How to get silent business referrals..

Google+ is the new (I say new, but it's been around for a while now) social media platform from Google.
It has been mistakenly dismissed by many business owners and that will be there own loss if they continue to do so. 
In this post I'll explain why you should take advantage of Google+ and its +1 button (Googles 'Like') and show you how it will be a great extension of your business networking in Ware and Hertford.

Which is the biggest search engine on the internet?

I've been plugging Google+ pretty much from the very beginning. Google has tried a social media platform before and it failed, but Google+ is going to succeed, they won't let it fail. 
Google is the biggest search engine on the internet and they make a fortune from the adverts (known as Adwords Pay Per Click) that are placed when someone searches for something. However the key thing you should be interested in for marketing your business are the organic & local display which are below the beige box at the top of a search display.

So how does Google+ help my business & business networking?

Obviously Google will favour it's own social media network over any other, it may not be fair but that's the way it is and I'd do the same thing. Google is bringing it's services together, you now only have one login username for all services and you can operate the Google services that you use from the top bar. 
Google whether you realise it or not has already brought Google+ and search together 
If you've got a Google account are on Google+ and performed a search, lets say for an electrician, If you are following a friend or acquaintance in one of your circles (Google's version of friends or connections) and that person has has given a local electrician that they know a +1 on their website or G+ page, something great happens. 

Google takes that as a recommendation and will show you that electricians website or G+ page in the search results and it will let you know by the side of the listing too. Can you see how powerful G+ can be for your business?
Google also now has a linking feature so with a bit of code you can link your website and page together to help get you seen in searches.

An extension of a BNI Chapter for more business networking 24 hours a day

Now that we know how big Google+ can be for our businesses, imagine you are in a BNI chapter with 40+ members and all of those members have been onto your website and page, they've circled you so they receive your updates and they've given you a +1 too, when people who are following them now search for your service or product guess who they're going to see in the search?

So let's do the maths imagine you have 40 members in your BNI chapter promoting your service, and each of those has just 100 people following them - that's potentially 4000 people looking at your product or service. 
Now imagine they have 500 and trust me as G+ grows this will be the norm and a low figure at that, I've been on G+ since the beginning and now have 548 people who have circled me, so 40 x 500 would be 20,000 people potentially looking at your product or service.

If we said just 1% of those people turned in to customers or clients that would be 200 new customers or clients for your business.
Would that be okay?

But it doesn't stop there, if you have lots of +1s and your members are leaving reviews/ testimonials for you on Google Local then that opens you up to everyone else who is on the internet that needs your product or service. How does that work for getting silent referrals 24/7.

If you're not a BNI member and would like to come along to a business networking meeting in Hertford/ Ware to see how we can work together to help each others business then give me a call on 07940 846 413


To your success
Paul Jennings

PS catch up with me on Google+ - you can also visit My Page


PSS make sure you're on Google Local too, here's the link, it's free and takes about 10 minutes to set up.

What's a referral worth to our businesses?

Our networking group has been going (officially) for just over six months, and it's been a fantastic six months that has seen the group grow, and we've passed a great amount of business that totals on the £300,000 mark, we've passed 1,180 referrals which means each referral passed is worth on average £254.24. 

As mentioned in a previous post we measure this via referral slips and through the Thank You For The Money box, as far as I know we're the only networking group that does this to prove it's effectiveness and that it works for the members.

Of course the referrals system and TYFTM box doesn't generally take in to account, what we call 'Tiered' referrals, ie those referrals that come from referrals, a customer or client that has referred you on to their friends or family, this could mean that as it spreads out to a wider network, I'd expet if we were able to track these second, third or fourth plus tiers we could easily double the value of being part of a BNI group..... Just a thought.

I know one thing, in my years in networking, I've always had the best return on investment from BNI over any other networking group and it's well worth the investment, effort and commitment. 


To your success

Paul

My BNI Journey - Mark Stewart - Beanebytes Web Design

My name is Mark Stewart and I am the owner of www.beanebytes.com

I was first introduced to BNI in February 2012. At the time I had been running my business for only a short while and was frustrated with the levels of return on my marketing and sales expenditure.

As such it was with a certain amount of trepidation I attended my first meeting for a new BNI chapter in Ware, Hertfordshire.

The idea of networking had never really appealed to me as I expected it to be full of stuffy types in suits with lots to say about themselves.

A year down the line and I'm now a fully fledged, active member of the BNI Endeavour Hertford & Ware Networking group and enjoying every minute of my BNI experience.

Being a member of BNI has brought huge dividends not only to my business in terms of growth and revenue but also in my personal development.

At the start of my BNI journey the idea of public speaking horrified me.

My confidence in public speaking and selling myself to potential clients has grown beyond my expectations and this is largely due to my involvement with BNI.

I feel really grateful to be part of a vibrant group of local business owners from all trades and walks in life.

For any new business owner I could not recommend BNI more highly. 

Mark.

You can catch up with Mark on Google+ 

Top networking tips

I've personally been networking for a few years now, so I'd like to think I've got a bit of experience in the field and of various networking groups, Now I often see networking faux pars so I thought I'd put this networking tips post up.

• Don't expect anything. - This may sound like a strange one really, since we go to networking groups to get more business! The attitude you should enter any networking group or meeting with is that of making contacts to build relationships with and of how can you help people. I've met people over 5 years ago and it's only now that anything has come from it and not exactly how I would have thought either
• Be yourself. - People buy from people so don't try and be something your not, people generally get an unconscious signal if you're being false, then they just won't trust you
• Business cards are not confetti. - Forget just going to give out as many cards as you can or collect cards and add them to your email newsletter - It's just plain rude. Let me reiterate, networking is about building relationships
    
• Make the most of it. - Get their early and stay to the last, I've often found the best conversations happen nearer to the end of a meeting, so I always stay as late as I can, this may mean leaving extra time in your diary after, so you're not anxious to get out
• Ask open-ended questions. - So that the conversation isn't killed with a yes or no reply Such as questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how.  By using this it opens up the discussion and shows people you are talking to that you are interested in them
• Don't dismiss anyone as irrelevant. - this has happened to me on a number of occasions, such as butting into a conversation between 2 people and taking it in a different direction so it excludes the 3rd person or asking for someones card and then giving it back because you know someone from their profession for example. It didn't make me feel good and one of them in particular, I could have passed business to, also you don't know who they know
• Keep in touch. - Add them to you contacts database and follow them on twitter and linkedIn etc to continue building the relationship. Also make notes so you can follow up later, such as if you are talking about their next holiday note down where and when they are going, and bring it up next time you see them
• Get involved. - Consider taking up a role in a networking group, it builds your profile rapidly.

• Be Happy. - This is possibly the biggest tip and that's why I saved it until last and that is Smile, Nobody wants to talk to someone who looks miserable. 

Happy networking

Paul

Open networking meeting at the Hertford and Ware business showcase

Endeavour the new dynamic Business Referral Group for Ware and Hertford open meeting Thursday 27^th September at the Roebuck Hotel

As part of the first Hertford and Ware Showcase the ‘Endeavour’ business referral group are delighted to support and open this event with an Open by invitation meeting at 7:45am.

Say Hello to your new sales team!

THIRTY well connected and experienced Hertford & Ware based business people planning to share £1 million worth of new business opportunities through each other’s professional and personal contacts. Endeavour use BNI’s (Business Networking International) globally proven strategies to maximise every members opportunity to win new business. The strict application process ensures only the best local professions and trades become members. Having only one business per profession, guarantees maximum exposure for every business member.

This is a great opportunity for good businesses in Hertford, Ware & surrounding areas to experience this successful dynamic group. So come and meet your new sales team. 

Click here to email and book your place for Thursday 27^th September 07:45 – 09:30am at the Roebuck Hotel, 1 Baldock Street, Ware, SG12 9DR. 

There is a £10 meeting fee and a light breakfast and refreshments will be provided.

Lock out your competitors, call us now.
                              Ring Martin: 07710 353 054; Dayle: 07515 050 392

“It’s time to breathe new life into the local economy and maximise the amount of business to increase profits, it’s not easy but it works” - Dayle Guy

The power of Power teams

Another lively meeting this morning with BNI Endeavour, packed with energy and plenty of activity showing that we're getting closer to our goal of 40 Members passing over £1,000,000 worth of business in the Hertford & Ware area.

Wendy receiving her new member pack

We'd like to welcome 2 new members Wendy Stevenson from PS Cleaning and George Hughes from Alex Clarke Lettings The Pictures show them both receiving their new member packs from our Chapter Director David West. We look forward to learning more about them and their business and helping them grow their businesses over the coming weeks and months ahead. 

George receiving his new member pack

In BNI we have what we call power teams, a networking power team is a collective of businesses within the chapter that have synergy, Therefore can work well together. You also find that a member will get the majority of referrals from their power team and we certainly saw a power team in action this morning when our builder Matthew Aubery of Aubery Homes gave out a massive 11 referrals to members of the construction (or trades) power team.
We're currently still looking for members from the construction industry such as a gardener, carpenter, tiler and painter/ decorator among others so if that's you and you'd like to get in on this power team action I'd suggest you get in touch ASAP before your competitor does and locks you out.

This weeks 10 minute speaker was, well erm..... me. I had fantastic feedback from the members saying how good my 10 minutes was. I gave the chapter an insight into my business as an Independent  Distributor for The Utility Warehouse Discount Club and I think I covered all the bases after going on the presentation skills workshop on Monday. I covered a bit about me and how I joined Utility Warehouse, Why I think the company has integrity and what makes the company so unique to other Mobile phone, Home Phone, Broadband, Gas and Electricity suppliers and the (over 40) benefits of switching. 

I did learn one extra thing about presenting though and that is always have a glass of water to hand. 

We had lots of contributions today even if you exclude Matthews fantastic 11 referrals, We had a total of 34 referrals, and 6 visitors in attendance and several testimonials. 




To your networking success 
Paul

Training for networking for success

Part of the success of BNI is the training, that the members can attend, which helps them to become a better member and increase their skills in Networking, presentation, chapter development among other workshops and therefore able to give something more to the group. These trainings not only help business owners in their chapter but they also learn skills that they can use in their business too. The best thing about the trainings is that it's all included as part of the membership, where if you went on a course you could pay hundreds of pounds for these courses.

The first training Endeavour did together was Member success training which is a condensed training of the other trainings along with covering what BNI is all about, The philosophy, mission and polices. The training covers how to give a good 60 seconds presentation, how to find and give good referrals and what a good referral is and how to find and invite visitors to the chapter.

Personally I've been networking since 2005 and been to many other networking groups and the thing that sets BNI apart is it's training for members that helps them to 'give' to the group and it's philosophy 'Givers Gain'. At many other groups, members are left to network on their own and a lot of them just go to a meeting just looking to sell, this way of networking is just not sustainable as no business is being passed around, With BNI training and specifically the referral skills workshop, members are trained in techniques to easily find referrals for their fellow members, which means more business is being passed within the group and as the membership grows, it is found that the referrals grow exponentially.

At BNI Endeavour we're working to grow our group to 40+ members, which means we'll each have at least 39 other people looking for business for us on a weekly basis, if your business could use that size team helping you to grow your Hertford or Ware business then get in contact and come along to one of our meetings.


To your success 
Paul J