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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Speaking Rotation for April, May & June
Speakers - Don't forget to bring an updated bio and a wrapped gift for the door prize.
April 7th - Jill Andert (Intuition Massage Therapy) April 14th - Joint Visitor Day (no speaker) April 21st - Dennis Tureson (Home Savings of America) April 28th - Kristin Burich (Healing Within) May 5th - Brian Thistle (Edina Realty) May 12th - Sara Christianson (American Family Insurance) May 19th - Marianne Goren (AFLAC) May 26th - Dave Vondrachek (United First Financial) June 2nd - Jason Pulchinski (Lifeline Chiropractic) June 9th - James Knoblauch (Bezaleel Builders)
2nd Quarter Goals
Individual Goals: 4-2-1 (per month) The leadership team will start to hit on this more as a reminder for all of us. Each month, our own personal goal should be:
- 4 REFERRALS
- 2 ONE-2-ONE's
- 1 VISITOR
Tip to hit 4-2-1 each month** At the end of each month, take 4 referral slips, 2 one-2-one slips and 1 visitor slip to carry around to remind you for the upcoming month, so you can fill these out during the week.
Chapter Goals:
- 15 members by May 31st
- 20 members by August 31st
March Membership Reports
- # of Referrals Passed in March: 33
- # of One-2-One's in March: 17
- # of Visitors: 11 (Great!!)
- Thank You For Closed Business in March: $3,607
This is a great month! Let's keep it going for April!!
Upcoming Visitor Day: 2 Weeks & Counting - Invite...Invite....Invite!
Joint Visitor Day w/All About Referrals
Tuesday, April 14th 11:30am-1:30pm @ Jimmy's Conference Center (1132 County Road E East, Vadnais Heights - Enter through "Event Entrance")
A few things to remember:
- All members of East Metro Business Professionals need to be at the event by 11am, so we can be prepared to welcome our visitors!
- Personal goal for all member is at least 2 visitors.
- If someone you invited cannot make it to the Joint Visitors Day due to a scheduling issue, make sure to invite them to our next regular meeting. If you want Sara to mail an invitation postcard, send her the name and address.
- If you have any marketing material, feel free to bring it to our visitor day for our chapter table.
- Please let Sara (schrist2@amfam.com) & Brian (BrianThistle@edinarealty.com) know of your confirmed RSVP's as they come in.
We need everyone's help to make this a success. Thanks for the continued efforts to grow our chapter! This is going to be a great event for us!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Visitor Day Evites
The evites have been sent out. If you have anyone else you need the evites sent to, you can add it directly from the evite, or you can email any addresses to Sara at schrist2@amfam.com
MC Reminders
Membership Committee Report:
- Email & phone lists due by end of today.
- Visit another BNI chapter this week if you haven't already!!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
EVENT: Upcoming "Exploring Self-Employment As a Career Option" Seminars
Time to control your own destiny? Come to this free seminar open to the public presented by Brenda Carlson, an E-Source Coach with The Entrepreneur's Source www.TheESource.com/BCarlson
"Exploring Self-Employment As a Career Option"
"Exploring Self-Employment As a Career Option"
- North St. Paul Work Force Center - Thursday, February 5th 9-11am
- Washington County Workforce Center - Friday, February 20th 9-11am
MC Reminders
- Visit another BNI chapter this week if you haven't already!!
- See events post for reminders about Adam Hub's and Brenda Carlson's upcoming events.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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
MC Reminders
Membership Committee Report: Reminder to bring additional 20 letters and contact list next week. All members need to bring more cards to restock member box, so we can prepare Visitor Packets! Next MC meeting is February 10th directly after our regular meeting.
*Visitor: Beth Paterson - Reverse Mortgages SIDAC http://www.rmsidac.com/
Announcements/Reminders/Special Reports:
*Visitor: Beth Paterson - Reverse Mortgages SIDAC http://www.rmsidac.com/
Announcements/Reminders/Special Reports:
- Visit another BNI chapter this week! Report next week & email Linda to let her know.
- Check BNI calendar for upcoming MSP 2.0 dates if you haven't gone recently: http://www.bni-mn.com/
- If you pay February's dues next week, you'll get $5 off March dues!
Speaker Rotation for January & February
- January 6th Kristin Burich Healing Within www.healingwithinmn.com
- January 13th Dave Vondrachek United First Financial www.helpufirst.com
- January 20th James Knoblauch Bezaleel Builders www.bezaleelbuilders.com
- January 27th Adam Hub World Financial Group www.worldfinancialgroup.com
- February 3rd Dennis Tureson Home Savings of America www.homesavingsmn.com
- February 10th Kristin Burich Healing Within www.healingwithinmn.com
- February 17th Brian Thistle Edina Realty www.brianthistle.edinarealty.com
- February 24th Sara Christianson Ben Bina Agency of American Family Insurance www.benbina.com
Visitor Day Preparation
- January 27th - Bring 20 letters for our visitor day. Make sure to include your card and a chapter card.
- February 3rd - Bring additional 20 letters and contact list. You can also email the contact list to Sara before the meeting.
- February 10th - Deadline for emails if you want an evite sent to anyone (not required)
- February 10th - 20th - Follow-up!! Calling Committee will follow up with your list if you provide phone numbers for them. THANKS CALLING COMMITTEE!!
- February 24th - Visitor Day is here!!! Please arrive by 7:15am to help greet our visitors.
Cheers to a successful 2009!
Welcome to the new blog for the East Metro Business Professionals chapter of BNI.
This will be a way for all of our members to be connected and in touch with news for BNI, our chapter and each of our businesses, as well as an opportunity for visitors to learn more about us.
Current Leadership Team:
This will be a way for all of our members to be connected and in touch with news for BNI, our chapter and each of our businesses, as well as an opportunity for visitors to learn more about us.
Current Leadership Team:
- President: Brian Thistle
- Vice President: Sara Christianson
- Secretary/Treasurer: Marianne Goren
- Membership Committee: Dennis Tureson, Kristin Burich & VP
- Visitor Host: James Knoblauch
- Education Coordinator: Adam Hub
Goals for 2009:
- Have minimum of 20 visitors for February 24th Visitor Day!
- Double our membership by March 1st!
- 4-2-1 for each member per month (4 referrals passed, 2 dance cards and 1 visitor)
- Increase value of each chair in our chapter from $11,886 to $15,000 in closed business for each member!!