For those of you in BNI/Chamber groups ...

[thecomputerguy]

I'm currently in a BNI group and have been for about 3 years. As of officially opening my business I already had a pretty solid client base of 80% business and 20% residential. Currently BNI is my only form of marketing which I am OK with because I am still a one man show servicing mostly businesses and am successful enough to pay mortgage/bills, and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle with my partner.

As of joining BNI I had plenty of time/motivation to grow so I was taking on anything and everything. I've since tried to change my focus in BNI to business only because residential was taking too much time/effort to make it worthwhile.

In the first two years of BNI I was able to pick up 2 pretty decent business clients and I thought I'd be fine picking up 1-3 solid business clients a year since I already had a good base and I didn't want to overwhelm myself, pepper in some residentials and it was all good.. This third year I haven't picked up anything even remotely substantial at all from BNI.

I'm finding it difficult no matter how hard I try to express that I want business only, to get small office clients. I'm finding that I am the goto "computer guy" and getting referrals like... I need help getting the pictures off my phone, or my 7 year old Dell is running slow, or the WiFi on my laptop is intermittent. These types of jobs are so underwhelming because of the amount of attention the client requires is huge, and for 1 hour of labor + drive time it becomes barely worth it. Thankfully I do have an office for drop-offs but today more than anytime in the past, people don't want to haul their junk in even if it's cheaper for them.

My current costs for BNI are $410 a year + $70 a month and with the residential jobs I DO take on I am probably just breaking even on membership costs (because I do still take them mainly as favors). However there is a computer company in EVERY surrounding BNI and I am reluctant to give up my spot, and I just think I'm doing something wrong or something. I don't want to dog BNI but my group has the regular career members (insurance, mortgage, real estate), but it's mostly filled with people just scraping by selling jewelry, clothes, diet plans, pills, hypnotherapy, and other weird stuff. If these people are dabbling in something to try it out and barely making it, It makes me feel like it would be pretty difficult to get a quality referral from them.

I'm finding that the majority of my better referrals comes from my already existing business clients.

Any thoughts? how is everyone else doing in these types of groups?

 

[thecomputerguy]

Just today I had 2 referrals from BNI one was a lady I talked to for 15 minutes about her wireless not working, and I told her I could come out in 2-4 hours or tomorrow around 4PM. She said she had no time for me to come out today but she needed it fixed before tonight so she could get her work done but I couldn't login to her laptop because she had no internet ... stumped me there.

Second guy has a non-booting 8 year old XP computer with probably a bad hard drive. Thankfully he's bringing it in but the way he was questioning prices/data recovery prices leads me to believe the computer will probably leave at my diagnostic fee no matter what is wrong with it ($35) even though I told him he's probably going to end up needing a new computer because I can't recommend to repair ANY computer with XP on it.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I'm currently in a BNI group and have been for about 3 years. As of officially opening my business I already had a pretty solid client base of 80% business and 20% residential. Currently BNI is my only form of marketing which I am OK with because I am still a one man show servicing mostly businesses and am successful enough to pay mortgage/bills, and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle with my partner.

As of joining BNI I had plenty of time/motivation to grow so I was taking on anything and everything. I've since tried to change my focus in BNI to business only because residential was taking too much time/effort to make it worthwhile.

In the first two years of BNI I was able to pick up 2 pretty decent business clients and I thought I'd be fine picking up 1-3 solid business clients a year since I already had a good base and I didn't want to overwhelm myself, pepper in some residentials and it was all good.. This third year I haven't picked up anything even remotely substantial at all from BNI.

I'm finding it difficult no matter how hard I try to express that I want business only, to get small office clients. I'm finding that I am the goto "computer guy" and getting referrals like... I need help getting the pictures off my phone, or my 7 year old Dell is running slow, or the WiFi on my laptop is intermittent. These types of jobs are so underwhelming because of the amount of attention the client requires is huge, and for 1 hour of labor + drive time it becomes barely worth it. Thankfully I do have an office for drop-offs but today more than anytime in the past, people don't want to haul their junk in even if it's cheaper for them.

My current costs for BNI are $410 a year + $70 a month and with the residential jobs I DO take on I am probably just breaking even on membership costs (because I do still take them mainly as favors). However there is a computer company in EVERY surrounding BNI and I am reluctant to give up my spot, and I just think I'm doing something wrong or something. I don't want to dog BNI but my group has the regular career members (insurance, mortgage, real estate), but it's mostly filled with people just scraping by selling jewelry, clothes, diet plans, pills, hypnotherapy, and other weird stuff. If these people are dabbling in something to try it out and barely making it, It makes me feel like it would be pretty difficult to get a quality referral from them.

I'm finding that the majority of my better referrals comes from my already existing business clients.

Any thoughts? how is everyone else doing in these types of groups?

100 % matches my experience with it. Stonecat will be along soon to praise the wonders of it and that is great. There are some BNI groups that are good fits but most I've found are composed like you state and are totally worthless. If your local BNI membership doesn't have business contacts that are conducive to new business then it is a waste of your money.

 

[thecomputerguy]

100 % matches my experience with it. Stonecat will be along soon to praise the wonders of it and that is great. There are some BNI groups that are good fits but most I've found are composed like you state and are totally worthless. If your local BNI membership doesn't have business contacts that are conducive to new business then it is a waste of your money.

The thing that really bothers me about BNI is the whole philosophy is based around the givers gain ... basically work your ass off for everyone else and they will re-pay the favor. I barely have enough time/energy to work my ass off for myself, how the hell am I going to refer a lady who buys your gold? or a person who sells a diet plan? or a person who sells $80 shirts to other women? or a person who sells make-up?

And in turn who the hell are they going to refer to me?! Their girlfriend who buys a shirt from them once a year to humor them?

I'm currently the "web guy" for our BNI chapter and I'm in charge of maintaining our BNI website/facebook. I upload pictures once in awhile to the FB but why exactly would I spend so much time maintaining the chapter website/FB when I barely have time to maintain my own? I've been asked multiple times by the leadership team to go and spruce up our website and I'm like .. "yea ... I'll be on that".

I dunno maybe I just have a shitty attitude about it.

I commend the people who help run the group, I KNOW it takes a lot of time and effort out of their day but they seem like the type of people who are older, semi-retired, doing something for supplemental income, and have the time to do it.

 

[gadgetfixup]

We don't have any BNI in our area but we have the Chamber and this sort of nonsense was my experience while we were Chamber members. Just a waste of time and money, which is the same thing in my book. Our chamber was a mix of two types of members, Corporates and very small business owners struggling to get through their first year. Very few potential customers in that crowd for us.

If you don't see new members coming into the network and you've already marketed to the prospects that are there then I think it's time to spend more money more wisely. In our area you can get a box ad in the local yellowbook for $50 a month. For sure that would bring you more business than seeing the same old faces all the time.

I'd give up that spot to anyone that wants it. Let someone else be the free advice and free website guy for the group. IMO, you're wasting your time and your money.

 

[AlexanderCS]

I've found it seems to be one way or the other: Some areas the Chamber/BNI is valuable, others it is worthless.

I'm currently on the Board of Directors for our local Chamber. We have monthly breakfasts. I create the PowerPoint and MC the breakfasts. I personally want to improve upon my public speaking skills, so that's a benefit for me.

Referrals? Not all the time, but it keeps my name out there. For a 2 hour breakfast each month, that's not much of my time and if it keeps me in people's minds, great. I've had business owners that I get the "I'll keep you in mind" from where you don't think it'll lead anywhere, then 6 months down the road their computer goes and here they come.

Even if I didn't get business from it at all, our Chamber has a number of partnerships. One is with an insurance group. My girlfriend and I were paying just over $400/mo for our vehicles. Together on that plan, we now pay just over $200, total. That benefit alone pays for my membership and then some. That's not counting what we'll save on house insurance once we own one. That's from a single partnership. We also have member to member discounts, which aren't as exciting, but still appreciated if you shop at your local businesses.

Personally, the Chamber is worth it for me. For some, I'm sure it's a worthless time-sink, depending on your area and what benefits and partnership opportunities your region offers.

 

[callthatgirl]

lol@stonecat comment, he does love his BNI.

I never could get into it. I think back in the day when I had time and was doing break/fix...the early am meetings killed me (even as a guest) and then the fee's I just couldn't bite into because I was killing it with social media (2007-2008), so I saw no need when I owned the biggest Linkedin Group in the state of MN, bigger than BNI across the state. But I do see the value of it and committing and networking.

You need a bigger boat dude. BNI is not the boat for you it seems.

 

[CLC]

I've belonged to the local chamber for more than a year and have yet to make it to a meeting, never have the time.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Stonecat will be along soon to praise the wonders of it and that is great.

Then why should I bother with that "warning" to him. Have quite a bit of advice on how to get what you need out of BNI...but screw it.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Then why should I bother with that "warning" to him. Have quite a bit of advice on how to get what you need out of BNI...but screw it.

Because for you it works very well and that information is valuable. Sorry I wasn't knocking you. I know that it works well for you and your a big supporter of it. BNI is great when it is well run. It's not in my area. :-(

 

[ATechG]

I think the BNI 10 minute presentation is very valuable in hammering home the specific referrals that you need. Name specific companies and contacts - you would be surprised who knows a valuable contact at the company you have been trying to get a foothold in for months.

I definitely hear where you are coming from and have had those frustrating onesy twosie home referrals - but those same home users have also given me some exceptional MSP clients. Humor the light requests - its worth it in the end. I think there is definitely some variety among chapters, but find yourself a strong chapter and you wont regret it.

 

[TenYardFight]

You are building trust with each interaction in your group. Trust leads to referrals. It's possible your BNI is failing you, but I think you might have been right when you suggested it could have something to do with what you are putting in.

 

[doubleohalex]

I'm currently in a BNI group and have been for about 3 years. As of officially opening my business I already had a pretty solid client base of 80% business and 20% residential. Currently BNI is my only form of marketing which I am OK with because I am still a one man show servicing mostly businesses and am successful enough to pay mortgage/bills, and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle with my partner.

As of joining BNI I had plenty of time/motivation to grow so I was taking on anything and everything. I've since tried to change my focus in BNI to business only because residential was taking too much time/effort to make it worthwhile.

In the first two years of BNI I was able to pick up 2 pretty decent business clients and I thought I'd be fine picking up 1-3 solid business clients a year since I already had a good base and I didn't want to overwhelm myself, pepper in some residentials and it was all good.. This third year I haven't picked up anything even remotely substantial at all from BNI.

I'm finding it difficult no matter how hard I try to express that I want business only, to get small office clients. I'm finding that I am the goto "computer guy" and getting referrals like... I need help getting the pictures off my phone, or my 7 year old Dell is running slow, or the WiFi on my laptop is intermittent. These types of jobs are so underwhelming because of the amount of attention the client requires is huge, and for 1 hour of labor + drive time it becomes barely worth it. Thankfully I do have an office for drop-offs but today more than anytime in the past, people don't want to haul their junk in even if it's cheaper for them.

My current costs for BNI are $410 a year + $70 a month and with the residential jobs I DO take on I am probably just breaking even on membership costs (because I do still take them mainly as favors). However there is a computer company in EVERY surrounding BNI and I am reluctant to give up my spot, and I just think I'm doing something wrong or something. I don't want to dog BNI but my group has the regular career members (insurance, mortgage, real estate), but it's mostly filled with people just scraping by selling jewelry, clothes, diet plans, pills, hypnotherapy, and other weird stuff. If these people are dabbling in something to try it out and barely making it, It makes me feel like it would be pretty difficult to get a quality referral from them.

I'm finding that the majority of my better referrals comes from my already existing business clients.

Any thoughts? how is everyone else doing in these types of groups?

It really depends on the group and how it is being run. I think every group will have the tire kickers that waste your time or expect more service than they're willing to pay for. The same people that seem to only refer themselves. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but fits inline with your complaints. Especially if you're not getting quality leads along with them.

Are you direct and specific during your weekly commercials about referrals you're looking for? Asking about specific companies works a lot better than generalizing your commercial. Asking if anyone in the group has a contact at "ABC Company" rather than asking for people to send "anyone" looking for computer help your way.

My experience with BNI has been positive and inline with what Stonecat has said in the past. He can probably get a lot deeper into what works/doesn't work as he was in BNI for a lot longer than I have been.

Your group seems to be a little bit more expensive than mine...$70 per month??? We pay $65 a quarter ontop of the yearly fee.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Alright I'll answer.

Yes BNI worked for me, and it worked (and is still working) for my colleague. He was doing it before I joined...he's been doing it for over 10 years now. I joined a few years after he started...I joined a different chapter. I did it for almost 8 years....with my final year culminating in me being the president of the chapter I was in. I left due to some **** happening in my personal life, I couldn't muster my resources enough to keep doing it right..needed my mornings free for a bit. Will likely return in another year, I do miss it.

When my colleague first joined his chapter, back then we were probably making between 250k-300k annually. Last year we finally topped the million mark...and looking at our client list, much of that was thanks to BNI.

*You get out of BNI what you put into it. Gee..just like your business. Don't expect to join..and be handed referrals.

*The "quiet types" don't often do well in BNI, you need to be outgoing, vocal, join the events that the group does together to build camaraderie, and get tight knit with the other members. I know a lot of "computer people" are typically the socially challenged quiet types. To success in BNI, you need to step outside of your comfort zone and be outgoing, funny, loud, command a big presence.

*Educate the group in what you do! Those sales manager minutes...use them wisely. When you do your big presentations...REALLY use those to educate the group in what you do. Don't talk about computer tuneups and antivirus and fixing laptops...that only makes people think you're a residential computer guy. Take the opportunity of the big presentation to really educate the group in how you are MSP and take care of business clients. I showed them things that make it clear I am here for office/business networks. Various topics such as *Designing and installing network wiring for an office, having a wiring closet for the router and switches, wireless access points. *Servers..selecting, installing, maintenance. Workstations..same thing. Monitoring servers, care of servers, monthly MSP services such as spam filtering, and various types of offsite backup, managed services. Almost even time I brought in a brochure that had pictures of server rooms and wiring closet setups we've done. I brought my laptop in a few times...and showed them our N-Able RMM portal...how it looks to us, how we get alerts. I talked about domains, registration, management of them, how vanity/custom e-mail works and how we set that up on Exchange servers and manage it.

*I brought in some visuals...ultra small form factor business desktops, Datto backup appliances, Untangle firewalls, Ubiquiti wireless APs, Lenovo Thinkpad laptops.

*Choose the BNI group you join wisely, checkout the different ones around you. If you can...I do realize many groups already have a computer nerd. I figured out some key players in groups that are universally good for the IT guy. Find a group that has a strong Lawyer, Accountant, and Web Design guy. I know web design may step on the toes of some computer peeps...I don't do web design. For years we enjoyed a great partnership with a large web design house that was in the first BNI group that I joined....he referred tons of business clients to us, and we referred tons of web design clients to him. You are allowed to transfer to another BNI chapter. I did that...the original group I was in started changing to a group of small various healthcare professions...massage, diet, various homeopathic health techniques...basically a group of small 1 person shows that in no way was what I was going for. So I looked around, felt out other groups...and found one closer to my house anyways and transferred to it. Was a good move for me.

*Yes many BNI members will test you with little things like their own computer repair, stuff like that. They need to test you with little jobs...before they can trust you and refer you to friends/colleagues of theirs with big jobs. They don't want to get egg on their face.

*Do 1 on 1's with the members...this is where you can further educate them. I often had meetings at my office...where other BNI members could see our server room, and see servers and firewalls and switches getting built in our office, and see our big screen TV showing monitoring of various stuff.

*Keep track of the big picture. How much did you make through the BNI. Between the food, BNI fees, chapter dues...and donations you make to fund raisers they have..you can spend 1500 or 2000 or more a year. I can quickly go through a few clients we've gotten through BNI...heck one of them more than covered the entire 8 years I did BNI...I made a 12 grand server install from that one. He's still a client with monthly backup services, and occasionally a new workstation. We have a dentist office...great monthly MSP. We just did an onsite 2 weeks ago at a new and surprisingly large multi-location chiropractors office..to take over from his prior IT guy who is getting the boot. This one will likely be a 2000+ per month MSP client. You may go through a dry spell...but keep your eye on the big picture. And if you're hedging towards business clients in your area...if this BNI chapters represents some good businesses in your area, do you want to give up that seat to some competitor?

 

[Rosco]

like oldestonecat said you have to put in a lot of work. You have to do 1 to 1s every week. Computer services are an intangible so it will take long to get business referred. You will have to build trust.

You also have to be outgoing. If you put the work in and have a good group it will work. Last year world wide BNI members earned like 5 billion in referrals. It does work. My area has 9 chapters and we passed 3.5 millions in referrals to each other.

 

[Bryce W]

YeOldStoneCat was extremely generous sharing his BNI/Social tips in the most recent TN podcast if any of your missed it: https://www.technibble.com/how-to-gain-managed-service-clients-with-old-school-networking/

 

[gikstar]

If there are other BNI groups in your area that doesn't have an IT guy, then I suggest that you change groups.

 

[HCHTech]

I would echo YOSC's comments. I'm in the residential & SOHO market, so my "big takes" are way smaller than his, but it is still profitable enough to keep me renewing each year. For me, there are lots of onesie/twosies, but the occasional big referral is definitely worth the price of admission. I got a referral from our area director recently, another computer firm with a big project that they didn't have the personnel for. It was a nice $4K job for me, for a couple of days work. I would have never even been in the running for that without being in BNI. Now, I have a great relationship with this firm, that could well lead to further business.

Inside the chapter, my best referrer is the website guy - no surprise there. The second best is the financial planner, followed closely by a residential real estate representative. I would never have guessed either of those two would be a good source of business.

There are lots of chapters, and I have thought of moving from time to time, but just about the time I decide, I get a bigger referral and I'm happy again. Plus, moving chapters means you have to start from scratch getting to know everyone again. I absolutely do NOT like everyone in my chapter, but I like most of them, and have given many of them my own business in addition to referring clients when the opportunity arises. If you choose wisely, this is win-win. It makes you look good to your client, and increases your value to them. All just because you were able to say "Yes, I know a great firm to look at your website....here is their card."

Yes, I have to get up @ 5 once per week to make the meeting. Yes, I have to juggle doing one-to-one meetings for 30 people a couple of times per year on average. It's definitely worth it. And, in the 3+ years I've been doing it, it has made me absolutely confident in my own business - able to give that elevator speech whenever it is called for. This has made me better at my own approach to getting new customers. I wish I had joined sooner.

 

[rsarceno]

BNI works for me but unfortunately, I have to give it up about 2 - 3 months ago. I got a big client that requires regular maintenance which conflict with scheduling.

Did I read that right. Your paying $70 a month? I think I was paying $50 per quarter.

I gave a lot of discount and freebie service for BNI but it pays back quadruple. Most of the referrals are residential but the biz account I acquire are becoming repeat customer.

In my area, there's approx 5 or 6 chapters. You might want to try another chapter.

Good luck.

 

[Vyper28]

I'm currently in a BNI group and have been for about 3 years. As of officially opening my business I already had a pretty solid client base of 80% business and 20% residential. Currently BNI is my only form of marketing which I am OK with because I am still a one man show servicing mostly businesses and am successful enough to pay mortgage/bills, and live a pretty comfortable lifestyle with my partner.

As of joining BNI I had plenty of time/motivation to grow so I was taking on anything and everything. I've since tried to change my focus in BNI to business only because residential was taking too much time/effort to make it worthwhile.

In the first two years of BNI I was able to pick up 2 pretty decent business clients and I thought I'd be fine picking up 1-3 solid business clients a year since I already had a good base and I didn't want to overwhelm myself, pepper in some residentials and it was all good.. This third year I haven't picked up anything even remotely substantial at all from BNI.

I'm finding it difficult no matter how hard I try to express that I want business only, to get small office clients. I'm finding that I am the goto "computer guy" and getting referrals like... I need help getting the pictures off my phone, or my 7 year old Dell is running slow, or the WiFi on my laptop is intermittent. These types of jobs are so underwhelming because of the amount of attention the client requires is huge, and for 1 hour of labor + drive time it becomes barely worth it. Thankfully I do have an office for drop-offs but today more than anytime in the past, people don't want to haul their junk in even if it's cheaper for them.

My current costs for BNI are $410 a year + $70 a month and with the residential jobs I DO take on I am probably just breaking even on membership costs (because I do still take them mainly as favors). However there is a computer company in EVERY surrounding BNI and I am reluctant to give up my spot, and I just think I'm doing something wrong or something. I don't want to dog BNI but my group has the regular career members (insurance, mortgage, real estate), but it's mostly filled with people just scraping by selling jewelry, clothes, diet plans, pills, hypnotherapy, and other weird stuff. If these people are dabbling in something to try it out and barely making it, It makes me feel like it would be pretty difficult to get a quality referral from them.

I'm finding that the majority of my better referrals comes from my already existing business clients.

Any thoughts? how is everyone else doing in these types of groups?

Sounds like you own a job not a business ;-)

I had the same feelings about BNI but I always made profit. But personally, I always wanted as many clients in the same area as my current clients, so I took doughnuts and coffee's to the offices in the same buildings with my current clients. I gave the gatekeeper my business card and a coffee/doughnut and kept myself brief in what I offer. Repeat each month, eventually I get a call. Now I have most of the clients in a few buildings (6-15 offices each), but it took a couple years!