Goals of Chapter Visits
When you go to visit a chapter, be sure to show up on time. Once you arrive, introduce yourself to the chapter leaders. Tell the Chapter Leadership that Sebo has members in other chapters, but you are actively looking to join a chapter. Don’t just go sit down. Go talk to different people. You’ll likely have about 10 minutes to do this before the meeting officially starts.
During the meeting, you’ll have a chance to do a 30 to 60 commercial (depending on the chapter size). The members will introduce themselves first. Once the members have gone, any visitors will be given the chance to introduce themselves. You should say something like:
“Good morning, my name is Bruce Rowe and I work for Sebo Marketing. We are Utah’s Google Experts. Since 2005, Sebo has been helping companies utilize Google’s Marketing Tools to make sure they are gathering accurate data for their website. Once companies have enough accurate data, we sit down with them and help them make smart marketing decisions. If it makes sense, we specifically help companies with Search Engine Optimization or SEO, and Pay-Per-Click Advertising, also known as PPC. If your website isn’t performing as well as you would like, I’d love to take you to lunch and talk more about it. Thanks, again my name is Bruce Rowe with Sebo Marketing.”
Don’t expect to get a bunch of people coming up to you after the meeting wanting to talk further. You don’t have a relationship with them yet.
Key Point to Remember
Many people make the assumption that the best chapters are the biggest chapters. Don’t make that mistake! You’re trying to build relationships with well connected people. It’s better to be in a chapter with 20 well connected people over a chapter with 50 sales people. Look for chapters with lots of business owners. Look for chapters with people in related industries.
Social media, graphic designers, video guys, etc are all good Key Referral Centers for you. What’s a Key Referral Center? It’s someone who isn’t likely a client, but works with lots of companies that might be good potential clients for you.
After you have visited at least 3 chapters, determine which chapter is likely the best fit for you.
Joining a BNI Chapter
Once you have chosen a chapter to join, you will be asked to fill out an application and give them a check. Once you give them these things, your application will be turned over to a Membership committee who will decide whether or not to accept you into their chapter. You will be notified once you get approved to be a part of their chapter.
Even if they haven’t notified you yet, once you turn in your application, start attending that chapter each week until you are approved or declined. Once you are approved, you will be sworn into the chapter, and then you become an official member. Once you are an official member, start working on setting up One to One meetings.
One to One Meetings
One to One meetings are times that you will meet with a chapter member to get to know them better. Typically, they’ll talk for about 30 minutes and then you’ll get to talk for about 30 minutes.
As the new member, you should start by asking them about themselves and then ask them about their business. Get to know them personally by finding out about hobbies, connections, stories, interests, etc. Remember that the relationship is more important than their business. Networking is about learning about ways to serve others, not just learning about their business. Find out about how the business got started, what they do for the business, and what an ideal client of the business looks like.
When you get a chance to talk about yourself, answer questions about hobbies, how you ended up living where you live, family and/or friends, etc. Then, take a few minutes to help them understand what Sebo does. Ideally, you should try and take them through the Website Performance Checklist with their company website. Ask them the point of their site. Ask them if you can fill out a form and see what happens (Step 1). Ask them about Google Analytics (Step 2). If possible, log into their Analytics account and fix the issues the account has with filters and goals.
In some cases, they don’t have a site, or they are part of a franchise so they don’t have any control of their site. If their site doesn’t make sense to go through the Website Performance Checklist, use some other site. In summary, try and give them a quick overview of Google Analytics (Filters, Goals), Search Console, and AdWords.
60 Second Commercials
Use the 60 second commercials as times to teach – don’t just ask for referrals! Bruce recently attended a meeting with a new Life Insurance guy that joined the chapter. He got up and said “Hi, my name is ____. I sell Life Insurance. I want to talk to people who want to buy Life Insurance.” He then sat down.
He came across as clueless and greedy. He wanted customers. He hoped / expected that the chapter members would give him referrals. There’s no way that will ever work. Again, networking is about finding ways to serve the other person first, and then referrals may or may not come. During his commercials over the next weeks and months, he should have talked about Term, Whole, Variable Life, Return of Premium Policies, etc.
Here’s a potential weekly plan that you could follow once you join your BNI chapter:
- Week 1: Give an overview of the Website Performance Checklist
- Week 2: Talk about Step 1 of the Website Performance Checklist – how do you know if you are happy with your website?
- Week 3: Talk about Step 2 and the importance of collecting accurate data
- Week 4: Teach about Filters – IP, Valid Hostname, Ghost, Known Bots, etc
- Week 5: Teach about Goals – Form Fills, E-Commerce, etc. If possible, even do a quick Demo if your chapter has a projector. Fill out a form on someone’s site and see if it goes to a Thank You page.
- You get the idea…you could do the same thing with Search Console, Tag Manager, AdWords, etc
KEY POINT: Don’t just show up wondering what to talk about. Practice your commercial for the day in the car on the way to BNI. Also see the other section on SeboTraining.com called 60 Second Topics. This gives you almost a year of topics, including over 35 actual audio files of Bruce giving his 60 Second Commercials over the years.
Member Success Program
MSP, or the Member Success Program, is training provided by BNI to each new member. It typically costs $20 to attend. Find out from your Chapter Secretary when and where the next MSP will be taking place. Most of the time, the MSP will last for 2-3 hours.
You will not be allowed to give a presentation to your chapter until you have attended MSP, so make sure you sign up and attend soon after joining your chapter.
