Being active in BNI is like having up to 40 sales people working for you, because your fellow members will be carrying your cards and referring your business to people they meet, without you having to pay them any salaries or commission. Successful businesses depend on 'word-of-mouth' marketing as the best form of promotion there is. BNI provides a structured, supportive, business environment in w
hich local business people can get together to network, learn valuable new marketing skills and develop the strong personal relationships that lead to trust and the consequent generation of significant business for each other. At the heart of the BNI meeting is the "60 Second Speech" slot. This is each member's opportunity to tell everyone at the meeting all about their business, the kind of referrals they are looking for, and anything at all that will help the other members generate business for them.
60 seconds may seem to be the briefest of speeches, but BNI have developed a system to harness the power of this format, and regularly organise free training workshops to allow the members to develop their presentations, introducing techniques such as the memory hook, and effective ways to ensure that the message is remembered. This system has immense practical benefits outside BNI, where in in real-life networking situations, the BNI member is trained to be able to give an instant and concise account of what they do.
