We all know that Visitors to the chapter are our life blood and it is important that we are all making every effort to find our next visitor.

But where can you find yours? Have you considered the following?

We all receive leaflets through the door. If someone is distributing leaflets about the services that they can offer, they are obviously looking for more work. Invite them to BNI!

Small business directories are distributed in all areas – in Banstead and Reigate, there is The Challenger Magazine, in Carshalton there is the Carshalton Beeches Directory. These directories are full of adverts for small independent local businesses, all of which have spent a lot of money to advertise in this book. So they are eager for business and they are willing to invest money to find it.

I know from personal experience that the results from these books are minimal – why not call them and invite them to BNI to find out how for a similar investment, they could enjoy far better results?

It is worthwhile being specific about the type of business that you are looking to invite and concentrating on this. For instance, you might choose a Caterer as the next ideal member for Sutton BNI. In which case, enter ‘Caterer, Sutton’ into a search engine and you will be presented with a list of potential visitors. Concentrating on a particular business like this might mean that you will have two or more visitors in the same category, then they can compete for the position!

Once you find your Visitor, you need to look after them!

• You can send them a formal invitation by email which contains further details about BNI together with a Map for the venue.
• Call them on Wednesday, ensure that they know how to find us; what time they are expected; bring plenty of business cards with them to pass around
• When they arrive at BNI, welcome them; get them a tea or coffee; introduce them to other members; make sure they know where they will be sitting and perhaps run through a summary of the format of the meeting – this will help them relax and feel comfortable

We look forward to welcoming your next visitor to Sutton BNI!

The above education slot was presented by Carolyn Reilly of PrintInc

First of all a question:

Who actually knows what the Chapter Director does?

Good to see a few hands, but to be honest, unless you have actually carried out the role, you only ‘think you know’. (more…)

My name is: Gary Johnson

I am the Education Co-ordinator

Today’s education is about ‘Obtaining a New Visitor’.

My aim is to improve the way that you obtain a visitor by giving you a structured approach to follow.

Until now your approach may have one based on your best efforts

The structured approach is as follows:-

1. Identify potential visitors by using friends & family, BNI contacts, yellow pages, customers & suppliers, adverts & directories.
2. Create a list of 50 people to invite using a spreadsheet if possible
3. Prepare the invitations based on a BNI invitation, using mail merge, handwritten or a telephone script. (attached is an example invite, make sure you change the elements in red!)
4. Send out the invitations using mail, email or telephone.
5. Monitor the responses with a record on your spreadsheet or list
6. Prepare a short list and follow these up with a telephone call or message
7. On the day before the meeting contact the attendees and obtain a confirmation.

The big benefit of this approach is that it should make you more successful at getting 50 invitations out and thereby improving your chances of getting one or two visitors to actually attend..

Here is a diagram that covers all the points I have made:

Click to download the Word Doc

Gary Johnson of  Aspire Driving Excellence will be talking about “How to write and present a good 60 seconds” (more…)

Chris Groom of  Calver Groom Financial Management spok about “Why we all need to be a visitor host sometimes” as BNI members (more…)