In preparation for this Education Moment I went back to the handout/workbook we all received when we first became BNI Chapter Members. Just to refresh your memory, it’s called the Member Success Program or MSP. I have to admit, that after completing the initial Mentoring Sessions needed to qualify for presentations, the MSP disappeared in to a file folder and this is the first time I have looked at it again. ME BAD!

The section on BBI’s starts with: “The One-to-One interview is specifically designed to build your referred business. (The previously used term was Dance Cards)”  Well I do know something about dance!

It continues with: Your objective is two-fold

  1. Instruct your dance partner on how to find you referrals and
  2. Get instructions from your dance partner about how to find him/her business

Well it seems that my previous and my current career are overlapping again! Though in regards to my male dance partners, they used to be better looking and in much better shape than this bunch.

The MSP continues with Focus your discussion around sharing information from the

  • GAINS Profile
  • BIO Sheet
  • Launching Pad

Again, just to refresh your memory,

  • The GAINS Profile is where you list your Goals, Accomplishments, Interests, Networks and Skills
  • The BIO Sheet is self-explanatory
  • And the Launching Pad Questions are:
    • My 3 best types of customers are:
    • Examples of referral types that work well for me are:
    • My best Power Team Partners are:
    • New customer types I’d like to have are:

Well, all of this is mostly common sense I think. You meet, you talk about yourself, then you talk about your BBI partner and then you talk about yourself again.

What happens when two or more people meet and talk, is that you exchange information, you learn details about each other and as a result you hopefully come to trust each other. That becomes the basis for being able to sell your partner as a trustworthy professional.

A couple of tips:

  • Don’t just sell yourself, but also provide memorable and useful information allowing your BBI partner to sell you
  • Do more listening than talking

Just a short story from my own life, I met my first real girlfriend on a short holiday in Mallorca, Spain. We started chatting and with all the inexperience and stupidity of a teenager I probably spend an hour talking about myself and when I finally ran out of what more to tell her about myself, I said something stupid like: “Well, let’s now talk about you”. And she probably said something like: “It’s about time”

THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO CONDUCT A BBI!

I suggest that you dig out your old MSP from your buried file folder and re-read some of the sections, because there is some very useful information included that will help you do better and more productive BBI’s. Just one more sentence I want to highlight: To receive sustained referrals you need mutual rapport and trust with your Power Team Partners. Plan on “dancing”. It really says that, look it up.

That was it for today, thank you!