J25 BNI Derby Business Networking

Synopsis

Not all networking is about referrals. Sometimes networking is about sharing knowledge. Of course BNI can be a knowledge network, but your “think tank” can go beyond BNI. To create a knowledge network, surround yourself with these groups of people:

• People like you. They’re not the best source of referrals, but they’ll help you learn your trade.
• People who used to be in your profession.
• Authors and experts (e.g. bloggers).
• Trainers and consultants.
• Members of professional organizations. (Not necessarily the same profession you’re in.)
• Regulators. They’re a great source of information, especially about pitfalls.

BNI is working on a new online social network, BNI Connect, to help create knowledge networks within BNI.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast BNI Podcast 134 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you?

Ivan:
Doing great, Priscilla. Thank you.

Priscilla:
What is this think tank that you have in the title of this podcast?

Ivan:
A lot of what I talk about in these podcasts are referral marketing, referral networking, but there really are several kinds of networking. You can network to share ideas, information, resources, referrals, and knowledge. And that’s really what I wanted to talk about briefly today was sort of a different spin on the idea of networking.

I think that if you want to be successful and building a powerful personal network, you also have to have a solid knowledge network aspect of your personal network. That is, people around you who share ideas and knowledge that help you in business.

So what I wanted to talk about is to give a few examples beyond your BNI members. Now, clearly, to some extent, BNI can be a knowledge network in that you’ve got a lot of people from many different professions that you can bounce ideas off of. Even though BNI was not designed as a knowledge network, there’s an aspect to it where you can get ideas and information and knowledge, and I understand that and recognize that. However, that’s not what’s really traditionally a knowledge network, and so I wanted to talk about how to focus on some knowledge networking outside (inaudible) and BNI, and there are several different kinds of knowledge network groups of people that you want to surround yourself with. And that’s really what I wanted to talk about.

The first is people like you. There are some real advantages to seeking out people who have the same interests and goals as you, and that’s completely opposite to what I talked about last week in terms of diversity. Now, when I was talking about diversity last week, I was talking about in terms of referrals. If you want to get referrals, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who are different that you, because they will find those connectors. But if you’re talking about knowledge networking, people who have knowledge about what you do, your business, well, there you want to have some people who are like you because they can share ideas and information that they’ve run into. So I’m not giving contradictory advice; I’m giving advice that is different depending on the context. So when you’re talking about referral networking, diversity is key. But when you’re talking about knowledge networking, having people who the experience you have is very important. So you want to seek out people like that.

Now, we’re working on, in BNI, something that hasn’t been released yet, but members listening to this podcast should keep an eye open for it, an online network called BNI Connect. And BNI Connect will be an online social business network for BNI members only, and one of the advantages to this, when we have it up and running, is that it will give you, as a business professional, an opportunity to talk to other people in your profession in other parts of the world who aren’t competing with you locally and talk to them about what are they doing to make BNI work for them. That’s a great example of knowledge network. “You’re a CPA; I’m a CPA. What are you doing in your community to help build your business through referrals? And how are you using BNI? And how am I using BNI?”

So there’s a context where people like you are important, and it’s not contradictory to what I was talking about last week. It’s a different context, different situation.

Second thing, people who were in your profession. So people like you or people in your profession, and then people who were in your profession. Some people may be retired or they have done that for a while and moved on to some other profession. These are people that can be an excellent source of information and knowledge about your business.

Here’s a couple of unusual ones, authors, people who write or produce books or articles, video tapes, audio tapes, or CDs – boy, I dated myself with that one – CDs, MP3s, any kind of audio content, blogs, experts in the field. Blogs are particularly good because they’re two-way communication. So you go to somebody who’s writing on a subject that you’re familiar with or you’re involved with, and you comment back and forth, and you communicate with them and share with them. It’s a perfect knowledge network. And blogs are probably one of the best because it really gives you an opportunity to talk back and forth.

Trainers, consultants. The wonderful thing about trainers and consultants is that they really specialize in imparting knowledge, and they help people understand the basics. They introduce new technologies and procedures, and they try to gain access to these materials and make them available to others. So, trainers and consultants are a great example.

Members of professional organizations, people who are active members of trade or business or professional organizations that might be – it may not be the same profession as yours or it might be someone who’s in a similar profession or symbiotic profession that’s in this trade association that’s similar to yours. Boy, that’s probably one of the best sources of knowledge and information for what you’re doing.

And the last one is kind of a very unusual one that most people don’t think about, and that’s regulators, people who regulate, audit, or monitor professionals in your field. They can certainly tell you stories about legal, procedural, or operational pitfalls that you might run into and probably need to know in order to do well in your business.

So these are some of the kinds of professions that you want to build a relationship with that are the counterpart of what I talked about last week on diversity, which is really important for referrals. But knowledge networking is really about surrounding yourself with some people who have expertise in your area, and these are some areas you can focus on or some specific types of individuals to look for that help you build your own personal think tank for business.

Priscilla:
And once you locate those professionals, do you invite them to a particular event? Do you try to bring them together and work as a team? Or how does that work out?

Ivan:
Well, I have found that going to events, particularly professional associations, where you might meet some of these people at Chamber mixer or business function of some kind, going back to meet them there. One great source, alumni associations that do events, you might run into somebody once. And what I’d do is I would call them and say, “Hey, there’s another event going on next month. I’d love to see you again. Are you going?” And touch bases with them when they’re there. Associations are a perfect location, because people tend to be pretty consistent in their activity there; even Chamber events or other business organizations. Connect with them beforehand and say, “I’m going to be there. I would love to meet again. Maybe we can meet before for a cup of coffee or a drink, and then go to the meeting. I’d just like to learn more about what you do.”

And we all know, certainly with BNI, that the more you’re connect with people, the more likely you are to build that relationship, and so you can do that, not on a weekly basis probably, but you can do that on a fairly regular basis, and then call upon each other to help one another out, and truly be a think tank for each other and support one another.

Priscilla:
Great! Well, I think that’s it for this week, and thank you so much, Dr. Misner.

Ivan:
Thanks, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I’d like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting BNI Podcast of The Official BNI Podcast.