What is BNI?

It’s a simple enough question with an equally simple answer. BNI is a referral marketing program designed to help you grow your business by building relationships with other local professionals. As the world’s leading referral organization, we’ve developed a proven system over the last 34 years which sees our members earning an average ROI (return on investment) of 35 times their membership fee! Based on the Givers Gain® philosophy, BNI members work hard to bring new clients and customers to each other, essentially acting as a reciprocal sales team.

So now let‘s talk about the nuts and bolts of BNI – how it works and what you can expect. Meetings recur weekly and have a structured agenda so everyone knows what to expect and what’s expected of them. Members commit to attending each week, usually over breakfast, to educate one another about their business. Open networking at the beginning of the meeting provides a great opportunity to introduce yourself to guests or follow up on referrals. During the networking education time slot the education coordinator spends 3-5 minutes giving the chapter valuable information to help within their business.

Each member has up to 60 seconds to give a weekly presentation about who they are, what they do and the referral they’re looking for. Sometimes they ask to be connected to a specific person or business, and other times they ask you to listen for keywords or phrases from contacts that might open the door to a referral. Every week, a feature presentation highlights the business of one member (or two in larger chapters). This is your time to shine! The floor is yours to give some in-depth information about your business and who your target clients are. You’re training your BNI sales team on how to bring you more business!

One of BNI ’s seven core values is accountability. We can’t measure what we don’t track. Since BNI is all about results for our members, we have what we like to call the “I have” portion of the meeting. Members take turns standing up and telling the group what they have contributed to the chapter or received from the group since the last meeting. Any referrals passed, chapter education units/training, visitors attending, one-to-one member meetings, and dollars earned in closed business are all tracked in BNI Connect, our global website. This keeps our chapters and regions accountable and transparent to our members.

Every successful business owner sets aside a budget for marketing. There are many ways to invest that money whether it’s in BNI, traditional advertising like print, TV or radio ads, or digital marketing such as your website and social media. You’ll need to find your own magic formula as to what combination works best in your business, but if referrals are an important part of your plan for growth, then you really need to check out a BNI chapter near you.

BNI ’s mission is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.