Julie Recommends BNI
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Wow! BNI has been an absolutely wonderful experience for me! BNI stands for Business Networking International. It is an organization, well not just any organization – it is the largest business networking organization in the world! BNI states they “offer members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and most importantly business referrals”, and for me that has absolutely been truth. BNI is my marketing arm of my company and 60% of my travel clients come from BNI referrals. My story is below for you to read. In November 2005 I was introduced to BNI through my neighbor who was working at a local floral shop. She said she thought it could really help my jewelry business. I thought, “GREAT, it is worth a couple hours of my time and free lunch.” I went to the meeting and was absolutely amazed. It ran so smoothly with an agenda and people were passing a ton of referrals to each other and really helping each other out. I even received a couple of referrals that day. After the meeting, I was talking with a member and said I really liked the meeting, but it was a bit far for me to drive on a regular basis. He said that there are other BNI chapters in the area to check out that may be closer to me, so that is exactly what I did. Over the next couple of months I visited several BNI meetings within a certain distance of my home office, and read everything I could on the BNI website to learn about the organization and how to be successful. During that process I met a lot of great people, asked a lot of questions and learned a ton about BNI and how to be successful. In my search, I found a chapter that had a great group of high-energy people, met at a time that worked with my schedule and I joined. At first I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t be able to provide referrals for these people, but that didn’t last long. I found as I got to know the other members and their products it was really easy for me to refer them to other people because people’s needs naturally came up in conversation if I just listened. Then I could easily connect people together, which I loved doing anyway. Later that year I was asked to be on the Leadership Team for the next term. I knew it was a great opportunity to learn a lot more about BNI and to take our chapter to the next level so I accepted the leadership role. The following year I was asked to be a BNI Ambassador. (An Ambassador represents and shares information about BNI a regular basis while visiting chapters and talking with people.) I knew this would be another awesome opportunity and I was already fulfilling most of the role anyway so I accepted. BNI has turned out to be way more than I expected! In addition to 60% of my business coming from BNI, I am connected to scores of people that I trust, have learned an incredible amount about networking that I now share that with others, and have made some awesome friends along the way. If you are looking to grow your business at all, it is well worth your time to at least visit a BNI to see if it is a fit for you or not. And of course… You Are Cordially Invited to join us as a special visitor at my BNI- Red Hot Referrals chapter! We are the fastest growing networking group in the Twin Cities with our goal set at passing referrals resulting in over $1,000,000,000 in closed business this year (which we are well on our way to accomplishing!)
Red Hot Referrals Chapter BNI – White Bear Lake, MN Cost: Free to visit us! What to Bring: 50+ business cards Send me an email and let me know which date you are able to join us for a visit.
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or give me a call: 651.283.4344.
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