SAMPLE The BNI Visitor Experience Curriculum

SAMPLE The BNI Visitor Experience Curriculum Refresh Your Chapter & Grow Excerpts from The Education Coordinator s Guide for The BNI Visitor Experience CHAPTER PROGRAM This material may not be copied except for use in the BNI Visitor Experience curriculum chapter program which includes the BNI Visitor Experience audio CD set. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 1

This document gives you a sample of the information covered in the BNI Visitor Experience curriculum. This course is 12 weeks plus the 2 weeks for each member in the chapter to listen to the Visitor Experience CDs with Dr. Misner and the 2 weeks to set the Chapter Revenue and Growth goal. ENJOY! Questions? Contact us at: flynnandsara@delfuego.com And visit our website at: https://bni.delfuego.com/ Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 2

Introduction and Process The BNI Visitor Experience is your chapter development program that is a combination of audio learning and learning through chapter interaction at your meeting, facilitated by the Education Coordinator. Your entire chapter works together over four months to focus on the BNI visitor fundamentals. The Visitor Experience Process When chapters follow the process, they are successful. We ve outlined the process as a checklist so you can make sure your chapter stays on the Fast Track. Steps to Success 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Item Every member gets their copy of The BNI Visitor Experience CDs and takes 2 weeks to listen. Your Education Coordinator receives the BNI Visitor Experience curriculum and attends one of the del Fuego orientation calls. Each member takes the Visitor Quiz and receives the Fast Track Visitor Experience blue ribbon upon passing at 100%. Your chapter sets (or re-sets) the chapter revenue goal which is based on individual members revenue goal. To set the revenue goal, each member listens to a short audio on page 3 in My Visitor Memory Jogger and uses the examples on page 5 for more help. Your chapter begins Week 1 of the curriculum. 6. Your chapter sets the growth goal at Week 3. 7. Your chapter continues through the curriculum and HAS FUN AND GROWS! For additional support, at any time, the chapter can: 1. Contact flynnandsara@delfuego.com. 2. Attend a Fast Track call (held every Friday) or listen to the recordings of the calls. 3. Go to the Fast Track site, where they can get information on what other Chapters are doing and read about Fast Track in SuccessNet all at https://bni.delfuego.com/. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 3

The BNI Visitor Experience Curriculum The BNI Visitor Experience curriculum gives you 4 months of learning facilitated by the Education Coordinator. Three important things to remember about the program: 1. The curriculum materials are designed to work with the CDs rather than as a stand-alone program. The reason is that all components, including the CDs and the curriculum, are necessary for the team learning and critical to the success the chapter experiences. In other words, the CDs and curriculum work together hand in glove! The CDs do the heavy lifting for the training and the curriculum installs the learning through activities at the chapter meeting. Each member contributes their own valuable experience to the overall success! 2. The curriculum is designed to be interactive. In other words, members do the talking in the 5 minutes. The real job of the facilitator is to keep the discussion moving! 3. The facilitation is designed to be shared. Many chapters are team teaching. When you give everyone in the chapter an opportunity to facilitate one of the weekly lessons you give everyone more opportunity to build their VCP and you set the stage for greater interaction and participation. So find fun ways to share the facilitation draw names from a hat, or choose the person with the closest birthday, or the greatest number of pets (there are lots of ways to make it fun!). The Curriculum Materials There are three components: 1. The BNI Visitor Experience Curriculum (starting on page 13 of this document, including instructions on how to deliver and facilitate it). 2. The My Visitor Memory Jogger, which is given to each member and includes a networking activity for each week of the curriculum. You have the same Memory Jogger material in this document after each week s module. The Memory Jogger simply provides additional support for members through the learning process and is not something you ask them to turn in. Our recommendation is to email it to them after you complete the quiz. You can also print a copy for them if your chapter decides to do that. However, they will need the PDF so they can click to listen to the audio on how to set their revenue goal on their page 3. 3. Email support with 2 types of emails - reminder email and follow-up email. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 4

These emails are in an MS Word document, so you can cut and paste the emails into your email program. The name of the document is The BNI Visitor Experience Follow-Up Emails.doc. The schedule for sending the reminder emails will depend on what day of the week your chapter meets. Here is an easy guide on exactly when you should send the emails. Reminder Email - send as follows: Monday chapters Send reminder on the previous Thursday Tuesday chapters Send reminder on the previous Friday Wednesday chapters Send reminder on the previous Monday Thursday chapters Send reminder on the previous Tuesday Friday chapters Send reminder on the previous Wednesday Saturday chapters Send reminder on the previous Thursday Follow-Up Email - Always send the day of the meeting, after the meeting takes place. Good luck! Have fun and remember we are always here to support you. Contact us at flynnandsara@delfuego.com. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 5

Setting the Chapter Goals Revenue and Growth Teams who succeed always have goals. Setting goals is one of the most important steps of the Fast Track program. The chapter goals we have found to be most helpful and recommend that all chapters set are the following: 1. Revenue Goal (which begins with each member and becomes the Chapter Revenue Goal) 2. Growth Goal (which breaks down into each member s Bring Visitors goal) After everyone listens to the BNI Visitor Experience CDs and takes the Visitor Quiz, then you want to make sure you set your revenue goal before you start the curriculum. Then, at Week 3 of the curriculum, you set your chapter growth goal. We are happy to walk through this with you if you like. Please let us know what support we can provide to your chapter to make the program all you want it to be. Each member has this information about goal setting in their My Visitor Memory Jogger. Once each member sets their individual revenue goal, add them all up to create your chapter revenue goal. Revenue Goals What does money have to do with networking and visitors and what do money and networking have to do with inviting? To answer that, we're inviting you to listen to a short recorded call that looks at HOW to directly measure your networking efforts to the money you earn. Yes, we do hear about the fabulous million dollar story that happens as a result of an "encounter" at a networking group. But how many of us can say confidently that we can predict our annual revenue from our networking group and how many of us can tell a visitor (and even more importantly, show them) how much revenue we are making from referrals? When people know how much money their networking efforts will earn, they can't wait to join! So, here's the deal: If you want to find out HOW to predict your revenue from your BNI efforts, click on the link below (or copy and paste the address into your web browser) to go directly to the call recording of Show Me the Money: Link: http://c968051.r51.cf2.rackcdn.com/ftc_02_04_2011_01.mp3 Plain Text: http://c968051.r51.cf2.rackcdn.com/ftc_02_04_2011_01.mp3 You can also find the recording on the Fast Track site home page - https://bni.delfuego.com/ Then, after you listen to the recording, continue reading about goals on the following page. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 6

The Program Outline Make sure before you start the curriculum that your chapter has their revenue goal (the growth goal is set at Week 3 in the curriculum). Also make sure you point out the Visitor Chart on Page 8 in the Memory Jogger (page 12 for you in this guide) and everyone will be completing and adding to this sheet as the chapter moves through the curriculum. Also make sure you have a process to share the facilitation so that every week you are team teaching with another member. Each week s material is designed to be delivered in 5 minutes. What exactly to deliver in that 5 minutes is outlined for you in each week of the curriculum. This curriculum is interactive which means you want the members doing the talking. Why? First, it makes the activity relevant to what is happening in your chapter. Second, it places the responsibility for learning and contribution on the chapter. The more interaction you have from members, the more successful the Fast Track program will be for each member and for the chapter. Asking about the networking activity reinforces the learning and commitment to the team. A fun way to keep the interaction going throughout the curriculum is through the use of a lifeline. If the member you call on has nothing to say, then they can call a lifeline. Lifeline means they can call on someone else to help them, which keeps everyone on their toes in a fun way! All you have to say is Call a lifeline! After the interactive discussion with the group, which you will lead, the last thing you will cover each week is assigning the networking activity for the members to do on their own before the next meeting. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 7

Education Coordinator s Checklist You can put a checkmark or date in the last three columns as you complete each activity. Or, to use this page as a planner, put the dates for all activities in advance! Then cross through the date when you have completed the action. Week # Week 1 Week 2 Topic BNI Is More than a Meeting. It s an Experience Building a Team at Credibility Reminder Email Before Meeting Cover Topic in the Meeting Follow-Up Email After Meeting Week 3 Week 4 Setting Our Chapter Growth Goal Our Visitor Hub Week 5 Week 6 Visitors, VCP and Being Choosy What to Say When We Invite Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Visitors Best Practices Part 1 Visitors Best Practices Part 2 What I Say to Visitors Week 10 Stethoscopes ON! Week 11 Our Visitor Funnel Week 12 It s a Wrap!! Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 8

My Visitor Chart This sheet is for each member to keep track of the different elements about inviting that Dr. Misner coaches you on in the CDs and that you are learning with each other in the curriculum. You want to remind members each week to look at the chart and continue to fill it in as they gain more information on how and who to invite. NOTE: Members have this same chart in their My Visitor Memory Jogger on Page 8. At the end of the curriculum, you can combine the visitors you have been inviting, but who haven t yet joined, into a big chapter visitor funnel for your next Visitor Day! This takes the pressure off a Visitor Day! YAY! Name Profession Your take on do they have the 3 A s? Am I at V, C, P? Do I have my invite down? Date invited? Did they attend a meeting? Did they join? If no, why not? If no, am I following up? Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 9

Week 1 BNI Is More Than a Meeting. It s an Experience. Note to the Education Coordinator The purpose of Week 1 is to make sure everyone is on the same page with regard to 2 key concepts Dr. Misner talks about throughout The BNI Visitor Experience CDs. 1. BNI is more than a meeting. It s an experience and 2. When visitors come to your meeting, they need to see a team at credibility. Take the entire 5 minutes to talk about these concepts and then in the Networking Activity assignment ask members to do some reflection on the discussion for themselves. Here is the talk flow and questions you can use to get started. We are kicking off the Visitor Curriculum by getting your input on the 2 key concepts Dr. Misner refers to throughout the 3 CDs and they are: 1. BNI is more than a meeting. It s an experience. 2. When visitors come they need to see a team at credibility. So here are some questions for us. What does Dr. Misner mean BNI is more than a meeting. It s an experience? What does this mean when we think about visitors and what they see when they come to our meeting? What experience do they see us having today? What is Dr. Misner referring to when he says visitors need to see a team at credibility? What does a team at credibility look like? Any areas you think we can improve on from what we ve talk about? Try and cover each question. Expand on the concept with members and assign the networking activity. Next Page YOUR NOTES & NETWORKING ACTIVITY FOR THE GROUP Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 10

YOUR NOTES Dr. Misner coaches you on why BNI is more than a meeting on CD 1, 2 and 3 for your review. When you have a chapter where visitors always have a positive experience, you have a culture people want to be a part of. When you look at the visitor process as providing a good experience for the visitor you will get a lot more members. When we don t invite enough of the right people, (people we are at credibility with and who are from our target markets) and people don t have a good experience, we don t end up with the growth and quality of members we want. Dr. Misner says we need to look at the visitor process as providing a good experience for the visitor. He reminds us that BNI is more than a meeting, it s an experience. That experience consists of: seeing a structured business organization working together for each other s success, having fun doing it and opening the door for others to be a part of it. He coaches us that in order to provide a positive experience for the visitor, the chapter needs to be at credibility. When visitors come, they need to see a cohesive group of people working as a team, passing referrals, giving thank you s for closed business, doing testimonials and sharing the leadership roles in the chapter. A foundation for working as a cohesive team is always being aware of where we are in the VCP Process with each other. Applying the VCP Process to how we work together as a team is a BNI fundamental and one we always need to be working on in order to be successful and grow our chapter. If chapters don t move from visibility to credibility, it is difficult to grow and provide the right experience for a visitor to want to become a member. NETWORKING ACTIVITY FOR THE GROUP Think about the experience visitors have when they come to our meeting. Is it always a positive experience? Are there things we need to work on to increase our credibility with each other? The questions in your Visitor Memory Jogger will help you think about this. Please think through each of them and be prepared to talk about what you find out. You could be the first person called on! Next Week Building a Team at Credibility Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 11

Week 1 BNI Is More Than a Meeting. It s an Experience. From My Visitor Memory Jogger Dr. Misner coaches you on this topic on CD 1, 2 and 3 for your review. F O C U S Where is our chapter? Where am I? BNI is more than a meeting, it s an experience. That experience consists of: seeing a structured business organization working together for each other s success, having fun doing it and opening the door for others who want to be a part of it. When you have a chapter where visitors always have a positive experience, you have a culture people want to be a part of. In order to provide a positive experience for the visitor, the chapter needs to be at credibility. When visitors come, they need to see a cohesive group of people working as a team, passing referrals, giving thank you s for closed business, doing testimonials and sharing the leadership roles in the chapter. When we don t invite enough people we are at credibility with and who are from our target markets, and people don t have a good experience, we don t end up with the growth and quality of members we want. A foundation for working as a cohesive team is always being aware of where we are in the VCP Process with each other. E X A M I N E T A K E Go through the 3 short assessments on the next 2 pages and decide for yourself where you are and where our chapter is in terms of BNI being more than a meeting! Be prepared to give a 20 second sound bite of what you think we need to work on as a team, based on what you found out from the 3 assessments. A C T I O N Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 12

A Team at Credibility When visitors come to our BNI meeting they want to see a team at credibility. Review where you are in the VCP Process with each member in our chapter. And remember, as you do this, we are thinking about business visibility and business credibility not social visibility and social credibility. Member V C P Next Week Building a Team at Credibility Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 13

TAKE THE ENTIRE 5 MINUTES Week 4 Our Visitor Hub This is a fun brainstorming tool to help you all decide exactly who you want to invite to your chapter that helps you grow the chapter. Get a flip chart or white board and be ready to brainstorm. 1. Go around the room and ask everyone to give at least 2 professions they want to see in the chapter. These may be professions you d like to have that aren t there today or maybe they are seats that are empty and you really want to fill them. It is important to get feedback from everyone. As you get the professions, write them on the chart. 2. Then have everyone brainstorm the names of people they know they can invite who are in these professions. Capture the names and who will be inviting them. Try to get names for every profession. Remember - if at all possible these SHOULD be people you are at Credibility with! NETWORKING ACTIVITY Go to your Visitor Chart on page 8 in My Visitor Memory Jogger and begin to fill in the names of the people you will invite. Fill in as many of the fields as you can. We will be looking at each of these throughout the curriculum. Plus there is a short thinking analysis for you and we can t wait to hear what EACH OF YOU THINK about your answers! Next Week VCP, Visitors and Being Choosy Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 14

Week 4 Our Visitor Hub From My Visitor Memory Jogger Dr. Misner coaches you on this topic on CD 1 and 2 for your review. When you think about inviting and Dr. Misner s comment - Some will, some won t, so what it helps remove the sting of NO and helps keep everyone motivated to invite. BNI isn t for everyone! It s for those who are willing to commit their time, do the wind sprints and FOCUS! F O C U S Staying in touch with visitors you have invited, who say No, is so important because of several reasons. It continues to give good credible, professional recognition to the chapter and the success of the members. It s passive advertising. Imagine a past visitor saying to someone, No, I didn t join, but that chapter is great. They stay in touch with me and I can tell they are really doing a great job for members. It s a great way to always have an active warm funnel. NO COLD CALLING. How many visitors have you invited in the past who have said No to becoming a member? What do you think was the reason? A N A L Y Z E What do YOU think? When you think about who said No to your invitation, what was your level of VCP with them? Have you NOT invited people you are at Credibility with because you aren t sure how well your chapter will perform? What can we do to address this? Do you think those people would say No now? Why or why not? Are you keeping the door open with these people? If so, how are you doing that? T A K E A C T I O N Visitor Chart Page 8. Fill in the names of the people you said you would invite from the Visitor Hub brainstorming. Actually fill in as many of the columns as possible. What do you realize? BE THE FIRST TO VOLUNTEER AND SHARE IN OUR MEETING. Next Week Visitors, VCP and Being Choosy Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 15

Week 6 What to Say When We Invite First 2 minutes - Call on any member and ask: What was one thing you realized when you answered the questions in your Memory Jogger for last week? Last 3 minutes - This week s question: Listen to these 2 ways of inviting and then tell me which invitation you would be more likely to accept. OR I m in a referral group and we have members. We re interviewing (whatever the chair is) to see if we can find the right person to give all of our referrals to. Our meetings are (day and time and place) and I d like to invite you to our next meeting so you can meet the group and see if this is something you think could work for you. I ve been a part of this group for years and (percentage) of my overall business comes from this group. Will next week work for you or would another date be better? I m in this great organization and you ve really really got to come. I ll pick you up and drive you to the meeting. 1. Which are you more inclined to accept? Why? 2. Expand on the concept with members and assign the networking activity. And if you have a smaller chapter here is an invitation you can use. I d like to invite you to my Business Dynamo Meeting. We meet at 7 a.m. at The Meatloaf Diner. We are currently building our business team and looking for someone to represent the (chair). I thought of you, because this is a great opportunity to join a group that s building for success. YOUR NOTES Dr. Misner coaches you on this topic on CD 2 for your review. Dr. Misner coaches us that when we invite, never beg anyone to come to a meeting. Make it a professional invitation and remember you are doing them a favor by inviting them to a BNI Meeting. Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 16

Week 6 What to Say When We Invite From My Visitor Memory Jogger Dr. Misner coaches you on this topic on CD 2 for your review. When we invite, never beg anyone to come to a meeting. When we invite someone to a BNI meeting, we are doing them a favor. Desperate networking doesn t work and neither does desperate inviting. F O C U S No Desperate Inviting Really Interview Leave the Door Open When possible, invite with a personal phone call, not an email or a voice mail. The most effective method is calling. Practice practice practice until you can say your invitation comfortably and easily. When the visitor comes to the meeting, really interview the person. Find out what they can contribute to the chapter, and what they hope to get from the chapter. Ask them about their answers on the application. Have a dialogue with them. Take time to decide - Do I want this person to be my business partner for one, two, three or more years? WOW! Use the interviewing technique and we will get a higher percentage of people saying yes to coming to the meeting and a higher percentage of people joining. Desperation is not a good reason to invite. When we are desperate it makes it even more difficult for us to hear No! It also makes it difficult for someone to say No, and you don t want them to come to a meeting because they feel sorry for you! There is an easy and important way to leave the door open when someone says No. Simply ask them if it s okay to touch base with them on a quarterly basis. By getting their agreement to this, they will be open to your asking them on a quarterly basis. Continued Next Page Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 17

Practice your interview until you can say it in your sleep and it sounds like you are awake and alert! I N V I T E Practice Practice Practice I m in a referral group and we have members. We re interviewing (whatever the chair is) to see if we can find the right person to give all of our referrals to. Our meetings are (day and time and place) and I d like to invite you to our next meeting so you can meet the group and see if this is something you think could work for you. I ve been a part of this group for years and (percentage) of my overall business comes from these people. Will next week work for you or would another date be better? THE OTHER THING TO HAVE IN YOUR BACK POCKET We pass about referrals per month and generate about ($$$$) of business for each other each year. And if you have a smaller chapter here is an invitation you can use. I d like to invite you to my Business Dynamo Meeting. We meet at 7 a.m. at The Meatloaf Diner. We are currently building our business team and looking for someone to represent the (chair). I thought of you, because this is a great opportunity to join a group that s building for success. T A K E A C T I ON G R O W Y O U R B U S I N E S S Between now and the next chapter meeting, invite one person using the interviewing technique Dr. Misner coaches us on (in the INVITE box). Be ready to report how it went! Remember to CALL not email! And be prepared to LET US HEAR HOW YOU SAY YOUR INVITE! I have 1-to-1 s scheduled. I have made $ progress on my revenue goal. Is my close ratio is what I expected? Better than I expected? Next Week Visitors Best Practices Part 1 Copyright BNI/del Fuego Companies LLC Page 18