Episode 721: Don’t Let Your Group Deflate While You Wait/第721集: 不要讓你的團隊在等待中洩氣
第721集: 不要讓你的團隊在等待中洩氣
- '我不知道有誰可以邀請′
- '我們太小了，無法邀請訪客′
- '我想要一個不同的會員小組′
- '他們有一個利基業務′
- '我們的會議空間太小了′
- '我邀請的人沒有出現′
- '經濟不景氣′
- '經濟形勢太好′
- '在網上見面是行不通的′
- '我在等著親自見面′
- '我有Zoom的疲勞′
第721集的完整文字記錄
- '我不知道有誰可以邀請′
- '我們太小了，無法邀請訪客′
- '我想要一個不同的會員小組′
- '他們有一個利基業務′
- '我們的會議空間太小了′
- '我邀請的人沒有出現′
- '經濟不景氣′
- '經濟形勢太好′
- '在網上見面是行不通的′
- '我在等著親自見面′
- '我有Zoom的疲勞′
Okay.
Wow.
Episode 721: Don’t Let Your Group Deflate While You Wait
Print This EpisodeSynopsis
Is your chapter making excuses for not inviting visitors? Are you marking time waiting to go back to meeting in person? Don’t let your group deflate while you wait for the challenges to be over. In this week’s episode, Dr. Misner addresses all these excuses–most of which are the same excuses he’s been hearing for 36 years.
- ‘I don’t know anyone to invite.’
- ‘We’re too small to invite visitors.’
- ‘I want a different group of members.’
- ‘They have a niche business.’
- ‘Our meeting space is too small.’
- ‘People I invite don’t show up.’
- ‘The economy is not good.’
- ‘The economy is too good.’
- ‘Meeting online doesn’t work.’
- ‘I’m waiting to meet in person.’
- ‘I have Zoom fatigue.’
You can have excuses, or you can have success. It’s better to have Zoom fatigue than to have bankruptcy.
Members, I believe in you. You have to believe in yourself. And when you believe you can, you will. Use the resources that BNI provides, like this podcast. You can do this. Good economy, bad economy, Zoom fatigue, whatever the obstacle du jour happens to be, you can do this.
Ivan Misner
Mentioned in This Episode
- Episode 633
- Episode 244
- Episode 689
- Episode 659
- Fear of Rejection: Don’t Let It Stand in the Way of Your Success
Complete Transcript of Episode 721
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 and where are you?
Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla. I haven’t been traveling through Zoom or much of anything lately. As some of you may know, I had some of my health numbers spike. And so I went to a clinic for a couple of weeks. Got a lot of writing done, by the way, Priscilla, while I was there–I mean, a lot of writing. And my numbers have gone down, things are good. It’s an old issue that I’ve talked about, and go to my public Facebook page, and you’ll see information from time to time updating, but I’m doing great. And I look forward to Zooming around a lot again.
Priscilla:
Oh, that’s wonderful, Ivan. Well, we’re happy to know that you’re doing well.
Ivan:
Thank you. So this is an interesting topic. And I’ve been playing around with this in my mind for a couple of weeks. “Don’t Let Your Group Deflate While You Wait.”
So I’ve been thinking about all the reasons that people give for saying, “Well, you know, I can’t invite people right now.” And so here are some of them. And I’m going to talk about each one individually.
- ‘I don’t know anyone to invite.’
- ‘We’re too small to invite visitors.’
- ‘I want a different group of members.’
- ‘They have a niche business.’
- ‘Our meeting space is too small.’
- ‘People I invite don’t show up.’
- ‘The economy is not good.’
- ‘The economy is too good.’
- ‘Meeting online doesn’t work.’
- ‘I’m waiting to meet in person.’
- ‘I have Zoom fatigue.’
Do any of these sound familiar to you, Priscilla?
Priscilla:
Yes, yes.
Ivan:
Well, all except for the last few, they’re the same excuses that I’ve heard for 36 years! So let’s hit each one of them, one at a time if we can.
Priscilla:
Okay.
Ivan:
“I don’t know anyone to invite.”
Go and listen to Episode number 633. I once said that. I said that. “I don’t have anybody else to invite”. And I had a BNI Member who took me to school on that. And she gave me suggestions that, from her suggestions, I found a boatload of people that I could have been inviting. Listen to that episode to hear what I learned from a BNI Member and I’m sharing with you. You’ll find, if you do what I say there, that there may be a lot of people that you can still invite.
“We’re too small.” Number two, “we’re too small to invite visitors.”
If that’s holding you back, you’ll never grow. Do a Visitors Day. Check out episode number 505, where we talk about how to do a Visitors Day. And I have seen chapters who had 15 members do a Visitors Day and end up in the high 20s or 30s by doing a great, not just a marginal Visitors Day, but an all-out fantastic Visitors Day. And they got there. So don’t let that hold you back or you’ll never grow.
“I want a different group of members.”
That’s another one. Okay. Then create it! I know a person who said Look, if I want a different group of members because I can’t join, there are no other chapters that have my opening, so I’ve got to make this happen. So he got on the Membership Committee, he invited people he wanted into the group. You can be a curator of your chapter. He completely changed the chapter. He was the impetus to changing that chapter around and bringing in great members.
Ivan:
Here’s another one, number four. “Well, they have a niche business.”
Oh, really? Listen to Episode number 244. It’s about unique professions. Do you remember me talking about Norty Turchin, Priscilla, who sold commercial lightbulbs?
Priscilla:
Right.
Ivan:
That’s episode number 244. There is no more of a niche business than what Norty had. Check that out.
Here’s one that I think is just crazy. “Our meeting space is too small.”
Here’s a thought: move to a bigger space. Really? That’s an air sandwich as an excuse, there’s no meat to that. Find a bigger space. And don’t say there aren’t any. I have talked to people who said there aren’t any and then somebody else in that chapter found one. So they’re around, look for them.
“People I invite don’t show up.” That’s another one.
Okay, so this has happened to me. It’s happened to me. So I did a blog at www.IvanMisner.com about the fear of rejection. And in there I quote Dr. Mark Goulston, who’s been on our podcast a number of times, “We have a lot less control over winning or losing at something than we do over trying or quitting something. Always try. You can eventually win. If you always quit, you can never win.”
Keep inviting. You think I haven’t invited people who didn’t show up? I’m the founder of the organization, it happens to me. It’s okay. Having people not show up did not stop ME from pursuing success in the group I was a member of. So keep plugging away and do it right. There’s so many {BNI} podcasts on How to Invite; just do a search on inviting visitors. There’s a lot of podcasts on how to do it.
Ivan:
These two I’m gonna give you back-to-back. “The economy is not good.” “The economy is too good.”
I love those two, because I hear them both. When the economy is bad, “Oh the economy’s not good. It’s hard to invite people.” And then you know, a year later, “Oh the economy’s so good. I can’t invite people.”
The beauty of BNI is that when the economy is not good, people need BNI, because the economy is bad, and people are struggling. When the economy is good, people need BNI because their competition is making it difficult for them to be successful. BNI is one of the few businesses I have ever seen that when you have a recession – we’ve grown. When you have a booming economy – we’ve grown. It doesn’t matter what the economy is, the needs still exist.
Now, here’s a few that are more recent, that I didn’t hear two years ago.
“Meeting online doesn’t work.”
We know that’s not true. We’ve opened over 600 BNI chapters during the pandemic–over 600! We’ve added thousands of members during this time. Check out episode number 689, The Only Difference Between Online and Offline is the Spelling. It’s a great episode. It talks about the fact that online works; we know it works.
“I’m waiting to meet in person.”
Well, that is, by definition, “Don’t Let Your Group Deflate While You Wait.” That’s the perfect definition of it. That if you’re waiting, your group’s going to deflate, you don’t want to do that. So don’t wait to meet in person. Listen to episode number 659, Inviting Visitors is Easy Online. Priscilla, you said offline before we recorded, that you thought it was easier online than in-person?
Priscilla:
Yeah, I think so. Because nobody has to commute. You don’t lose any time before or after the meeting, you know, you can go right back to what you were doing. And it’s just so easy. You know, just sit in front of your computer and you’re there.
Ivan:
Yeah. And look, the numbers don’t lie. We’ve grown during the pandemic. And would I like to meet in person? Yeah, absolutely. Are we going to eventually go back to in person? Yeah, most likely, probably a hybrid. We don’t know. And I have so many members who are saying, “Well, we need to know, we need to know now.” “Why isn’t BNI telling us what to do now?” And I’ll tell you, because of COVID, this whole thing is sort of a moving target. And it’s important that we do this right.
And sometimes, and this is really important, sometimes you have to slow down in order to go fast. So I ask you, be patient. I am not, by nature, a patient man. This has tried my patience, along with most other people in the world. Wouldn’t you agree, Priscilla?
Priscilla:
Yes, definitely.
Ivan:
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we need. Patience. Take a deep breath.
Sometimes you have to slow down in order to go fast.
The last one is “I have Zoom fatigue.”
Don’t Let Your Group Deflate While You Wait. I love what one member said to me about this one. She said she told a member “Buck up Buttercup”. And she was right.
What if this happened in the 90s? What if COVID hit us in the 90s? You wouldn’t have Zoom fatigue. Those of you listening, you wouldn’t have Zoom fatigue, you’d have bankruptcy. I’d much rather have Zoom fatigue. Again, if this had happened in the 90s, we would be in so much trouble. But because of technology, we have the opportunity to not only survive, but to thrive. So move past the Zoom fatigue, don’t let it be an excuse for not thriving. Priscilla, I’ve got three questions for you.
Priscilla:
Okay.
Ivan:
Give me one word answers.
Priscilla:
Okay.
Ivan:
1. Are there challenges with inviting people today?
Priscilla:
Yes.
Ivan:
Were there challenges with inviting people in the past?
Priscilla:
Yes.
Ivan:
Do you think there will be challenges with inviting people in the future?
Priscilla:
I think so.
Ivan:
Yes. So listen, we’ve had challenges in the past. We have challenges today. We’re gonna have challenges in the future. Nothing’s gonna change with that. And the truth is excuses don’t bring results. They pretty much bring failure. There will always be challenges.
Don’t let your group deflate while you wait for the challenges to be over, because they’ll never be over. Candidly, most will be the same old challenges we’ve always had. Sometimes, there’ll be something new, like the online meeting issues and challenges. Most of you know this, but I need to say it as a preface to my next comment.
BNI’s Vision is about changing the way the world does business. We do that by helping people increase each other’s business through a structured, professional referral marketing platform. It’s important that we hold the vision, not the obstacle. Let me repeat that. It’s important. It’s important that we hold the vision, not the obstacle. When we hold the obstacle, we have trouble achieving success at anything, not just BNI. When we hold the vision, it leads us to success. And if we hold that vision really well, it leads others to success.
I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it over the last year and a half. A BNI chapter in the Philippines, the Iconic Chapter, passed 6130 referrals during COVID – 6000 referrals! A chapter in Qatar, actually the region of Qatar has 155 Members, they passed 83 million rials, the Qatar currency. 83 million in their region during the COVID period. A chapter in Hermosa Beach area BNI has done, they have 48 members, 48 members during COVID and they continue to pass referrals. During their {chapter} lifetime they’ve done $47 million. And they’re going strong in 2021 still. The Queen City Chapter in Vermont has done, they did, Priscilla, $239,000 in one week of this year, one week!
Priscilla:
Wow.
Ivan:
So you know, you can have excuses, or you can have success. Those same kinds of stories I’ve heard over and over from chapters and regions in Europe, in Africa, and India. If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’ll be right. I’ve been there. I’ve experienced this myself.
Think back to your first BNI meeting. Aren’t you glad someone got over all these hurdles we’re talking about and invited you? Think about the good experiences that you had early on in your journey with BNI. You deserved that experience and so do other people. Today is a great day to help others achieve success. And if you help enough other people achieve success, they’ll do the same for you. That’s what Givers Gain is all about. We have a 36-year track record on this.
Today is the tomorrow we were worried about yesterday. We can do this. Members, I believe in you. You have to believe in yourself. And when you believe you can, you will. Use the resources that BNI provides, like this podcast. You can do this. Good economy, bad economy, Zoom fatigue, whatever the obstacle du jour happens to be, you can do this. That’s my message for today, Priscilla.
Priscilla:
That’s a good one, Ivan. And so timely because I know that our chapter is struggling trying to invite visitors. And I’m sure that other ones are also.
Ivan:
Yes. And it really takes a concerted effort on the chapter to recognize the opportunities that exist and run with the opportunities and not focus on the challenges. I’ve talked about the book, The Solutions Focus, by my friend, Mark McKergow. And he says if all you do is focus on problems, you become an expert at the problems. But if you focus on solutions, you become an expert on solutions.
So I advise your chapter and other chapters to sit down and brainstorm and say, “What were we doing when things were great? And how can we get back there?” Forget about the obstacles. Let’s talk about the solutions. And if you focus on the solutions, and you have the entire team, the overwhelming majority of the team, the chapter, focus on that you can do this. Other chapters are doing it. You can do it too.
Priscilla:
Right. You’re so right.
Ivan:
Thanks Priscilla.
Priscilla:
Okay, Ivan, that was very inspiring, I have to say. Well, I think that’s it for this week. I’d just like to say that this podcast is sponsored by www.misneraudioprograms.com. These audio programs will provide you with the tools and inspiration to powerfully enhance your BNI experience and help you boost your business. So check out the great material that’s available to you at www.misneraudioprograms.com and use the promo code IVAN50 for 50% off all the audio programs [this code is good for a limited time]. All of the proceeds are going to go to the BNI Foundation. So thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.
https://www.bnipodcast.com/2021/08/25/episode-721-dont-let-your-group-deflate-while-you-wait/
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