You joined BNI to grow your business, right? And your members are your sales force, right? Sometimes your sales force needs some creative pushing so they can deliver great referrals for you, agree? If yes, continue reading more.
With over 50 members in most of our chapters today, more relationships between members are possible which also means there will be more challenges in building relationships with all the members of your sales force quickly. Here are some powerful ways to attract more members to come forward, connect with you and become your fan!
- Show up early – When you land early at a BNI Meeting it shows your commitment to the group and also is a great opportunity to meet your fellow members and spend a few minutes connecting with them.
- Take roles – While doing this gets you visibility, what it makes your sales team realize is that you an important person and they will feel special when you ask them to do a 1-2-1 with you. This is a great way to leverage your visibility and can be especially helpful if you are a member of a large chapter where meeting members for a 1-2-1 is quite a challenge.
- 1-2-1 – When you meet a member for a 1-2-1 go well prepared with gives. This encourages him to open up his contacts freely to you too. An important aspect to remember when you do a 1-2-1 is ask open questions that begin with “tell me…” this opens up a beautiful way to build a long conversation where you understand where the person comes from and why he does what he does. When the question comes to you, you too can share the same and empower him to feel a better connection with you and he will be forthcoming in making referrals happen for you. Never leave a 1-2-1 without making at least one connection for your member.
- Edify – Appreciating members genuinely works wonders for your relationship with them. Complimenting them on their dress, the way they carry themselves, their performance with a referral and appreciating them before their visitors and other members can all be great way to edify them. When people feel good being around you, you know you have opened doors to some great long lasting relationships.
- Follow up – When a member gives you a referral treat it with great care, because with every referral they give away a part of their reputation to you. It is your responsibility to make sure your enhance their reputation further and not vice versa.
Using these simple, proven and time tested techniques are a sure shot way to get your members to know, like, trust and love you for who you are and what you do. Then it doesn’t matter if you are selling transformers of tomatoes, your fans will get you the right connections. Happy networking!
