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Plans and Referrals

By Dr. Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D. 2003

The first two topics in the 2003 theme relate to having a plan and generating referrals. Therefore, those are the ones that I will be talking about in this first article in the series of six that cover the 2003 BNI theme.

1. Plan

Having taught Strategic Planning at California State University over the last decade, I've learned a great deal about planning and small businesses. Many years ago it used to surprise me that 50 percent of all businesses fail after only three years in operation. However, now that I know how little planning many businesses do, I'm surprised that it's only 50 percent that fail.

If you want to be successful in business, it is critical that you plan your work and work your plan. Furthermore, part of your plan should involve your strategy for building your business through word-of-mouth. In my book, The World's Best Known Marketing Secret, I talk at length about the importance of what I call your Word-of-Mouth Business Acquisition Tactics plan or WOMBAT plan. All BNImembers should start the new year out by completing their annual WOMBAT plan. This will help you achieve the results you deserve for all the hard work you do as a business owner or sales professional.

2. Referrals

Referrals are the reason I started BNI. It is the reason that we go to our weekly meetings in over 2,600 locations throughout 13 countries around the world. Somewhere, every working day of the year, BNI members are meeting and passing referrals to one another. It is estimated* that BNI passed over 2.5 million referrals last year, generating over $856 million (U.S.) in business for our members around the world (final numbers will be released in February).

This is an incredible amount of business-the BNI system makes a substantial difference in the financial health of companies.

Our philosophy is "Givers Gain." It is predicated on the age-old idea of "whatgoes around, comes around." If I help you, you'll help me and we'll all do better as a result of it. The absolute best way to get more referrals is to "give" referrals whenever you have the opportunity to do so. This is a system that works when everyone in a chapter is working for the best interest of the group and tryingto support one another through a reciprocal system of referral generation.

Were are two suggestions for you to increase the number of referrals that youare getting in your chapter. First, immediately set up a schedule to meet with all the members of your group in the "One-on-One" Dance Card system that we have (see your local BNI director if you are not familiar with this). Two, ask the president of your chapter to conduct the "Is Your Net-Working" exercise that can be found in the BNI Chapter Toolkit.

Doing either of these two items will dramatically increase the number of referrals your chapter will generate. Doing both will make a huge difference.

As I said above, referrals are the reason I started BNI. I presume that we all joined BNI for more business. But what we've gained as a result of the BNI system is much more than the business we've generated.

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