In this episode, Dr. Misner calls in from Toronto to talk about Global Networking with Niri S. Patel from Yorkshire and Robert French from Korea.

So why would people want to network internationally?

1. To be really successful, you have to find a trend and work your way into it. The trend now is toward social networking and high-touch
2. The center of gravity of the global economy is shifting eastwards to China and India. Graduates of Oxford and Cambridge are being recruited to work at Indian multinationals.
3. The credit crunch opens the way to profitable East-West collaborations and means that the fast will win over the slow.

How can members develop resourceful international relationships quickly?

1. Use events worldwide, such as BNI Worldwide’s International Members Event in Kuala Lumpur in May 2008.
2. Ask your trusted network “Who do you know who…?”
3. Ask the people you see trading internationally how they do it.
4. Raise your profile with international contacts via Ecademy, LinkedIn and the BNI Yahoo! Group.

The world is moving fast. We have to move fast. Jump on it. Go to these international events.
Sponsored by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 053 -

Priscilla:
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the Web for networking downloadables. I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California. And I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan, how are you?

Ivan:
I’m doing great. This week I am in Toronto, Canada, for their national conference, which is perfect, because the topic of our podcast today is about networking globally, and we’ve got some guests on the line with us who are definite experts on that. We’re going to try to touch upon three topics with them today:

Why it’s important to network internationally;
How members can develop international relationships as quickly as possible;
Raising your profile among international contacts.

We’ve got two gentlemen who know what they’re talking about. They’re both directors for BNI, Niri Patel and Robert French.

And, gentlemen, welcome to the BNI podcast.

Niri:
Thank you, Ivan. Thank you for having us on the show.

Robert:
Thank you, from Korea.

Ivan:
You’re in Korea, and you have an announcement, don’t you, Robert?

Robert:
Yeah, we’ve had a very successful launch of our first chapter in Korea, Ivan, where we’ve had about 80 people attend. And we’ve received 32 applications to join our first group, so we’re well up into the 30s on their first launch, so we’ve had a spectacular day.

Ivan:
Outstanding and congratulations. That’s our first chapter in Korea.

Niri, you’re calling from the United Kingdom, correct?

Niri:
Yes, I am. I’m here in the United Kingdom. Congratulations to you, Robert, on getting BNI established in Korea. And thank you, Dr. Misner, for getting me on the call.

Ivan:
My pleasure.

Let’s start with you, Niri. Why would people want to network internationally? We had these members in about 38 countries around the world. Why do they want to network internationally?

Niri:
Well, that’s a great question. Global networking is something, I guess, you do if you’ve got or aspire to have an international business. But there are, I think, in my opinion, two incredibly compelling reasons to consider broadening your networking horizons, that is, internationally.

The first reason stems from what a very successful businessman, an old friend of mine, told me. And he said, “Niri, if you want to be successful in business, you’ve got to find a trend and work your way into it.”

For example, there were fortunes made by those who got into plastics in the ‘60s and those who got into dot-com businesses in the mid to late ‘90s and obviously got out at the right time. I believe there are actually three major global trends happening right now as we speak, and they’re being validated by what the media is actually reporting.

The first of these global trends is the actual trend in business and social networking. If you look at the recent proliferation of increase in popularity in networking sites like My Space and the business networking forums like Linked In and Ecademy. That’s evidence of it, and they are, obviously, all excellent.

My personal take is that high tech and highly-timed pressurized world that people are now finding themselves in actually crave more of a high touch interaction, both in social terms and as well as in business.

So, that’s the first trend. The second trend is that the global economy center of gravity is definitely shifting eastward. There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t hear about something happening in China and India, whereas, even ten years ago, these were things that would be so remote.

And in the UK, where I’m actually based, top graduates from the top universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, the equivalent of what you in the United States would call the Ivy League colleges, are now actually being recruited to work in India and multi-national companies, for example. In fact, on a recent business trip to India, I found out that some of the large Indian companies are actually outsourcing their call centers to eastern Europe and the UK because the high net worth Asians want to speak to people with a western English accent.

And the third global trend, Ivan, is actually affecting us here in the West more than in the East, and that is the dreaded credit crunch. Now, countries like India and China are obviously aware of the global crisis in the credit market, but on the recent trip, that I just mentioned, to India at the beginning of March this year, I saw no real evidence of anything that was going to dampen the enthusiasm and optimism that they have about the positive economic outlook there.

And, the multi-nationals in this world have a strategy and a presence for these markets, which allows them to tap into this shifting balance of economic power.

But, here’s the thing. The SMEs can also tap into this global trend by actually linking in to their trusted network. So, the little guy, for example, who does web sites in India or Malaysia or China, somewhere like that, wants to partner with a similar small business, say, for example, in the UK or US, and collaboration of this kind can actually develop into something very quick and very big over night.

I am a firm believer that if good people get together, than good things can happen. And according to Mukesh Ambani, who is now regarded by the Indian media as the richest man in the world, ahead even of Bill Gates, due to the weakening of the US dollar in recent times. He says that it will no longer be big winning over small, but it’s actually going to be fast winning over slow.

And that’s were I think that tapping into global networks, such as BNI, is going to allow people to actually access the opportunity to suddenly find themselves doing business internationally.

If I could give you one very quick example.

Ivan:
A real quick one, because we only have three minutes left.

Niri:
There is a lady who is a copywriter here in the UK, got a very local business, but now she is actually writing copy for an Indian bank because they want to attract high net worth individuals from the UK. So all of a sudden, because of the power of the Internet and the trusted network through BNI, she has now actually got a client internationally.

Ivan:
Yeah, I think more and more BNI members understand the need to do business internationally, and they want to do business internationally.

But, Robert, let me ask you: How can members develop a resourceful international business relationship fairly quickly?

Robert:
Yeah, well, the thing is we have to do it fast now, because the world is changing fast. So one of the ways it can be done is to use events worldwide, and the one that BNI is putting on is an event for international members in Kuala Lumpur in May on the 27th and 28th. Check out the Web site, BNI-worldwide.com –

Ivan:
That’s BNI-worldwide . . .

Robert:
Dot com.

Ivan:
Dot com.

Robert:
That’s correct.

Ivan:
We’ll have that in the transcript here.

Robert:
Exactly. That’s great.

And, you know, the thing is, you can ask trusted network, “Who do you know who . . . ?” That’s a very quick way to do it. There are other very, very resourceful things as well, many, many ways, but you can actually develop fast, resourceful things. Don’t forget the Chamber of Commerce. It’s very, very useful. Government trade departments can be extremely helpful. Another way is to ask people already doing it. If you see successful people trading internationally, don’t be afraid to ask them, “How do you do it?” because they’ll very often give you the right answers.

Another way is, obviously, raise your profile with international contacts. Ecademy and Linked In, which we already mentioned, are powerful ways to get yourself known around the world.

Ivan:
Can I add one more, Robert?

Robert:
Yeah.

Ivan:
The BNI Yahoo Group, for BNI members who want to network with other members, they should connect on the BNI Yahoo Group. We’ll have that link on here as well. And, of course, Ecademy. As you mentioned, we have a strategical alliance with Ecademy.

Robert:
Correct.

Ivan:
But all of these things are really important, and listeners to this podcast really, really should go to the Ecademy and BNI Yahoo, but the trick is the best way to really build a relationship is to get face to face. And so, here, you’ve got a global conference that you’re putting on in Malaysia, which I went to two years ago. You did it two years ago, and you may do it again every couple of years. What a tremendous event. I saw tons of business generated. I think the biggest referral I saw was a $1 million, Australian dollar, referral for somebody who did – it was a technology business, and that was one of the biggest referrals.

So, members who are listening to this podcast, I get members all the time that say, “How can we use the international network?” The way to use it, I believe, is to go to international events, go to the national conferences of the various countries. They almost all have Members Days days. Go to this BNI global event in Malaysia, because you’ve got more than one day for members, don’t you? One day or two days?

Robert:
We have two days with the [inaudible] at the end of it, so it’s a lot of fun.

Ivan:
And you’ll meet tons of members. Yep, that’s the key.

Well, we’re almost out of time. Any last thing you want to add before we wrap up this podcast?

Robert:
The world is moving fast; we have to move fast, jump on it.

Ivan:
I couldn’t agree more. My last observation is, if you’re a BNI members and you want to do business internationally, take a really hard look at participating in some of these national and internationally events, use BNI Yahoo Group, and use Ecademy as a way of communicating with other BNI members, but go to these events because there, where the rubber meets the road, is the place where you’re going to network with people and build the relationships and do business.

So, Robert, thank you very much. Niri, I appreciate it. Back to you, Priscilla.

Robert:
Thank you, Ivan.

Niri:
Thanks, Ivan.

Priscilla:
Hi, Dr. Misner. Well, before I close this particular episode, I just want to say congratulations on this being the first anniversary of your podcast.

Ivan:
Thank you.

Priscilla:
It’s number 53, right?

Ivan:
Yes, it is.

Priscilla:
That’s great. All right. Well, thank you so much. This has been so interesting. I’m sure the listeners are going to be really interested to hear everything about the international networking. I know I was.

Thank you so much. I just want the listeners to know that this podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we will see you next week on the Official BNI Podcast.

Dr. Misner’s special guest for this episode is Michael Altshuler of Sales Quenchers mobile on-demand sales training. (That’s training delivered to your cell phone.) Sales Quenchers helps businesses find time for training.

So what makes Sales Quenchers different?

1. On-demand training through any mobile phone.
2. You get less and learn more with actionable sales tips.
3. Every tip is available in both audio and text format.
4. World-class sales experts in several categories (like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Bob Berg, and Ivan Misner).
5. Reinforcement through repetition and multiple channels.
6. Less time, more often: 3-5 minutes a day adds up.
7. Customized content.
8. Guaranteed results.

Special offer for BNI members: use the discount code “network1.”

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 052 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by networkingnow.com which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice coming from Live Oak Recording Studio which is in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner, and his special guest, Michael Altshuler. Hi Ivan. How are you?

Ivan Misner:
I’m doing great today, Priscilla. Thank you very much. I have with me today Michael Altshuler who is the Founder and CEO of Sales Quenchers. Sales Quenchers is a new sales training system that helps individual sales people, sales organizations, and business owners increase their sales and profit margins by providing on-demand sales solutions both online and by cell phone. That is really, really different, Michael. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Michael Altshuler:
Sure. Thank you. It’s good to be speaking with you, Ivan.

Ivan:
It’s great having you on the podcast.

Michael:
Thank you. One of the things that I learned quite a while ago when I was operating a business in New Jersey was that sales training and personal development always seems to take a back seat to other priorities. It seems like everyone today has their plates full with other things that are just burning and have to get done. I realized that in order to help people improve their business, they must first improve themselves. I found that the tools that were available such as books, tapes and seminars go without lasting effects. Certainly, if they did invest the time in utilizing those tools, it didn’t seem like anything really took or transferred to the job at the level which it needed to. That was really the impetus that launched Sales Quenchers and where we are at today with the company.

Ivan:
You know, I’ve found that business people, and oftentimes salespeople, pay lip service to education and training. They talk about how important it is that they don’t do it mostly because of the time issues. Of course, we’re probably preaching to the choir because people who are listening to this podcast are believers. They understand the importance of working on the business versus in the business, not only strategic planning but education and training. They would agree that working on the business by learning, reading and listening more about how to sell more effectively is important, but what’s different about Sales Quenchers? I know what it is but I want you to say it because I think it’s very exciting.

Michael:
You know, first of all, obviously you know what it is. You’re part of the system. You are part of the solution. When you joined the Sales Quenchers family, you and 24 other sales experts realized firsthand that based on everyone’s schedule, but this was something that is a next-generation cutting edge tool and solutions that salespeople and business owners would use. There’s the key thing. It’s not that people don’t know what they should be doing to be more successful. It’s whether they find the time to actually do it. That’s what Sales Quenchers helps business owners, salespeople, and sales managers do.

If I may, there are 10 points to I would like to read you in reasons why Sales Quenchers is different than any other personal professional development were sales training tool that exists on the market today.

Ivan:
Go right ahead and then I want to talk about how this works on her cell phone because I think that’s really interesting and different feature.

Michael:
Sure. We are the world’s first sales training system that uses what we call the cell cast technology. One of the top 10 points but I’m going to mention does include that. The first thing that makes Sales Quenchers different is the on demand training through any mobile phone. It doesn’t have to be web enabled. It doesn’t have to be a Blackberry. Any mobile phone. The key is that because most salespeople are mobile, and certainly with your line of business, Ivan, networking is basically being with and talking with people. If you can get tools outside the work environment, the office, that’s going to be more effective. You remember that, it will be top of mind, he will operate at a higher level of performance and consequently, get a better result. Most in portly, if you’re out on the road, you should have a sales training tool that is out on the road with you. That is your cell phone. Everyone pretty much has one. Therefore, that is why it works.

The second tool that we offer or benefit is that it you get less and learn more with actionable sales tips. We have over 1400 sales tips that people have access to through their computer online or through their cell phone in text and audible format. Each sales tip is a two-minute sales tip. For example, in your book, Ivan, The World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret, what we do is we actually just tell the best ideas and concepts from your book and create a one to two minute sales nuggets that salespeople have access to online or on their cell phone.

Number three would be world-class sales experts. We have 25 of them. Basically any sales expert that you like in any specific category, we have that sales expert most likely. Obviously we had you on the list of networking. We have Zigs Zigler, Brian Tracy, Jeffrey Gitomer. You know, I was fortunate enough to be able to create a library of literally the top experts in the world.

Ivan:
You also have Bob Berg, who is a good friend of BNI’s.

Michael:
Exactly. We took his book, Endless Referrals, and we created this sales nuggets from that title. That’s real important because salespeople may have a favorite in a certain category. They may love Brian Tracy. Someone else may not. They may like, let’s say, Jeffrey Gitomer. Whatever resonates with the salesperson or the business owner, they can pull up and get one to two minute sales tips just in time, any time anywhere 24/7. Also we reinforce it. They get a daily e-mail as part of the Sales Quenchers program. It’s reinforced in five different ways. We know that reinforcement helps us to retain things naturally and apply them.

Ivan:
The bottom line is that Sales Quenchers are nuggets of information about how to sell effectively that you are communicating to the subscribers of the program.

Michael:
Exactly. They can get that online or through their mobile phone in text or audible, depending on your learning style. I like to hear things better than I like to read things. You can be researching online kind of like a Web M.D. for sales solutions online, use the search and get your solution. Boom. You’re creating a proposal. You’re talking to a C-level executive. Whatever it is, you can have something from the top experts in the world. You can have one of their best ideas. It’s like they’re sitting right next to you coaching you on the road or in the office.

I’ve been:
Okay. We have just a few more minutes. What are your bullet points?

Michael:
The goal is — we believe less training more often is more important than a lot of training less often. That’s one of the benefits of the program. If you can commit as a business or salesperson three to five minutes a day, you can have a university education at the end of the year. You’re getting the best of these experts. Three to five minutes a day. It’s one extra call, its one extra close. It makes a significant difference. We guarantee results under the Sales Quenchers program or the user gets their money back. Guaranteed return on investment. That’s how confident we are and how proven the system is.

Ivan:
Nice. Nice. That’s all 10?

Michael:
Pretty much. I wrapped a few into the 10. We turn C players into B players and B players in to A players. Just for purposes of time, I wrapped a few of these in together.

Ivan:
You have a free 30 day trial for BNI members that we are offering. You want to talk a little bit about that?

Michael:
Yes. We offer a 30 day free trial to any user to show our confidence. We are offering a special to BNI users, where there is an additional 10% discount. So when you’re checking out and signing up for the free 30 day trial, when it gets to the checkout point where it says enter your discount code, a word enter network1. That is the number one. They would automatically get a 10% discount. Like I said, we encourage anyone who is interested and willing to put three to five minutes into their personal development every day to at least check it out. They have nothing to lose. It’s a free trial plus they get 10% discount pass to them than 30 days.

Ivan:
That code is network1, one word. One is the number one. I am glad that we were able to bring you onto the podcasts. For BNI members, I am one of the experts that you would be able to hear material from a number of my books where I talk about referral selling. In addition to my material, you can have access to Brian Tracy, Zig Zingler, Bob Berg and many other sales experts. My involvement with Sales Quenchers is, I think, a great connection to BNI. It’s a great thing for BNI members to see just how BNI is getting out there and building the brand in other venues. Also a great opportunity for BNI members to benefit from programs like this and get additional discounts — and of course, spent some time working on the business instead of in it. Well listen, Michael, thank you so much for being on today. Any last comments before we wrap up?

Michael:
I think they only last comment I would have is that we are very proud to have people of your quality, stature and prominence in the business world. I think since BNI people know you so well, as you are our typical, you are our model, a standard that we use. I use your name and your expertise in the networking field when I go on conventions to share with other business owners the type of experts that we have. You are the best in the world, the most well known in the world and your users can expect that in all fields, cold calling, of course in networking,. I think it’s something that will be of great value to you and your members.

Ivan:
Thank you very much, Michael. Members, those of you listening to this, go to the website. It is www.SalesQuenchers.com. That is SalesQuenchers.com. Check it out. There is a free 30 day trial and that 10% off for BNI members. Great service and a nice discount. I thank you very much, Michael. I’ll turn it back over to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay great. I think that’s it for this week then. Thank you so much, Michael. And thank you, Dr. Misner. It was a really interesting podcast. I would like to tell the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official BNI Podcast.

Chapter 8 of Givers Gain covers the years 1998-2000. It was during this period that Dr. Misner realized he needed to write a book about networking to educate BNI members, and wrote The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret.
The surprise discovery was the media benefits of publishing a book. Thanks to his 10 books, Dr. Misner has been interviewed well over 1000 times. His first live TV appearance was right after the Village People and his book nearly set the host on fire.

Since that time, Dr. Misner’s books have become a vital part of the BNI culture.

Four main factors determined BNI’s phenomenal growth during this period:

1. Had already built a solid foundation for BNI.
2. BNI is locally owned an operated.
3. Jumped the borders and started spreading into new countries.
4. Gained greater exposure through publishing books.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 051 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by networkingnow.com which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. How are you, Ivan?

Ivan Misner:
Doing great, Priscilla. Today I am going to be talking about Chapter 8, A New Audience, of the book, Givers Gain. I have been covering the book over the last several months, and my plan is to talk a little bit about each one of the chapters so that people who have the book in front of them can also listen to a little bit of it in my own voice. So they are reading some of the material and they hear me talking about it as well. I think it’s a great tool to use as you read the book.

This section, Chapter 8, really talks about mostly from 1995 through 2000 for the most part. Some really interesting things happened right about that time. I was really trying to spend more time working on the business and less time working in the business. It was really at that point that I was coming to the conclusion that I needed to be spending more time on strategic planning, content and material.

Over the years I had read a lot of books and journals on marketing but I hadn’t read anything on networking. If you do a literature search prior to 1995, you will find almost nothing on business networking and referral marketing prior to the mid-90s. I wanted to do a book that was a comprehensive book on networking and word-of-mouth. I did a book in 1989 called Networking for Success but it was a self published book. It wasn’t distributed much.

I really wanted to do a real book, a book that was published. So I worked with Ray Bard of Bard press in 1994 and we published my first primary published book, The World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret. It’s probably important to note that Jeff Morris was the editor of that book and Jeff is my co-author of this book, Givers Gain. Jeff has been involved in so many of my books that he ended up being the co-author with me of Givers Gain.

That’s where I came out with the book, The World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret. That was really the core book for success in networking and particularly in BNI. What I wanted to do was sort of write a book that was a blueprint that BNI members could use to use in BNI and their other networks to become successful in the networking process. There were a lot of really core philosophies of the organization that are spread throughout this book.

Priscilla:
Is that the reason you’ve written so many books? Aren’t there like 10 now or something?

Ivan:
There are. That led me into writing a number of other books. There are now 10 books including Givers Gain that I have written. We have about six or seven more in the works. You know, the bottom line when I started writing the books was to provide educational content for members who were reasonably new to the organization.

When we first came out with The World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret, there were no educational coordinators of the chapters. It was because there was no content. We didn’t have a lot of stuff. As we started doing more and more books, it was like how do we communicate this to members? How do we get this content to members? So we started doing the books as a way of providing additional content for members and then later education coordinators.

You know, we discovered along the way which is an amazing thing is the publicity that you get from doing a book. If you go to the media, particularly radio but even newspaper and television, and say would you do it interview on me for my business? They will say, “Take an ad out. We don’t want to interview you about your business, about BNI.”

But Priscilla, the media will interview any idiot with a book. I have 10. I have lots and lots of interviews. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve been doing the books is because you get this incredible exposure and media opportunities to build the brand. I have now done well over 1000 radio, TV and newspaper interviews and almost all have started because of the book. They want me to talk about the book. I talk about the book and then of course they always ask what is one of the reasons that led you to write this book? Then I bring a BNI and guess what? They end up spending most of the rest of the interview talking about BNI.

I talk about this in this book. I talk about one of our strategic alliance partners, Jim Blasingame in Chapter 8 of Givers Gain. Jim Blasingame runs a radio talk show called the Small Business Advocate. If you would like to go to his website, www.smallbusinessAdvocate.com is his website. He has interviewed me dozens and dozens and dozens of times. If you do a search on me you will probably find 20 or 30 radio interviews that I have done with Jim.

He has been a real supporter of BNI. If the listeners of his podcast want to hear half-hour interviews with Jim and me, you should go do that because there’s some great content there that’s been done over the years. My interviews with Jim have gotten a lot better than my first one. I talk about my very first television interview in this. Have you ever heard about my live TV interview in Connecticut, Priscilla?

Priscilla:
No. I would love to hear about that.

Ivan:
Well, it’s a real embarrassment. You know, this is back before the time of tape delay. Since Janet Jackson, everything is tape delayed now. But when I did this it was my first live television interview. I will give you the short version of the story and if you want the whole version, you’re going to have to go read it. It’s in Chapter 8 on page 68 of Givers Gain, the BNI story. I was in Connecticut. It was a live television show in the morning. I’m in the green room. It was a big show and a lot of people were there.

While I was sitting in there, Priscilla, a guy who walked by me, am Indian. Then some guy dressed as a construction worker. And some guy dressed as a cop. Someone says, “Gee, it looks like the Village People.” I was like, yeah right– the Village people are to be on. Then we are actually watching the TV show and it says, “Next on the Fairfield County exchange, the Village People and Dr. Ivan Misner to talk about networking. I was thinking all why. I’m on after the Village people!”

Well they wanted me to do something visual so I decided I would do this little magic trick. You’ve seen magicians where they take stick thier hand out and the flame comes out of their hands. Have you ever see that, Priscilla?

Priscilla:
Maybe.

Ivan:
You’ve seen fire come out of a magician’s hand or out of some box or something. Well, I had this little magic trick. I’m an amateur magician. The key word being amateur. I had this little thing or fire would come out and I was going to open the book and have a flame come out. I thought oh my, I am on after the Village People. This is going to be really scary. I better put more of that magic paper in there that makes it flame up. I put some more in and I watched the Village People. They were great. Of course, they are very visual. They want a visual on the show. So what is the last song you think that they would do to be visual?

Priscilla:
I have no idea. You’d tell me.

Ivan:
YMCA. So they appear out in the audience and there’s the entire audience standing on their feet, doing it with their arms, YMCA. I am thinking, oh my. I am going on next. This is going to be a total embarrassment. This is horrible. I’m going to put a little more of that magic paper is better to get the flame to really kick.

So I get out there. It’s a long story but the bottom line is that we got to the end of the interview and the host says, “I have here a copy of Dr. Misner’s book,” she opens it up and I had a little flame. I was going to say, “Be careful the book is hot.”

I did the flame thing and it shot way up into the sky. She jumped into the lap of her co-host, screaming at the top of her lungs. The camera stops. The director stops. Nobody can say anything. All she could say as she’s clutching her chest is, “Thankfully I didn’t swear on live television.” This is still coming out on the air. The last thing they said before they cut was her co-host looking out to the audience and looking back stage saying, “Wardrobe, new pants for her, please.”

The director says to cut and go to commercial. That was my first time on live television talking about the book. I’ve gotten a little better since then. In most states, I am considered an expert in networking, but in Connecticut, I am considered an arsonist.

Priscilla:
Did she forgive you for that?

Ivan:
She did. I tried to tell her two or three times what I was going to do and I talked about this in the long version of the story. If you read the book, you get the whole story. But I did try to tell her two or three times, but the director was in a rush and I didn’t get a chance to tell her. So that’s what happened.

Since The World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret, I have come out with books like Business by Referral, Masters of Networking, Masters of Success, and Masters of Sales. I should have a book coming out called the 29% Solution- 52 Weekly Networking Strategies. These books have really become a vital part of the BNI culture. There is just so much content available for education coordinators, but you know, you can’t be a member of BNI without having this wealth of content at your fingertips. These podcasts are a great example but also the material that is in the books. It’s just amazing.

Priscilla:
That sounds great.

Ivan:
I know we need to wrap up. I think to wrap up this chapter, Chapter 8, I think there are really made four main factors for BNI’s phenomenal growth from 1995 through 2000. First, we had given BNI a solid foundation. You hear about us talking in the first seven chapters about a foundation of good organizational structure, capable leaders, well-designed manuals. You cannot build a house until the foundation is solid. Everything started with the foundation. The system and the way we run the meetings and the schedule, the meeting agenda in the manuals — we now have almost a thousand pages of manuals for our directors. That started really in the early days.

Second, the fact that BNI is locally owned and operated. 95% of all the revenues stay within the country that operates in. It’s a locally owned and operated program and I think that’s one of the reasons that have made it successful.

Third is we jumped our borders in this period of time, in 1995, and started spreading into new countries and spreading and new come trees has helped to grow the organization.

Fourth, we made ourselves better known by publishing books. It has opened the door for media interviews, and we just got a ton of exposure for the organization. In that five-year period, we ended up opening in half a dozen countries or more. That really laid the groundwork for the next 10 years of the organization. That’s a pretty good summary of Chapter 8 of Givers Gain.

Priscilla:
Can I add a number five?

Ivan:
Sure.

Priscilla:
I think it’s having somebody like you as a leader and CEO of the company. You’re an amazing person and you have a lot to offer. It’s wonderful to have you in the leadership role.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla. I really appreciate you saying that. I stepped down as CEO, actually. And I’ll tell you why that’s important. Because it gives me an opportunity now to do this full-time. This is my function in the organization. I believe that the founder of an organization is really well positioned to be the spokesperson of an organization, better than almost anyone else because they started the company. So I spend the majority of my time now really working on the business, writing, speaking, doing these podcasts, writing articles, publishing books as a way of building the brand.

It’s helping to educate and train members. I appreciate you saying what you said. It’s a concerted effort really peaking in with this chapter’s topic. 1995, that is when I started thinking that I really wanted to be the spokesperson for the organization and it was a darn near 10 year journey to get to where I at this point. I like to tell people that I’m a 20 year overnight success. It took me 10 years when I decided I really wanted to work more on the business to be able to, in fact, be working on the business. But thank you very much.

Priscilla:
You’re so welcome. Well, I think we’ve come to the edit is podcasts. Thank you, Dr. Misner. I just want to let the listeners know that this podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is a leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official BNI Podcast.

How do you avoid people whose only interest in networking is “What’s in it for me?”

• Look for the signs of people who believe in giving as part of networking:

1. They ask how they can help you—and really mean it—before they ask you for anything.
2. They show that they’re willing to work on creating a professional relationship over time.
3. Those who make the time to go beyond normal business interactions.
4. They try to bring business and contacts to you before asking for your contacts.
5. They give of their time and knowledge to help their referral sources succeed.

• Immerse yourself in the process of relationship building:

1. Join multiple networking groups, so you can have both breadth and depth
2. Meet with people frequently and regularly.
3. Meet with people outside of networking functions.

Remember: it’s not what you know, or who you know, but how well you know them.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 050 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast which is brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio, which is a beautiful studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you?

Ivan Misner:
I am doing great, Priscilla. Thank you very much.

Priscilla:
Tell us a little bit about this topic, “what’s in it for me?”

I’ve:
“What’s in it for me?” It’s a great lead in to the topic. It’s based on the fact that I recently received an e-mail from someone who read an article that I wrote about collaboration and working together. In his e-mail, he said, “The type of networking that you talk about describes the way that things should work but in the real world, people seem to have an attitude of ‘what’s in it for me?’ How do I prevent this and prevent wasting my time and efforts on people only to find out they have this kind of attitude?”

Well, the short answer to his question is stop hanging out with the wrong kind of people and start actively seeking the right kind of people. Trust me, I’ve been there and I’ve done it. You can really get stuck with the wrong people. In order to move beyond it to build the kind of network that you want, you have to understand that it is a journey not a destination. It’s something that you’re going to be constantly working on. I have two suggestions to help find the networking partners little easier.

Here is the first suggestion and it has about six sub points to it. The first one is look for some of the signs relating to people who fit the profile of good networkers. If you want to stay away from the people who are just thinking “what’s in it for me?”, look for the signs of people who believe in giving as part of their networking, even though they may not know the philosophy of BNI and the givers gain philosophy, they may practice that same kind of idea in their business and in their life.

Here are some things to look for. Look for people who ask how they can help you or what they can offer you and really mean it before they ask you for anything. Very often, you meet people and the very first thing that they want you to do is they want you to buy something or they want you to refer them to someone. Well, that is not a good sign usually. It’s not necessarily a sign you definitely don’t want to do business with them, but it is a flag of the “what’s in it for me?” mentality.

If they open up a conversation with “How can I help you?” or “What can I do to help you?” That is a good sign. None of these are necessarily deal killers from the beginning but they are all series of flags. In the United States, we have American football and every time someone does something wrong, they throw out the red flag. That’s a penalty, right? How many of these flags do you see before you realize that you’re probably networking with the wrong person?

Another thing is look for individuals who are willing to show that they’re willing to create a professional relationship over a period of time because they understand that they have to develop credibility before they can be generating referrals back and forth with each other. Look for people who understand that this process takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight.

Another thing is take a look for those who make the time to go beyond the normal business interactions, for people who want to connect on a personal professional level. That they are willing to do that. It’s not strictly business but they’re willing to help us of the person or individual. Look for professionals who understand that networking is more about farming than it is about hunting and then show it in their actions by making an effort to get to know you outside that business environment. Look for people who do what they can to bring business and contacts to you and their other networking partners before they start asking for you to bring business to them.

Lastly, look for individuals who give of their time and knowledge in order to help their referral sources succeed. How you help your referral source may not just be giving referrals. It may be helping in other ways. That is part of building the relationship process.

This is why of the reasons why we say in BNI chapters are stronger when they’re made up of people who know each other. If you just send out e-mails inviting strangers to meetings or if you just send out a mailing list to nothing but total strangers, they do get a lot of strangers in there and it takes a long time to weed through the “what’s in it for me?” people. If you’re working with people who you know and you just have visibility with them but you have a sense of where they’re coming from, that is the way to build a solid chapter. That is really the first phase of how you deal with the “what’s in it for me?” Make sense?

Priscilla:
Yeah, yeah. It makes a lot of sense.

Ivan:
Well, here’s a second one. Immerse yourself in the process of relationship building. I want that to sink in with the members listening to the podcast. You have to really immerse yourself in the process of relationship building. A network that is a mile wide and an inch deep is not a strong network. It’s important to create a personal network that is both wide and.

It’s one of the reasons why I tell BNI members to go out and join groups like the chamber of commerce and service clubs because it gives you breadth in your networking. BNI should be giving you depth in your networking. If you’re doing it right, you’re doing one to ones, you were doing the gains exchange, you are going to meetings and you’re really getting to know people, you are building depth. The more you can build depth in any of your networking opportunities, the stronger it will be but it takes time.

So meeting people regularly is the key to making this happen. It doesn’t have to be weekly to be connecting with these people in your other networking groups. It just needs to be on a fairly regular basis. As you going to chamber functions or other business events, make sure that the people who are in your personal network are there. Call them and invite them to make sure that they are there so that you can connect with them. Build the relationship. Immerse yourself in the process of relationship building.

It’s easier in BNI because you are reading these people a regular basis. Work those relationships using the tools that we have. In other networks that you belong to, work those relationships by getting the people in your personal network to come more often and connect with them. It’s these ideas that ideas we are talking about that will help you develop relationships and screen out the “what’s in it for me?” networkers. That is the way to make sure that you are networking with people who truly care about you in your success.

Priscilla:
That sounds great. I know that sometimes if you hear from more than one source that somebody has a great business or is a great person, it has a tremendous effect.

Ivan:
It does. You’re right. And that’s why we get the third-party testimonials in BNI. We stumbled on out by accident over time to incorporate that in a meeting. We found that having someone else stand up and say you should do business with this person and here’s why — and it’s usually the here’s why part that makes people say okay this guy is good at what he does and he really supports me and the other members. The third-party endorsement is powerful. I think you are right on the money. It’s a great way to help screen through people as well.

Priscilla:
I totally agree with you. Is there anything else you would like to add before we get to the end of this podcast?

Ivan:
I think the last thing that I want to say something that I have said before in a lot of my writings. It’s not what you know or who you know; it’s how well you know them that really counts. It’s about getting to know people and trust people. If you go into this by immersing yourself in the relationship process and looking for the signs of a good network partner, you will screen out the people who believe “what’s in it for me?” and you will surround yourself with a really powerful network that will help you build your business. It will be working the way it should work and not the way it sometimes does work if you’re just going through this without giving it thought.

Priscilla:
Oh great. Okay, well then, thank you, Dr. Misner. That sounds like some good information. I just want to let the listeners know that this podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is a leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official PNI Podcast.

Even though BNI wasn’t founded to train people to speak in public, participating in a BNI group builds self-confidence in front of groups. Many people fear public speaking more than death.

One early BNI member threatened to quit rather than give a 10-minute presentation. Dr. Misner suggested that she make up questions to ask the group and have members guess whether the answer was “True” or “False.” Because she didn’t think of herself as “speaking,” she was able to be humorous and informative and give a great presentation.

Five suggestions:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Don’t wing it, and don’t read a script. Practice in front of a mirror.
2. Be specific and talk about the things you know best. Focus on 2 or 3 areas.
3. Use handouts, visuals, or PowerPoint slides to support your presentation.
4. Remember: you’re the expert.
5. Be creative. Think of some way to communicate this information in a way that you feel comfortable.

If you want additional information on this subject, check out the article on page 103 of Dr. Misner’s book Masters of Networking.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 049 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice coming from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you?

Ivan Misner:
I am doing great, Priscilla. I have an interesting topic today.

Priscilla:
Oh, what are you going to talk to us about?

Ivan:
I am going to talk about conquering your fear of public speaking. You know, BNI wasn’t really created to be a training organization for speaking, but one of the things that I hear over and over again from BNI members is how much they have gained in terms of feeling confident in standing up in front of groups. We are not a Toastmasters. That is a great organization to teach people how to speak. But that said, we do really help train people on how to speak by having them do it week in and week out.

I don’t know if you know this, but you probably do. It has been published in many places. In many of the surveys that I have read over the years, people have ranked their fear of public speaking higher than the fear of dying, which amazes me. So standing there talking to an audience can be really frightening, especially if it is more than just a minute, more than just 60 seconds.

I first really got a handle on this years ago in BNI. I met a CPA who was deathly afraid of public speaking. We knew she was afraid. She was always nervous just to do her 60-second presentation. One week we told her – this was in the early, early days of BNI. We told her that she was scheduled to speak six weeks out. She looked at me and the Secretary who was there and said, “If I have to speak, I quit.”

I said, “No, no seriously. You are scheduled to speak six weeks out.”

She said, “No joke. If I have to do a ten minute talk, I quit.”

I said, “You are kidding!”

She said, “Come on, you guys. Don’t you see it takes all my willpower just to stand up and give the 60-second presentation? I am just deathly afraid of doing a presentation.”

We said, “Don’t quit but you don’t want to lose this opportunity. This is a great opportunity to train and teach people about what you do.”

She said, “Okay, I understand. I quit.”

I said, “No, don’t quit, but you have to come up with something.” She, in no uncertain terms, informed me that if she was required to speak for ten minutes, she would have to quit because it was just so stressful for her.

We told her not to quit and we wouldn’t make her speak if she didn’t want to. That seemed to alleviate some of her anxiety. We continued talking. I told her that she didn’t have to do the presentation but it is unfortunate to eliminate an opportunity to educate members. She acknowledged that but still said that she wasn’t going to speak.

I said, “Well, what if, instead of speaking, you just read a test, read questions?”

She said, “What do you mean?”

I said, “Give the members a test. Don’t do a speech. Just give them a test. You read the question and let them answer it. Then you tell them whether it is true or false.” I asked her whether she could come up with ten true or false questions about tax law and asked her if she could just read the questions. How many of you say true? How many of you say false? Do that kind of thing.

She thought for a moment and she said, “I don’t have to speak. I just read the questions and say true or false.”

I said, “That’s it.”

She said, “Alright, I can probably do that.”

When the day came, the test was absolutely hysterical. It was just so funny because she was a little nervous but was okay. She didn’t have to speak. She stood up and started reading it. She really worded the questions well. She asked us some tough questions. Half the audience was saying true and half the audience was saying false. Some of the people we saying they were going to go to San Quinton because they missed all three of these questions so far.

At about the third question through, she kind of got off script and she stared speaking extemporaneously. The further she got into it, the more she was comfortable. She was very professional, but she was humorous and informative. And at about 12 minutes, the President had to have her sit down. She was absolutely shocked that she went over time. It was great because she just did a “test”.

I think the bottom line with this is that you should do a presentation that you feel comfortable with but think creatively about what you know and find a way to do it in a way that expresses your knowledge and allows you to be comfortable. You will discover that you don’t have to pass up an opportunity to talk longer to the networking groups that you belong to if you just get creative on how you do it.

Priscilla:
Do you have any specifics on getting creative?

Ivan:
I can give you five points, five suggestions that I have for people who are nervous about doing presentations at their networking groups. First is prepare, prepare, prepare. Don’t wing it. Prepare an outline of what you want to say and practice it. Don’t read it. The idea is to have at least bullet points that you can touch upon. Don’t read it. Be prepared.

There are is nothing wrong with standing in front of a mirror and testing out your presentation. Here is a little secret. I have been speaking for decades. I still do that. I stand in front of a mirror and work out my material on the toughest audience — myself. It helps. It gives you a sense of timing. Then I will practice it with my wife. My wife, God bless her, she hears the first version of every speech I do. You know, practice it a little. Be prepared and you don’t have to wing it. That is number one.

Two, be specific and talk about the things you know best. To teach people they do. Focus on one to three areas because 10 minutes isn’t a lifetime. Cover the topics you feel you understand the best. That will reduce some of your stress because if it’s an area of your business that you know forwards and backwards, you know what? You are the expert. Nobody in the audience is as expert on that topic as you are. Show them your expertise. Prepare, be specific.

Three, use handouts, visuals or PowerPoint slides to support your presentation. For people who are worried about stage fright, these products can help carry them through. When making keynotes, I don’t usually use those things. But if I am trying to teach somebody something, then I use those things. I like visuals or PowerPoint’s. I don’t often use handouts. You can use handouts. The only problem with handouts is that people do get ahead of themselves. That is one reason to use PowerPoint because it keeps them on track. Use anything that helps you reduce some of your stress.

Four, remember you are the expert. And think about ways to help show them that that is not threatening to you. You are the expert as I have talked about before.

Five, be creative. Think of some way to communicate this information that you feel comfortable with. For the CPA, it was doing a test. See if you can find something like that. Feel free to try that. If you are afraid to speak, just write up a test. If 10 questions is too much, knock it down to five. You can get through five questions and open it up and it will easily take a 10 minute.

Those are the five things. Prepare, that is number one. Two, be specific. Three, use handouts, visuals or PowerPoint slides. Four, remember you are the expert. Number five, be creative. Those are the five suggestions that I would recommend, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
That is great. I think that might be all the time we have.

Ivan:
Let me leave the listeners with just one other thing. If people want additional information on the subject, I really recommend taking a look at the many books and tapes that specifically talk about public speaking. In one of my books, Masters of Networking, there is a contribution on the subject of public speaking in a networking context written by Joe McBride. I think that starts on page 103. For the listeners, Masters of Networking, one of the books I wrote, on page 103 is a great article by Joe McBride. I recommend you read that article. It helps support this material a lot.

Priscilla:
That sounds good. All right. Well thank you so much, Dr. Misner. That was really good information.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
This podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official BNI Podcast.

On average, the United States goes through some type of recession every five or six years. So stop worrying about whether we’re going to have a recession, because we will. (And so will every country in the world.)

That doesn’t have to stop you from having a great year, though. Recessions bring opportunities if you’re ready to take advantage of them by using the network you’ve established over time. BNI members have an advantage in a recession because they have a network in place.

You can’t control the economy, but you can control your response to the economy. Here are some tips to help you.

1. Diversify your networks. Participate in your local Chamber of Commerce and other business networks.
2. Be visible. Get out and meet people—and don’t let them bring you down.
3. Learn how to work the meetings you attend.
4. Be prepared with effective introductions and presentations.
5. Develop your contact spheres.
6. Establish a goal and reverse-engineer it.
7. Reward your top referrers.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 048 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice coming from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan – how are you?

Ivan Misner:
Hi Priscilla. I am doing great. I just got back from a long training for Master Trainers at the Referral Institute up at my lodge in Big Bear. I am ready to start tackling BNI issues again. I start with a good one this week on combating a slow economy.

Priscilla:
I think a lot of people might need this particular podcast.

Ivan:
You know, I am seeing it more and more. Literally, I was just at the gas station the yesterday and heard some salesperson for a pest control center talking about bad business was and how we are in the middle of a recession. The fact is that every economy goes through cycles and business slows down for people.

If you take a look at the statistics on this, on average, the U.S. goes through some type of recession almost every five or six years. If you look at the last 100 years, we have had about 18 or 19 recessions. That is just about every six years or so. If you are listening to this podcast and you are concerned about whether we are going to go into a recession or not, don’t be. We will. It’s going to happen. When that happens, the thing to do is really learn from the past.

For a lot of us who have been in business for any length of time, this is not our first recession- assuming we are even in that. But this is not the first time that the economy has slowed down for us. So the question we ask is what did we learn from the last downturn? You know, I wrote about this for the first time in 2002 in entrepreneur.com about how one of the first recessions that I went through in business was in the early ’90s.

Right in the middle of this really nasty recession I was at a business mixer in Connecticut where I was meeting a lot of business professionals. Everyone was feeling the crunch from this economy. Through the entire event, the favorite topic of discussion was how bad the economy was and how things were getting worse and worse. You just don’t want to ask someone how is business because you are afraid they will tell you. Of course, it doesn’t do any good to tell people that things are bad because half of the people you tell don’t care and the other half are glad that you are worse off than they are. I am listening to one person after another.

I was introduced to one of the many real estate agents that were in attendance. Given the decrease in property values in the U.S. at that time, it was really bad. I was leery of asking the standard question- how is business- because I didn’t want to hear another variation of how bad business is. But he shared with me on his own that he was having a great year. I was really surprised because they were definitely in a recession and the real estate market just bottomed out in Connecticut in the early ’90s.

I was very surprised to hear him say he was having a great year. I looked at him and said, “We are in Connecticut, aren’t we?” He laughed at me and said yes. I said, “And you are having a good year.”

He said, “I am having my best year ever.”

I was shocked and said, “Wait a minute. You are having your best year ever in Connecticut right now?”

He said, “That is right.”

I said, “Is this your first year in real estate?”

He laughed and said, “No. I have been in real estate for ten years.”

I asked him, “How could you possibly be doing so well in real estate in the middle of this recession when the real estate market has bottomed out?”

He reached into his pocket – this is a true story – and pulled out a big blue and white badge that said, “I absolutely refuse to participate in the recession.”

I laughed and said, “That is your secret? You refuse to participate to the recession so business is booming?”

He said, “It is a little bit more than that, but basically that is correct. While most of my competitors are crying the blues about how bad business is, I am out drumming up a ton of business, networking with my contacts and generating referrals by talking about the great opportunities that exist right now to purchase real estate. I have a lot of clients. I have been in business for a long time. They have been with me for ten to fifteen years and I sold properties to them. A lot of them have said to me in the past during the last recession – we had a recession and lot of them said they were not going to buy any more real estate. Real estate isn’t the same. As four and five years go by and real estate goes sky rocketing, he said, I had conversations where they would say, ‘I wish I would have bought real estate back then when you told me to buy it. Now it is out of control.’ I am going back into my database and I am calling those very same people. I am saying that hey, it is six years all over again. You have a second opportunity. You have a chance to make up for what you said was a bad choice six, seven, or eight years ago. I am selling more real estate right now because it is a buyer’s market and real estate will go up again. I am using my networking that I have established over time and I am going about it in a positive way.”

It is so, so important. BNI members have a huge advantage over their competition. They are building their business through networking, through referrals, through word of mouth and their competition is just going to have to rely on increased advertising, when you have a powerful network to draw upon. If the times are tough around you, look for opportunities to market and use your network as the vehicle to do that. You can do just like this guy and refuse to participate in any recession. Be creative about working with your network.

Priscilla:
I think that is great advice.

Ivan:
You can’t control the economy. You can’t control the competition. But you can control your response to the economy and referrals can keep your business alive and strong, even during an economic downturn.

Priscilla:
Do you have any specific points or suggestions that you could offer?

Ivan:
Actually, during that last recession, I watched thousands – and the last was was in the early 2000s. As I said, it is about every six or eight years. I watched thousands of business owners grow and prosper. They were successful because they consciously made the decision to refuse to participate in the recession. I am talking from California. This is important to know. Many of our listeners are from countries all around the world, and you may not be experiencing a recession at this moment. Be prepared you will. It happens everywhere.

Just because we are taking recession here in the U.S. doesn’t mean that the rest of the world is immune. I know the rest of the economy is doing really well in a number of countries. But there tends to be a ripple effect with recessions. When one or two major economies have a downturn, it affects others. This works, I think, for anyone anywhere. Even if you are not experiencing it right now, jot this down about this podcast. Wherever you are, you are going to come back to this at some point.

There are six things that I recommend. First is to diversify your business network. You need breadth and depth. If you network is a mile wide but only an inch deep, it is no good. You need to have networks that are broad and deep. BNI is the deep part of that. That is where you go deep and work with people, but participate in your local chamber and other business organizations as well. Be out there. Be visible. Establish credibility.

Number two, refuse to be a cave-dweller. Be visible. Get out there and meet people at business events, especially during a tough economy. Don’t let them bring you down. Make up a badge that says, “I refuse to participate in the recession.” Wear it proudly and find ways to be creative and market yourself. Learn how to work the network meeting that you attend. It is not called betfetterneddie. It is called network.

Third, learn networking systems and techniques that apply to the different organizations to which you belong.

Fourth, be prepared. Prepare effective introductions and presentations to give other business professionals at other networking meetings. Find ways to use whatever is going on in the economy as a way of marketing. Make it positive for your business, not negative.

Fifth is develop your contact spheres. Now more than ever, a group of business professionals who have a symbiotic or compatible business relationship with you are more important than ever.

Sixth is really establish a goal and reverse-engineer it. Know what you want to accomplish and make sure that your networking and referral partners understand that as well. Do GAINS exchanges with people. Out of the book, Business by Referral – goals, accomplishments, interests, networks and skills. It starts with goals to tell people what you are looking for and find out what their goals are so you can help achieve that.

Don’t let a bad economy be your excuse for failure. Instead, make it an opportunity to succeed. It is not what you know or who you know. It’s how well you know that really counts. In a tough economy, it is your social capital that has value.

Priscilla:
That is great. I think I could have one more.

Ivan:
Great. What is it?

Priscilla:
You need to reward your very best referrers, the people who are your best customers and constantly talk you up to other people and bring you work.

Ivan:
I agree with that. I talk about that very thing in the World’s Best Marketing Secret, then in Business by Referral, and in Truth or Delusion. All too often, we don’t recognize and reward the people who have supported us, our referral partners. It is important that you do that.

Some businesses — like in many countries, insurance agents and real estate professionals are not allowed to give anything much in terms of dollar value. But recognition is an incredibly powerful motivator to reward people. Chiropractors get this with the signs that they do saying, “We want to thank you for the following patients that you referred this past month.” Not all chiropractors do that but many do. I think it is a great technique and response.

Priscilla:
Okay. Well, is there anything else that you would like to add?

Ivan:
I think that covers just about everything. I think if I was to say anything else, it would be that your social capital has value. Make good use of it. You can thrive while others are struggling. If you are in a good economy right now, make note of this podcast because eventually, things may slow down. Statistically that is what happens. You can come back and listen to this.

Priscilla:
Okay, great. Well, I think that is it for this week. Thank you, Dr. Misner, for all the great information. This podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official BNI Podcast.

This week, Dr. Misner talks with Flynn Nogueira and Sara Minnis of del Fuego, Inc, producers of the BNI CDs, just came from a BNI regional event, where they launched Networking Secrets.

• Everyone thought it was important to hear directly from Dr. Misner.
• People love the interview style, which makes the CDs more like a talk show.
• The CDs provide enough time to go into detail, which the podcasts don’t.
• Members who own the CDs are encouraging everyone in their chapters to get them.
• The CDs are part of the culture of learning in BNI.
• People retain more information longer when they hear it.
• Everyone loved the story about practicing the fundamentals.
• The V.C.P. Process may be the most important thing to come out of this CD series.

Sponsored by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 047 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice. I am coming from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner, as well as some special guests. Who do you have with you today, Dr. Misner?

Ivan Misner:
Thanks Priscilla. I have two wonderful ladies whom I have gotten to know over the last few years, Sara Minnis and Flynn Nogueira. Sara and Flynn are with del Fuego. They have produced several CDs for BNI, and we are going to talk about some of those and the importance of education and learning and BNI. Now, del Fuego’s official tagline is “Lives that matter, lives that work, businesses that succeed.” But I like their unofficial one even more. It is “del Fuego sisters — wanted in more states for more things than you can imagine.”

Good afternoon, ladies. It is great having you on the podcast. I want to talk about the content that you put together because you have some really, really good material that you have edited on the interviews that I have done. I have to tell you, I have never had so much fun recording in a studio as I have with you guys. You are a lot of fun to record with. I will never forget the first recording. You had two days blocked. I think we punched it out in like four hours. You had two bags of groceries. I have never seen so much food for a recording room. Do you record all your stuff that way?

Flynn Nogueira:
We like to be prepared. We want to keep the artists happy.

Ivan:
Well, you did a great job of that. Listen, the two of you just came back from a regional event for BNI where a lot of the material that you helped develop ts — you have done CDs for BNI members. One is Truth or Delusion - Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths, which is a summary of the Truth or Delusion book and a CD called Networking and Word of Mouth, and also a CD with Tom Fleming that you did. What was the title of that one?

Sara Minnis:
Who Can Pass Your Business?

Ivan:
Who Can Pass Your Business? And then the latest one is BNI Networking Secrets, which is a three CD set. You have developed a lot of material for BNI and you just came from a regional event. Talk to me a little bit about that regional event and what members of BNI said about the material that was developed in the CDs.

Sara:
We actually used the event as a launch for the latest three CD package, BNI Networking Secrets. I think the most consistent responses from members were two. One is they love having all the information about being successful in one place that was easy to use and step-by-step. The other one was how much everyone really enjoyed it, being a conversation with you, kind of, from start to finish. From everybody, a big thumbs up for this three CD set.

Flynn:
I just want to emphasize what Sara said. Many of the members, Ivan, haven’t had the opportunity to one-on-one. I think what was really key for them was being able to see your how to get a referral. What do I do when I don’t get a referral? You know, what are the fundamentals that I really need to be practicing? To get that directly from you based on your 25 years of experience makes all the difference, and it is such a great complement, they said, to everything they learned in MSP and in their chapter meetings.

Ivan:
I think one of the things you guys said was that it was like having two decades of knowledge kind of condensed down into three hours of material. I think you guys are really good at, first, asking the right questions that enabled me to do that and in editing it well to put it together in a package that I think is really effective for members.

Flynn:
We do, too. I think one of the things that people love is how we interview you, right? Because it makes it more like a talk show. It’s a lot of fun and your stories are so great. Of course, we have to say that you are very entertaining.

Ivan:
Thanks. You know what I like about a CD like that is that there is enough time to really get into stories to go deep with ideas. The podcasts here like this are great but they are a little shorter, you know. Five to 10 minutes or maybe 12 minutes at the most. So you have to be you really specific and brief but we can kind of go deep in it couple of things and it kind to gives me a chance to let me run. It’s conversational like you say.

Sara:
One other thing the people said that I thought was really great is that there were lots of new items on that latest set that they had not heard from you before. Something about going deep and having the time also allowed you to bring in different ways to explain things and bring another little twist to it.

Flynn:
You know, another comment that we got from several people was they loved having their own copy and they wanted their own copy. We’ve heard that from a lot of members, actually, and they are really encouraging every member in their chapter to get one because like they are saying, if everyone in the chapter can have this information and know this information, they really believe that the whole chapter will increase its success.

Ivan:
I think that’s really true. One of the things that I have been trying to develop over the last few years is a real culture of learning in the BNI meetings — opportunities for people to really learn and hone their networking skills. We want to go about this in two or three ways. One is a lot of free content. Like these podcasts, we have a lot of free material on the internet like BNIpodcast.com, this website, like my column at entrepreneur.com, like my blog at networkingentrepreneur.com. So there is a lot of free stuff.

But you know sometimes, it’s like if you want to get a college education, you have to go out and buy a couple of books. You have to have some material right from the professor. So we have some books but we also have the CDs which I think allow us, as I was saying, to go deeper and to tell more comprehensive stories and talk about some things at a more comprehensive level.

You guys have done a great job with the CDs. I really, really like them because it allows us to do that. It supports a true culture of learning in the BNI groups, something which I think is key for the success of any chapter.

Flynn:
And you know Sara, help me here because you understand better. One of the things that we learned not to long ago, Ivan, was that people retain information longer and greater amounts of information when they hear it as opposed to reading it. Isn’t that interesting?

Sara:
It’s like 29% more retention, even if they are not paying attention to it while they are playing it in their car or something. Isn’t that wild? It’s almost effortless learning.

Ivan:
That is amazing. Now I know you just did this big event where you were presenting the material in Minnesota. Tell me — let me put you on the spot. Tell me one, two or maybe three things that came up where BNI members said, “Wow. This specific thing was really valuable for me and helping me with my chapter.”

Sara:
You go first, Flynn.

Flynn:
Number one-

Ivan:
See, this is what the whole recording was like. You go first. You go first. But we edited it out though.

Flynn:
Number one is your story on practicing the fundamentals and how you kick off the second CD about that. Everyone loved that story. You know the story I am referring to. I don’t want to tell it to too many people because I want them to go out and get the CD set.

Ivan:
Yes I do. It’s a fun story.

Flynn:
Yes. And you know, that just put what I really need to focus on to be successful in my chapter in BNI in such a great context for everyone. Everyone comments on that story, Ivan.

Ivan:
We are almost out of time. Give me one or two more.

Flynn:
I think the other big take away for everyone is the VCP process. They were like, “Wow. I never understood it like that before.” That’s part of hearing it from you as opposed to hearing it passed through several people, definitely.

Ivan:
You know, you are really right. You let me draw out a lot more material and content on the audio than I have done anywhere else about the VCP process. I can see why they would like that. Will listen, is there something else?

Sara:
I was just going to say one more thing on the VCP process — maybe that’s the most important thing to come out from the series because the VCP process is the core and the foundation and how you can be successful at BNI.

Ivan:
Good point, good point. Well listen, our listeners and BNI members may be interested in getting copies of the CD. It’s certainly available at the BNI store, so if you go to BNI.com and then click on the store, you can go there and get copies of the CD. But there’s a website that you have a lot of information on as well. Do you want to give the name?

Flynn:
BNInetworkingsecrets.com.

Ivan:
BNInetworkingsecrets.com, which is the name of the CD. Listeners to this podcast can either go to BNI.com or go to BNInetworkingsecrets.com and get it. Ladies, any final words before we wrap up?

Sara:
We enjoyed working with you, Ivan.

Flynn:
We want to see you in April, so for podcast listeners in Austin, you will be in Austin in April.

Sara:
Yes, live.

Ivan:
I will be. Live. Well thank you ladies very much. I appreciate you taking the time today, and you did a wonderful job on this CD. I really hope that BNI members pick this up because I guarantee you do you will absolutely appreciate the quality and the content of the recording said they did with me. So thank you very much. I will turn it back over to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Well thank you, Dr. Misner,, and thank you to the del Fuego sisters. That was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to hearing the CD and hopefully I will get to meet you someday. Thank you for sharing with us. I just want to say now that this podcast has been brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another episode of the Official BNI Podcast.