BNI SuccessNet - First Quarter 2002

This is the place where you can ask any question about BNI. If you have a question for BNI's CEO and Founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, send it to askbni@bni.com he will post his response here, as space allows. From time to time, a guest Director will post a response.

Q: Does paid advertising benefit BNI chapters?

A: As you might expect, I have had some experience with this in the early days of BNI. We did a fair amount of local print-media (newspaper & magazine) advertising much like you described. My response percentage was horrible. What small number of people did respond were almost all in professions that are extremely common in BNI (such as insurance agents).

I showed my ads and various chapter ads to an adverting expert. He said that print media advertising is "pre-sold" advertising. In other words, when you decide you want a car, you look for car ads. When you decide you want a computer, you search for computer ads. When you want to do some home improvement, you look for home improvement ads. However, when you decide to join a networking group - you do NOT look for networking ads. He said that you might look in the calendar section—but you won't look for ads. This means that you have to rely on the right person, at the right time to literally stumble of your ad. Since most people don't read all the advertising unless they are "looking" for something—it means that your response ratio will be very poor.

The following month, I starting focusing on tradeshows and have never looked back.

Now, having said all of that—I have found that there are many members who just won't believe it. They want to "see for themselves". My advice to them is the same, but I don't try to stop them from doing it. If members are convinced that advertising will work, nothing I can do or say will change their mind until they try it themselves.

One last point—since 1985, I've never seen any chapter do an ad more than 2-3 times. In every case I've seen, the results were so bad, they lost their comitmment to the approach after a couple trys.

Q: Do repeat referrals from one member to another count as a referral?

A: There are several ways one can look at this. Some people feel that repeat "inside referrals" are not legitimate referrals. Others feel that money is money and every referral should count. First, I think you should meet with the chapter's Membership Committee and discuss it with them. This is a perfect example of helpting to "guide" the members in a positive way over a positive issue through the Membership Committee. On this issue - we believe that there should be LOCAL control. The Membership Committee should discuss the pros and cons and make a decision based on their feelings. For the record—MOST chapters DO count these referrals because they are legitimate referrals given for a legitimate reason. This money made from these referrals spends just as well as the money made from any referrals. On the other hand—and this is important—sometimes people get ridiculous in giving referrals. One chapter had a member that ordered a ream of copy paper (500 sheets) every week and counted it as a "referral." The chapter that this was crazy and the Membership Committee met and decided that "repeat inside referrals were OK to count as long as they equaled at least $25." Although this seems a bit arbitrary, it set a standard that the CHAPTER liked and could live with. It also opened a positive dialog that the members could be involved in to help establish guidelines that fit the nature of their membership.

Bottom line—get the Membership Committee involved and work out something everyone likes. In my personal opinion I think they should count inside referrals—I think they should count inside referrals as long as they are a minimum value. BUT, let them decide.