The Official BNI Podcast

Synopsis Inviting visitors to your BNI chapter is not asking them to do you a favor. Guest Amy Kritzman shows you how to listen for the cues that making inviting easy. People talk about their business needs all the time. Every salesperson knocking at your door, sending you email, or calling on the phone is someone who needs more business. So is every person who comes to do work at your home or off...

Synopsis Just stepped down from your chapter’s leadership team? Mark Graber wants you as a mentor for the BNI Passport to Success program. The Passport Program is an engagement tool for BNI members and a retention tool for BNI chapters. It brings together everything a member should be doing to get the most out of BNI. Why Should You Mentor? Being a mentor keeps both you and the new member ac...

Synopsis Credibility is a key element of BNI’s VCP (Visibility, Credibility, Profitability) process. If you have no credibility, people will not work with with you, refer you, or follow your lead. The key to credibility is behavior. It’s doing what you say you will. According to special guest Steve Farber, that means much more than following through on your commitments. Everything you...

Synopsis Dean Jackson explains to guest host Spencer Reynolds how you can use the psychology behind referrals to your benefit in BNI and in business. Referrals are driven by self-preservation. People make referrals to add value to their own social groups. People are highly protective of their close connections and want to share good experiences and warn against bad ones. Recommending useful resour...

Synopsis Daniela Antongiovanni says kind leadership begins with listening beyond people’s behavior to the human needs underneath. Leaders fear that if they’re kind, they will be less effective, less authoritative, but the opposite is true. It’s much easier to judge or withdraw or hide behind authority instead of remaining open and curious and wanting to connect. Model the behavio...

Synopsis As a new BNI member, you need to look at every aspect of the way you present yourself to your chapter and your prospects. That includes your word choice. Using expressions like “honestly” and “to be honest” can backfire. Someone who’s just met you may wonder whether the rest of what you said was dishonest. They may wonder whether what you’re saying now...

Synopsis If you can empower people to want to help you, then ultimately all they need to know is how to help you, as guest Phil Berg likes to say. But before they can want to help you, your referral partners have to trust you to uphold their reputations. Prospects have to feel safe giving you their money. Don’t introduce doubts about your reliability by showing up late to meetings or complai...

Note: This is a rebroadcast of Episode 748, first published on March 9, 2022. Some links and offers may no longer be valid. Synopsis To receive more effective referrals from the members of your BNI group, it’s really important to help them understand your business and your target market enough to identify a good referral. To do that, you need to make sure they know these four things. The Nee...

Synopsis Persistence becomes stubbornness when you keep trying the exact thing that didn’t work before. Healthy persistence means you listen to feedback, even when it’s difficult to hear. Refine your message, improve your product, test different approaches. Learn to distinguish between criticism of the vision and criticism of the execution. Stay committed to the vision. Stay flexi...

Synopsis Envision yourself standing in a field. About 30 feet away is a 30-foot-high wall. That wall is your vision for your business and your life. Ten feet short of your vision is a wall of obstacles. If you can’t see the vision over the obstacles, you get discouraged and give up. Tom Fleming joins the podcast to show you how to grow your vision. Tom Fleming’s model of human motivati...

Synopsis When he became a BNI Executive Director, Greg Davies-Polaine made it his job to be the go-to person for chapters in his region. Every time he visited a chapter, he gave them this weekly presentation: Hi, my name is Greg Davies-Polaine. I’m your Executive Director. My whole job is ensuring that you get the most value from your BNI membership as you possibly would like to receive. If...

Synopsis Shirley Towne returns to the podcast to introduce the BNI Foundation Ambassadors program. Ambassadors are BNI members who represent the BNI Foundation in their chapters and in their regions. By visiting other chapters as a Foundation Ambassador, you grow your own business by helping the BNI Foundation. Ambassadors also help bring more nonprofits into BNI through Givers Gain Grants and oth...

Synopsis Small talk isn’t about filling silence. It’s about opening doors. The goal is to express genuine interest. One thoughtful question creates a conversation. One conversation creates a relationship. And one relationship can change a business — or even a life. Some Thoughtful Questions Who is your ideal client or referral partner? What’s something exciting that you&#82...

Synopsis Identifying the most essential things to connect business goals to activities in BNI results in more lucrative and successful memberships. Jenni Butz , Director of US CORE Training at BNI Global, introduced the twice-monthly 1st Year Member Essentials webinar to help new BNI members find value in their memberships in the earliest days. It covers the basics of BNI and provides a chance to...

Kip Kint believes anyone who runs a successful lifestyle business can scale it into a legacy business that doesn't depend on its founder.

Culture is the shadow we cast as leaders. Behavior, Priorities, and Relationships set the tone for your business.

Your BNI chapter was never meant to be your sales force. They're your connection team., They identify opportunities and transfer credibility.

The best legacy we can leave is to make a difference in the lives of the people around us, and you don't have to be a billionaire to do that.

The true test of leadership is how sustainable your organization becomes. Significance is about helping people thrive beyond you.

Networking is not a get-rich-quick strategy. It takes time, but staying committed, consistent, and focused yields invaluable rewards.

Spencer Reynolds explains his Seek, Serve, Set up approach to making the most out of the Open Networking portion of a BNI meeting.

Whether you're managing a BNI chapter or negotiating with a client, "Feel, Felt, Found" helps you win by aligning.

Shirley Towne returns to the podcast to explain why some visitors hesitate to join BNI and how to address their concerns.

Without effort, luck is useless. Hard work doesn't guarantee success, but without it, success is almost guaranteed not to happen.

As leaders, we have two jobs: to set the vision and to remove obstacles. Use "The 3D Fix:" Discernment, Discipline, and Diligence.