Episode 683: One Tool for Hundreds of Referrals - a podcast by Dr. Ivan Misner

Synopsis



Tim Roberts, BNI Executive Director for Central Florida, Florida Northeast, and New Hampshire joins Dr. Misner on the podcast this week to explain why your appointment book is the best referral-generating tool you have as a BNI member.Here's how you can use your appointment book (or app) to capture opportunity that already exists.



Schedule frequent One-to-Ones with other members of your BNI chapter.At each One-to-One, open your appointment book/calendar app and describe the next 10 meetings you're having in as much detail as possible.For each of these appointments, ask the other BNI member,"In that exact scenario, what am I looking for? What am I listening for that would tell me that these people might be a good referral for you? And if I see it, what do I say or do?"Write down the answers for each BNI member you meet with before that appointment. Review the list just before the appointment.While at the appointment, watch and listen for the cues on your list. When one comes up, use the suggested language to make a referral.



Tim aimed at having five One-to-Ones each week. As a salesperson, he had many meetings each week. Following this method resulted in 2-3 referrals to members of his chapter every week. Better yet, they started to use the same method, increasing their referrals to him.Complete Transcript of Episode 683



Priscilla:Hello, everybody, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you today?



Ivan:I am doing fantastic, Priscilla, and I have a good friend who is on our podcast with us, Tim Roberts. Tim is the Executive Director for BNI New Hampshire, Florida Central, and Florida Northeast, and he oversees over 105 chapters and over 2400 members. Tim has been in BNI for over 19 years and has been in every role from member to leadership team member, Ambassador, Director Consultant Managing Director, Executive Director, and he has been the National Director for BNI U.S. Tim has served on the Founder Circle, the Executive Council, and was the founding President of the USA Franchise Advisory Council. Tim, it is great to have you on BNI podcast. Thanks for being here today.Tim:Thank you for having me. My pleasure.



Ivan:It's really my pleasure to have you here. And you've got a topic that I absolutely love, the One Tool for Hundreds of Referrals. So, talk to everyone about this concept you've got.



Tim:Yeah, it's an amazing tool that goes, you know, it predates any technology. But now it's just even more convenient to have. And it's actually our appointment book. I talk to a lot of people about doing One-to-Ones and why we want to do them consistently. And I talk about when I was a member, one of the things I learned was that you needed to do a lot. And I ended up actually doing one a day. So I tried to shoot for five a week. And you know, a lot of people would look at me crazy - and why would you do that?



Ivan:(Chuckling) You're an animal. That's amazing.



Tim:And whenever I'm doing a training, I could see it in their eyes. I'm like, I know you think I'm crazy. You're probably right, if they weren't productive. And I said, but there's one tool that I have, that you all have, that I bet you're probably not fully utilizing. And I'll ask them what they think that is. And they'll talk about the worksheets and all that. And I said no, it's actually your appointment book. And why would you think your appointment book would be so valuable? And the number one comment always is, “Oh, to book the next One-to-One”, which is true. But I said no, it's about capturing the opportunity that already exists. I think one of the challenges our members face is anxiety around finding referrals for other people, right? It's about I have to create these opportunities,

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