In this BNI Education Slot, Darren Jamieson explains why every BNI member should aim to bring a contribution to every meeting. He begins by making the point that a BNI group only works when members actively contribute. Those contributions may come in the form of referrals, visitors, testimonials or other meaningful support, but without them, the group will struggle to generate business.

https://youtu.be/nfp7iOHD0f0

Darren contrasts BNI with other networking events, which can often become informal coffee mornings. While those events may be pleasant, he explains that they often lack structure, accountability and tangible business outcomes. BNI is different because it is designed to generate business, but that only happens when members consistently bring value to the room.

He then shares his own approach. At the end of every BNI meeting he attends, he immediately starts thinking about what contribution he can bring the following week. His first focus is always referrals. He listens carefully during weekly presentations and ten-minute talks, noting whether a member has asked for a specific introduction, a particular company or someone in a certain profession or industry.

If he does not immediately know the person being requested, he checks LinkedIn. He looks to see whether he is connected to that person directly, whether he knows someone who is connected to them or whether he knows someone else at the same company. His goal is to identify practical, achievable referral opportunities that could help another member.

Darren also highlights the importance of one-to-ones. He explains that one-to-ones should naturally lead to referrals. In his view, both members should be looking to pass a referral during the meeting. This is why he says it is very rare for him to arrive at a BNI meeting without a referral to give.

The second type of contribution Darren discusses is visitors. He explains that members should continually invite people to their chapter, whether they may become clients, referral partners or future BNI members. He stresses that inviting visitors is not a one-off activity. It should be done consistently through conversations, phone calls, social media, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn or whatever method works best.

Darren compares this process to creating a sales pipeline. Someone may not be ready to visit immediately, but they may come along weeks, months or even years later. That only happens if members keep inviting.

The third type of contribution is a testimonial. Darren explains that if he does not have a referral or visitor, he will look for someone he can give a testimonial to. This might be a member who has done work for him, for one of his clients or for a contact, friend or family member. He prefers testimonials to be printed, ideally framed and presented properly so they feel substantial.

As a final option, Darren explains that members can give a testimonial to BNI itself. This could describe how BNI has helped their business, generated referrals, created contacts or provided support through the chapter. He notes that although he has not needed to do this himself, he has seen it done and considers it a valid contribution.

Darren concludes his slot by reminding members not to arrive at a BNI meeting without contributing something. A member can bring a referral, a visitor, a testimonial for another member or a testimonial for BNI. If every member follows this approach, the contribution section becomes more active, more vibrant and more valuable for the whole chapter.

Full Transcript

0:13
The only way a BNI group is going to work is if everybody is bringing contributions, everybody is bringing referrals, is bringing visitors, is passing testimonials.

0:25
Because if you are a member of a BNI group and nobody is bringing a contribution, nobody is bringing referrals, then quite frankly, the group isn’t going to work.

0:33
You’re not going to get any business. Nobody’s going to want to go there again.

0:42
Now, I’ve been to lots of networking events that aren’t BNI. I’m sure you have as well. And as pleasant as they are, they often just turn out to be coffee mornings.

0:51
People sit around, chat about what they’ve been doing, say they’re going to do something, and then drink a bit of coffee, have a bit of cake, have a bit of breakfast, and never see each other again for a couple of weeks or maybe even a couple of months, and no one gets any business out of it.

1:07
That’s the reason that we all join BNI, because it works. It gets business.

1:16
So, that is only going to happen if you bring contributions. And I think it’s essential that every single BNI meeting that you have, that you try to bring a contribution.

1:24
You try to take something there that’s going to benefit either a member of that group or a member of another BNI group that’s in your area, or in your country, or even international, because BNI, of course, is international.

1:40
So what I do is, at the end of every BNI meeting that I attend, I immediately start thinking: what contribution can I bring next week?

1:49
And the first one, obviously, is referrals. Can I bring a referral from somebody in this group who has just mentioned something in their weekly presentation or their ten minutes that I think, you know what, I can help with that?

2:02
I can help them with that specific introduction, or I know somebody like that.

2:11
I will go through my notes and see who has mentioned a specific name, who has said somebody that they want an introduction to. Do I know that person?

2:21
If I don’t immediately know that person, I’ll have a look on LinkedIn. Am I connected to that person?

2:28
If I’m not connected to that person, am I connected to someone who is connected to that person that could potentially do an introduction for me?

2:35
If I don’t know that person, or I’m not connected to anyone, do I know somebody else at the company they’ve asked for?

2:43
Have they been specific about a person or company, or have they just said, I want someone in a particular industry, like accountants or financial advisers? Is there a way I can help them?

2:52
And I will be thinking, how can I help this person? How can I make introductions?

2:58
And I’ll write down a list of essentially easy referrals that I can make, people that I can potentially help, and I will try to get those introductions for them.

3:06
That’s the first thing that I will do. I will then look at one-to-ones that I’ve had in the last week or so, or one-to-ones that I’ve got coming up that week.

3:16
What referrals can I make during those one-to-ones?

3:20
Because remember, a one-to-one is about making referrals. Two one-to-ones should be passed during a referral. Sorry, two referrals should be passed during a one-to-one.

3:28
A referral to the person you’re having the one-to-one with, and they should be passing a referral to you. That’s the idea of it.

3:35
So if you’re having one-to-ones, you should automatically be passing referrals.

3:44
So I will very rarely, very rarely, turn up to my BNI meeting without a referral. It’s extremely unusual that I will turn up without a referral.

3:53
That’s the first thing, because I want to be seen to be giving. If I’m not giving, then I will feel a little awkward about asking for someone else to help me.

4:01
And if everybody in the meeting turns up with a referral, then that’s going to be a lot of referrals passed. Everybody’s going to do business.

4:09
But not always can you get a referral. Not always. The second type of contribution for a business meeting, for a BNI meeting, will be a visitor.

4:17
Can I bring somebody along to introduce to other members who will potentially be a client of theirs, or a referral partner of theirs, or maybe even join our BNI chapter?

4:25
Now, I will be actively inviting people every single day of every single week of every single month of every single year, because I use social media techniques to invite visitors.

4:33
I’ve done loads of education slots on inviting visitors. I’ll list a couple of those below this video so you can access to those.

4:41
It’s important that you are continually inviting people, because I’ve had it many times where I will invite someone to BNI and maybe they’ll say no, or maybe they’ll say it’s not right for me right now, or I’m not interested, or I don’t need the business, or I’m not getting up that early in the morning.

5:03
Whatever reason they like to give. But maybe a few months later, or possibly even a few years later, they say, “Oh, you invited me to that. Is it still possible I can come along? Do you still do those? Are you still involved?”

5:18
Yes, I am. Come along. Come along. And I’ve had visitors after I’ve invited people. And that’s the truth.

5:27
If you keep inviting, it’s about creating a sales pipeline. You will get people that will come along weeks later, months later, even years later.

5:35
But that will only happen if you continually invite. So continually be talking to people about BNI and about inviting them.

5:43
Whether you do that face to face with your clients, whether you do that by phoning people up, whether you do that by mentioning it on social media, or messaging people on WhatsApp, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, whatever you like to do, whatever process you like to use, continually do it so you can keep that pipeline going.

5:57
Now, if I don’t have a referral and if I don’t have a visitor, I’m not going to show up to the meeting and go, “Nothing from me this week.”

6:04
Because quite frankly, I would be embarrassed if I did that. I would be embarrassed.

6:13
I will bring a testimonial if I can’t bring one of those things. So, I will think, who have I referred recently that’s done work for me, or done work for one of my clients, or one of my contacts, one of my family members, one of my friends?

6:22
Was the work good? Were they happy with it? Would they like to give a testimonial for it? Can I give a testimonial to that member?

6:28
And a testimonial, I like to do them printed out and ideally framed and presented to that member so it looks good. It looks like something substantial, and it should be read out.

6:44
But remember, you can’t always do that.

6:47
Sometimes you can’t do a testimonial for a member because you don’t have a referral that’s turned into business that you haven’t done a testimonial for before.

6:54
So, as an absolute last resort, what you can do is you could do a testimonial to BNI.

7:03
Now, I’ve seen this done a few times before. I’ve not done it myself yet because I’ve not needed to do it, but you could do a testimonial to BNI.

7:12
How BNI has helped you within your business, how it has helped you get more referrals, get more clients, get more contacts, whatever it may be.

7:20
You can write the testimonial to BNI, maybe to your specific chapter. When I first joined, I was in this situation. I needed help with this and I found support from this member, this member, this member.

7:28
I got referrals. I got business. I’m now doing whatever it is that you’re doing.

7:37
Now, a testimonial to BNI is still a valid testimonial and it is a valid contribution. So, in recap, don’t turn up to your BNI meeting without some form of contribution.

7:46
Always bring something to the BNI meeting. Otherwise, you shouldn’t really be asking for referrals if you’ve not given something in exchange.

7:54
Because if everybody turned up without a contribution, it would be a very flat contribution section. Nobody would get any business. Nobody would get anywhere, and nobody would want to come back.

8:02
So, bring something. Either bring a referral for one of the members in the chapter, or a referral for a member in another chapter. That’s fine.

8:10
Bring a visitor. That will only happen if you invite regularly. Keep inviting people to the chapter. Keep inviting them to come along, because if you stop inviting, you’re not going to get any visitors.

8:25
So, keep doing that. And then bring a testimonial. A testimonial for one of your fellow members within the chapter.

8:31
And if you can’t do that, bring a testimonial for BNI. That is an acceptable form of contribution within your BNI meeting.

8:39
So that’s bring a referral, bring a visitor, or bring a testimonial for a member, or bring a testimonial for BNI.

8:46
Try to always do at least one of those four contributions.

8:51
And then your contribution section will always be vibrant, active, and full of lots of contributions and business for you and for your members.