BNI is built on one simple idea: referrals lead to business. But what if you’re giving and receiving referrals every week and still not seeing it reflected in your “Thank You for the Business” stats?

That’s exactly the issue Zoe tackled in a recent BNI Education Slot, based on insights from a recent committee meeting and her own deep dive into chapter stats. As someone who admits that she lives for spreadsheets and numbers, Zoe noticed a recurring issue — there’s often a disconnect between the number of referrals members give and the actual business logged.

So, let’s break it down.

Why Aren’t Referrals Showing as Business?

There are a couple of key reasons:

The referral wasn’t a good fit.

Maybe the person didn’t need the service after all, or perhaps it wasn’t the right introduction. That happens.

The app hasn’t been updated.

More often than not, this is the culprit. Members simply haven’t logged the business correctly in the BNI Connect app, even when the referral did lead to work.

Using the BNI App Properly

When you receive a referral via the app, you can mark whether it was a good fit and whether it led to business. But here’s where it gets sticky — if you click “I got the business,” it takes you straight to the “Thank You for the Business” section.

That can be a problem if you’re not ready to declare the business yet. For example:

You might have taken someone on, but their invoice isn’t due until their tax return in six months’ time.

If you’re a tradesperson, you may not invoice until the work is complete.

In these cases, members often exit the screen — and forget to go back later. That results in referrals being marked as received but not converted into visible, recorded business.

The Cross-Chapter Blind Spot

This gets even messier with cross-chapter referrals.

If you’re thanked by a member from another chapter, they might update the app, but you won’t necessarily see it. Likewise, if you send business and never get thanked, it could be that the member just didn’t log it.

Unless you’re on the leadership team, you won’t have access to everyone’s data, so it’s easy to assume everything’s been tracked when it hasn’t.

What You Can Do Right Now

Here’s how to fix it — and ensure you’re getting the recognition you deserve:

Review your referral history in the app.

Go back through what you’ve received. Did it lead to business? Was it marked correctly?

Follow up.

If a member told you a referral led to work, but you’ve not seen a thank-you recorded, ask them to check and update it.

Be transparent.

When you thank someone, take a screenshot and send it to them. It builds trust and shows you’re doing what you say you’re doing.

Reflect and improve.

If a referral didn’t go anywhere, ask why. Was it a poor fit? Did the client not connect with the person? Use it as a learning point.

Why This Matters

You control how many referrals you give. You control your 1-2-1s. But you don’t control who thanks you for business — unless you follow up and make sure it’s being recorded.

It’s not about chasing vanity stats. It’s about ensuring BNI works the way it’s meant to — with clear, accurate tracking of the referrals and business being generated.

When we all update our data and follow up properly, we don’t just make our own results better — we make the entire chapter stronger.

Final Thought

Your hard work deserves recognition. Don’t let missed updates and forgotten follow-ups hide the impact you’re making in your chapter.

Open your BNI app this week. Review your referrals. And make sure the business you’ve helped generate is being tracked and thanked.

Because when you take control of your numbers, the results speak for themselves.

Video Transcript:

[00:00]
Potentially you might not get thanked. And I know people do it here. This happens all over the country. It’s not just specific to our region, but everyone wants their own stats to be…

[00:10]
…great. So today, this EDS slot has come off the back of the committee meeting on two weeks ago.

[00:18]
So, what we looked at is I tend to look at all the stats. I’m a big stat person. I like spreadsheets. I like numbers.

[00:24]
Um, and one of the things that doesn’t correlate sometimes is the amount of referrals that have been given to members that you’ve given and the thank you for the business that you’ve got.

[00:34]
So, there’s a couple of reasons for that. It could be actually the referrals you’re giving potentially aren’t necessarily good referrals.

[00:41]
Or it could just be that actually you’ve not followed up and had the thank you for the business put on the system.

[00:46]
And that’s the aim that we’re… that’s the reason we’re thinking that’s what it is.

[00:50]
So what I wanted to talk to you is literally, if you go on your app on your phone…

[00:55]
Um, we’re all very good at tracking. If anyone does what I do, I track what I get from BNI.

[01:00]
I track what referrals I get, what has turned into business, when that business is generated, and who I’m thanking.

[01:07]
And I’m very good at making sure that individuals get thanked and individuals in cross chapters get thanked as well.

[01:13]
But if you go on your app and you look at what you’ve received on your referrals…

[01:18]
…if you look at that, you will see that when you get the referral, you have an opportunity to update and say what that referral — where that referral is.

[01:26]
So it may be that you click on there and say, it wasn’t a good fit, it didn’t turn into business.

[01:31]
But the one thing that I don’t like — and I think this is where it falls down — is if you click “I’ve got the business,” it automatically then goes to a “thank you for the business” page.

[01:42]
Yeah? Now for me, if I want to tell my fellow member, yes, I’ve got that business — because you’ll get a notification —

[01:48]
It doesn’t mean I’m putting a fee on there straight away because I might have taken someone on and do their tax return in 6 months’ time, 12 months’ time.

[01:56]
So I literally get rid of that screen straight away.

[01:59]
But for some people, like trades, you might not invoice until the work is actually done.

[02:04]
So you might then put the thank you for the business in straight away.

[02:08]
Now what I find with it is that when you update some stuff that has been cross-chapter, potentially you might not get thanked.

[02:15]
And I know people do it here. This happens all over the country. It’s not just specific to our region.

[02:21]
But everyone wants their own stats to be great for their chapter. I get that.

[02:26]
And it’s the one element that you cannot control.

[02:29]
You can control what referrals you put on. You can control your one-to-ones. You can’t control what business you are thanked for.

[02:36]
So, I want you to go back through your referrals over the next couple of weeks.

[02:41]
Go back through your referrals that you’ve received and follow them up.

[02:45]
If you know that it’s led to business because that member has told you, but they haven’t actually then updated the section on the app, follow it up.

[02:53]
Find out what’s happened.

[02:55]
And if they turn around and say, “Well actually, it didn’t lead to business,” that leads to another conversation as to…

[03:01]
…potentially, why? Was it the wrong sort of referral I gave you? Did you just not win the business because that person wasn’t for you? They didn’t like you?

[03:10]
There’s all sorts of reasons, but try and follow up.

[03:13]
Now the one thing I have had is a member from another chapter that I do their accounts for, and I regularly thank them.

[03:21]
And one day they came to me and said, “Can you just actually show me that you’ve done that?”

[03:25]
And I said, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

[03:27]
So, I took a screenshot, showed them with what I’d done on the app, that I’d actually thanked them.

[03:32]
So they know — because unless you’re on the leadership team, you don’t really get access to all the stats.

[03:37]
So you don’t actually know unless somebody shows you that actually they’ve put that thank you for the business on.

[03:43]
So that’s what I want you to do over the next couple of weeks.

[03:46]
Go back through your referrals that you’ve received and make sure that you update the app to show what position those referrals are in.

[03:52]
And make sure that you follow up and make sure that you’re thanked for all the hard work that you’ve done in getting that referral in the first place.

[04:00]
Okay. Thank you.