SuccessNetSuccessNeteuropean edition

AN EDUCATION AND INFORMATION BULLETIN FOR BNI MEMBERS SPRING 2001

®

Inter-chapter competition ishotting up to generate themost referrals from a single

meeting! But with it comes a warning from the

director of one of last year’s most suc-cessful UK chapter (Stanmore) whosaid: “It’s quality, not quantity thatcounts – and I urge every chapter topolice its referral activity.”

No sooner had we reported a HomeCounties West record of 79 referrals(SuccessNet, Winter) achieved by MiltonKeynes Chapter than we received a callfrom Milton Keynes’ newer SilburyChapter, to say that they’d just passed arecord 84 referrals at their meeting.

REFERRALS UNLIMITED

Philip told SuccessNet: “We readwith interest about Milton Keynes’claimed referrals record and, while Ibelieve there are quite a few chap-ters passing this level of referrals(my Stanmore group exchanged 94only a couple of weeks ago), farmore significant is how many of thereferrals passed around the break-fast table, turn into extra business.”

He added: “At Stanmore we takea tough line on poor quality or lowvalue referrals, and we carefullypolice every single lead to maintainstandards.

“Perhaps unusually, members

Silbury Chapter Director SharonMoulton said: “There is naturally afriendly rivalry with our neighbouringMilton Keynes group and we were allhappy to beat our ‘senior’ group. I amsure we will do even better.”

In fact, it took Silbury’s members lessthan a month after Sharon’s propheticphone call to pass their own new recordwhen – in the presence of an amazing 42guests and Executive Director Gavin

Bain – they exchanged 87 referrals! But,not to be outdone, Milton Keynes cameback straight away, recording a superb106 referrals.

While such figures are impressive,they cannot be taken at face value toindicate a successful chapter, says oneformer chapter director Philip Berg,whose Stanmore group last year con-verted to real business, more referralsthan any other UK chapter.

But, never mind thewidth – feel the quality

Any body for BNI?Members of Bolton Chapter weretreated to a surprise striptease at arecent breakfast, when solicitor,Michael Morgan abandoned his shirtand lay down on a couch, awaitingthe attentions of BNI colleague KarenWillcock.

But it wasn’t as provocative as itsounds. Michael was merely assistingphysiotherapist Karen with her ten-minute presentation – she needed hisbody to demonstrate a micro manipu-lator, which treats back pain througha bionic handset.

Karen’s expertise obviously madeitself felt, since several membersappeared to suddenly develop anassortment of aches and pains, offer-ing to replace Michael on her treat-ment table and receive therapy.

A chartered physiotherapist andacupuncturist, Karen is the Principal ofBolton Therapy Centre, specialists inphysiotherapy and other complemen-tary remedies.

She told SuccessNet: “I like to talkabout a different aspect of our treat-ments each week and, since I’d previ-ously mentioned the PAM machine as

a revolutionary treatment for backpain, I decided to use my presentationto demonstrate it – with Michael’shelp!

“It was definitely worth the effortsince it resulted in six referrals thatmorning and another four over thefollowing weeks.”

Karen can be contacted at theBolton Therapy Centre on 0120438617.

BIONIC TREATMENT: Karen and herback pain machine.

Turn to Page 3

INSIDEIn memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Six figure referral . . . . . . . . . 3Lawsons’ Lore . . . . . . . . . . . . 4‘Flesh’ flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Leadership changes . . . . . . . 6Focus on Scotland . . . . . . . . . 7Memory hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Snapping up business . . . . . . 9New horizons with BNI . . . . 10Regional conferences . . . . . . 11Visitors are vital . . . . . . . . . . 12

270 chapters and still growing – Page 4

2 S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 S U C C E S S N E T

BNI News

Two for the road beatsJane’s target

By Gillian Lawson, Executive DirectorLondon North West Region

Martin and I would like to pay a per-sonal tribute to two much-loved mem-bers in the Region who, sadly, are nolonger with us.

Firstly, Giles Van Colle, who was theoptometrist in the Edgware Chapter.Many of you will have been shocked toread in the press of his tragic murder inNovember last year. Our hearts go outto his parents – his father, Irwin, is theprinter and member of the leadershipteam at Northwood – and to the rest ofhis family as they try and come to termswith this devastating loss.

Giles was a young and enthusiasticprofessional who is much missed by his

fellow members. In addition to his pro-fessional work, Giles had been involvedin helping young people develop a senseof responsibility to the communities inwhich they live and the Giles Van ColleMemorial Foundation has been set upto continue this work.

Members wishing to make a donationto the Foundation’s valuable workshould contact Irwin Van Colle fordetails. (020-8908 0728).

We also record our devastation at theloss of Richard Jennings from theBarnet Chapter. Richard died very sud-denly at the beginning of March, havingbeen in great form and excellent health.

He was one of the most charismaticand popular members of his chapter

and he leaves a legacy of fun and good-will. Indeed, he was famous for hislively and witty presentations.

Richard was just about to take up theposition of Chapter Director – some-thing he was very proud to be doing,despite his mistaken belief that he didnot have the necessary credibility, beinga scrap metal merchant. He is also muchmissed by his chapter colleagues. Again,our thoughts and prayers are with hisdaughter and family.

We would like to dedicate this issueof SuccessNet to the memory of thesetwo dear members whose considerablecontributions to BNI and their fellowmembers have been terminated so trag-ically.

As a founder member ofWorcester Chapter,launched at the end of

January, car sales businessdevelopment manager JaneLewis set herself a simple tar-get – sell one or two addi-tional vehicles in the next 12months, and membership willhave been worthwhile…

But things didn’t quite go to plan. Ather first chapter meeting, Jane’s initial60-second introduction drew keeninterest and within one month of thegroup’s launch, she’d already sold herfirst two ‘extra’ cars to chapter col-leagues.

Jane, who works for Listers Audi inWorcester told SuccessNet: “I really didnot expect such an immediate responseto my joining BNI.

“I’d decided to join the organisationsimply to enhance my circle of businesscontacts in the area so, when I wasgiven two firm referrals for new carswithin the first few weeks, I was pleas-antly surprised.”

Her first two BNI customers were JoOddie, an IT Training Adviser for AbleInformation who bought an A4 180Sport saloon, closely followed byHilary Marchant, Director of Healthand Safety with the L. Gardner Group,who chose an A4 19TdiSE Avant.

Jane added: “I realise I’m not going tosell a car to every chapter member – buthaving already achieved my originalannual target in a matter of weeks, I am

very optimistic that further sales fromtheir contacts will follow.”

For Hilary, changing her car for amore comfortable model was a spurdecision when she found herself sittingnext to Jane at a chapter meeting.

“I just told her: ‘I’m terribly busy anddon’t have time for all the usual show-

room hassle and negotiations. Just fix itfor me’.

“To my delight, that’s exactly whatJane did and it was the easiest change ofcar I’ve ever had. Nothing I asked forwas too much, and best of all, I didn’thave to deal with the usual patronisingremarks women get from male car sales-men.”

DRIVING FORCE: Jane (centre) with her first two happy BNIcustomers and their cars, Jo Oddie (left) and Hilary Marchant.

In memoriam

Heading for the bright lights cityA group of lucky BNI members will thismonth be told: Congratulations, you’ve wona trip to Nevada, taking in the bright lightsof Las Vegas and a breathtaking flight overthe Grand Canyon.

As SuccessNet went to press, the results ofBNI’s second UK and Ireland membershipdrive competition were coming in fromchapters, more than 30 of which areexpected to have qualified for the draw byattracting six or more new members duringthe two-month recruitment campaign.

Gillian Lawson, National Director said: “Itis too early to give any accurate indicationas to how many chapters have qualified –and therefore how many individual mem-bers names will go into the draw – but allthe indications are that the membership

drive has been every bit as successful as thefirst one, held 18 months ago.

“A member from any qualifying chapterwho has sponsored just one new membercould have a one-in-24 chance of being awinner, but if he or she has sponsored twoor more new members their chances of join-ing the Las Vegas party will be dramaticallyincreased,” she added.

With one winning ticket (for a memberand partner) allocated to every four qualify-ing chapters, regional draws to select thelucky participants are currently taking placeand all winners will be notified throughtheir chapters no later than Friday, 20thApril, giving them a month to prepare fortheir trip of a lifetime.

‘Relaxation for celebra-tion’ was the theme whencentral London’s BarbicanChapter held its first birth-day party – with thegroup’s own natural ther-apist, Neil Tofield, calledon to instil a warm senseof well-being and re-ener-gise his colleagues for theensuing agenda.

Neil had been urged tooffer colleagues andguests a sample of histherapy techniques as atreat to accompany thetraditional birthday cake.

But, he thought it wouldbe more interesting to geteveryone involved and letthem try it out on eachother. It didn’t take longfor everyone to learnsome basic techniques, asour picture below shows.

BNI News

Gill joinsthe Board

BNI’s InternationalBoard of Advisors hasa new colleague, hairstylist Gill Carrie fromDunfermline Chapter.

Regarded byRegional Director RonHain as ‘the bestambassador we couldhave, and an out-standing example ofGivers Gain’, Gillbecame Scotland’sfirst representative onthe Board at the startof this year.

Scottish memberswanting to presentthoughts and ideas tothe Board can call Gillon (01383 741110/625792) or perhaps beeven more sure of herattention by bookingone of her shiatsumassages or hairstylesat Find Hairdressing,Dunfermline.

Mark Keatley-Palmer has justbecome a mem-

ber of BNI – three yearsafter his first meeting atTunbridge Wells Chapter!

That might seem strange, butin the three years since he joinedBNI, he’s been almost every-thing but just a member.

He originally joined BNI as afounder and membership co-ordi-nator of the Tunbridge Chapterand soon took on the role as aBNI ambassador for Kent, fol-lowing which he becameAssistant Director for West Kent.

But now Mark has been forcedto resign that position for thebest possible reason: he’s beengiven a six-figure referral, passedto him by a former chaptermember, Trevor Page, Managerof the Royal Bank of Scotland’sTunbridge branch.

“So now I’m just a member,”says Mark, who was a full timedesigner before throwing himselffull time into BNI’s development.

“Trevor introduced me toAndrew Palmer who was pro-ducing a magazine for the BritishInstitute of Innkeeping.

“He was fed up with thedesign and wanted a totally new

Six-figure referralforces resignation!

Barbicanbirthday

approach to it, and the challengewas too big to turn down.”

The first issue of the new lookmagazine, which also producedanother successful referral forMark’s chapter colleague RegDavies, who won the printingcontract, launches this month tothe pub, hotel and catering trade.

“I felt I had to resign because Iwould not have been able to giveBNI my full attention, but I’mstill a member and nothing willpersuade me to give that up,”Mark added.

“After all, without BNI mycompany could never havereached the level of business ithas now reached, thanks to along history of very worthwhilereferrals.”

aren’t frightened totell their colleagues ifthey’ve received a duffreferral and we’vedeveloped our ownway of acknowledgingboth good and bad atour meetings.

“While I’mdelighted to see othergroups exchanginghigh volume referrals,there is a constantneed to make sure thatbig referrals add up tobig business.”

Echoing Philip’ssound advice, NationalDirector GillianLawson said: “Ofcourse everyone ishappy when a particu-lar group has passed arecord number ofreferrals, but thesenew businessprospects need to besolid. Quality is the allimportant ingredient,and I hope everychapter will keep thisas its top priority.”

Referralsrecord

From Page 1

S U C C E S S N E T S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 3

BNI’s rapid expansionacross the UK andIreland continues, with

the opening of almost tennew chapters a month anda total of over 270 groupsnow up and running asSuccessNet went to press.

Since we last reported, nearly 50new chapters have been opened,from Dublin to Docklands, andBelfast to Bognor Regis, and thisrate of growth is expected to con-tinue in the coming months.

National Director MartinLawson said: “What is especiallypleasing is that we’re now openingour first chapters in the fewremaining areas of the UK andIreland where we haven’t previ-ously had a presence, such as SouthWales and the South-West ofEngland.

“I am very confident that by theend of this year we will be able todescribe ourselves as the onlynationwide business referral organi-sation, because we will be repre-sented in nearly every major centreof population in the UK & Ireland.”

The 47 new chapters openedsince late last year are:

Bedford, Belfast Central, Bognor, BoltonMetro, Brooklands Sale (Manchester), Bury,Cannock, Chelsea, Docklands (London),Dublin (Liffey), East Bedfordshire,Edgbaston (Birmingham), Gants Hill,Gloucester & Tewkesbury, Godalming, Hamand High (London), Kettering, Leeds(Apperley Bridge), Leeds Armouries(Friday), Leeds Armouries (Wednesday),Little Aston, Long Melford, Loughborough,Merseyside Bravo, Merseyside Indigo, MidHertfordshire, Muswell Hill (London),Newhaven, Newmarket, North Down,Northwich, Oswestry, Rugeley, Sandyford,Shannonside, Sheffield Thursday, SolihullTouchwood, Southampton, Stockport 2,Sutton Coldfield, Tenterden, Trafford Park,Twickenham, Welwyn Garden City,Wimbledon, Woking and Worcester.

BNI News

Sometimes we all need a gentle reminder inorder to get us back on track when we’veforgotten some basic practice or procedure.And occasionally we also need remindingabout how to make the best of our opportu-nities when, with the passage of time, over-familiarity breeds complacency.

So it is with the way that members gainnew business from their BNI membership. Itseems that while every member knows theycan be given weekly referrals from theirchapter colleagues, relatively few appear toknow, or have remembered, that within itsrules BNI encourages all members to seeknew business opportunities from two otherkey sources – visitors to the chapter, and sub-stitutes who stand in for absent colleagues.

While we should rightly be wary of passingreferrals to visitors who may make only oneappearance at our breakfast meeting (letthem join first and teach us why we can trustthem), we should be actively promoting ourown businesses and products to our visitors.For all we know, they may already be look-ing for exactly what we offer.

This is especially important given the grow-ing emphasis that we – and chapter leader-ship teams – are placing on the need toattract great numbers of visitors to our meet-ings. Today’s visitors may well be tomorrow’sBNI colleagues but, even if they don’t comeback, we might at least be doing businesswith them.

Elsewhere in this issue you will read abouta chapter which brought over 30 visitors to asingle meeting and, while this may beunusual, we are pleased to acknowledge thatmore and more chapters are attracting highervisitor numbers on a regular basis.

So it makes sense for every member toview each and every visitor as a potentialnew client or customer – and to make surethat before they leave the meeting, you haveintroduced yourself to them, and offered tovisit them in the near future.

When you meet your chapter colleaguesweek after week, it is very easy to develop atunnel vision, in which you see only the samefaces around the table with whom you hopeto do business.

So, at your next meeting, why not make apoint of searching out the visitors and/or thesubstitutes for colleagues, who may be readyto use your products or services – and whomay well have something to offer you!Better still, support your colleagues by regu-larly bringing visitors who will be potentialnew customers for them.

Lawsons’Lore

BNI National Directors MARTIN& GILLIAN LAWSON write…

270 – and stillgrowing fast

4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 1 S U C C E S S N E T

3,000-mile referralfor gift specialist

Leicestershire-based gifts andhamper specialist Tony Morley(pictured right) has just fulfilled hisChapter’s most long-distance refer-ral – from a BNI assistant directorover 3,000 miles away in Canada!

It came from David Hunt whohelps run BNI’s chapter inEdmonton, Alberta, and wanted togive his father a surprise gift for his90th birthday.

But, with dad still living in thefamily home at Bottesford, nearGrantham, David thought the bestway to find the right gift supplierwould be through BNI.

So David first contacted formercolleague Steve Jennings, AreaDirector for Northants andLeicestershire, who put him intouch with Tony’s Forest Wine &Hamper Company in Coalville.

Tony, a member of LeicesterOadby Chapter, was happy to puttogether the precise list of contentsfor the birthday hamper.

“It was a delightful referral,” saidTony, who is about to become hischapter’s next director. “David hadasked for the gift basket to includewine, chocolates, bottles of liqueursand the latest copy of the Reader’sDigest!

“David did me a favour too,”commented Tony. “He made merealise there is a market for aninternational gift basket service.I’m working on that idea now.”

S U C C E S S N E T S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 5

Around the Chapters

Seventh heaven in UlsterI t’s all systems go in

Northern Ireland, where BNIwas opening its sixth and

seventh chapters in little morethan a year, as SuccessNetwent to press.

With no less than four chapters up andrunning in Belfast – Lagan Valley, City,Central and most recently Waterfront –Executive Director James McCrossanchose Holywood (just east of the city’sboundaries on Belfast Lough) as thevenue for his fifth BNI group, beinglaunched in mid-April.

Meanwhile, fresh from his success in

launching the City of Derry Chapterbarely two months ago, youngerbrother Donal, an Assistant Director,had chosen the same week to launchhis area’s second chapter at Coleraine,50 miles north of Belfast on CountyAntrim’s coastline.

James told SuccessNet: “It’s perhapsunderstandable for business people inthe Province to sometimes feel a littlecut off from their colleagues on the UKmainland, so I’m delighted that we’vebeen successful in spreading BNI’sbusiness networking philosophy amongour own communities.

“Considering we launched our firstchapter barely 15 months ago, and we

already have 130 businesses repre-sented in our first five chapters, I thinkwe’re doing pretty well.

“Our first chapter at Lagan Valley isdoing particularly well, with a nearcapacity 36 members who work hardfor each other.

“At one meeting last month theypassed 90 good referrals,” he said.

James added: “With our two newgroups, it won’t be long before we’vegot 200 members, but there’s no doubtthat BNI has already started to makeits mark in the Belfast area where it isbecoming known to the business com-munity and the media,” he said.

Most of us tend to think of a florist’sshop as being a fairly traditional andconservative enterprise, but one Suffolkhorticulturist is treating his customers toa different view, with a little help fromthe new Director of his Ipswich Chapter.

It all started when Rob Dunger ofTower Florists began giving an occa-sional lift to his friend, Phil Golds-worthy – a member of a male stripgroup – in his Interflora van, and notedthe enthusiasm it seemed to generateamongst some of his customers.

When Interflora found out about it,to Rob’s considerable surprise, theycommended the initiative as a greatpublicity stunt.

So, with the help of new IpswichChapter Director Roger Barcham, ofButtermarket Photographic Studios,Rob has now set up a new Interfloraservice – using Phil to deliver flowersand a sexy kissagram at the same time.

Together Rob and Roger havedesigned and printed posters advertis-ing the new service, the response towhich has been overwhelming.

“We’ve had a fantastic response,”said Rob, “with bookings coming infrom all over the UK and even Ireland.News of Phil’s floral delivery serviceseems to have spread like wildfire, butI’m also advertising Phil’s striptease actin the shop for anyone who wants tosee rather more than we let him displayduring our deliveries.”

Now Rob has a rather unusual treatin store for fellow chapter members.Phil has become so impressed with BNIthat he has agreed to go along as aguest – and perform a ‘full monty’ stripas his 60-second presentation!

‘Flesh flowers’ are all the rage!

London Docklands Chapter, launchedthree months ago, is aiming as highas the skyscraper office blocks thatsurround it – having already attractedthe first of what it hopes will bemany referrals and visitors from thebusiness Mecca – Canary Wharf .

Based close to the new business cen-tre, Xel, it’s the perfect location forBNI. “We currently have 21 membersand are still growing steadily,” said

Chapter Director Lee Manning fromRaffingers Accountants.

“We have generated £60,000 ofextra business from referrals so farand since we were only launched inthe New Year, that’s really promising.”

In contrast to the ‘doomed Dome’which they can see from their meet-ing place, BNI is flourishing and prom-ises to become one of London’s mostdynamic chapters.

BNI arrives in Canary Wharf

6 S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 S U C C E S S N E T

Around the Chapters

As you read this issueyou’ll have noticedthat your own chap-

ter’s leadership teams andofficers have just changed –marking one of the twooccasions every year whenBNI completely renewsitself.

But what you probably don’tknow is that behind this biannualtransformation, lies thousands ofhours of intensive training con-ducted over many weeks by BNI’sregional directors, needed to ensurethat when the new teams take over,everyone feels the benefit.

With some 2,200 ‘officers’ (chap-ter director, membership co-ordi-nator, secretary/treasurer, commit-tee members and visitor hosts)providing the driving force among270 chapters, it adds up therequirement for over 6,000 manhours of individual training, all ofwhich is squeezed into a singlemonth just prior to the new leader-ship teams taking over on the 1stApril and 1st October each year.

National Director MartinLawson said BNI was unique

among business networking groupsin totally changing its chapter lead-ership teams every six months.

“We do so for one good reason –to maintain the dynamism andenergy in every group. A hugeamount of hard work goes intorunning a chapter and we think itis only fair to give its officers awell-earned rest after six months.

“While there is no doubting thatsome chapter directors and otherofficers could maintain their highlevels of commitment for 12months, we believe that changingthe leadership teams at half yearlyintervals keeps everyone fresh andon their toes, even it if means atremendous amount of work forregional directors in training newteams twice a year,” he said.

Expressing BNI’s gratitude tothe outgoing leadership teams,Martin added: “The training isn’twasted when chapter officers stepdown. What they have learnt interms of running their chapterseffectively will still be relevantwhen they return to the ‘backbenches’ where they will continueto play an important role in sup-porting the new leadership teams.”

It’s all changefor leadership

Members from chapters in theNorth Wales and Cheshire regionrecently joined forces for their firstjoint networking event – producingan entertaining day and no smallamount of new business!

The inter-chapter session – thefirst of many regionally-based net-working events to be held this year– took place at the Chimney HouseHotel, Sandbach, and opened with85 members chasing each otheraround in a hectic game ofBusiness Card Bingo, eventuallywon by South Cheshire ChapterDirector, Penny Edge from PageTraining.

Introductions out of the way,Executive Director Tony Coxhillled a discussion on how to get

quality referrals and improve visi-tor rates, followed by AreaDirector Martin Bailey, who hadsome helpful tips for making themost of members’ 60-second pre-sentations.

The event ended with an opennetworking session, during whichone member received a referral for£15,000 to supply photo-copyingequipment, and many otherscemented new relationships.

Tony Coxhill was pleased withthe level and enthusiasm of mem-bers’ participation: “Considering itwas the first time we had broughtall the region’s chapters together, itwas extremely successful.

“We aim to repeat the event on athree-monthly basis in Knutsford.”

Business Card Bingo bringsa full house to Sandbach

With BNI’s national member-ship drive about to yieldits lucky winners for a trip

to Las Vegas and the GrandCanyon, one member of GloucesterChapter has come up with a novelway of reminding his colleagues ofvacant positions in their group.

Philip Swinford, who runs a marketingbusiness in Gloucester, was reflecting on howhe might highlight trades and professions totarget in a new members’ drive when he hitupon the solution of word association.

This is what he created: “At BNIGloucester we have a place for a fishmon-ger, a hole for a boring contractor and achair for a furniture manufacturer. We havespace for an astronaut, room for an interiordesigner and SCOPE for a charity organiser.

“On the clinical side, we have a gap for anorthodontist, a spot for a skincare consultantand even a position for a Kama Sutra pub-lisher. We’re also scratching around to find adermatologist and we’ll go out on a limb torecruit a prosthesis manufacturer.

“We foresee good things for an astrologer,we have an opening for a pot-holer, we’dlove to sign a Czech, and there’s a strongprobability that we’d accept a statistician.

“Meanwhile, we’ll try to rustle up a shep-herd and poach a gamekeeper from theChamber of Commerce. We also quite fancya pigeon breeder and, finally, we’re diggingaround for an archaeologist and sadly miss-ing an undertaker. However, we have novacancies for guesthouse owners!”

So, there you have it, Gloucester mem-bers! Now see how quickly you can fillPhilip’s vacancy list!

Novel way offinding new

members

Trio join Black Badge ClubBlack badge membership is both soughtafter and much valued by members – yet asurprising number of new recipients fail tocome to the attention of SuccessNet, whichlikes to publicise new members of the‘Black Badge Club’ in every issue.

So, while there are probably a few dozenmembers out there who’ve quietly joinedBNI’s exclusive club, news has reached us ofjust three new black badge members.

They are: Michael Brunert and MichaelCzornenkyj, both from the WestManchester Chapter, and Michael Markhamof the Collingtree Chapter, Northampton-shire, who all receive our congratulations.

S U C C E S S N E T S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 7

Focus on Scotland

Wanted by the men ofVictoria: some women!

time they attracted at least asprinkling of the fairer sex tomake the group’s compositionmore representative of thecity’s business community.

Chapter Director DonSpence can’t understand whythe group has failed to win overGlasgow’s businesswomen.

“Trying to be objective, Ireckon we’ve a reasonablyhandsome mix of men thatshould tempt some women tojoin us, but so far none of thefemale visitors brought to ourmeetings has decided to stay.

The city’s Victoria Chaptermeets every Friday at theKing’s Park Hotel in

Rotherglen, and Don added:“We’re a lively bunch insidethe chapter and quite adven-turous outside, too.

“In the next few weeks we’llbe crawling over gullies in theScottish Highlands as part ofan action day, but this kind ofthing would be far more funwith a few ladies taking part.

“We desperately need thefemale touch to redress thepresent macho image of thechapter, and I’ll be delightedto hear from anyone who canhelp us,” he added.

If you’re female and you canhelp contact Don Spence nowon 0141-332 4445.

Red nosesabound inGlasgow

With the runawaysuccess of nationalRed Nose Day,SuccessNet put out itsfeelers to see if anychapter had enteredinto the spirit of theevent – and happilyfound a whole chap-ter-ful of red nosesnorth of the border.

Members of Strath-kelvin Chapter, nearGlasgow, must havehad difficulty keepingtheir faces straight as,one by one, theymade their 60-secondpresentations at theirmeeting on Red NoseDay – each sporting aComic Relief trade-mark conk for whichthey had made suit-ably large donations!

In the event, theyraised over £200 onthe day for ComicRelief, whichincreased to £250 bythe next meeting.

Chapter DirectorMartin Walker said:“The boxes containingthe red noses turnedinto money boxes,which members tookaway to fill with fur-ther contributions.

“It was a fun eventfor all of us – and wemade sure it grabbedthe attention of thelocal press.”

Glasgow VictoriaChapter has aunique status

amongst BNI’s 270 UKand Irish chapters –which its leadershipteam is doing its utmostto lose!

Ironically, the only thingfeminine about the chapter isits name, and now its all-malemembership has decided it’s

Up with the birdie!New BNI members on Scotland’s Fife coast reckonthey can’t fail in launching the Original Links Chapterat the home of golf.

As SuccessNet went to press, the chapter was driv-ing towards its launch from the stunning base of theNew Links Clubhouse at St Andrews – home to someof the world’s greatest tournaments over the years.

BNI Regional Director for Scotland North, Ron Hainsaid: “Members will gaze out upon the hallowed fair-ways of the Old Course whilst enjoying their BNI net-working in relative luxury, before teeing off withsome open air networking immediately afterwards!”

Ron confirmed that discussions are being held tonegotiate playing privileges for BNI Members visitingSt. Andrews!

KING CONKS: Members of Strathkelvin Chapter doing their bit for Comic Relief.

ALL MALE: Don Spence with his chapter colleagues.

8 S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 S U C C E S S N E T

Education & Training

Making a memorablememory hook

the prospect’s good will. Puns are a formof humour that everyone groans at, butthen tries to remember to pass on.

The power of the pun comes from theelement of surprise; your listener, orreader, thinks you’re saying one thing,but suddenly discovers that you’re sayingsomething else, because you’ve eitherdistorted the word or re-defined it.

Here are some examples of memoryhooks that use puns or word play:

We check your shorts – an electricianoffers; We’re dyeing to save you money– says a company that can change thecolours of carpets; Be true to yourteeth, or they will be false to you –warns a dentist.

For pure name recognition, some ofthe best puns are made on a company’sor an individual’s name:

Bob Howe, a mortgage lender tells hischapter colleagues: Know Howe to getyour next loan, while staff at TruecolourPrint & Graphics use their companyname in their invitation to customers:Let us help you show your truecolours.

VERSE – OR WORSEUsing verse is a sure way to catch

someone’s interest. Before most peoplecould read, storytellers passed downtribal legends in verse form to makethem easier to remember. The traditionlingers. Most people can recite frommemory a few lines of poetry or verse,and anyone who can read is instinctivelydrawn to words that rhyme. So, if youcan use your name as part of the rhyme,

Whether you realise it ornot, you already knowa lot about memory

hooks. You’ve been usingthem, consciously or uncon-sciously, since you were small.

What was your best friend’s nicknamein the fifth form? Where were you livingwhen the Beatles’ ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’was at the top of the charts? And whodo you think of whenever you hearsomeone say: “Ehhh – what’s up, Doc?”

Mere fragments of phrases, jokes,songs and rhymes remind us of people,places and events we have not seen orexperienced in years, and they stay withus all our lives.

The key word in ‘memory hook’ ismemory. If it’s going to work, and popinto the prospect’s mind whenever theneed for your product or service arises,it has to be easy to remember. The bestway is to make it vivid and short.

SEE IT, HEAR IT, FEEL ITA good memory hook often appeals

to the basic senses – sight, hearing, taste,smell and touch. When meeting people,or presenting your product or serviceusing marketing materials, you shouldinvoke the senses as strongly as possible– in a pleasurable way, of course.

One obvious example of this is thememory hook used by a travel agency,that conjures up the memory of a popu-lar, much-loved song: ‘Come Fly (away)With Me’. Most people of a certain agewill immediately be reminded ofSinatra’s hit of several decades back.With the exception of smells, nothingcranks up a pleasure trip into nostalgialike the fond memory of an old song.

MAKE ‘EM LAUGHAnother sense often invoked in the

best memory hooks, may be the mostimportant one of all: the sense ofhumour. When you want to catch andhold someone’s attention, tickling hisfunny bone is the surest way of beingremembered. In fact, one thing thatmost memory hooks seem to have incommon is that they are funny.

Making people laugh is one of thefastest ways of breaking down the barri-ers between strangers, and of winning

so much the better, as in this example:When your water pipes have burst andyour kitchen’s in a mess, dial Mick on0800 654321 at Ace Plumbing SOS.

Other memory hooks work by takinga familiar saying and re-phrasing it, usu-ally with humour, in a way that thereader or listener will recognise. But youhave to be careful, since some authors,especially songwriters, are quite militantabout copyright infringement.

THE OLD ‘DOUBLE REVERSE’One of the most powerful language

devices is a statement in which the sec-ond part either re-phrases or reversesthe first. The original meaning may bereinforced, slightly altered, or turnedaround entirely, leading to intriguingmental juxtapositions. For instance:

A business without a sign, is a signof no business (used by a sign makingcompany); If your hair is not becomingto you, you should be coming to me(used by a hair stylist).

These approaches should give you anidea of some of the tools and resourcesyou can use to construct your own mem-ory hook. Some memory hooks may usea combination of these techniques.

USING A MEMORY HOOKThe best memory hook is one that

you can use in many different contexts.It should work in a pure word-of-mouthsetting, such as when you are attendinga networking meeting.

It should work on your business card,on your letterhead, your calendars, yourgive-away pens, your print advertise-ments – and, at the top of the expensescale – your broadcast adverts too.

Whether it’s mass advertising or one-to-one face-to-face, you want people tothink of you, and you alone, when theysee, hear or remember your hook. Thinkabout it – and then work on yours!

In recent issues, SuccessNet hasstressed the importance of devis-ing, and using, a good memoryhook – a simple statement thatleaves a concise impression ofyour business in the minds ofchapter colleagues long afterthey’ve left the weekly break-fast. Enter DR IVAN MISNER (pic-tured right), BNI’s Founder andChief Executive who probablyknows more about memoryhooks than anyone else. Thisarticle is reprinted from his latestbook, ‘Masters of Networking’.

S U C C E S S N E T S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 9

Around the Chapters

ALeamingtonChapter pho-tographer has

seen his work gracethe pages of one ofthe Midlands’ mostexclusive lifestylemagazines – thanks tohelp from a PR con-sultant in the neigh-bouring KenilworthChapter.

Andrew Sheppard,Manager of Avon Studiosfeatured in a double pagespread in Warwickshire andWorcestershire Life thismonth – after enthusiasticcampaigning for his innova-tive lifestyle photography bySalisbury Communicationspartner Helen Salisbury, afounder member ofKenilworth Chapter.

It was the second break-through for Andrew, whowas recently voted topPortrait Photographer in theFujifilm Wedding andPortrait Awards, beating offcompetition from more than1,000 other entrants, to gothrough to the annual finals

to be staged at London’sBAFTA Centre in May, anevent attended by many bigname photographers.

Since meeting Helen atthe Leamington Chapterlaunch meeting nearly threeyears ago, Andrew has seenhis work featured on TVand in the press nationallyand regionally – and he isincreasingly in demand fromnational glossy magazines toundertake special photocommissions.

He attributes his increas-ing success largely to thefact that she has been get-ting his face in the press atevery opportunity. “Peoplenow think of Avon Studiosas the photographic studioin Coventry and Warwick-shire,” said Andrew. “Notonly are we seeing a rise inthe number of enquiries andbookings, but we are alsoreceiving more interest fromyoung people wanting totrain with us.”

For more information callAndrew Sheppard on 01789470663 or Helen Salisburyat Salisbury Communi-cations on 01926 859829.

Snapping up the business

TEAMWORK: Andrew Sheppard with the photo whichwon him a coveted national award.

One referral sows the seeds…What seemed like a simple and mod-est referral at a meeting of hisHastings Chapter, has led to designdirector Alan Foster winning fivenew long term clients for his com-pany and the prospect of even morebusiness in the months ahead.

While often talked about, the BNI‘cascade effect’ has become prof-itable reality for Alan, a director ofHastings-based AST Design &Advertising Ltd, as his company’sservices have been recommendedfrom one happy client to another,leading to immediate additionalbusiness of over £30,000 and thehope of even greater returns fromfurther ‘spin off’ referrals.

A core group member of theHastings Chapter launched 15months ago, Alan said he joined BNIfor ‘the long haul’, looking for asmall number of quality referrals,rather than quantity.

“Given my area of business, Inever expected to receive a flow ofreferrals at every meeting, knowingthat one or two of the right kindwould more than justify member-ship,” he said.

One of the right kind came lastyear when Alan was invited to pro-duce a new corporate identity for asmall local promotions company,PromoSeeds. “I didn’t know it at thetime, but it was to create a cascadeof new business opportunities.”

Promoseeds were so delightedwith his company’s performance thatthey immediately gave him furtherexhibition and corporate brochurework and recommended Alan to amuch larger Hastings company,Judges Postcards, which commis-sioned AST to undertake leaflet anddirect mail design and production.

“The managing director at Judgesthen referred me to their printers,

Chandlers of Bexhill, where we wereagain invited to carry out corporatebrochure work, and the printers thenintroduced me to a further two newclients earlier this year, a film com-pany based at Ealing Studios forwhom we are producing brochuresand direct mailings, and a newleisure centre in Kent which hasasked us to design all its corporatematerials,” said Alan.

He added: “It’s not the immediatevalue of the new business that mat-ters so much as the fact that throughone small but excellent referral sev-eral months ago, we have nowgained five new clients, hopefullyfor the long term.”

If you’d like to see why AST’swork is attracting a growing numberof satisfied customers, call AlanFoster on 01424 814111.

Around the Chapters

1 0 S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 S U C C E S S N E T

Chichester chalk up£320,000 in a yearIt’s celebration time

for members ofChichester Chapter

who, since their launch12 months ago, havegenerated nearly£320,000 worth of busi-ness for each other.

Chapter Director TimMorton said: “We may notbe the largest chapteraround, but our membersare very focused on why wemeet up every week, and thestandard of referrals is con-sistently high.

“Our first year perform-ance has produced an aver-age of over £15,000 worth ofadditional business for everymember which, given theiroutlay of just £340 at thestart, means that most ofthem will have benefited con-siderably from joining BNI.”

Members are picturedoutside their base, the ShipHotel in Chichester, showingoff their rather large cheque,held by Tim who runsMorton’s Fork CateringCompany.

Here at SuccessNet, wethink Chichester membershave done rather well intheir first 12 months, but

While most members naturally lookfor business from their local area,one Tunbridge Wells Chapter mem-ber has found BNI opening up arange of worldwide business oppor-tunities to support his Kent-basedcorporate entertainments and out-door pursuits company.

Peter Reeves runs Arena Pursuitsnear Bewl Water on the Kent-Sussexborder but, with bookings largelyweather dependent, he has taken tonetworking and marketing overseasduring the quiet winter period.

Last year he visited three conti-nents – Australia, America and Africa– always making his first point of

Peter networks worldwidecontact local BNI chapter(s) and, as aresult of the friendships he struck upin South Africa, he has just returnedfrom a very successful second visit toCape Town where he established acomplementary business venturethat he believes will ideally suit hisArena clients during the UK winter.

The new venture came aboutthrough a re-union with MikeLevine, BNI’s national director inSouth Africa, who invited him toattend a meeting of the City BowlChapter in central Cape Town.

Having given his 60-second presen-tation, Peter was referred by AntonGoldman to Philip Botha of

Aquatrials who runs several water-based activities such as white waterriver rafting and sea rafting.

From their initial meeting, Peterand Philip have put together someunusual five-day activity holidaypackages, combining the attractionof water sports, outdoor pursuits,some of the best restaurants in theCape and visiting the wine-lands,Table Mountain and shopping.

“South Africa has everything ourclients are looking for in a winterbreak, including overnight flights,similar time zones, quality accommo-dation and events, beautiful sceneryand, of course, sunshine!” said Peter.

have they set a record forthe value of total referrals intheir first year?

Bearing in mind the cau-tion expressed in thisissues’s front page story, ifyour chapter thinks it’s inthe running for our‘Business Value of the Year’contest, then do tell us whatyou’ve achieved, and we’llfeature your performance inSuccessNet.

But, a word of warning:You need to be sure that allthe referrals you count, havebeen transformed intoquantifiable new business –rather than remained merelyas hopeful gestures. So, getchecking and tell us aboutyour performance. SHIP SHAPE: Chichester Chapter and their grand total.

Some members pull out all the stopswhen it comes to holding a visitors’ day –even if it doesn’t always pay off!

When Clacton & District Chapterplanned their recent visitors’ day, GrahamKeeble from Sound & Vision Electronicsdecided to aim high. He guessed that withthe General Election looming in May a cer-tain Mr Blair might be on the look out forreferrals – so he sent him an invitation.

Sadly, all he got back was a politerefusal from the PM’s office, saying thatunfortunately Mr Blair was otherwiseengaged that day. He did however passon his best wishes to all concerned for an“enjoyable and successful occasion.”

Which indeed it was, when in spite ofabsent ‘friends,’ 35 other guests turnedout for the special breakfast meeting,with several expected to join BNI asSuccessNet went to press.

PM declines Clacton’s invitation

S U C C E S S N E T S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 1 1

BNI News

BNI members throughout theUK and Ireland will this yearbe able to attend one or

more major inter-chapter network-ing events without having totravel hundreds of miles to do so!

For the past three years, BNI’s nationaldirectors have held a one-day nationalmembers’ conference at a single venue.

But, as the organisation has grown,expanding into new and sometimes more dis-tant parts of Britain, so pressure has grownfor the national conference to be ‘region-alised’, giving all members the same benefits.

Martin Lawson, National Director said:“Holding a single event was fine when mostmembers came from the South East, but itis far from convenient if you live in Ireland,Scotland or the North of England, as anincreasing proportion of our members do.

“So this year we asked each region toorganise its own members’ conference, offer-ing the same mix of workshops, presentationsand networking – but much closer to home.”

One of the first of the regional confer-ences will take place at the Hilton Hotel,Manchester Airport on Saturday, 12th May.

The day’s theme is ‘Masters ofNetworking – How to get more benefit bybeing in a top BNI chapter’, and tickets(costing £10) can be purchased from theregional directors. The conference is beingsponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Meanwhile, some of BNI’s regions in theSouth East are also preparing for theirregional networking conference to be heldat Brands Hatch Racing Circuit, WestKingsdown on Saturday, 28th April. Ticketscosting £25 (including lunch and refresh-ments) are available from directors.

Conferences take ona regional flavour

KeepingThomas onright track“WHO are you?” asked Thomas ratherrudely, as he saw the new Fat Controllercoming towards him along the platform.

“I’m your new Fat Controller for the day,”said Abingdon Chapter Director ChrisMcCarthy, “so you’d better watch yourmanners, or I’ll have you shunted into a sid-ing and you’ll miss all the fun…”

Duly reproached, Thomas agreed tobehave himself, and as aresult, Didcot Railway Centre’sfamous ‘Day out with Thomasand friends’ went ahead with-out a hitch last month, provid-ing an action-packed familyevent for hundreds of railwayenthusiasts from all over thecountry.

Chris (pictured right) look-ing every bit as grand as theRev W. Awdry’s original FatController) agreed to takecharge on one of three con-secutive Thomas the TankEngine open days after theusual Fat Controller, RodThomas, had to drop out.

He responded to an appealto the previous week’s chap-ter meeting by fellow mem-ber Jeanette Howse who, as apart-time official of the GreatWestern Society, based atDidcot, thought Chris’s bigpersonality made him theideal stand-in.

“I persuaded another mem-ber – Sarah Hawthorn ofCreations – to cut his hair inthe Fat Controller’s uniqueshape, while a third BNI col-league, Aileen Waller ofMinns Upholstery, made hisdistinctive yellow waistcoat,”said Jeanette. “A fourth mem-ber, photographer RobertJames, was on hand to cap-ture Chris’s performance.”

Chris, who works for anational security installationscompany, said: “I didn’t knowthe first thing about running arailway, but I soon got intothe stride of things and I musthave done something rightbecause they’ve asked me togo back in the autumn.”

“It was a very enjoyable dayand I am glad BNI was seencoming to the rescue of adeserving local charity.”

Coping with g-r-o-w-i-n-g painsBNI members from Stratford Upon Avonstaged a conference and surgery forsmall businesses planning to expand andemploy more than five staff.

Called ‘Growing without GrowingPains’, the conference featured a seriesof presentations outlining the issues fac-ing growing businesses..

BNI members organised the conferencebecause they felt there were numerous

courses and events for start-up busi-nesses – but very little for youngexpanding companies. The event wasorganised by Liz Bennett, of Habilis Ltd.who spoke on health and safety and riskmanagement.

Other speakers were accountant ChrisWells, financial advisor Rob Simpson,business banking amanger Roger Scott,and Malcolm Davis who spoke on e-com-merce and the internet.

The Last Word

SuccessNet is published quarterly and dis-tributed free of charge by BusinessNetwork International plc to all membersthrough BNI directors and chapter direc-tors. Additional copies can be obtained bywriting to, or calling, the BNI NationalOffice, at Gate End, Northwood,Middlesex, HA6 3QG.Tel: +44 (0)1923-826 181;Fax: +44 (0)1923-827 813;E-mail: bninet@aol.com.BNI web site: www.bni-europe.com.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Gillian Lawson, BNI National Director

EDITOR: Malcolm Grosvenor, WriteAngleCommunications, New House, PalmerCrescent, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 2QTTel: 020 8541 0600; Fax: 020 8546 1611;E-mail: successnet@write-angle.co.uk

DESIGN & LAYOUT: Ken Sheldon, TheMedia Team. Tel: 01579-350 579.

PRINTED BY: Jackson Print (members ofBNI Stanmore & Uxbridge Chapters).

Copyright © BNI 2001. All rights reserved

By GILLIAN LAWSONNational Director

Arather disturbing com-ment from a ChapterDirector was relayed to

us the other week. Approached by his regional BNI

director to plan visitor days and otheractivities for the current national mem-bership drive, his surprising responsewas: “We’re not planning a visitor day.We don’t need any more members…”

When we enquired of his chapter’smembership, we learned that it hadconsolidated around the 30-mark: notbad, but certainly no justification forignoring the membership drive – andeven less reason for being complacentabout the need to attract visitors to asmany chapter meetings as possible,regardless of existing member numbers.

Clearly, this particular chapter direc-tor did not know or had perhaps for-gotten – that the amount of businessconducted at meetings increases quitedramatically, and disproportionately, inrelation to growing membership.

In his case, had he and his leadershipteam colleagues responded to themembership drive by attracting tenmore members (a 33 per cent increase),they could have expected an increaseof at least 50 per cent in the level ofongoing chapter business.

Repeated studies of the relationshipbetween membership numbers and

Visitors are vitalreferrals passed, has proved that rela-tively modest increases in membernumbers produces considerable andsustained additional business for thechapter and, using this particularinstance as an example, what leadershipteam would consciously turn down thechance to increase their chapter’sweekly referrals by at least 50 per cent?

But it would be wrong to single outthis one misguided director for failingto understand the importance ofattracting constant visitors to his chap-ter because, it seems, a significant num-ber of our UK and Ireland chaptersmay have equally failed to appreciatethe key role that visitors play – orshould play – in our weekly meetings.

Quite simply, whether your chapterhas 20,30 or more members, you need aconstant stream of visitors throughyour doors each week, not just in theobvious hope that some will join yourgroup but, far more pertinently,because each and every new visitor toyour group is a potential customer foreach and every existing member.

Some members seem to think thatthe only way they are allowed toreceive new business in BNI, is fromtheir fellow chapter members.

Whilst in reality, this may be thesource of most of their new referrals,they are completely ignoring two otherkey areas for gaining additional busi-ness – namely the substitutes who standin for other members and likewise thevisitors who are invited to see whether

the BNI philosophy is right for them.Whether or not a visitor comes back

or joins the chapter, his or her atten-dance at your meeting represents aunique opportunity to introduce your-self to a new potential customer – andthere lies the rub: stop regarding visi-tors to your chapter meetings purely asguests, and view them as customers.

Not only do such visitors representan obvious ‘captive audience’ for mem-bers, but they are likely to feel positivetowards BNI members whom theymeet in a friendly business environ-ment – and therefore more ready toconsider new business approaches.

In an ideal world, every single visitorshould receive follow-up telephonecalls from every member of the chap-ter, asking if he or she found theirattendance stimulating and useful, andif they would like to meet to discusspossible mutual business opportunities.

Of course, it would be excellent if thevisitor then decided to join your chap-ter, but even without this, your rewardfor showing interest may be far greaterthan you imagined.

So the message should be loud andclear to all BNI members: visitors areimportant because, as well as bringingfreshness and vitality to your chapter,and being potential BNI colleagues,they are also your would-be customers.

How best to ensure they feel wel-come and wanted is another issue – andone we’ll address in the next (July)issue of SuccessNet.

You’ve had a long hard day, you’ve just finished your evening meal and allyou really want is to relax in front of the TV. Okay, we’ll let you – but onone condition: NOT on the second Monday of the month!

That’s when BNI’s monthly worldwide business learning sessions go live onthe Internet – offering the opportunity to gain valuable free knowledge fromthe experts on how to attract more customers and grow profits.

Gillian Lawson, UK National Director, said: “The Internet chat groups pro-vide participants with invaluable business advice. We can all learn moreabout marketing and business development, so the chance to get advicefrom the experts is surely worth an hour of anyone’s time.”

The sessions take place on the second Monday of the month at 9pm.Subjects for the next three chat room sessions are:

Monday, 14th May: Networking with other chaptersMonday, 11th June: Finding more customers Monday, 9th July: Is the membership committee serving your chapter well?

To access the BNI chat room, go to www.bni-europe.com, and click on the‘chat’ icon that appears at the top of the page. Remember, you need to pre-register before logging on for the first time in the BNI Yahoo chat room.

Don’t miss chat room sessions