I guess as a followup, just simply understand that it takes about 5-10 hours a week. Ask your local chapter for the statistics on general number of referrals passed and see if it works for you. I would recommend doing the math on the front-end, since, for a lot of service providers out there, it simply doesn't make sense, even under best-case scenario. On the other hand, for other service providers out there, it can make great sense. A lot depends on your niche market, ARPU, etc...
In general, it will work well for you if your target customer is a smaller business with a high ARPU and good margins. (IE you are doing a lot of bundled PC support or such). If you are primarily an access provider with small margins, it will not be worth the time. -Clint On 7/30/07, Clint Ricker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I was a member for about a year. In the end, I left because I felt like > there were more effective ways of marketing, although that really does > depend on the type of business you're running > > For those of you who don't know, BNI is a business referral organization > that revolves around weekly meetings where you trade referrals (ie you may > know someone looking to buy a house, in which case you'd refer that person > to a realtor in the group; likewise, if a person ran into someone who was > looking to change ISPs, they'd (ideally) point the business your direction). > > > A few notes about this: > 1. Mostly small businesses (and, on the small side of small businesses) > 2. Good way to get "small clients"; ie DSL-level accounts and computer > repair sort of work > 3. Not good if you're trying to win "bigger" accounts (ie $500/month and > up), simply because the people who usually come to these meetings don't have > the connections (chamber and face to face is much more effective for this). > 4. Also only effective if you can/are willing to refer a lot of business > to other members in the group > 5. The reality is that most of the value is done "behind the scenes" and > most good business people are already doing the jist of this program. In > other words, it's good, perhaps, if you aren't feeling like you've been > effective in setting up synergistic business relationships with other > businesses to swap customers around. On the other hand, you can save > yourself a lot of time, trouble, money, and be much more effective by just > creating those relationships outside of such an organization...ie start > talking to commercial real estate agents, developers, etc... and set up your > own referral program and pay them commission for successful leads. > > Clint Ricker > Kentnis Technologies > > > > > > > In order for it to really work well, you have to devote 5-10 hours a > week. > > On 7/30/07, Mike Hammett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Has anyone joined this organization? How well has it worked out for > > you? > > > > > > ----- > > Mike Hammett > > Intelligent Computing Solutions > > http://www.ics-il.com > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Would you like to see your advertisement here? Let the WISPA Board know > > your feelings about allowing advertisements on the free WISPA lists. The > > current Board is taking this under consideration at this time. We want to > > know your thoughts. > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like to see your advertisement here? Let the WISPA Board know your feelings about allowing advertisements on the free WISPA lists. The current Board is taking this under consideration at this time. We want to know your thoughts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
