March and April are BNI Visitor Day months.  Business Networking International is the worlds largest professional networking organization.   Visitor Days are aimed at giving the small business community a focused opportunity to join an exclusive referral networking group that is category specific.  Austin and Central Texas has enjoyed a huge influx of new BNI members.  Every one of the chapters that participated added members.  Some groups almost doubled in size!  And with that new influx of members, referrals will grow dramatically.  We are stimulating the economy!

Referral Statistics

Our research paints an exciting and motivating reason to grow a BNI Chapter to 40 members or more!  There is a direct correlation between the size of a chapter and the amount of referrals that are passed on any given month!

• Chapters of 20 pass 60-80 referrals a month
• Chapters of 30 pass 150-180 referrals a month
• Chapters of 40 pass 250-350 referrals a month

What would that do for your business to be connected to a group that was passing 250-350 referrals a month?  What kind of revenue would that generate?

The BNI Groups I Helped

1. Corridor Platinum in San Marcos
2. Balcones BNI in Austin
3. CenTex Business Builders in Waco
4. Reigning Referrals in Austin
5. Onion Creek BNI in Austin
6. Brazos Valley Business Associates in College Station
7. Aggieland Professionals in College Station
8. Capital City Referrals in Austin.

Visitor Day Statistics demonstrate Small Businesses said YES

One of my responsibilities as a Managing Area Director for BNI is to conduct the BNI Visitor Day meetings and enlist new members.  It’s a two hour networking event that showcases the history, agenda, structure, education and ROI at a BNI chapter.  Members take extra time and effort to invite prospective small businesses and they fill the room!

This year I personally had responsibility for 8 Showcase Visitor Day Meetings.  They were all the way from San Marcos to Waco to College Station and Austin in between.  Several of my directors took roles of responsibility to help me.  We had a total of 229 visitors.  That’s about 28 guests per meeting.  Of that number, 46% turned in applications on the spot at the day of the event.  That was over 100 new members in a 3 week period!  I’m very happy with that close ratio.  Many of our other directors enjoyed new member additions and high close ratios too!

We are all very excited, but not surprised!  BNI has been such a tremendous success in helping small businesses to grow their revenue.  Think of all the referrals that will be pouring into Austin and Central Texas!

If you are not in a BNI, find a local chapter and let them help you stimulate the economy!

If you are a BNI Executive Director and want help with your BNI Visitor Day closes….contact me.

Scott Carley