Beth's BNI Tip of the Week - Area of Focus

Executive Director: Nancy Giacomuuzzi 149 Chapters, 3600+ Members, $88,608,642 in closed business(TYFCB is from last 365 days) http://www.bni-mn.com/

Events:
Please check the website for a complete listing.

02/10/09 – Member Success Program, 2:00-5:00pm, Hopkins
02/12/09 – Advanced MSP – Blogs, Social Media, 10:00-noon, Hopkins
02/18/09 – Member Success Program, 2:00-5:00pm, White Bear Lake
02/18/09 – Advanced MSP – Ref 121s, 2:30-4:30pm, Maple Grove
02/18/09 – Advanced MSP – Blogs, Social Media, 1:00-3:00pm, Burnsville
02/18/09 – Advanced MSP – Blogs, Social Media, 2:30-4:30pm, Maple Grove

Are you a power networker? Are you ready to be one? Attend Get Connected, learn from the experts on how to beat the recession through the Power of Networking. 2/6-8/09 – Get Connected 09 Networking Conference – featuring Nancy Giacomuzzi & Sue Henry. Get details here: http://www.getconnected09.com/ - See the video at www.youtube.com/bniconnect

BNI Resources:
BNI Local Blog – blog.bnimn.com (updated each Tuesday)
Entrepreneurial Excellence Radio Show with Frank DeRaffele, Mondays, http://www.eeradioshow.com/
Fast180.com – BNI radio show, Wednesday nights, 8pm, recordings available on their site
BNI Podcast with Dr. Misner – http://www.bnipodcast.com/
BNI Networking Entrepreneur – http://www.networkingentrpreneur.com/

Beth’s BNI Tip of the Week:
Our Guest this week is Tony Chiappetta, Assistant Director

As you work to grow your business, a strong contact sphere should definitely be an area of focus! Statistics show that your BNI Contact Sphere will generate at least 50% of the referrals you will receive from your chapter!

A successful Contact Sphere of 8+ members are passing referrals to each other every day of the week. If your Contact Sphere is not at that level, you are missing out on a large amount of business!

Who makes a good Contact Sphere member? It would be someone who:
-Is a member of your chapter
-Has the same target market (customers) as you
-Provides non-competing products / services

When looking for businesses that will be highly effective Contact Sphere members, one thing to consider is the closer their business is to your business, the more referral opportunities they will naturally have. For example:

--My company CHIPS, focuses on delivering highly-effective, quick response computer service with a niche of eliminating downtime for companies in the professional service industries (law firms, CPAs, accountants, chiropractors, dentist offices, etc.). We work with servers and have administrated web servers, but do not offer web hosting or web design. Some computer services companies offer those services, but we have chosen to stay focused on what we do best. I naturally have customers and prospects asking me if we provide that service. As a result, I am able to refer those people to members of my chapter to assist with those services.

You will find that companies out there will have a niche or have products & services they prefer over their other offerings. Let's call this their "80%". The remainder, their "20%", is usually offered because at some point a customer asked for it. It is not part of their core business or something the business owner has passion for. It is something that they would be OK with referring out to someone else in exchange for referrals that fall into their "80%".

With that being said, who do you know whose business is very closely related to yours - even someone who at first you may think is a competitor???

Your members are exposed to various other people in your profession many times throughout the week. When a visitor shows up at your chapter, don't feel threatened, you should feel confident that your relationship with your fellow members is good. Use this opportunity to meet the other company. Have a 1-2-1 to find out more about what they do and what their 80 / 20 split is within their business. This may be the contact that will be able to feed you referrals everyday of the week!!!

Questions? Contact Assistant Director, Tony Chiappetta

Inside BNI:
Check out the new report on the website that was announced at the Presidents Roundtable on Friday – 6 Point Program Scores. Ask your chapter President for details!

Quote of the Week:
The best way to break a habit is to drop it. Leo Aikman