Re: FN-FORUM BNI downsides?

date posted 15th January 2002 13:23

I agree with Ian Turner. I've been a member for 9 months. The 'ritual
bit' depends on the chapter you join and it's worth having a look at
more than one (I've done Henley, Maidenhead, Windsor and Scottsdale
Arizona - where I incidentally got some business as a visitor!) Some
follow it more some less.

One thing I would say is that it does focus the mind on getting business
for the members, you for them and vice versa. The 'understanding your
business' bit does take time, but that said it's worth it. If they
understand your business properly (and only you can ensure they do) then
the business leads you get are better.

Lawyers and accountants - yeh, OK, but it's v. useful to bend their ear
at meetings occasionally when you have a minor problem, and I offer
advice to them in return.

As I said the meeting formula does focus the mind on getting business,
whereas 'Federation of Small Business', 'Chamber of Commerce' and the
BNI 'lookalikes' can turn into talking shops. Where you have a floating
loose membership it does turn into an internal looking 'I would like to
do business with you' eg 'if you get some business I'd like a slice of
the action' type session which is a waste of time.

When you start work on your own the big problem most people face is
networking, getting people to know what you do and getting good 'word of
mouth' business in return.

One last point - for what I pay in a year's membership (and I've got a
lot of business through BNI), I could get six small weekly ads in the
local paper. The last advert got me one major time waster.

Y'pays yer money, y'takes yer choice

Mart

>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL REMOVED]
[EMAIL REMOVED] Behalf Of Ed Cole
>Sent: 14 January 2002 17:09
>To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
>Subject: Re: FN-FORUM BNI downsides?
>
>
>
>I found the events a bit heavy on ritual. I attended three
>breakfasts, from 07:00 to ~09:00, though I got the impression
>many folks arrived early to get some networking done before
>the meeting started. Reason being, once it had started 60% of the
>time was spent listening to the chair quote from the great
>book of BNI. The folks that seemed to get most out of the
>events were the business services people. i.e. accountants,
>lawyers, bank managers, business card printers etc. as many
>of the guests were small start up sole traders trying to find
>their way.
>
>I am certain it works as a source of leads for certain types
>of business.
>
>My last visit was at the big launch meeting of a new chapter.
>60+ visitors. During the round the room introduce yourself
>in 10 seconds and sit down, one joker said "I'm terry and I'm
>and Alcoholic; oh wrong meeting, sorry", so I guess that summed
>up his impression! It got a laugh anyway. Most of the folks I
>spoke to said that they had paid their registration fee with
>referrals after a couple of weeks. I will probably join one day.
>
>Oh yes, food was terrible.
>
>Dave Hodgkinson wrote:
>
>> Aynone got any bad stories about BNI?
>>
>> Ta,
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>
>
>
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--
Martin Akehurst