Business group based on member success training program
Each Thursday at 7 a.m., 21 Vancouver business people get together at Panera Bread on 164th Avenue for 90 minutes of networking, but it’s more than handing out business cards and sipping coffee. They participate in a highly-structured networking methodology as part of Business Network International, a 93,000-member organization with 4,600 chapters in 31 countries.
Formed in 1985 by former management consultant Dr. Ivan Misner, BNI claims it is the world’s largest business networking organization. BNI approaches networking like a science, and membership in the organization is not a casual thing. After paying the $75 application fee and then the $295 annual membership fee, all BNI members go through a two-hour member success training program where they learn the basics of building a word-of-mouth marketing campaign. It also teaches members to build what are called "power teams." These are groups comprised of similar but non-competing businesses, such as realtors and mortgage brokers.
"They provide more training than any other networking group," said Vancouver BNI chapter member Gary McGrew, a Realtor with Prudential Northwest Properties in Battle Ground. He attributes 20 percent of his business to referrals through BNI.
Along with the academic training, meeting attendance is also strictly enforced. If a member can’t make a meeting, they must arrange for a substitute to sit in their place. Also, all BNI meetings are structured in the same way. They begin with 15 minutes of "open networking," where members talk and share leads, and then they are treated to an "educational moment," where the chapter educational director gives a brief lecture or anecdote on an aspect of business networking. Next, each member must give a "one minute commercial" for their business. Through this practice, they learn how to develop catch phrases and tag lines that others will remember.
"We are definitely a structured way of doing business," said Robin Schuckmann, executive director of the 650 members and 33 chapters of BNI Oregon and Southwest Washington. "People that don’t like structure actually like our organization, because it holds them accountable to what they should be doing with their business."
In order to further maximize the networking factor, each BNI chapter only allows one representative from each profession. The theory is that each professional will learn about the others and will in turn help to bring them business while promoting his or her own.
"We try not to sell to each other, but sell through each other," said McGrew. "I’ve really learned a lot about networking and how to help other people with their business and to help them learn to promote my business for me."
At the meetings, members also draw names, known as "dance cards," and then meet for lunch or coffee with the chosen chapter member in order to learn more about their business and how they can generate leads for them.
"By building relationships with people in other industries, you are maximizing your efforts," Schuckmann said. "It’s about building relationships where both people know, like and trust each other."
To take it a step further, BNI actually offers a certification course on networking through a strategic partnership with The Referral Institute, another creation of Misner. To become a certified networker, members complete a 12-module course consisting of 2 hours per module. Tuition is $795, and graduates receive a certificate, a pin and a name badge identifying them as a certified networker. The next certification course begins Jan. 10.
Vancouver Chapter President Pat Mathison, owner of PM Creations, a specialty gift basket maker, has been a BNI member for three years. She said the organization teaches members how to ask for business and also how to help others move their businesses forward.
"Our philosophy is that givers gain," she said. "And I can attribute a whole lot of money to my association with BNI."
Mathison said more than 60 percent of her business has come from BNI referrals.
"When I first joined, I looked at all the other members and I wondered what in the world I could do for them," she said. "I don’t think there’s anybody in the group I haven’t referred, and I don’t know of anyone that hasn’t made their (membership) money back after joining."
