Most BNI members understand that visitors are important to their chapter for a number of reasons—generating more referrals, providing access to new people and, most importantly, becoming new BNI members. But even though visitors are extremely important to the health of a chapter, many of us fail to take them seriously.
Visitors at a BNI meeting can bring valuable new connections to your chapter and your business.
What do I mean? Here’s an example:
If I had a customer meeting that was 100 miles away from my home at 7 am tomorrow morning, do you think I would call to confirm that appointment today? You bet I would!
I wouldn’t want to risk driving all that way before the sun was even up to find out that my customer needed to reschedule because of a work emergency. Yet, many of us fail to confirm attendance with our invited visitors the day before our weekly BNI meeting.
Suppose, to take it a step further, I confirmed ahead of time, but when I showed up at that early meeting, my customer wasn’t there. What would you do?
Of course, you would probably wait for the customer a few extra minutes and then you would call them to make sure everything was alright. Do you do that when a visitor doesn’t show up for a meeting? Or do you just think, “Well, it probably wasn’t a good fit for him anyway”?
Lastly, after that meeting with an important customer, do you follow-up with a thank you email or note? How about someone who has taken the time and effort to visit your chapter?
When we invite visitors to our BNI chapter, we owe them the exact same courtesy as we would give any other business appointment and that means employing the Actions that Achieve:
- Call the day before to confirm the appointment.
- If someone doesn’t show up, call immediately to see if they are alright and find out why they didn’t come. Reschedule with them.
- Send a Thank You note or email.
Get serious about your visitors and the business they represent, apply Actions that Achieve and increase your visibility, credibility and profitability in your chapter and business.
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