5. Two Recent Epiphanies

In this episode, we discover the amazing ongoing learning of how this BNI system really works.

Transcript

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Hello there and welcome to the Imperfect Podcast. This is your host, Wendy Lloyd Curly, and I am here to take you through the ins and outs of networking B and I and all things that come to my mind as we talk. I'm embarrassed to tell you that this is take three of the Imperfect Podcast number five. And I'm not going to re-record this one. I'm going to keep going. I've been interrupted by my phone. I've been interrupted by dinging. And now I'm just going to not edit. I'm just going to go straight through with you guys and we're going to enjoy this. So, hey, how are you? Today I want to talk about two really big breakthroughs in thinking that I have had recently. And I also want to share that lately I've really embraced the fact that lifelong learning is probably what keeps me attracted to BI more than anything else lately. So if I were looking at the core values of BI, I would pick lifelong learning right now. It's just calling out to me. And the reason why is that I've had a couple of pretty big mind shifts in the last few months. And you've heard about a few of them on previous podcasts, but I would like to share two with you right now. So for those of you who are not BI members, this is predominantly focused on what a BI member might be interested in listening to. But nonetheless, I think that you'll appreciate it. So the first epiphany or mind shift that I've had is that I always used to say, and I've heard many people train it this way, and I've probably trained people this way for the last 13 years, that the meeting is all about the visitors. That the meeting that we do every week is for the visitors. And I'm here to admit to you that I realize now that I was wrong. The meeting is for the members. And the more I think about it, the the less happy I am with myself for always thinking that the meeting was for the visitors because it gives you the wrong impression as a member. And so, how do I know that the meeting is for the members? Well, I know that because of the way that it's uh organized so that every week you as a member get to come in and share with the other members, the other people in your chapter, the other referral partners that you have. You get to share with them another story about who you want to meet, how we're going to identify them, and what we should say to them when we meet them, how to give you a referral. And that's what we do with our weekly presentations. Our weekly presentations are not meant to let the visitors know everything that we do in BI. That's not what it's meant to be. It's not meant to explain or be a commercial for your business overall. It's meant to show and demonstrate to the fellow members in the room who you want to meet, how we identify them, and what to say. That is what the meetings are about for you as a member. And then the visitors are going to hear this. They're going to hear one, they aren't going to hear your whole big elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is different to a weekly presentation. A weekly presentation is training. An elevator pitch is marketing. We don't need to be marketers to our referral partners. Hmm. Yeah? Are you nodding or are you shaking your head in disbelief? It's a mind shift. The weekly presentation does not need to be your elevator pitch. When you meet someone in a networking opportunity, you explain to them what your company does and what you do and why you're there. When you meet someone in a BI networking environment, the open networking at the beginning of the meeting, you can do exactly the same thing. You can explain what you do. But when you do your weekly presentation, you say, hello, I'd like to tell or share with you a story about this person. I am looking for referrals to this person, and here's how you'll identify them, and here's what I want you to say to them when you meet them. You're training every week. So you are actually there on a weekly basis for the members and for strengthening your understanding of what they do and for them to understand and strengthen what they know about you. It's that's a super mind shift for me. Now, the agenda is structured to attract visitors. So for those of you who are listening to this podcast who are not BI members, when you attend a BI chapter, you're going to meet fantastic suppliers. You're going to meet people who are smart, intelligent, and effective at what they do. They support their business very strongly through this BI community, and they work hard to maintain their membership. And I think that you should always visit a BI chapter if you whether or not you are interested in becoming a member, because you will find fantastic suppliers and people who you can genuinely refer business to later, either for yourself or for someone else that you know. Anyway, uh, so that was one. One breakthrough in thinking was that the the weekly meeting is for the members, not for the visitors. It's structured to attract the visitors to become members. The best way to do that is to be very specific about what you need. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, the big epiphany for me, is that uh we have these specializations or classifications or categories in B and I. And we ask all of our members, we we are very clear that there is only one classification available per member. One classification available. So we only have one residential mortgage broker in a chapter, we only have one um uh buyer's agent in the chapter for for residential property, we only have one um accountant in the chapter, uh we only have one business coach in the chapter, we only have one chiropractor in the chapter. And the reason for that is so we can specialize and be really clear about what referrals we want. But the real reason for that is because the greater the number of people who are in the chapter, the more referral opportunities there will be because there will be more people in the room listening to the weekly presentations, more people in the room having one-to-one meetings with you in order to learn about your business and more importantly, about how to find referrals for you. And I guess that's the s that's the main thing that I want to share with you. So this this is the second point, and the second point is that we are not here to really share what our business is. We want to train each other on what referrals we want and how to bring them to us. It's a big difference, big difference, and important one for you as a member to realize that your specialization is what you need to teach all of the other members about. Wow. There is lifelong learning all around us, you guys. Every time that you have a one-to-one with your fellow members, you are learning about them and learning about the people that they want to be meeting, and learning about where in your network those people might exist. And then we can put that into practice and turn it into good referrals for each other. Uh, listen, uh, the Imperfect Podcast is about to finish this time because my husband has just arrived home. The dog's about to bark, and maybe the doorbell will even ring. The music you are about to hear is from my very good friend Ben Little. He wrote this song, 20 Hours of Texas, and I can't wait for you to listen to it. I'll see you next time for the Imperfect Podcast. Have a great day.