Help the Competition just walked in the room!

The competition just walked into your BNI Chapter meeting......what should you do?

a. Tell them they need to leave since you already have someone in that seat.
b. Slam the door and act like there is no one at home.
c. Welcome the guest, introduce them around the room and thank them for visiting.

I certainly hope that you chose C. When someone joins a chapter they have the exclusive right to that membership, their competition cannot join, but they are allowed to visit the chapter. After all, they may want to start a chapter of their own or just see what BNI is all about.

Competition is really just an opportunity to Collaborate. When I was an insurance agent I received a great many of my referrals from my competition. I wrote policies that they did not and they were able to take care of those clients that I could not. I turned out that what looked like a competitive relationship at the beginning was really a great referral relationship.

Besides, what are you afraid of? Do you really believe that your members are going to give referrals to a complete stranger while you are an active member in the chapter? If you are worried about that ask yourself why? Do you not believe that your members like you and trust you? Have you not been building strong relationships with your members? If a referral does get passed to your competitor, stop and ask yourself; Why? What do I need to do or what have I not done?

It all starts with you, build stong relationships and never worry about the competition.

Hazel M. Walker
Referral Marketing Strategist