In this BNI Education Slot, Darren Jamieson explores a powerful question he heard at the BNI UK Leaders Conference: “How much more successful do you want to be?”

Darren explains that many BNI members already understand the importance of inviting visitors, but that message can sometimes fall on deaf ears. Members may already be receiving referrals, making money, and seeing value from their membership, so they may not feel motivated to do anything extra.

https://youtu.be/L-J8u5ViGfg

He suggests that the question should be reframed. Instead of asking members whether they want to be successful, or telling them they need to invite visitors, chapters should ask how much more successful they would like to become.

Darren acknowledges that BNI benefits from having more members, but he stresses that the members benefit too. As chapters grow, referral relationships increase, opportunities multiply, and the average value of each seat rises.

Going into further detail in the video, Darren compares this to compounding, explaining that the more relationships there are in a chapter, the more powerful the referral network becomes.

The message is simple: members can continue as they are and still see results, but if they want more referrals, more business, and a stronger chapter, they need to help grow the room.

Full Transcript

0:14
How much more successful do you want your business to be within BNI?

0:22
I recently came back from the BNI UK Leaders Conference, and that was one of the phrases I heard that really struck me, that really stuck with me: how much more successful do you want to be?

0:29
And it applies to BNI chapters that need to grow, that need to be inviting visitors.

0:37
Because I don’t know about you, but I have gone into BNI chapters many times and spoken about inviting visitors.

0:45
I’ve done it in my own chapter. I’ve done it in BNI groups that I look after. I’ve gone in and I’ve talked about this is why you need to invite visitors.

0:53
This is the important thing within BNI. We’re all going to grow. We’re all going to make more money if you invite visitors.

0:59
And very often, with a lot of people, it does fall on deaf ears.

1:07
And if you go into a BNI group and you say, “Look, you’re going to be successful if you bring visitors in. You’re going to make money if you bring visitors in,” a lot of members are sat there and they’re thinking,

1:14
“Do you know what? I’m actually making money now. I’m actually getting referrals right now.

1:23
I don’t need to pull my finger out and do anything extra because BNI is working for me, thank you very much.”

1:30
And that’s the problem.

1:30
If you ask people to bring visitors and say, “You’re going to be more successful,” or, “Can you bring more visitors because you’re going to grow and you’re going to get business,”

1:41
actually, they may think, “I’m doing okay. I don’t need to bring any more visitors.”

1:48
But if you ask, “How much more successful do you want to be?” it’s less accusatory.

1:56
It’s not that you’re asking people, “Do you want to be successful? Do you want to make money? Do you want to bring visitors? You’re going to be able to do that.”

2:05
You’re acknowledging that, do you know what, yes, you’re probably doing all right. You’re doing a good job. You’re making money from BNI.

2:13
But how much more money do you actually want to make?

2:13
Because BNI has a big thing about getting more members in groups, launching more groups, and getting more members across the world.

2:19
Obviously, when BNI has more members, BNI makes more money. We’re not stupid. We know how it works.

2:26
The more members BNI has, the more money that it makes. Here in the UK, BNI members are paying just under £1,000 a year for membership.

2:35
BNI has about 360-odd thousand members around the world. You do the maths.

2:42
Obviously, BNI wants more members because it makes more money. But do you know who else makes more money when you get more members into your BNI chapter?

2:52
You, the members. You make more money.

2:56
It is statistically proven. We have facts and figures from chapters around the world that the more members you have in a chapter, the more money every single member makes.

3:04
The more money the average seat in that chapter is worth.

3:12
Because the referral partnerships, the referral relationships, they increase exponentially. They compound.

3:20
And if you want to know more about compound interest, speak to the financial adviser in your chapter. They’ll tell you all about it.

3:28
Compounding the referrals allows you to make more money.

3:34
So, it is a simple question of: how much more successful do you want to be?

3:42
Yes, you can sit on your BNI seat, sit on your hands, pass some referrals, turn up to some training, not invite visitors, and you’ll carry on making money the way you are making it now.

3:52
But how much more successful would you like to be?

3:59
How much more money would you like to be in your business? How much bigger would you like your BNI chapter to be?

3:59
How many more referrals would you like to get on a weekly basis?

4:08
And the answer is to grow your chapter.

4:10
It is to get more people involved in your chapter. And that is the secret to making more money within BNI.