Glen Murray Homes

I recently attended an international conference of BNI Directors in San Diego , if you have not heard of BNI try typing “business networking” into google. The guest speaker was Jack Canfield you might know him from “Chicken Soup for the Soul” or “The Secret,” If you don’t, run out and buy, borrow or steal (well Jack wouldn’t recommend the stealing part) anything he has written. Better yet, try to see him in person. I had my whole of 2008 goals laid out before he had finished his hour and a half and that included writing this article and at least 25 more for the year.

The theme of the conference was “Changing the Way the World does Business” and it is so true. With the over abundance of radio, TV, Internet, grocery lineups, airport walls, bill boards, internet, e-mail ads, etc, etc., how do you know who to trust when you need something done. The first thing you are going to do is ask your family, your neighbors or your friends. Now why are they qualified to give you the best info or source when all these “experts” who are bombarding you with ads and info are so readily available? Well it comes down to one word. Credibility, and how did they get that credibility by having Visibility. You know these people, you interact with them on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, you know if they are reliable, dependable and honest, and I bet there are some of them that you will not take advice from because of this as well.

Now how do we bring that into our business world and tap into being the go to person? We can’t just go around all the time asking our friends, families and neighbors for everything, well, we can but I think our limited pool would definitely run out very soon.

Networking is where you take the V in Visibility, by attending regular meetings or functions and altruistically wanting to help people grow their businesses, and turn it into the C in Credibility. Now, people know you, they know how you do business, they know how you engage other people at functions, they learn to trust you, and when they trust you they refer you. So the V+ C = P Profitably. Don’t expect this overnight. This can take a long, but very rewarding in both monetary and internally satisfying, time.

I have been with BNI for just about 4 yrs and my VCP is just starting to snowball now. It took me a long time to “get it” but I “got it.” When I got my Real Estate license I knew I needed a referral network and I started my own BNI chapter. One and a half years in, 6 deals for the year, I know it will only get better and make me better.