The Official BNI Podcast

Synopsis It’s International Networking Week! In honor of the event, Dr. Misner is sharing 5 ways to be a better networker. Dr. Misner surveyed 3400 businesspeople around the world and asked them what makes a great networker. Here’s what they said you need to do to. * Be a good listener. * Develop a positive attitude. * Collaborate to serve others. * Be sincere and authentic. * Follow up. Each of these characteristic ties into the idea that networking is about farming, not hunting. Only when you build meaningful business relationships will you be a great networker. You’ll be hearing more about this survey in future episodes. Meanwhile, share your ideas for top characteristics of great networkers in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 493 – Priscilla: Hello everyone 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: Hello Priscilla. I am at home in Austin, Texas this week. I try not to travel during International Networking Week. This is, everybody hopefully knows, International Networking Week. I try not to travel because I do a lot of live Skype presentations during the week. If you didn’t know that this is International Networking Week, please go to InternationalNetworkingWeek.com and find out about it. International Networking Week was created by BNI. I, along with a number of Directors 10 years ago, started International Networking Week. It is now done globally. I thought it would be really good today, since it is International Networking Week, to talk about five ways to be a better networker. Many people including me offer advice on what it takes to be better at networking, but one thing that is often left out of the equation is that networking often involves interacting with others. So it is really worth asking what the average person believes it takes to become great at networking. If we want to make the kind of impression that works to build a powerful personal network, we have to be cognizant of what other people’s expectations are and then adjust out behavior accordingly. So I recently gathered over 3400 survey responses from business people all around the world. I listed roughly 20 different characteristics and asked respondents to pick behaviors that they most like to see in a great networker. So for this sample in my podcast today, I am going to identify the top five characteristics. I will give them to you in order of the survey answers that the survey respondents gave me. So the number one characteristic that people felt was important in being a good networker -I did a survey of 3400 people all over the world. By the way, it wasn’t just BNI members. It was open to the public. The number one way was being a good listener, the number one characteristic. Being a good listener. I think our success in networking really depends on how well we can listen to others. The faster you and your networking partner learn what you need to know about each other, the faster you will be able to establish a valuable relationship. You have heard me say a number of times on this podcast that a good networker has two ears and one mouth and should use them both proportionately.

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 366. Synopsis This week Barry Johnson, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, joins Dr. Misner to talk about the relationship between BNI and chambers of commerce. For years, Dr. Misner has recommended that BNI members both join and participate in their local chamber of commerce. It’s like joining a fitness club: writing the check isn’t enough. You have to do the workouts. Chambers also provide resources for their members. Chambers provide access on issues, connections to other business organizations, and insights into the local marketplace. A chamber of commerce can be a great source of information about market trends and demographics. Your local chamber can also help you look into out-of-state and even international business. BNI members also have an opportunity to nominate their clients for awards offered by chambers of commerce. Through affinity programs, chambers of commerce can help their members to save money on things like office supplies and travel. Chambers have a broader scope than BNI, which allows for a collaborative relationship. Check  out your local chamber of commerce as a way to make your networking and referral success even stronger. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 366 – 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 and 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 today? Ivan: Well, this week I am in Croatia of all places, Priscilla. I am part of an organization called the Transformational Leadership Council, which was put together by Jack Canfield who wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul. We have a regular conference and this time this year it is in Croatia, so I am there. Priscilla: Sounds so exotic. Ivan: It is a little exotic and I am very happy to have on the line with me here Barry Johnson who is president and CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, so this is a great international call here. Priscilla is in San Francisco. Barry is in Miami and I am in Croatia. As I said, he is the CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber. It is south Florida’s first and longest sustained business development organixation and one of the largest in the southeast US. He directs a team there of some 40 chamber professionals supporting some 400,000 employees of the chamber member company in south Florida. Before the Miami Chamber, he was with AT&T for 25 years in corporate communications. Barry is here today to talk a little bit about chambers. I am going to talk about chambers and BNI, and Barry is going to talk about some of the benefits of a chamber of commerce. Barry, welcome to the BNI Podcast. Barry: It’s my pleasure to be here. Thank you. Ivan: It’s great to have you on and I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that chambers do. You know, I have some members who are listening to this podcast going, really? You are talking to a chamber? Isn’t that another networking organization? Absolutely it is, and I view chambers as being very symbiotic to BNI. I have recommended chambers for decades in my organization for the kinds of reasons that I hope you are going to talk about today, Barry. Barry: Absolutely. There is a close working relationship with the whole philosophy and concept ...

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 366. Synopsis This week Barry Johnson, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, joins Dr. Misner to talk about the relationship between BNI and chambers of commerce. For years, Dr. Misner has recommended that BNI members both join and participate in their local chamber of commerce. It’s like joining a fitness club: writing the check isn’t enough. You have to do the workouts. Chambers also provide resources for their members. Chambers provide access on issues, connections to other business organizations, and insights into the local marketplace. A chamber of commerce can be a great source of information about market trends and demographics. Your local chamber can also help you look into out-of-state and even international business. BNI members also have an opportunity to nominate their clients for awards offered by chambers of commerce. Through affinity programs, chambers of commerce can help their members to save money on things like office supplies and travel. Chambers have a broader scope than BNI, which allows for a collaborative relationship. Check  out your local chamber of commerce as a way to make your networking and referral success even stronger. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 366 – 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 and 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 today? Ivan: Well, this week I am in Croatia of all places, Priscilla. I am part of an organization called the Transformational Leadership Council, which was put together by Jack Canfield who wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul. We have a regular conference and this time this year it is in Croatia, so I am there. Priscilla: Sounds so exotic. Ivan: It is a little exotic and I am very happy to have on the line with me here Barry Johnson who is president and CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, so this is a great international call here. Priscilla is in San Francisco. Barry is in Miami and I am in Croatia. As I said, he is the CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber. It is south Florida’s first and longest sustained business development organixation and one of the largest in the southeast US. He directs a team there of some 40 chamber professionals supporting some 400,000 employees of the chamber member company in south Florida. Before the Miami Chamber, he was with AT&T for 25 years in corporate communications. Barry is here today to talk a little bit about chambers. I am going to talk about chambers and BNI, and Barry is going to talk about some of the benefits of a chamber of commerce. Barry, welcome to the BNI Podcast. Barry: It’s my pleasure to be here. Thank you. Ivan: It’s great to have you on and I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that chambers do. You know, I have some members who are listening to this podcast going, really? You are talking to a chamber? Isn’t that another networking organization? Absolutely it is, and I view chambers as being very symbiotic to BNI. I have recommended chambers for decades in my organization for the kinds of reasons that I hope you are going to talk about today, Barry. Barry: Absolutely. There is a close working relationship with the whole philosophy and concept ...

Synopsis People often ask “How do I stay in touch with people?” or “How do I get back in touch with people that I haven’t seen or spoken to lately?” You have to start by making a commitment to improve in this area. If you haven’t been good at this in the past, start to focus on improving today. * Sort through your lists. You can’t stay in touch with everyone. Create a shortlist of people you want to maintain a relationship with. * Use the system they use. If these people are really important to you, show up where they are: email, social networks, telephone, What’sApp. * Use social media platforms to share news and updates. This way people can see what you’re up to even if you don’t send a personal message. * Send a letter or card by snail mail–at least once in a while. * Use messaging systems like Skype or Facebook Messenger. * Make periodic phone calls. In some cases, a regularly scheduled call is appropriate and effective. * Meet face to face. Nothing beats actually meeting someone face to face and having a conversation. Do you have a strategy to add? Or an example of how you use one of the seven? Share it in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 491 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring 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. This week, I am in Las Vegas, Nevada for an executive management meeting for BNI. We tied it into the International Franchise Association, which is being held this week. This is the management team for BNI globally, so many people from all over the world who help run the program are here. Priscilla: That’s great. Is that a large number? Ivan: About 20 people who are part of the top management, the Executive Management and Executive Council which are in the top countries. Priscilla: Interesting. Okay. Ivan: So today I am going to talk about seven strategies to stay in touch. People often ask me – this is a great podcast for early in the year because people often ask me how I stay in touch with people or how I get back in touch with people I haven’t spoken to lately. I think the first thing- I am going to give you seven strategies. Here is a bonus concept before I give you the seven strategies. That is that you have to start by making a commitment to improve in this area. There is a great Chinese proverb that I really like and I know I have shared it on the podcast before. When is the best time to plant an oak tree? The answer is 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Well, today. If you want to improve on your follow up, you can begin, if you haven’t been real good at it in the past. That’s okay. I hereby forgive you. Start the focus on improving strategies now. Here are seven strategies that will help you improve in this area. Do the ones that work best for you. They may not always work for you, but surely, you can take three, four or five of these strategies and apply them. Here is the first thing that you want to do: One, sort through your list. You can’t stay in touch with everyone. Who do you want to make sure to stay connected with and why? It could be personal or it could be professional, but create a list where you want to focus on staying connected with these people.

Synopsis People often ask “How do I stay in touch with people?” or “How do I get back in touch with people that I haven’t seen or spoken to lately?” You have to start by making a commitment to improve in this area. If you haven’t been good at this in the past, start to focus on improving today. * Sort through your lists. You can’t stay in touch with everyone. Create a shortlist of people you want to maintain a relationship with. * Use the system they use. If these people are really important to you, show up where they are: email, social networks, telephone, What’sApp. * Use social media platforms to share news and updates. This way people can see what you’re up to even if you don’t send a personal message. * Send a letter or card by snail mail–at least once in a while. * Use messaging systems like Skype or Facebook Messenger. * Make periodic phone calls. In some cases, a regularly scheduled call is appropriate and effective. * Meet face to face. Nothing beats actually meeting someone face to face and having a conversation. Do you have a strategy to add? Or an example of how you use one of the seven? Share it in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 491 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring 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. This week, I am in Las Vegas, Nevada for an executive management meeting for BNI. We tied it into the International Franchise Association, which is being held this week. This is the management team for BNI globally, so many people from all over the world who help run the program are here. Priscilla: That’s great. Is that a large number? Ivan: About 20 people who are part of the top management, the Executive Management and Executive Council which are in the top countries. Priscilla: Interesting. Okay. Ivan: So today I am going to talk about seven strategies to stay in touch. People often ask me – this is a great podcast for early in the year because people often ask me how I stay in touch with people or how I get back in touch with people I haven’t spoken to lately. I think the first thing- I am going to give you seven strategies. Here is a bonus concept before I give you the seven strategies. That is that you have to start by making a commitment to improve in this area. There is a great Chinese proverb that I really like and I know I have shared it on the podcast before. When is the best time to plant an oak tree? The answer is 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Well, today. If you want to improve on your follow up, you can begin, if you haven’t been real good at it in the past. That’s okay. I hereby forgive you. Start the focus on improving strategies now. Here are seven strategies that will help you improve in this area. Do the ones that work best for you. They may not always work for you, but surely, you can take three, four or five of these strategies and apply them. Here is the first thing that you want to do: One, sort through your list. You can’t stay in touch with everyone. Who do you want to make sure to stay connected with and why? It could be personal or it could be professional, but create a list where you want to focus on staying connected with these people.

Synopsis Attendance is one area where the easy path is harder and the hard path is easier. The more you show up, the more money you make. There’s hard data to back this up. Back in 1985, there were some groups that met twice a month instead of every week. Those groups passed 52% fewer referrals than groups that met weekly. By 1986, all BNI groups met weekly. The members who have fewest absences close the most business. Fewer absences = more referrals. Three absences in six months (the maximum) lead to 73% less business. Has your chapter taken steps to improve attendance? What kind of results have you seen? Share your experience in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 490 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring 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 in Mexico this week at a TLC conference that is going on in Mexico. I always learn a lot of things from the Transformational Leadership Council. Hey, a couple of weeks ago we talked about and I did a podcast about hard-easy, easy-hard. The hard path in life is often easier. You asked for an example in BNI and I mentioned attendance is one of those examples. It is hard to make sure and maintain the attendance policy in your chapter. Yet, the chapter ends up being much more responsible as a result of it. That’s the topic for today’s podcast. I mentioned in the previous podcast that I would be covering that. I think it’s a powerful topic and one of the things that we have seen over time and we have some hard data to back this up is that if you show up, you are going to make more money. Period. End of story. I mean, you could probably stop listening to the podcast right now if you just did what I said. But no, it helps if I give you some of the facts, so that’s what I am going to do. Here’s a question: Have you ever gotten a hair cut over the phone? Probably not. It is just one of those things that you have to actually be present for. It turns out that is the same with BNI. People joint BNI to exchange referrals and increase business. Intellectually, we understand that it is important to build relationships, but it may not be obvious just how critical it is. It’s a referral process. We have discovered- I have discovered over the years the impact attendance has on the organization. Years ago, we had BNI groups that met twice a month. Yes, it’s true. Some groups actually met twice a month back in 1985. Why don’t we do that now, you might be wondering. Well, easy answer. We discovered that chapters that met twice a month passed 52% less referrals than groups that met weekly. Now, I want that to sink in. Groups that met twice a month back in 1985 passed 52% less referrals than the groups that met weekly. That’s a shocking statistic. When groups were shown this hard data back in 1985, every single group except one switched to meeting weekly. And the one group that refused to make the transition shut down from lack of success. So by 1986, all BNI groups worldwide – back then, just in California – had met weekly. All groups now meet weekly. We tried meeting twice a month and those were the results.

Synopsis Attendance is one area where the easy path is harder and the hard path is easier. The more you show up, the more money you make. There’s hard data to back this up. Back in 1985, there were some groups that met twice a month instead of every week. Those groups passed 52% fewer referrals than groups that met weekly. By 1986, all BNI groups met weekly. The members who have fewest absences close the most business. Fewer absences = more referrals. Three absences in six months (the maximum) lead to 73% less business. Has your chapter taken steps to improve attendance? What kind of results have you seen? Share your experience in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. Complete Transcript of Episode 490 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring 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 in Mexico this week at a TLC conference that is going on in Mexico. I always learn a lot of things from the Transformational Leadership Council. Hey, a couple of weeks ago we talked about and I did a podcast about hard-easy, easy-hard. The hard path in life is often easier. You asked for an example in BNI and I mentioned attendance is one of those examples. It is hard to make sure and maintain the attendance policy in your chapter. Yet, the chapter ends up being much more responsible as a result of it. That’s the topic for today’s podcast. I mentioned in the previous podcast that I would be covering that. I think it’s a powerful topic and one of the things that we have seen over time and we have some hard data to back this up is that if you show up, you are going to make more money. Period. End of story. I mean, you could probably stop listening to the podcast right now if you just did what I said. But no, it helps if I give you some of the facts, so that’s what I am going to do. Here’s a question: Have you ever gotten a hair cut over the phone? Probably not. It is just one of those things that you have to actually be present for. It turns out that is the same with BNI. People joint BNI to exchange referrals and increase business. Intellectually, we understand that it is important to build relationships, but it may not be obvious just how critical it is. It’s a referral process. We have discovered- I have discovered over the years the impact attendance has on the organization. Years ago, we had BNI groups that met twice a month. Yes, it’s true. Some groups actually met twice a month back in 1985. Why don’t we do that now, you might be wondering. Well, easy answer. We discovered that chapters that met twice a month passed 52% less referrals than groups that met weekly. Now, I want that to sink in. Groups that met twice a month back in 1985 passed 52% less referrals than the groups that met weekly. That’s a shocking statistic. When groups were shown this hard data back in 1985, every single group except one switched to meeting weekly. And the one group that refused to make the transition shut down from lack of success. So by 1986, all BNI groups worldwide – back then, just in California – had met weekly. All groups now meet weekly. We tried meeting twice a month and those were the results.

Synopsis Tiffanie Kellog joins Dr. Misner this week to share some tips from her new book, Knock the Socks Off Your Audience. One of her favorite presentation formats for referral generation is called “Three, Three, and Three”. First Third of Presentation Tell people why you do what you do (your emotionally charged connection). Second Third of Presentation Share success stories about how you’ve helped your clients. Final Third of Presentation Conclude with your call to action. You can include more than one, for those not yet ready to refer you. Remember, you don’t want to sell to your fellow members: you want to sell through them. Be as specific as possible about the referrals you want. Always respect the time limit: your audience will stop listening when the bell sounds. Brought to you by Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 489 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. 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 in the San Diego area today, Priscilla. Thank you for asking. I understand Tiffanie, that you are up in northern California for the Ascentive Conference. Am I correct? Tiffanie: I am. Ivan: You have been a coach with Ascentive since 2006. It is great to have you back on mypodcast. We did a podcast last month, and we did it about inviting visitors to your featured presentation. You have a new book that has just come out this week, and I have invited you back to the podcast. I should also say that you are the author of Four and a Half Networking Mistakes, and you are on my Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which Priscilla just mentioned is the sponsor for this podcast. So you are joining me on the Networking for Success Channel. You have done this book. You have been on my podcast several times, and today you are going to talk about knocking the socks off your audience. You use that phrase. You use that phrase often. But for you, that phrase has a special meaning, doesn’t it? Tiffanie: It does. I didn’t start off trying to start a sock collection. In the fall of 2015, my husband and I thought it would be kind of fun and a good marketing thing to see how long it would take me to wear every pair of socks I had in my closet. The rules were simple. They had to be fun or colorful. They couldn’t be just plain socks. And I could only wear them once and then I would have to move on. This started in October of 2015 and I am still going with wearing brand new socks. I actually have over 250 pairs of different socks that I wear and I have become known as kind of the gal with the crazy socks. Ivan: Crazy socks is an understatement. They are insanely crazy. Just go to Tiffanie’s website: TiffanieKellog.com. And you can see. Certainly, in the “About” section, there is a great picture of one of the pairs of socks. Tiffanie, we have known each other a long time, and I am going to share something with my audience. It could be creepy. I asked you and said, “This isn’t creepy, is it?” And you said, “No, no, no, it isn’t creepy.” So I have seen all of these socks that you have and I always laughed because they are so colorful. I actually took a photograph of my sock drawer – and what color were all my socks, Tiffanie? Tiffanie: They were all black.

Synopsis Tiffanie Kellog joins Dr. Misner this week to share some tips from her new book, Knock the Socks Off Your Audience. One of her favorite presentation formats for referral generation is called “Three, Three, and Three”. First Third of Presentation Tell people why you do what you do (your emotionally charged connection). Second Third of Presentation Share success stories about how you’ve helped your clients. Final Third of Presentation Conclude with your call to action. You can include more than one, for those not yet ready to refer you. Remember, you don’t want to sell to your fellow members: you want to sell through them. Be as specific as possible about the referrals you want. Always respect the time limit: your audience will stop listening when the bell sounds. Brought to you by Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 489 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube. 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 in the San Diego area today, Priscilla. Thank you for asking. I understand Tiffanie, that you are up in northern California for the Ascentive Conference. Am I correct? Tiffanie: I am. Ivan: You have been a coach with Ascentive since 2006. It is great to have you back on mypodcast. We did a podcast last month, and we did it about inviting visitors to your featured presentation. You have a new book that has just come out this week, and I have invited you back to the podcast. I should also say that you are the author of Four and a Half Networking Mistakes, and you are on my Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which Priscilla just mentioned is the sponsor for this podcast. So you are joining me on the Networking for Success Channel. You have done this book. You have been on my podcast several times, and today you are going to talk about knocking the socks off your audience. You use that phrase. You use that phrase often. But for you, that phrase has a special meaning, doesn’t it? Tiffanie: It does. I didn’t start off trying to start a sock collection. In the fall of 2015, my husband and I thought it would be kind of fun and a good marketing thing to see how long it would take me to wear every pair of socks I had in my closet. The rules were simple. They had to be fun or colorful. They couldn’t be just plain socks. And I could only wear them once and then I would have to move on. This started in October of 2015 and I am still going with wearing brand new socks. I actually have over 250 pairs of different socks that I wear and I have become known as kind of the gal with the crazy socks. Ivan: Crazy socks is an understatement. They are insanely crazy. Just go to Tiffanie’s website: TiffanieKellog.com. And you can see. Certainly, in the “About” section, there is a great picture of one of the pairs of socks. Tiffanie, we have known each other a long time, and I am going to share something with my audience. It could be creepy. I asked you and said, “This isn’t creepy, is it?” And you said, “No, no, no, it isn’t creepy.” So I have seen all of these socks that you have and I always laughed because they are so colorful. I actually took a photograph of my sock drawer – and what color were all my socks, Tiffanie? Tiffanie: They were all black.

The Official BNI Podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. Dr. Misner shares tips on referral marketing, networking, and getting the most out of BNI.

Synopsis People, like water, tend to seek the path of least resistance. They do what’s easy instead of what’s best. A BNI chapter that takes the easy path doesn’t hold members accountable for attendance, quality referrals, or ongoing education. They don’t keep the classification cowboys out. These chapters inevitably struggle. Following the BNI program can be hard. It’s not easy to maintain attendance, generate quality referrals, immerse in a culture of learning, and maintain a positive attitude. But in the long run, chapters that take the “hard” path are more successful. Groups that do the hard work generate much more business than those that don’t. The secret to success, without hard work, is still a secret. Is your chapter taking the hard-easy route, or the easy-hard route? What could your chapter do to follow the path to success? Brought to you by the Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 488 – Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, featuring Dr. Ivan Misner and many 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 in Austin, Texas. I just experienced the New Year, and I think this is a great topic to start the year. It is a good topic for chapters to look forward as to how to be a successful group. I also wanted to mention that the new sponsor is the Networking for Success Channel, as you mentioned. We will have a link in this podcast for the Networking for Success Channel. It is a YouTube channel that is sponsored by Entrepreneur.com. A lot of great content there, not only by me but also by many other networking experts that I have brought on to the channel. Priscilla: Great. I look forward to seeing that. Ivan: Yeah. Thanks. So today’s topic is the easy path is harder. That sounds like a little bit of a paradox. How could it be harder? Here is how: Early in my career, I learned that people, like water, tend to seek the path of least resistance. That is, as a rule, people will often do what is easiest rather than what is best and generally harder. So throughout my time in BNI, I have seen groups that take the easy path. These are chapters that don’t really want to follow the system. They don’t hold members accountable for attendance. They don’t really hold people accountable for quality referrals, following the program or ongoing education- getting the entire group immersed in education. Many of these things are, in fact, hard to maintain. They are hard to do consistently. It is not easy to run a great chapter of BNI. The real tragedy is that these groups may go down this path for a really long time, unwilling to take the necessary hard steps to build a successful group. The results are inevitable. The chapter struggles. It’s really interesting because oftentimes, I will hear people say to me, Priscilla, “You know, the chapter is doing fine. The chapter is doing good. You know, we’re okay. It’s alright.” I always think when I hear that, I think of John Collins and his book, Good to Great, where he says the enemy of great is not bad. The enemy of great is good because that is when people will say things like, “That’s good enough. We are doing okay.” On the other hand, I see some groups that work really hard to maintain attendance,

The Official BNI Podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. Dr. Misner shares tips on referral marketing, networking, and getting the most out of BNI.

Synopsis Every year at this time, Dr. Misner takes time off to do some reflection. Since this is the last podcast for this year, Dr. Misner wanted to talk about creating a life plan. Create a list of what you hope might happen. Wherever you are in your life, this has value for your future. Here are the goals Dr. Misner had for each decade of his life when he first undertook this exercise: * Twenties: Learning Years * Thirties: Establish Career * Forties: Growth Years * Fifties: Top of Game * Sixties: Elder Statesman This year Dr. Misner wants to set another thirty-year plan. Take a day and reflect on what you want to be doing and who you want to be doing it with. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of Episode 487 – 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: I have been in Austin, Texas all month. We are headed towards the end of the year, and I have done a number of podcasts here on BNI podcast over the years talking about how I take a little bit of time off before the end of the year and do some reflection. As a matter of fact, BNI exists because I did this over 30 years ago, and I took at look at where do I want to be in the future and how did last year go? I was like oh my goodness. What happened last year? It was that moment that gave me an opportunity to really think about making BNI a global organization. So I take this time off every year and since this is that last podcast for this year and we are moving into the new year, we are going to go on holiday for a couple of weeks here. I wanted to talk about creating a life plan. So this podcast is more personal than it is about BNI. It is personal and you can use it in your personal life but also in your business life. And, of course, you can do some planning, no doubt, in BNI with this. I have always been a believer in setting goals and targets. Literally in my 20’s on one of these times that I took days off between the holidays and New Year’s, I assembled my plan of where I wanted my career to be as I matured throughout my professional years. I know. I know. It never turns out the way you plan it, but try telling that to a 20- something who has this overwhelming ambition to blaze his own trail, which was me when I was in my 20’s. So in my 20’s right after college, I sat down and I wrote out my vision of where I hoped to be as my career progressed. I am suggesting that wherever you are in your life, whether you are towards the end of your career or the beginning of your career, this has value for your future. I happened to have done it in my 20’s. You might imagine as a recent college grad with a diploma in hand and ready to take on the world, I kind of tossed and turned at night wondering that I was going to do and where I might end up. I created a list of what I hoped might happen. Here is what I came up with: In my 20’s I wrote down that these would be my learning years. These would be when I pay my dues. Be prepared to work crazy long hours a be a sponge for learning. In my 30’s I wanted to establish myself in my career. I wanted to pick a professional lane and move forward. That is what I wrote down in my plan. In my 40’s these were my growth years, build my business, create a reputation, continue with lifelong learning. You will notice that’s always important. Lifelong learning.

The Official BNI Podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. Dr. Misner shares tips on referral marketing, networking, and getting the most out of BNI.

Synopsis Tiffanie Kellog joins Dr. Misner to talk about inviting visitors to your chapter on the day of your featured presentation.You can fill the room with your clients and prospects and make the event much more dynamic and train more people to refer you. Tiffanie likes to aim to bring in 10 visitors to your featured presentation. You’ll have 6-8 weeks from the time your presentation is scheduled to the time you actually present. That gives you plenty of time to bring in visitors. Here are some of the steps to take. * Give your featured presentation a name. * Send a save-the-date email to at least 40 people. * Create an event on Facebook. * Send a news release about your presentation to your local media. * Send a written invitation (the printed kind with a stamp) to the people on your invitation list. * Post the information on all your social media accounts several time. * Make follow-up phone calls to the people you invited 7-10 days before the event. * Make a confirmation phone call the day before the event. You can find more tips from Tiffanie on the Networking for Success YouTube channel. Brought to you by NetworkingNow.com. Complete Transcript of Episode 486 – 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 today and where are you today? Ivan: I am actually in Austin, TX for the month of December. I am not traveling this month, which is rare. Priscilla: That’s nice. Ivan: It is nice. I have a guest today on my podcast. She has been a guest in the past, Tiffanie Kellog. Tiffanie joined BNI originally in 2005. She has been an incentive coach since 2006. She is the author of the book Four and a Half Networking Mistakes. We talked about this before, Tiffany. I love that book, Four and a Half Networking Mistakes. You did a podcast with me some time ago. Podcast number 431, where we talked about the importance of your name tag, one of the, I think, four and a half mistakes. Tiffanie, welcome to the podcast. Tiffanie: Thank you so much for having me today. Ivan: It is great having you on. You have an interesting topic. I love this topic. It is about inviting visitors to your feature presentation. Now, in BNI it is always good to have visitors. But you are saying if you are doing a feature presentation, it’s great to have visitors, so talk to us about that. Tiffanie: One of the things that I have noticed as a member is that any time there are more visitors in the room, the energy is certainly higher. It is a more powerful and dynamic meeting. So when you think about it being the feature speaker, that is the meeting that you definitely want to make sure is high energy. As a presenter, I think we definitely have the opportunity to do some inviting and fill up the room with our clients, our prospects, people who know us to help ramp it up. Ivan: Why would you want to invite them? I think I know the answer, but tell us why would you want to invite them to your presentation? I agree that it is a lot more energy and that is a good one, but why specifically to your presentation? Tiffanie: You know, we always like to have people come to our BNI chapter to show it off but I also think it gives us a good opportunity as a BNI member to become the expert by be...