BNI member wins store of the year

We would like to congratulate BNI member Bintesh Amin, from the Canterbury chapter in Kent, for winning store of the year:

LOCAL LONDIS SHOP WINS STORE OF THE YEAR IN NATIONAL COMPETITION

 

Bintesh and Reena Amin, owners of the local Londis in Blean, have won the top title of Londis store of the year in a national competition.

Bintesh and Reena received their award at a prestigious awards ceremony at the Londis annual conference and gala dinner in London on 8 March.

Some 2,000 shops across Great Britain were entered into the competition after a year in which the Londis business has sought to drive better value to its shoppers.

Entries have been judged on the essentials of the Londis brand:

• Customer service
• Range
• Store standards
• Value for money
• Promotions
• Services
• Involvement in the community

Judges said: “This store was well merchandised, clean and tidy with great offers. The hot food on offer was extensive (including home-made pizza, which was exceptional!) The fresh foods and chilled range was excellent also.  Above all this however was the fantastic customer service that was evident from Bintesh, Reena and their team. This is an exceptional store.”

You can view Bintesh’s BNI Connect profile at the chapter website.

Bintesh would also like to thank Geordie , Tim Beggs, and Pat Melsop for their help and support in the nomination process, also Chriss Syrett for the supplies we used in the shop while being judged, and to every one that has supported them. (All the people mentioned are BNI members, apart from Pat who is the commercial director of Kent County Cricket,  where the Chapter meet.)

 

Picture shows: (from left to right) Paul Courtney, Londis sales director; Donal Horgan, Londis managing director; Kiran Patel and Meena Patel (Reena’s parents); Bintesh Amin; Reena Amin and Steve Bassett, chairman of the Londis national retailer council.

Referrals with X Factor!

We have just learned of a truly amazing referral story, showing the power of referrals globally:

BNI member and assistant director Paul Cameron was on a charity cycle ride from Angkor to Saigon recently.

On his first day of the trip he was taking in the sights at Angkor Wat Cambodia – one of the wonders of the world and he had wandered off-track into a Buddhist Temple where he was not supposed to be…

…taking a moments silence and reverence to soak up the atmosphere his phone goes off with a number he didn’t recognise.  At the verge of ignoring the call, he took it to hear that it is Elton John looking for a first birthday present for his son [with David Furnish] Zachary who was born Christmas Day 2010 – he wanted a very special first birthday and Christmas present and wanted a treehouse from Treehouse Life to be delivered and finished ready for the special day.

Of course his answer was “yes”, he just needed to work through the design and contract.  By the following Saturday, some wi-fi along the way in Cambodia, photos of the garden and designs by Treehouse Life, he received the confirmation call while laying in his hammock in the jungle at Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam – now in a position to ask why Elton John had come to Treehouse Life, he confirmed that it had been a direct referral from Gary Barlow for whom he had completed a treehouse project over a year ago – referrals work and this one came with X Factor!

And that’s not all…

Returning home early having changed his flight to avoid the strikes at Heathrow, he was able to attend Surbiton Chapter rather than use the substitute that he had arranged.

In the last two weeks before leaving for Cambodia he had been inspired by attending the Phil Berg workshop to deliver a special 60 seconds about the power of ‘6 degrees of separation’.

Phil Berg had talked about this and referred to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.

Phil berg was talking about how this underpins the purpose of our 60 seconds in BNI and that we should simply ask for our “dream referral” and by 6 degrees of separation we would always get the connection – Phil Berg’s point was that in our 60 seconds we needed to give the words and benefit to enable and make happen the connection of two people in six steps or fewer.  This was his inspiration point and whilst Phil was talking he wrote his next 60 seconds, here was what he wrote and the 60 seconds he delivered in the two weeks before leaving for Cambodia/Vietnam…

“I went to the Phil berg workshop

I learnt about 6 degrees of separation

I would like to be introduced to Richard Branson

I know that if I met him I could inspire him to see the benefits of Treehouse Life to want to give these benefits to his children/grandchildren

He would want to add a Treehouse Life treehouse to his hotels

He would want to have one for his employees to conference and be inspired

He would want to put a photo of one of our treehouses on the front of his Virgin branded in-flight magazines

He would engage with all our values of family and nature

He will like Treehouse Life so much that he would want to buy my company

We have 2 levels of separation in this room, from me to you and from you to all your contacts.

For Treehouse Life to have the 3rd degree of separation I need to give you a benefit for you to WANT to recommend my company

Just think IF you connect me to degrees 3, 4 and 5 which connects me to Richard Branson – think about how much business I could give to YOUR Company if Richard Branson buys my business”

Yesterday, when Paul returned from Vietnam early and attended the Surbiton Chapter personally guess what happened?

He had a referral introducing him to Richard Branson, his personal mobile phone number – asking for a “dream referral” works, Phil Berg’s BNI take on 6 degrees of separation works and he is certainly a very happy BNI member this morning!

You can find out more about Paul, and his treehouses, at:

www.facebook.com/treehouselife  (Website www.treehouselife.co.uk)

International Networking Week® 2012

The dates for the International Networking Weekd® 2012 are February 6th – 10th.

This is a great opportunity to promote networking worldwide as other networking organizations are invited to participate with BNI in this annual event, which has already been celebrated by thousands of businesses since its inception.

This year’s theme is “Business Networking and Sex: not what you think”.

Remember: we all speak the language of referrals!

Dr Misner would like to thank Referral Institute (www.ReferralInstitute.com) and Entrepreneur Press (www.Entrepreneur.com) for sponsoring International Networking Week 2012.

Member makes sales of £1,000,000 in four years, thanks to BNI

We have just heard some exciting news about BNI member and assistant director Trevor Smith, who is based in Maidstone:

Independent travel agent Trevor Smith is celebrating after hitting an impressive £1 million in sales, which he attributes largely to his extensive business networking alongside the unique level of personal service he delivers to his customers.

Running his own travel business from home with the support of award winning travel company Travel Counsellors, Trevor is a keen networker and since joining the company over four years ago has built up 80% of his sales through his local BNI group as well as other BNI contacts around the UK.

Trevor says: “I am delighted to have reached £1 million in such a short space of times.  I really believe the ‘Giver Gain Philosophy’ of BNI and the relationships I have built up in this time has brought ‘word of mouth’ referrals and attributed largely to this figure. Of course these referrals wouldn’t come if I didn’t provide the right service, and I am so proud that working as a Travel Counsellor I am able to deliver a truly personal travel service to my customers that goes above and beyond. I am available to my customers around the clock and using the company’s award winning technology I can provide expert advice and great savings; from specialist areas such as tailor-made holidays, cruises and business travel to a simple flight or hotel booking. This achievement really means a lot to me and wouldn’t have been possible without all my loyal customers.”

With over 22 years’ experience in the travel industry, Trevor has built a growing following from the region’s holidaymakers and business travellers. He has attended an astonishing 600 BNI morning meetings since he joined in 2007, and has racked up 372 referrals in his own Member Chapter ‘Maidstone Invicta’.

Working from home, Trevor is one of over 1,100 individual Travel Counsellors located throughout the UK and overseas, who all pride themselves on the personal service and attention to detail they offer their customers. Unlike most high street agencies which are owned by a big name tour operator, Travel Counsellors is completely independent, meaning that Trevor is free to recommend the holiday or business travel trip that exactly suits his customers’ needs.

Trevor adds; “I am proud to have built up such a successful business and am extremely passionate about what I do. I really do believe it pays to network and would encourage all businesses to engage in some type of networking, as it really allows you to showcase what you do and there is nothing more powerful than personal recommendation from others. ‘Invicta’ is the motto forKentand is Latin for ‘Unbeaten’, which I feel reflects the way in which I run my business. I even attend my meetings first thing in the morning as I believe the early bird catches the worm!”

Travel Counsellors is one of the top scoring companies in the world when it comes to customer service, having achieved a world beating score of over 90% in its customer satisfaction survey. In addition, the flexibility of working from home allows Trevor to be available at times to suit his customers – 24 hours a day, seven days a week if the need arises.

For more information or to discuss your future travel plans please contact Trevor on 0845 058 7708 or email trevor.smith@travelcounsellors.com.

Feedback from the recent motivational & training seminar

We recently held a special motivational & training seminar in the South East (full details can be found here)

Following the event, we have had very high feedback from attendees with the majority scoring it as 9/10 or 10/10.

Key questions asked, which most attendees have said they achieved are:

• Did the training give you lots of ideas / tips to implement in your Business?
• Did the training give you lots of ideas / tips to implement in your BNI Chapter?
• How would you rate our Guest Speaker Phil Berg?
• Will you encourage the other members of your Chapter to attend future events of this type?
• Will this training have a positive impact on your Business?
• Will this training help you increase your return from your BNI Membership?

We would suggest perhaps arranging a one to one meeting with those members who attended, so that you can benefit from their knowledge and increase your own business and chapter growth.

Have you visited the new BNI South East websites?

We now have three new websites available for people to find out more about BNI, as well as to see where their local group meets.

These are being very well received, and are helping visitors to discover some of the many benefits BNI has to offer.

They can be found at:

http://www.bnisurrey.co.uk/

http://www.bniessex.co.uk/

http://www.bnikent.co.uk/

Please do visit them, and also pass on the addresses to your contacts.

BNI training now qualifies as CPD hours

We are all aware that one of the benefits to members of being in BNI is that they receive high quality training as part of their membership.

On a number of occasions over the years, many of our professional members (eg solicitors, accountants, architects etc) have asked us whether the training can be accredited to allow them to count it towards their Continuing Professional Development hours that they are required to do each year.

We are delighted to let you know that BNI has managed to get BNI training accredited by the Institute of Continuing Professional Development:

This means that now any AD or equivalent running a workshop for BNI anywhere in the UK is entitled to issue a certificate stating that a member has attended a course and the number of hours with the CPD logo.

We will be producing certificates in due course to provide to Members after workshops as and when appropriate.

We hope this will provide excellent added value for our professional Members.

Motivational and Training Seminar, presented by Phil Berg

Friday 21st October, 10am to 4:30pm (Open networking & registration from 9am) at Denbies Vineyard near Dorking.

Special Price sponsored by BNI South East of only £31.25 + VAT (£37.50), the normal price is £99.

(Also open to non members at the special price of only £45 inc VAT)

Limited places available, booking closes 7th October – to reserve your seat please call 01227 728027 or email mail@bnioffice.com

BNI New member packs

You will soon see new style ‘New Member packs’ being presented when members are being inducted in to UK and Ireland chapters.

The pack is in filofax format and contains the following items…

Welcome letter
Name badge
Pin badge
Orientation CD
Cardholder (for 48 cards)
20 Invitation postcards (for their first 4 weeks contribution)
5 Thank You for the Business cards
5 Referral slips
BNI resource card
Policy document
Note paper
Pen
Mentor pack in booklet format

Having these items given to a new member at induction will ensure that they have all the tools they need instantly rather than having to wait until MSP. The New Member pack comes in a recyclable plastic cover which has the code of ethics printed on it, and is shrink wrapped (this is not shown in the photograph).

The manual and Givers Gain® book should be given out at MSP.

Please note that you should continue to use your current stocks until they are exhausted

BNI Connect is bringing success to members in the South East

BNI Connect, the private Social Network for BNI members, is already bringing success to members following its rollout.

Here are just two of the many success stories:

• Samantha Jones , the photographer at Faversham picked up a ladies calendar girl shoot via a BNI member in Putney. She used BNI Connect to find a female photographer  in East Kent & Sam’s name came through from the system.
• Lucas Douch , RBS Nat West manager from Herne Bay chapter got a deal from a source he linked up to in London via BNI Connect. He wouldn’t have heard about it unless he used BNI Connect to forge the link.

With members already benefitting from the system, now is the ideal time to make sure your own profile is up to date so that you can be found.

Jason Turcotte, a BNI member in the US, created this video to talk members through the process of updating your profile:

…and with the new public aspects of BNI Connect planned to go live in the coming months there are extra benefits available there too.