The BNI would like me to go along to the next meeting. Whilst I would normally pour water on this, there is a side of me tempted. The £1000 pa though would seem scandalous. I'm doing fine right now but... well, you know I wondered if it might be a long term strategy?
I posted the other day to pour scorn on the idea, but like anything it cogitates away at you.
My peers here will no doubt give me some HQ advice?...I ope.
I went along to my first BNI meeting last week - the good points, as I see it, are it is very organised, the meetings are well attended and there is a good membership base so the networking opportunities are there. It is also easy to see the success as referrals are passed "publicly" and there are mentions of thanks for business with values attached.
The downsides are you have to attend each and every week though you can send a substitute in your place - you are allowed 3 absenses in a 6 month period. Also it is quite regimented which a lot of people dont seem to like and you can only be a member of one chapter at any time. There is also an expectation on each member to find referrals each week (as well as to receive them) which is bad initially for many as it will be hard to do with no experience and possibly a limited contact base but good as it means everyone is contributing - giving and getting.
What I am doing is attending some different meetings within the BNI as there are variances between groups and also other networking groups to evaluate them all and then decide which of them is right for our business.
I look forward to hearing your experiences with the BNI. From all that has been said, I just know this would not work for me.
I just simply could not sell my customers out like that. If I have a customer buying Blue Widgets, I could not say to them and maintain professionalism in the Blue Widget market by suggesting they buy Green Gizmo's (let alone the Data Protection issues if I was to simply pass their details on to my local BNI Green Gizmo seller).
So cutting that aside, it turns into a cattle market of cross selling between members - great - but that is a slippery slope of paying over the odds.
The referral side of BNI makes the whole thing come across as a scam to make no one but the organisers money imho.
It worries me when one of their suggestions is BNI Scams, it worries me when I see 'related searches' like pyramid selling fraud, business network international scams etc etc.
I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, I'd spend £1000 on Google adwords instead...just my take.
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