Growing Your Business Relationships

As a member of BNI, Business Network International, I am on the lifelong plan of growing my business relationships. Each week I get another opportunity to make direct contact with people active in my business community. These people have made the commitment to help me in my business. I, likewise, have committed myself, my time, and my talent to them.

So how does it work? Well, we meet weekly at our meeting. That's a nice, tip of the iceberg experience. The real networking is the rest of the week. I say growing relationships because this takes time and effort. I must be willing to set aside time in my hectic life for others. I must put aside my own goals to learn about and help others to achieve theirs.

So am I really such a self-sacrificing person? Yes and no. I get such gratification from knowing that I have helped out another business person. Not just another business person, but someone who has invested their time and energy in the relationship as well. I am giving of myself to someone I trust to deliver quality products and services to those in need or want. That in turn builds my reputation with my friends, family and customers.

And as I look around the room each week, I get the supreme satisfaction of knowing that each face looking back at me has made the same selfless commitment to me and to my business. IF I invest myself in them and their businesses; IF I deserve their trust and respect. THEY will each give back to me.

At the end of the day, my business is benefitted and my personal life is enriched. Thank you, each of my BNI partners. If you are interested in participating, please call me (209) 367-5555

LOYALTY & CONSTANCY

In our lifetimes, computers have gone from requiring their own buildings/rooms to desktop and laptop. Where once a computer was unique and formidable, now they are so commonplace that many of us have several in our homes. Technology keeps changing and those changes seem to come faster. Most of those changes are for the better: faster computers; more memory; less expensive, higher quality digital cameras; medical breakthroughs; communications breakthroughs; etc. Generation X has grown up trying to keep up. So, what has happened to loyalty and constancy?

As our socio-economic environment seems to have joined the high-speed world of change, loyalty and constancy in character become ever more powerful. For nearly five years now I have been a member of BNI, Business Network International. I have seen some truly incredible people come and go. I have seen some truly incredible people come and stay. The ones who have come and gone have been like meteors. Often, they have lit up the sky with brilliance; but their lack of loyalty and constancy made them a temporary fixture in our network.

In contrast, I have seen business people come and stay. They didn't necessarily announce themselves with fanfare. They came in often quietly and looked for ways to prove their loyalty to others. They took time to get to know the needs of the other businesses to see what they could do to promote other businesses. They took time to learn who the business person truly is. The loyal members respect the other members of integrity. The loyal person returns loyalty with more loyalty. They have remained constant in our chapters. In season and out, they are there, loyal and constant in both their attitude of "Givers Gain" and in their personal and business ethics.

Though quite often there are no parades in their honor, I believe that loyal and constant people always reap the rewards of their diligence. Eavesdrop when their names are mentioned -- all you will hear are kudos. Mention their names to perfect strangers and see the stranger open themselves to you because of your acquaintance with someone of such quality.

Be Bright. Be Brilliant. Light up the Sky. Just do it with an attitude of loyalty and constancy. The more things change, the more they stay the same. A reputation is easy to acquire and hard to change. So in all things -- personal and business -- be sure your ethics are in play at all times and stay loyal to the good people that come into your life.

TESTIMONIALS

A powerful gift that we can give to other businesses is the testimonial. There are a few elements necessary for a testimonial to be effective. It needs to be brief, specific and based on personal experience. Testimonials can be given in writing or in person

These days, people just don't spend a lot of time reading or listening to others. So get to the point. Was it the service, the price, the quality, the uniqueness that you appreciated? What, briefly, about the service, price, quality, uniqueness is causing you to give a testimonial? If appropriate, how many competitors did you previously do business with or make contact with before finding the great product/service you are raving about?

When giving a testimonial, some people want to be grandiose, therefore miss being specific about the products/services they wish to tout to others. If your mechanic provided over the top customer service, be specific about the aspects of customer service in which your mechanic excels. Don't discuss the quality of the tools or convenience of location.

A good testimonial is based on personal experience. When the buying public finds out that actors are hired to play doctors selling the newest miracle weight loss product, the legitimacy of the cure is called into question. However, when actual people who have benefited from the weight loss product talk about their results and show their true, untouched photos; then the product flies off the shelf. Well supported statements about how someone's product/services have benefited a close family friend or relative is okay as well.

We all want to buy, we are waiting for legitimate reasons to trust the people/products where we will be spending our money. This is especially true for products/services we all must pay for eventually like car repairs, home repairs, etc. A testimonial we believe in and trust can make the decision for us.

I would like to give a testimonial for one of my trusted auto service suppliers. I live in Lodi, California, and Giant Discount Tire Centers is right down the street at 100 S Sacramento Street, Lodi. I originally found them because of their convenience to me, but it is their customer service that keeps me coming back. I have a Kia Sedona. I (or my new teenage driver) hit a curb a little too hard and knocked the car out of alignment. I didn't realize how critical this was until my front tire went flat. Jeff Williams and his crew replaced my two front tires and did an alignment for me. The job was completed on time and for the price I was quoted. It was the follow-up service that seals the deal for me. I ordered two more tires. When the tires came in, I didn't have time to take my van in. They held the tires, prepaid, for nearly a year for me. I just had the van in when I got a screw repair done on one of the front tires. Only one tire was replaced that day, and Jeff told me he would come and get the van from me at work and have the second one replaced and the van returned to me without me leaving my office. I protested that I could certainly get the van in, but my van was just picked up about an hour ago and returned twenty minutes later. THAT is customer service! At no time have I ever received excuses from Jeff for work not getting done on time or according to the cost I was quoted. Even more, Jeff understands how busy my days are and made sure that my car was serviced even at his inconvenience. If I hear anyone saying they need tires for their vehicle, I won't hesitate to send them to Gian Discount Tire in Lodi.

PEOPLE PROFITS

Was that profits or prophets? No, not the ones who can see the future -- but wait, yes, the ones that can see the future. The future that is full of profits.

Business networking is primarily about relationships and secondarily about transactions. Relationships are ongoing, growing, vital and easily damaged. Transactions occur and then cease to be anything more. In today's economic climate, it becomes more important than it has for years that we business people understand the difference between transactions and relationships. The quick and easy spending that has marked the last two decades of business lent itself to transactions. Now, we are in a more conservative economic climate. There is still plenty of money being spent, but it is being spent more carefully and with more thought. That means we businesspeople need to cultivate long-lasting, ongoing and mutually beneficial relationships that support the spending that is going to happen.

How do we find and create these relationships? Networking. BNI, Business Network International, is an organization that exists to connect business people with other business people for mutually beneficial relationships. In the Lodi Founders Chapter of BNI in the Central Valley of California, we have forty members. Our core group was fourteen people who started this chapter four years ago. We still have the majority of those members and they are still active members. Why? Because for four years we have spent the time and energy to get to know one another and to learn how we can help each other in business. Sometimes that means we are engaging in business directly with one another; always it means being on the lookout for potential business for one another; for the luckiest it also includes business mentoring to foster our relationships and enhance our reputations. All of our activities can be summed up in the motto of BNI, "Givers Gain!"

Being in business alone can be frightening and financially deadly. Look to other people. Help to creat profits for them and this prophet can honestly, and from personal experience, reassure you that those people will help to create profits for you as well. People Profits from a people phrophet.

Relationships

One of the things that makes BNI, Business Network International, stand out from the crowd is the strong belief in relationships. Dr. Ivan Misner, founder, walks the talk that relationships are the basis to everything. In turn, we BNI members are encouraged to develop personal as well as professional relationships with our other members.

Today I attended the funeral of a little gir. She was only two-and-a-half when she was hit by a car. What was amazing was the number of people at this funeral. Why would a church be filled to overflowing for a baby's funeral? Because the family of the little girl are attached to people all over the community. First, the baby was the youngest of nine children. So it is a large family. That family is active in their church. They are active in their community. They, father (two businesses) and two of the daughters are in BNI. This funeral was full of people from church, from school, from the business community.

I am comforted knowing the family has such incredible support. This kind of hurt and loss will be caried throughout their lives. But so will the memory of all the people who cared enough to be there with them.

Goodbye, Holly Elizabeth.

Networking -- Easy & Effective

We BNI members can get lazy. Or we don’t realize that what we learn in our BNI meetings is transferrable to our everyday and everywhere lives. So, when we are networking outside of our BNI meetings, we need to remember the basics: Name, Memory Hooks, Business Cards, Referrals, Givers Gain.

At networking events, it is important that we take care of introductions. Assuming that others know our names or remember us may ensure that we are forgotten. After making eye contact with someone, put out your right hand and say, “Hi, my name is ____________.” Where appropriate, remind the person you are speaking to that you met previously. If you are with someone else, be sure that everyone gets introduced. Few of us are offended by being introduced to someone we already know; but not being introduced greatly reduces the effectiveness of being at networking functions. When giving names, speak slowly. Clearly announce the first name, pause, the last name, pause and then the company name. This allows others to remember names better and to put names and faces together.

In BNI, one of the most effective things we learn to do is to identify ourselves/our businesses succinctly with memory hooks. As a director, I really enjoy helping members to create memory hooks for themselves. My memory hooks are always created to be entertaining as well as providing a benefit for doing business with me. One of the best ways to utilize your memory hook at networking events is to partner with someone you know well. Rather than introducing yourselves, you will each introduce the other, complete with memory hook. This makes you both stand out in people’s memories.

Business cards are only useful when they are in other people’s possession. So don’t leave the office without them. Take a look at your business card. Is it easy to read? Does it clearly convey your business? If not, take some time to redesign your cards. Keep it basic. Your card allows others to contact you, so it needs your name, company name, contact information. Some people put an office number on the front and then hand write write their cell phone number on the blank back. I usually write my e-mail adress on the back of cards I wish others to hold onto and use in the future. Ask for business cards from others and wait for them to ask for yours.

Always be ready to ask for referrals. When someone asks what kind of business you are looking for, it is a wasted opportunity if you don’t have an adequate answer. When you have considered your marketplace prior to an event, it shows that you are serious about your business and ready to move on referrals that you receive. This increases others’ confidence in you and causes them to be more likely to remember you and to generate those referrals for you.

Finally, as any BNI member knows, Givers Gain. Going with a givers attitude is the best approach. When speaking with others, ask the questions that show you are interested in helping others. Truly being interested in and working towards the success of others creates an abundance of success. That success will always attract others to us, creating yet more successes.

Back to the basics of business: Names; Memory Hooks; Business Cards; Referrals; and Giving, Giving, Giving! Enjoy Networking and you will increase your Net Worth!