So how does BNI work?
Becoming a member of BNI is much more than paying a modest membership fee, it requires
discipline,
commitment and
work.
As such BNI’s philosophy is “Givers Gain”: in other words by giving business to others you will get business in return.
So in effect, as a member of a BNI branch with say 45 members, then your 44 colleagues are potential sales people for your business and at each meeting members exchange business referral slips. Recently at a BNI meeting with 43 members present where no less than 118 business referrals were exchanged. A member of this particular branch some years ago received a business referral from another member that subsequently resulted in a 750k contract for that year, which has been renewed each and every subsequent year!
BNI also operates a Code of Ethics to ensure that every aspect of the organisation and its members operate to professional standards.
Who should join BNI?
Quite simply anyone who is dedicated and committed to getting more business should be interested in joining BNI, but they must also be committed to attending the meeting every week, as the strength of the organisation and each branch within it is the dedication and commitment of its members to their fellow members and of course, to getting more business. This will only work if people attend the meetings, as the more members that attend the weekly meetings, the more business referrals that will be exchanged and the more potential business for the members! As a member you are entitled to be the only member in that chapter of your choosen profession, thus offering you the business for that area of trade!
Anyone who needs more business should be interested in joining BNI. Clearly if you have more business than you can currently handle then this type of organisation may not be for you. However, in reality, there aren’t that many of us who would turn away the chance of more business!
Some people are natural networkers but many of us are not. As a relatively shy person myself, networking has never been a natural extension of my own persona, but BNI really helps in this regard, as in effect it places you in a highly efficient networking environment with a number of like minded people, all with a primary purpose of giving and receiving business referrals.
BNI meetings also give you an opportunity to promote your business to your fellow members as each member can give a sixty second presentation on their business each week and a longer presentation on a member rotation basis. Members can also meet on a one to one basis outside the weekly meeting and are also encouraged to bring visitors who may be interested in joining their branch, as the more members there are in a branch..... the more potential business referrals to go round.
BNI was started in 1985 in California and is now represented in over 36 countries worldwide. Hundreds of millions of dollars of business is passed in referrals by BNI members annually and this figure continues to increase each year. There are now thousands of BNI branches around the world so they must be doing something right for a lot of people!
There are members of BNI from all walks of life and all types of businesses from gardeners, plumbers and electricians to bank managers, accountants and lawyers, artists to dentists and web designers to architects, so remember gardeners and tradesman work for all types of clients who may be interested in all types of products and services from houses and cars to legal advice or physiotherapy. BNI is a business referral organisation with the primary aim of generating business for its members and it is not an elitist club that only high flyers and the idle rich can join.
But remember, like most things in life, with BNI you only get out what you put in.
BNI Website 
BNI In Detail For Interested Parties. 
I agree with that! 
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