Business Networking International Review - Review on BNI
international networking
Business Networking International otherwise known as BNI was founded by business consultant Ivan Misner in 1985. The corporation forms referral networking groups all over the world. These groups meet weekly and the objective to go to and become a member in the BNI group is to raise your referral business.
international networking
Benefits
There are numerous benefits to joining a BNI networking chapter or another networking group. The number one reason anyone joins a networking group is usually to gain referrals while increasing business. The larger your network is the more business you're going to create. Another great benefit of networking is the knowledge and details you will receive from other professionals in several different fields. Your speaking in public skills will also improve with practice.
Drawbacks
There are several strict things that members in BNI ought to abide by. Some of these rules include: Just one member from each profession or industry are aloud in to a BNI Chapter. You are only aloud to miss two meetings each year. Members of a designated chapter are certainly not aloud to visit other chapters. This is called cross chapter networking.
Costs and Start-up
BNI recruits companies to start chapter networking groups of their community. The presidents receive training to get started on and run a networking group. Obama of the new chapter turns into a free membership for that first year of the group starting. The president position is rotated annually through an election process. The president does not receive any compensation for running the audience. The membership cost for BNI members is $330 with the additional first year registration fee of $100.
Conclusion
BNI is a very successful business model for several years and seems to be extremely effective for small business owners to generate referrals. The only real problem that I see with BNI could be the inability to pay the presidents that run and manage the group. The presidents do a lot of work soliciting and recruiting potential members for the group. They are benefiting because of their business, however this requires a great deal of time away from them actually running their business.
There are numerous competitive business networking groups out their and BNI should be the largest networking organization around. I would make sure to research diligently and choose the right networking group yourself.
There is a new business networking organization which is looking to revolutionize the networking arena. The Biz Society is based on a social networking platform and pays their presidents 20% of all membership. This organization allows any company professional to start an organization in their area. They provide them the tools and instruction on how to start and chance a successful group.