Bni

[hillandtrail]

Hi all,

Been reading the posts for a while now, an excellent source of info.
I'm a landscaper from Edinburgh and looking for ways to grow my business.
I saw BNI mentioned, is it worth the money?
I get most work from recommendations at the moment.

Cheers

[Rich H]

Short answer is yes. I've done it for 4 years now and there are two main benefits: 1) you get a lot of business from it and 2) you get a network of people you can trust to help with various things from insurance to flowers for the missus when you've put the mixer in the back garden one too many times.

I pay £700 for 24 months and that brings in £50k+ of business per year. Takes a few months for people to get to know you well enough to start referring their friends, clients and family to you but after that it's great.

By far the most cost-effective form of marketing I've ever used.

The best thing to do is go along as a visitor to 2-3 local groups. You have to pay for your breakfast but otherwise it's free. You can visit any 'chapter' twice in any six-month period. It seems a bit weird at first but it is well-structured and very well-proven.

It cuts down a lot on your admin as well. When I started I used to advertise. Because the people that call from the ads don't know you from adam, I used to get 1:3 or 1:4 jobs I quoted, which is a lot of quotes (and therefore a lot of weekend and evening time). Because a BNI referral is effectively a personal recommendation, I now convert in the range of 3:4 or 4:5 so only need to do 2 or 3 quotes a week which keeps me in business year round.

Happy to explain more if you want richard [at] 4landscaping.co.uk but I'm off for a week from tomorrow in sunny Spain!

[lutonlagerlout]

eh?
whats the BNI?
it sounds like the funny handshake brigade to me
i was asked to join them but turned it down
not my cup of tea really
interested to hear what BNI is though?
LLL

[Ted]

http://www.bni.com/

[Stuarty]

Am i correct in thinking you have the grey transit that kicks around the balgreen / saughtonhall area? Just curious

[lutonlagerlout]

the screening bit would be my downfall
LLL

[matt h]

Short answer is yes. I've done it for 4 years now and there are two main benefits: 1) you get a lot of business from it and 2) you get a network of people you can trust to help with various things from insurance to flowers for the missus when you've put the mixer in the back garden one too many times.

I pay £700 for 24 months and that brings in £50k+ of business per year. Takes a few months for people to get to know you well enough to start referring their friends, clients and family to you but after that it's great.

By far the most cost-effective form of marketing I've ever used.

The best thing to do is go along as a visitor to 2-3 local groups. You have to pay for your breakfast but otherwise it's free. You can visit any 'chapter' twice in any six-month period. It seems a bit weird at first but it is well-structured and very well-proven.

It cuts down a lot on your admin as well. When I started I used to advertise. Because the people that call from the ads don't know you from adam, I used to get 1:3 or 1:4 jobs I quoted, which is a lot of quotes (and therefore a lot of weekend and evening time). Because a BNI referral is effectively a personal recommendation, I now convert in the range of 3:4 or 4:5 so only need to do 2 or 3 quotes a week which keeps me in business year round.

Happy to explain more if you want richard [at] 4landscaping.co.uk but I'm off for a week from tomorrow in sunny Spain!

take the rain with you ,or bring the sun back!

[hillandtrail]

Thats me with the transit, Hill and Trail
I'm the Hill one.

www.hillandtrail.co.uk

[scoffsred]

Hi all, Rich H, ive spoken to you before regarding BNI, and ive only got one problem with this, the nearest meetings are 30-40 miles away lol, therefore, i was just wondering, can these groups be set up anywhere and by anyone, a group in my area would be very helpful indeed.

Cheers Dave

[hillandtrail]

I've done a websearch for BNI and so far I've come across 4 'chapters' in Edinburgh. Is it more a case of who will let you join and whether they need someone of your trade?

[Rich H]

Back now and have brought some sun with me for you all.

BNI is a business networking organisation. Organised into 'chapters', each of which consists of members from the local area. There can only be one member from any trade or profession. Chapters range in size from around 20-40 members.

You meet every week on a specific day at 645am. The formal meeting starts at 7am and is in three sections. The first part is where each member takes 60 seconds to explain what it is they do and what sort of business they want. The idea is that you give the other members as much information as possible to help them sell on your behalf. The second part is where one member has 10 minutes to more fully explain their business. The third part is where each member takes it in turn either to pass a referral(s) to other members or give a testimonial for work done by one of the members. The meetings typically finish at around 830am.

There are criteria for joining:

- there is no conflict of interest with an existing member (usually only bookeepers and accountants or IT people have this problem)
- you should have been in your trade or profession for at least three years
- you have at least three verifiable references of customers local to the chapter

** hillandtrail - contact each one and see whether they have someone already in your category, if not go along as a visitor (visitors are ALWAYS welcome at any BNI chapter). According this http://www.bni-europe.com/regional-chapters.php?region=35 there are 7 chapters in Edinburgh.

** dave - definitely. BNI is organised into regions. Contact your BNI regional director (I think it's Alan Higham on alan@bni-north.com ) according to the BNI Europe website. The chances are there are other people in the area who are interested as well. I think you need about 6 interested people to get going.

Hope this helps. I didn't set out to be a cheerleader for BNI, honest :p