- Is Business Network International (BNI) a worthwhile organization?
- Will it benefit you?
- What can they do for your business?
- What are they?
BNI, in the simplest terms, is an organization to help business owners network and promote their business to other local business owners. The premise is that by networking with your fellow BNI business owners, they will then be able to promote your business to their family, friends, business clients, …
They are similar to numerous other groups, amongst others, your local Chamber of Commerce. The key differences from other networking groups are:
- BNI supposedly only allows one business per category to join as a member
- Require a minimum level of referrals per week/month from their members
Single Business per Category
On its face, this is a great concept. By having only one business per business category in each chapter, you ensure that you have no competition and thus all the members should privilege you for all their referrals within your category.
This is great in theory. In my experience, this turns out not to be the reality. This sacred BNI rule, is overlooked as long as business is being made!
Mandatory Production at BNI Meetings
As a member, at the weekly meetings, you are expected to give qualified referrals to your fellow members. Expected may be a little weak a term, because if you do not meet a minimal (monthly) level of production, you will be kicked out of the group (and you are not reimbursed your membership fees).
This mandatory production is solely based on quantity and not quality. Thus, the individual generating a $15.00 referral every week for the florist in the group will be in good standing within the group. However, the individual who only gives 2 referral totaling $12,000.00 would be kicked out. So it is all a numbers game at the end of the day. So what you end up seeing is either bogus referrals given just to generate numbers for the individual or partnership created between 2 or 3 member who pass referrals back and forth week after week.
What to Truly Think of BNI
Having risen to the highest post within a BNI chapter, as the vice-president (the president hold no real power as is merely a figure head) I will say, in my humble opinion, BNI is a business networking group like any other. Do not go into this group thinking people there are your friends. They may be very friendly, may say nice things to your face, but if they can make a quick buck by going behind your back, lying to you, they will. These are business people, and typically, all they care about is $$$. Just don’t think any otherwise. As long as you go into this group without any premade expectation, it may be beneficial to you.
They always promote the line “Giver Gain”, but the reality that I experienced seems to disagree with the supposed fundamental philosophy. Members care only about you to the extent that you give them referrals. Most chapters have clicks within them, and you irk the wrong member, you may be out before you were ever in. But then again, I guess this is sadly true of almost any group.
I was personally very disappointed with regional management here in Montreal, in the sense that they didn’t uphold their own rules at the end of the day. I found the rule don’t apply, or are greatly overlooked, if money is being made.
I know several people that have prospered within BNI. I also know countless people that didn’t get a single referral, or didn’t get enough to recoup their membership fees little alone actually prosper from their membership. Some of it has to do with the individual, how outgoing and social they are, and some of it has to do with product. Most members are small business people, with little to no technical knowledge. They are incapable (typically – there can be a few exceptions however) of providing referrals to large business, or niche markets. They can however help promote businesses whose services and products target the average person! This is why people such as, insurance brokers, accountants, massage therapist, … can do very well in these groups because they can easily be referred to almost anyone. However, a software developer is a very hard referral and would probably do better focusing their marketing energies elsewhere. In my opinion and experience, a company primarily focused on B2B is better looking elsewhere.
Note that BNI requires a substantial investment of time. You are only allowed to miss 2 meetings a year. Attendance in mandatory, as is production. Meetings last a good 2 hours and then you are required to have weekly meetings with your fellow members, special events, and if you accept to take a role within the chapter you can easily take up 1-2 days a week. Some people say that BNI will have a return of 55000$/yr. I do not know where they get such numbers! I can state that in 2.5 years, I netted under 3000$. Deduct the annual fees, meal costs, cost of the commute, … and I was making less than a laborer in some third world nation.
I will also state that a colleague of mine, instead of joining a specific BNI chapter, decided to jump from chapter to chapter, as a visiting guest, week after week. Not only did it not cost them a penny to join a chapter, this approach landed them a lot more business then I ever did as a member for 2.5+ years. They got a lot more exposure because instead of being isolated to just those businesses within a single chapter, every week they met new business people in a new chapter. So think hard before joining a Chapter!
