BNI

[Juli in Kona]

Anyone belong to BNI? I just got invited and think I'll join.

Juli in Kona

[djames]

Juli
Probably 13 years ago now, I joined BNI and it was a great group. There were 3 different goups in my community and I lucked out and got into the more productive group. The premis is that everyone is a salesman for everyone else. Referals are the name of the game. I have been doing the embroidery for 16 years now and my business is completely reliant on referals. I'm not in the telephone directory (white or yellow pages) and I have never done any advertising, except for BNI for 3 years. I quit simply because I no longer had the time to attend the meetings. To this day I still have customers (and friends) that I met thru BNI!

[Impressive Threads]

Juli I am a member of a BNI group, in fact the VP of the group. I have been going for almost 2 years and I don't know how I would have gotten my customer base without them. With my shop in my home, and no niche to market to, it has been networking that builds my business. Make sure you check out various chapters to find a good fit. You want a group that has energy, enthusiastic, and produces good leads for each other. You are allowed to visit any one chapter twice before making a decision to join. The one thing I make sure to ask any prospective member is 'can you make a committment to attend the meeting weekly'. If not, this group won't work. I have seen people pay for membership only to waste their money by not coming to the meetings.

Good luck and happy networking

Cindy in Phoenix

[Mary]

I joined BNI this past march. It is a big commitment, but I am so glad that I joined. I've learned so much about networking, met so many great people and made my membership money back within the first two months. I plan on renewing my membership next year and someday when I have salespeople working for me, I plan on having them join a BNI group. I also work out of my home and don't advertise and BNI has been a great tool for me to get more customers. I highly recommend checking them out.