I just finished my first year as president of my local BNI chapter, Business Networking International,  here in the Nashville, TN metropolitan area. I thought after almost 4 years as an active member serving in different roles I knew about BNI. It has taught me to be a much better and more effective networker.  I wanted to share the lessons that I learned that I didn’t realize because this applies to all business including my life insurance agency. I understood the philosophy of BNI is Givers Gain, meaning if I give you and your business a good referral that makes you money, you will feel obligated to give me referrals to grow my business. As president I found the meaning of Givers Gain goes much much deeper. Let me explain.

I had the unique opportunity to lead one of the most successful networking chapters in the state of Tennessee. Our BNI chapter had just grossed over $2.9 million in thank you for closed business, meaning the business passed to each BNI member. This was over a 360% gain over previous year with about 32 chapter members. In other words our BNI chapter was a very valuable seat. We had a lot of momentum and my BNI leadership team was certainly up to the challenge. We have a dynamic group of professionals dedicated to helping each other grow our businesses. I am proud to say this awesome group of now 34 members stepped up to the challenge of growing our businesses to a new record of over $5.8 million in thank you for closed business which was an increase of 98% over the previous record year. There are a lot of happy BNI members in this chapter and I could not be prouder to call them my friends and business partners.

However, our year did not start smoothly. We tragically lost one of our best giving members to sudden death the second week into our term. We lost our meeting venue in the third month of our term. As I look back now at these challenges, this is when you can really see the character of people you surround yourself with. This group stepped up took care of business, which keep in mind is not our businesses but a volunteer army dedicated to helping each other succeed. These terrible challenges became the glue that held this group together and finished with our greatest achievement to date. I don’t mind telling you I personally sacrificed a lot of my time and energy into leading, which is what I was asked to do, to help this BNI chapter continue to grow and regain the momentum we had temporarily lost to these challenges. I did what my 4 years in BNI had taught me to do, Givers Gain. I knew in my heart if I gave to the chapter to reach and exceed our goals, that I would be repaid.

How was I repaid for a year of giving? Remember the chapter volume was up 98%, pushing a huge number year over year. My personal business that came from my BNI chapter finished up over 400% year over year, leading us to my life insurance agency is on target for our best year ever! Could I have advertised and increased my business by 400%? Is there some type of marketing plan to increase business to that level? How about social media, would that do it? The answer is no by a long shot. If you want to grow your business exponentially you have to give a little to get a lot. Remember Givers Gain!

“First, you have to be visible in the community. You have to get out there and connect with people. It’s not called net-sitting or net-eating. It’s called networking. You have to work at it.”—Dr. Ivan Misner, BNI Founder

“Man Stepping Towards Growth” by arztsamui FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 26 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.