Are BNI Groups for you? | 83

Show Notes:

BNI can open doors, but not always the ones you want. Here’s my honest take after attending a few meetings and why most of those cards end up in the bin.

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Transcript

“Shake the hand of the greasy, slicked-back real estate agent stepping out of his over‑borrowed MG Mercedes. He hands you two business cards: ‘We’re looking for an electrician.’”

Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

BNI is a funny organisation. First off, credit where it's due—if you’re in the B2B space looking for commercial work, BNI can be a decent network. You can visit as a guest and get a feel for it before fully committing.

The structure is solid—you’ll usually find only one professional per industry per chapter. Sometimes they even split commercial and domestic electricians to keep things fair. I’ve attended a few of these chapter meetings, so here’s the lowdown.

You pay an annual membership (I think around $1,500, though I’ll fact-check that) and go through a vetting process. Once accepted, you enter a micro-community—there are chapters all over Australia and worldwide. They meet once a week for breakfast, often at 6:00 AM in CBD locations or suburbs. These meetings run 2–3 hours: minutes, referral tally, new business, and so on.

Everyone knows BNI is a referral network—great if the members fit your ideal client profile. But it’s a lot of time. If you’re a one-man-band, a visit could swallow up four or five hours—meetings, mingling, one-on-ones, follow-ups. All that time costs your business if you're billing $200+ per hour.

I started attending in 2017 as a guest. I suited up, packed a load of business cards. The vibe hit me fast—it’s overly friendly but fake. Really cliquey and almost cult-like. Once you’re in, the pressure is on: “Did you send referrals? Did you pull your weight?” It becomes a rat race of brownie points.

I got zero real referrals from one chapter and only two from another—and no payoff. That hit me hard. You’re expected to refer others frequently, even when you may not genuinely recommend them. Here’s a story: at a networking event, one sparky who was in BNI told me their website sucked and they needed an app. So they asked another BNI member, “Do you know someone?” The guy was like, “Yeah, I know someone great.” Later, I asked how well this ‘great’ developer actually performed. He said: “I don’t know—we just connect because he’s in my BNI group.” That’s the fake referrals pattern.

Another sparky I know runs his website through someone he got from his BNI chapter. He’s doing fine, but if that person does a crap job—he’ll lose business—not because the referral was bad, but because he didn’t check them. It creates false trust.

I’ve seen members who paid big to join, then gave up within months. For some, the structure works. But if your ideal clients aren’t there, it’s a gamble. I collected bags of business cards from BNI meetings—those same cards ended up in the bin, wasted. I got no jobs. I went to network, but all I felt was performance. It was all “glee and glitz,” but little real business.

The pitch is: “We’re always curious for electricians.” But it often meant: “Can you undercut our current sparky?” That energy just didn’t align with me.

Public speaking is another hurdle. My first meeting had 150 people. I had to stand up trembling, microphone in hand, ramble: “I’m Alan, I own [company name], I’m an electrician… we do all kinds of electrical.” I had no message training then, so it was brutal. If they’re going to make you present every week, you have to prepare—and if you don’t like it, you’ll dread it.

Some love the limelight. But introverts like me? It’s draining.

So here’s the look: BNI isn’t evil—it works for some bigger businesses, especially those with teams. But for a solo sparky like me, it just wasn’t worth the time, energy, or stress.

That said—if you're curious, visit as a guest. Hand out your business cards like frisbees. See what works. Just do it with your eyes open.

That’s my two cents on BNI this week. I’ll catch you next week—and hey, I did a podcast on someone else’s Spark Your Interest show last weekend. That goes live soon and I’ll drop it as a bonus midweek. Links, resources, and chat options are in the description and bio. Want help with your sparky business? Just send me a DM.