the listeners who Bob is. This is a real personal story and it involves my daughter, Cassie, who is in her 20's now. When she was only eight years old, she made this little stick man out of red pipe cleaner. She named him Bob and she gave him to me. I said, “Honey, I will take Bob with me everywhere.” There is a photograph here on this podcast of Bob and I in the tallest hotel in Hong Kong in a restaurant. My wife was kind enough to take a picture of Bob and I. Everywhere I go in the world, I now take Bob with me and get a picture. Why do I take pictures of Bob all around the world when it was given to me when my daughter was only eight years old? It all actually started with one of my business trips which prevented me from getting to one of the Girl Scout events that Cassie participated in. She had given me Bob just a few weeks earlier. I had told her I would take him with me everywhere. I didn't plan on taking photographs. A few weeks later, I couldn't make the Girls Scout event. One of the great things about BNI is I get to travel a lot, but it is also a challenge sometimes, especially when my children were younger. I felt really bad that I couldn't make her Girl Scout event, so I literally took a photo of Bob and myself in the mirror at the hotel and I sent it to Cassie. I told her that Bob and I were thinking about her and congratulating her on her achievement. She liked that so much that I took Bob with me everywhere I could and took photographs of Bob. Throughout the years of travel, I have always stowed Bob safely in my briefcase. He is always in my briefcase. If you happen to meet me at some event- I find that Bob gets as many photographs now as I do, by the way. If you want a picture of me and Bob, I am happy to pull Bob out. I usually have someone take a picture of two of us and I send it back to Cassie. More often than not,

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 221. Synopsis A BNI member recently asked Dr. Misner how to promote second tier (outside) referrals, because the other members of his chapter weren’t likely to use his services directly. The truth is that if you only focus on the referrals that  are sitting there in the room, you’re going to limit your success. The network beyond the network is what matters. Everyone needs the second tier referrals. To get those referrals, you have to train members in how to refer you. Specific is terrific for “Your Business 101.” Pick topics for your 30-second pitch at the meeting each week, the way you would create a training curriculum. Bring photos, testimonials, brochures. Think about how this applies to your business. Sit down and think of four topics, then break each of those four down into 2-3 sub-topics. Post your topics here—and use them at your meetings. You’ll get many more referrals. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 221 - 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 ? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla. I have an interesting topic, something that I haven't really tackled on the podcast before. I had a BNI member that recently asked me a question. He said, “ I'm a travel agent. Most of the business owners in my group are challenged to take time away, to get away from their businesses. They don't travel a lot.” The question was, “What can I do to promote 2nd tier referrals?” He asked if I had any suggestions. We use that term a lot on BNI. Not every group may have heard that term, 2nd tier, but it's basically an outside referral. How do I get them to refer somebody else because they are not going to be using me directly a lot because they don't travel. Here is the short answer. The short answer is you have to create a Your Business 101 strategy. Your Business 101. Let me get to that by first saying that if all you do is focus on tier 1 referrals, you are really going to limit your business opportunities. If all you focus on are the referrals which are sitting there in the room- don't get me wrong. It's good to have people that you can do business with in the room because if they used you, then it's easier to refer. But I think a lot of people either don't join or they focus- they don't join because “this isn't enough people and I can't get enough referrals from this” or “ I can't get enough referrals from this.” Or they join and they just try to use the members in the room. That's never enough. You have to go way beyond and network beyond the network that is in the room. Now, the members know 100 people who know 100 people who know 100 people. So you really want to try to focus on that 2nd tier referral, that outside referral, all the time. Not just because you are in a certain business, but in virtually all businesses, if you want BNI to work, you have to go with the people that the members in the room know. Knowing that, how do you get there? That is the real question. The answer is you create a curriculum for your business. You have to literally create a curriculum for your business. You have to train members how to refer you. So if you just say, “ I am a travel agent. I can take care of travel anywhere at anytime. If you need to have that, I can do that.” Nonsense. That is not enough. That's way too vague. You are never going to get any referrals off of that kind of a statement. You have to be really, really specific. Specific is terrific when you are thinking of Your Business 101. Let me tell you a real quick story.

Synopsis John Meyer joins Dr. Misner for the first episode in the "Get Connected, Stay Connected" series. Many people don't know where to start with BNI Connect, so we're going to start at the beginning, with building your visibility. John wrote these instructions while filling out his profile. They're designed to be easy for even the least technical person to use. Login to BNI Connect Click on “Update Profile/My BNI Page” in the upper right hand of the page Click on the 1st tab (Main Profile) and verify all information is correct and “My Business” and “Keywords…” boxes are complete. Click Update! Click on the 2nd tab (User Profile) and upload your profile picture and company logo. Click on the 3rd tab (Contact Details) and fill in the empty spaces and click on the “Show on Website” box for each line you want visible on your public profile. Add social networks to which you belong. Click Update! Click on the 4th tab (Account Settings) and set your preferences. Click Update! Click on the 5th tab (Bio) and complete your Bio, Commercial #1 & #2, GAINS Profile and Tops Profile. Click Update! Next month we'll talk about networking education on BNI Connect. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 326 - 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. I am doing great and I am in the United Kingdom and Ireland this week, doing events for BNI. As I mentioned in previous podcasts, I travel a lot and visit many regions. If you are in the United Kingdom and Ireland, make sure to come to one of the events and say hello. Let me know you listened to one of the podcasts. It is always great to have people- I have a guest here today with me, John. I will introduce him in a second. John, it's great when I go places and people start quoting podcast numbers. They are telling me the numbers. I am like, okay, which one is that? They have it memorized. So tell me now what is your favorite podcast. The voice that you just heard is John Meyer. John I introduced a couple of weeks ago. John is the US National Director for BNI. John is a great National Director, a great Executive Director, and also a friend. We are going to talk to day about- as a matter of fact, this is the first month for the “Get Connected, Stay Connected” series, which we introduced on the September 18th podcast. This month is “Build Your Visibility”. John, tell us about Get Connected, Stay Connected, and tell us about Build Your Visibility. John: I would love to. Thanks, everyone. Just as a plug, when you see Ivan, your favorite podcast number is now 326. Just so people can- Ivan: Smooth, smooth. John: Get Connected, Stay Connected is a program that we are very excited about rolling out, and we are very happy that it is finally here. It has been in the stages for a few months. There has been a lot of do it, try it, fix it processes through writing it up. We have the system down. October is our first month and we are very excited about this. It all basically starts with the member. We want to teach the members how to engage in BNI Connect. One thing that I hear a lot is, “There is just so much stuff in BNI Connect. I don't know where to start.” So we took that to heart, and we are going to start at the beginning. That is Build Your Visibility. I am not the most computer literate person in the world. I actually wrote these steps as I completed my own profile in BNI Connect. I know that even the person who is the most scared of computers will be able to go through this step by step.

Synopsis An associate of Dr. Misner's related an interesting story about someone whose idea of being good at networking was to collect as many business cards as possible at every event, enter them into her database, and start pitching her services to all these people. This is essentially face-to-face cold calling. It's like taking a networking spray can full of meaningless information and waving it all over a room, hoping you'll find a good target. Networking is not about compiling contacts and spamming them. It's true that cold-calling can work for sales, but there are better techniques. Make your follow-up personal. Instead of pitching your business, set out to get to know the people whose cards you collect. Invite them to an event or schedule a one-to-one with them. Make notes on the backs of cards to help you with your follow-up. Have you been on the receiving end of the "spray and pray" technique? Tell us your story in the comments. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 325 - 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. Well, this week, I am actually in a strange place. I am going to be up, for at least part of it, in Mojave. You know I was invited to Necar Island, Richard Branson's Island, a few months ago. I have been invited to see something with his spaceship. I am not quite sure what yet, but it is getting closer and closer to the launching. I have an invitation to go see something, and I will report back as to what it is that I will see. Or actually, go to my Facebook page and you will see something this week or next week about what I had an opportunity to see. Priscilla: Great. I look forward to that. Ivan: It's fun. It's fun and I am very blessed to be invited to go see things like that. Priscilla: Yeah. I envy you. So what are you going to share with us today? Ivan: Well, today, I am going to talk about a concept called “spray and pray” and the first time I heard about it was actually from Cindy Mount, a BNI Director. It was episode 261. She used that expression. I want to talk about it a little more at length, particularly a story that really applies to this. An associate of mine once told me about a really interesting experience that she had when she struck up an conversation with a woman that she met at a networking function. When the woman asked my friend what she did for a living, my friend explained that she helped small business owners build their business through networking and referrals at BNI. The woman smiled, very confident, and said, “I am a business owner myself, and I am actually really good at networking. I have been doing it a long time.” That, of course, ignited some interest from my fellow BNI Director friend. She said to the woman, “I am always interested to hear the tactics of successful networkers, so do you mind me asking what your secret is?” The woman flashed a smile, and stood up with an air of accomplishment and said, “Well, I always make sure to go to networking functions with a friend. When we enter the room, we try to draw this imaginary line right down the middle. My friend will take one side and I will take the other side, whichever side of the room we choose we are going to cover. We agree that we are going to meet back together at a certain time. And then we spend the entire time networking on our individual side of the room, trying to gather as many business cards as possible. Then when it comes time for us to reconvene, we compare how many business cards each collected.

Synopsis John Meyer, Executive Director of BNI Ohio, joins Dr. Misner again this week to talk about building engagement with--and on--BNI Connect. At first encounter, BNI Connect can overwhelm a user to the point of inaction. To make it easier, BNI is rolling out a 12-month program called "Get Connected, Stay Connected" to help members use the system, the better to do business and refer business around the world. Starting October 1st, 2013, there will be a podcast the first week of every month talking about that month's focus on BNI Connect. BNI has more than 150,000 members worldwide, and BNI Connect enables them to conduct business globally. This service is only available to BNI members and comes free with your BNI membership. Even if you only do business locally, people who travel into your area can use BNI Connect to find you and do business with you. You can find stories about how BNI Connect has worked for members on SuccessNet under "I'm Connected." It all begins with the completion of your profile. Post your own experiences with BNI Connect in the comments. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 324 - 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? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla. Thank you very much. I have a guest with me today. John has been on the podcast before. I have with me John Meyer. John is the US National Director for BNI. He is also the Executive Director for BNI Ohio and has over 150 chapters in Ohio with more than 3,500 members under his management. In addition to being the National Director for all of the US in BNI, he is a contributing author to the New York Times bestseller, Masters of Networking. To say that John is an avid golfer is a drastic understatement. He is a very avid golfer, loves to travel and is married to Victoria with three step-kids. I know Victoria well. You married up, John. So did I, by the way. John is on the Board of Directors for Davis College and he has been an incredible addition to BNI. It is really an honor to have him on the podcast on a topic that is near and dear to me. John, it is “get connected, stay connected”. Let me just say a couple of things about the topic and then turn it over to you. This is really all about our system, BNI Connect. One of the things that we want to do is build engagement. By the way, if you haven't been on BNI Connect for a while, come on back. Take a look. A lot has happened in the last year. This is finally the product that I have been wanting to see. BNI Connect is excellent, and it is going to be getting better. But we need to build engagement. So John, my question to you is why is that so important? What is in it for the member? John: Thanks, Ivan. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. And hello again, Priscilla. It is good to talk to you as well. This is something that has been near and dear to my heart as well. This truly puts BNI on the map from a global perspective but it also helps our members develop business, and we truly now can walk the talk of “local business, global network”. When you first look at BNI Connect, it can get to a point where it would overwhelm somebody to a point of inaction. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to do it. They don't know where to start. So my idea was to roll out a campaign that walks people through how to best utilize what they have paid for for their BNI membership. It's a year-long campaign. We are excited about rolling it out, and I think we are going to see some phenomenal testimonials from members who have been able to make connections,

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 176. Synopsis The BNI Testimonial is fundamental to chapter meetings. Here are some guidelines for giving a good one. Focus on one person. A good testimonial is about one other member. Go into detail about how good they are. Be specific. Talking in generalities does little or no good. “Specific is terrific in BNI.” Whenever possible, make it a first-person testimonial. Even with an outside referral, you can say “My client/friend/colleague told me…” It’s great to put your testimonial in writing, but that’s not a requirement of BNI. Go ahead and give your testimonial, and make it personal. Read Dr. Misner's 2005 SuccessNet article, "What Makes a Good BNI Member Testimonial?" Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 176 - 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 Berkley, CA. I am joined 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 doing great and this week I am on my way to New Orleans for the US Member Extravaganza trip. All of the winners get together in New Orleans. We have done that a few times over the last couple of years – to New Orleans- to try to support them after all of the crazy things they have had to go through over the last five or six years- Katrina, then the oil spill, and the economy. We are trying to help them out and are doing our Member Extravaganza there this week. I look forward to seeing any member listening to this podcast later this week. It's going to be in New Orleans. Priscilla: How many people go to that? Ivan: We usually have from 200 to 300 people. They are amazing. A lot of fun. Priscilla: So what are you going to share with us? Ivan: Well, today I want to talk about what makes a good BNI member testimonial. A BNI testimonial is fundamental to chapter meetings. You would think that it is a finely honed strategy that started from day one, but its origins are a little more of happen stance. We kind of fell into it. I want to talk a little bit about the history of it. But before I tell you the history of why we started doing testimonials, and what I am talking about is at the end of the meetings, if you have a referral, you give it and if you don't, you give a testimonial for one of the members. I'll talk about the history of that, but before I do, I want to give a break down of what I think a good testimonial is. There are three really specific elements that you can focus on making a BNI testimonial work in your chapter. The first is to focus on one person. One person. A good testimonial should be about just one other BNI member. Don't give a laundry list of who you have been using. Talk about one member and go into detail regarding how good they are in providing their products or service. That's the first thing. Second, be specific. Talking in generalities does little or no good. Talk specifically about what makes the member's services good. What did the member do right? The more specific you are, the better. We'll remember it much easier. Remember this:the specific is terrific in BNI. Specific is terrific. That counts not only with your 60-second introductions, but it also counts with testimonials. Use up your allotted time to share how good this person's work is. Really, this comes right from the One Minute Manager, where they talk about an effective praising has to be specific. That really applies to the testimonial. Third, whenever possible- and it's not always possible to do this. Whenever possible, give it or try to make it a first person testimonial. Tell people how good you feel about what they did, how it helps the organization, BNI,

Synopsis Raymond Aaron, author of Branding Small Business for Dummies, joins Dr. Misner on the podcast today to explain the importance of developing a brand. 97% of employees and entrepreneurs in the Western world are not branded. The problem with this is that without a brand, there is nothing to distinguish you from your competitors. When you're branded, people remember you and they know you. A brand goes beyond a memory hook. A memory hook is something in your mind's eye that enables you to envision some product or service. A brand speaks to what your clients want most from you, and that's what makes it memorable. People may forget your name, but they will remember your brand. The audiobook version of Branding Small Business for Dummies is available for free to BNI members. Go to brandinggift.com, download the audiobook, play it, and enjoy it. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 322 - 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 and where are you? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. I am doing great, and I am actually at HQ for a few weeks in a row before I start my fall travel. I have here with me a good friend. I know Raymond Aaron from the Transformational Leadership Council, which I have been a member of for a number of years. Raymond has been a thought leader and success coach. He is the co-author of eight best selling books, including Branding Small Business for Dummies, which is one of the reasons why we are talking about branding today, and Double Your Income Doing What You Love". He is the co-author of the New York Times "Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul" and "Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul". Raymond is also an avid adventurer, having completed one of the world's toughest races, which is an amazing story. Raymond, I heard you talk about it. It's a 350 mile long race to the North Pole. I think you are a little crazy but it makes for a great story. He is a sought-after speaker. He lives in Toronto, Canada and has two daughters, two step-daughters and three grandchildren. Good for you. I don't have any grandkids yet, but probably in the not too distant future. Welcome to the podcast. Raymond: My pleasure. I am honored to be on your show and I am happy to help educate your wonderful members. Ivan: Thank you. We have almost 160,000 members now in 53 countries. These podcasts are offered to members all over the world, and I try to give them information that they can take and really apply in their business, and I think this one is an important one. How do you build your personal brand? I have a few questions for you. The first one is give me one idea that successful people have and others who struggle don't have. Raymond: It's really simple, Ivan. 97% of employees and entrepreneurs in the western world are not branded. A dentist just graduated from dental college. His name is Bill Smith. He hangs out his shingle that says, “Dr. Bill Smith”. That's it. The problem is if you are just moving into a new town and there are ten dentists near you- because you drive around and see that there are ten dental - then you have no reason to choose one dentist or the other because they all just have a name and a “Dr” in front of them. If just one of them was branded. If one of them was called the “happy dentist” or if one of them was called the “smiling dentist”- if one of them had something special about them, that is the one that you choose. One of my realtor clients, I branded him as the realtor who helps you get into the home market that you thought you couldn't afford.

Synopsis A member who was considering not renewing her BNI membership calculated her second-, third-, and fourth-generation referrals and realized that about 80% of her business came from BNI. Her conclusion? "Missing BNI meetings can be hazardous to ...

Synopsis Ed Wilson, Support Services Manager at BNI Headquarters, joins Dr. Misner on the podcast to talk about why your BNI group needs a membership committee. Why is a strong membership committee so important? Just as a strong homeowners' asso...

Synopsis Fulfilling your personal desire is success by any reasonable definition. The measure of your success is how well you use your productive time to achieve the goals that are important to you, not how you stack up to everybody else. Given that success is so ephemeral, how do you go about achieving it? There's no generic formula, but the phrase Dr. Misner uses in his book Masters of Success is "the uncommon application of common knowledge." If everyone knows what it takes to be successful--and most people who are asked, from college students to millionaires, give the same answers--then why do so few people succeed, even by their own definitions? For one thing, even people who work hard don't always make good decisions. For another, many people are impatient, and don't want to put in the long hours of hard work that success requires. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 319 - 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 and where are you this week? Ivan: Hi Priscilla. I am working from my lake house up in Big Bear this week. I have an office up here and I like to spend a couple weeks over the summer working up here. It is beautiful. On my Facebook page, my Ivan Misner public page, I will make sure there is a photograph of the view from my office. It is a great place to write. I do a lot of writing up here. Priscilla: Oh, that's great. So what is this topic that you have brought up- what is success? Ivan: I am often asked about the success of BNI, my success and what does it take to be successful ever since I wrote the book, Masters of Success. We define success. We all pursue success in some way. We have desires to strive and achieve them. Out desires may all be different and we may not consider achieving them necessarily- somebody else's definition of success, when they achieve that, we may not view it as success. We all have a different definition. We look around and we see people whose success we envy. What is so and so doing that puts him so far ahead – money, friends and influence. Why is he successful and I am not? Why is he living in a big house and raising three perfect kids and I am looking for a mate? Why is that guy's cardboard box bigger than mine? Where did he get that shopping cart from? The truth is that without knowing all the facts, without being inside the mind of another person, you can't say whether that person is more successful than you or not. He may be worth millions but is unhappy because his goal is to, who knows, be a governor by the age of 40. He is growing tired of the frenetic pursuit of power and maybe you are not as wealthy as you want like to be, but on the other hand, you may have made it through some great personal difficulties. You are pleased to have kept your finances or your family in tact. Which one of the two of you are more successful? It's hard to say. Fulfilling your personal desire is success by any reasonable definition. The measure of your success is really how well you use your productive time, I think, to achieve the goals that are important to you- not how you stack your goals compared to everybody else. How well you have used your abilities and resources to achieve your goals that you have, however humble, however big. You know, who knows? That governor may be watching you and going, “I am miserable. I don't like what I am doing.”Todd Medalonde put it, “From the outside they look successful, but on the inside they are miserable where they are at.” Dictionaries define success as the achievement of something that is desired planned or attempted.