[stevegunn]

I have been invited to a local BNI meeting are they any good."The members of the group are currently looking for a local cleaning company to refer to business to" Worth attending or not

[Tony_Browning]

As a member of the BNI you are expected to:
 - Pay a annual membership fee (around £400 i think)
 - Attend every meeting weekly- 7AM Tuesday here
 - Actively collect referals for other members and visa versa
 - Give 10 min talks every so often regarding your business

Out of all the business clubs this one is probably the best as y ou are required to get referals for others.

You can attend 2 meetings FOC, why not go and test the water?
A chap who runs a PC repair business here actually doubled his turnover inside 2 months of joining!

Rgds
Tony 

[Neil Mc Anulty]

Hi
I was invited to one and was near dipping into the vault as i was impressed by the 5 or 6  members that the system was working for. As I got talking to more they said it was a waste of time espcially the two cleaning companies that were involved. One  was Hard floors and the other Carpets and upholstery.
Three weeks later the thing was cancelled completely as the other members dropped out. Some had spent a year attending every tuesday morning at 7 am and would not have recieved the admission fee back.

Although A printer seemed to be the most successful by far and his business has seen phenomanal growth from he joined it.

This branch was in Newry in Northern Ireland 

[CATMAN]

Steve,

Give it a wide burth. We where in two (More fool us). People in their give you referrals so that they don't look bad BNI'errs, you go and do the quote, and then they tell you I'll give you a call. 12 months on I'm still waiting.

Remember it's £400+Vat, your time, £8 for a breakfast, diesel in the van.

You may get people on here praising it but everyone I've spoken too all those who offer  a service all give it the thumbs down.

If your a solicitor, accountant, financial advisor, computor wiz, you only need one job to make your money, and all of the above swear buy it. But will they give you work. NO CHANCE

Oh and one other thing, the above jump on you when you first go, like flies round a cows backside, hoping you'll buy their goodies before you wake up and start too see what everyone else see's.

Please go not for two weeks ask for 4-6 weeks. See how much you get then.

[Gavin Reardon]

Hi Steve

As a mate listen to what Catman says !!

KNOWING YOU STEVE IT WONT BE YOU UP STREET ANYWAY 

Ian goes give him a ring.

Go there wilsts its free! you might get a few jobs as they will try to get you some work at first so that you will sign up.

But trust me you won't like it mate 

Regards

Gavin

[Ray]

We have been a member of one of these clubs for the last 10 months.

It cost £352 to join and £6.50 for breakfast every 2 weeks total of about £500.00 for the year.

There are an accountant, financial adviser, will writer and insurance broker. These seem to pass leads to each other.

There are also computer dealers, software writers, tyre dealers, web designers, bank manager, dentist, optician, Telecommunications Company and Marketing Company plus a few more other companies

The bank manager says every week that he deals with companies that turnover £2 million so that does not apply to anyone here. He comes to breakfast and the bank pays.

Has it been worth joining?

We now have an accountant, new tyres on the van and a database for the computer.

We have made our £500.00 back JUST.

We have only done work within the group not outside. To make it a success we need to get leads from outside the group not just within.

Will we carry on?

NO

Ray

[mark_roberts]

I was a member for two years and it was very beneficial for two reasons

1- I got work and still get work 7 months after I left into the thousands overall
2- It will help you develop as a businessman ie. talking and selling your business to people who havent a clue who you are.

The thing with BNI is you have to build trust with the other members as they are potentially going to refer you to their friends and business associates.  YOU WILL NOT GET REFERRALS UNTIL YOU JOIN as they need to get to know you and your business.

The secret is to identify what type of business you want and then to see who knows who, to get 'your foot through the door'.  ie. a printer gave me the number of one of his clients who rents houses.  I made an appointment, done a demo and have done hundreds of pounds worth of work for him.

Your success in BNI will depend upon three things

1- your attitude and ability.  If you cant cold sell or hate meeting new people then you'll fail
2- the people in your group.  A good group will have 15plus members and most should be longstanding and some should be easy prospects for you ie. carpet sales, estate agents etc.
3- have you got the time.  As well as the 1 hours meeting you will be expected to have at least one meeting with another member per week to develop relationships and generate GOOD referrals.  This is why I left as I had no time.

So in conclusion BNI is more suited to gaining commercial work and would ideally suit your sales person, if any of us have one.

However if I had the time I would rejoin tomorrow.

Mark

[SMP]

I'm a member and have been for a few years.  I have just renewed.

It works for me - but I can agree with ALL the comments stated above.

It works for some and not for others.

Those that do best are those that have single clients that are worth a lot of money - i.e. you only need one referrral to make it worth while.

Typically in a month I get enough work to cover my costs of membership for the year.

We have a lot of long standing members in our group (icluding me now!!) which does make a difference - we trust each other implicitely.

HOWEVER.  My group meets 5 mins away from my home.  Would I remain in the group if it were say 20 - 30 mins away ---probably not.


Go to the two free meetings and see who you can get to know.  Don't be surprised if you don't get any work out of it - trust takes time.

Cheers
Steve.


PS.  In the early days of my busines (not long ago) I really struggled.  I was not getting the support I had expected from elsewhere.  The BNI group really helped me through what was a nightmare of a time.  It's hard to put a monetary value on that.

Cheers

[dave401uk]

Steve, first off i must stess that this is my view

i feel having been to my local BNI 3 times, its a bit like the jesus army!
People go they all intriduce them selfs have a cuppa and breakfast,mingle and then leave!

I do mix with people well, but this was just a little weird,like a sect,but almost without worship :

Dave


ps you could use the cash better in other ways, put it towards a spotter,

[gwrightson]

Sounds a litttle like the masons to me , after all isnt that all they do look after each other 
 i was asked once if I would like to join, you do have to be invited into a lodge, and it doesnt cost any thing !!!!,
 Not untill your a master of course 
 geoff   
  p. s.
   Wonder if we have any Masons as members : : has any body seen any of our members walking around with their pants at half mask

[The Great One]

Hi

Went to a couple of BNI meeting close to me, bit daunting at first, when yu have to give your presentation etc. Got some work from it, all private.

I could not justify the costs at the time also.

About £400 for 1 year + £8 per breakfast (£416) £800 per year is a lot of cash. Decided not to join at this time. Different businesses get different results.

Go for the 1st two freebies and then best to make up your own mind.

Regards

Martin

[woodman]

What I have noticed with the BNI is if a commercial cleaning company is a member they made sure no other cleaners could join by adding all the other cleaning systems under the sun to their profile, same with window cleaners, domestic cleaners etc so stand alone carpets cleaners are deffinitely out.

[Len Gribble]

Steve

Noted your post this morning, I had a call yesterday about joining a business chapter don’t know if BNI.  Waiting for the paperwork need to look at it and who are on board with them, if there is any chance of networking it may be a violable but I would add the membership fee pro-rata to any jobs I get from them!

Len

[Doug Holloway]

Geoff,

I'm a mason , London Cleaning Lodge and we raise a lot of money for non masonic charities.

I'm going to be master soon .

Cheers,

Doug

[gwrightson]

Doug  (how many police force members do you have  ) in your lodge
 on a more serious note . do you find work coming your way by been a member?
 I have been to a few of their evenings, ladies night usually. and had a good time , "not been near the sacrificial alter though  " couldnt get near.
 geoff.
  p.s. i didnt realise they had specific lodges, ie. ref. your cleaning lodge

[ian richards]

Hi Guys

Steve.

The BNI is a strange one. I left after nine months, but the reason wasnt financial, mine was to do with inhouse politics, you see, the BNI has very strict guidelines and you have to adhere to them. There policy is, (if i give you business, you will want to give me business)  However they can be very clicky and you do find that the old timers seem to stick together in some of the chapters. What happend at my chapter was that there was certain rule's for some and different rule's for others, in the end it started getting very irritating so i left, and so did three others on the same day. The BNI i attended wasnt a very good chapter, there was a few people not getting many referals to make it worth their while, i earnt £1200 for the cost of £800 over nine months, so i got my mony back, and your first year is supposed to be your worst!!
By the way the cost to join has gone up now!!!
Some one said that solicitors, financial consutants, bankers do well, of which they do in most chapters. Don't get me wrong, if you get in to the right chapter you can earn a lot of money. One of the best in the uk is the cheltenham  chapter, it has 45 people in it and has a waiting list to get in, but they hand out between 150 and 200 referals per week, thats alot of business being passed.
Think about this Steve!!!

1. Comitment.
2. Being back at School.
3. Getting out of your comfort zone.
4. All those early mornings!!!!

Finally, if you find that you do want to join, then do some research on how good the chapter is, ie how many average referals are there passed each week, and also, was there was another carpet guy there before you? How long was he there for? Because if there was, and he was there for two years +, do you think that they are going to give the work to you or him???
I think you know the answer to that one!!

Ian
   
 

[ashplays]

who do u pay £400 to 

[Doug Holloway]

Geoff,

We have no police officers as yet.

As a business tool masons is not in the frame and is not about that , it's about raising money for charity and having a good time.

However you do make good contacts which may lead to business , afterall you would only recommend people you trust.

I would recommend masonary ,although its not for everyone and you do have to be of a certain character to get in.It is certainly charachter building , mainly because of the public speaking involved.
I've got to do a speech / toast soon to over 200 people , which is a challenge

Cheers,

Doug

[ian richards]

Hi

Ashplays,

The BNI are franchises. The joining fees which were (now they have gone up!) £80 joining fee + £320 per year.
The bulk of the money goes to the franchisee, and usually you find that they have more than one chapter. They are motivated to build up the groups bigger and you usually find that they have monthly, what they call "stage two events" which teaches you how to find new recruits for the network, the reason being is that if you bring more people in, then they will generate more business for you, and everyboy else, when their real motivation is to line their pockets with more MONEY!!!!!!

Ian   

[Dave Parry]

Doug & Geoff,
I am also a mason. I was Master of a Birkenhead lodge about 3 years ago, and am master of Bracknell lodge at present. No we dont have any police officers, but do have a fireman, a member of the house of lords, 2 seikhs and a azerbijani (probably spelt completely wrong) and about 65 other members. I have recieved work through membership, and also clean the lodge carpets. It is not an "old boys" club, but you do meet a lot of people, some of whoom are in business, so networking can and does happen. but you still have to be competetive to get any business and if it goes pear shaped you have to face them at the next meeting.
Have also been approached by BNI and other similar groups, but as I dont like early mornings and am very sceptical of their claims have told them where to go.