One of the main benefits of BNI is having an expanded sales team of business professionals with access to a contact sphere of people you’d never meet on your own. Each week, a BNI member gets an opportunity to present a weekly presentation, sometimes called a “sales manager minute,” to 20 or more business professionals (depending on their chapter’s size). So how do you make the most of your weekly presentations?
Today, we offer tips that will help you help your fellow BNI members. Don’t you love helping, especially in the giving season?
Making the Most of Your Weekly Presentations Takes Planning
It may seem obvious, but the first key in making the most of your weekly presentations is taking the time to plan them. Don’t just wing it on the spot!
Write It
Given that, every rule has exceptions, and there may be a time when someone else gives you a great idea that makes you throw your intended pitch out the window until next week. However, most of the time, coming to your meeting with your “ask” and story in place will help you make the most of your weekly BNI presentation.
Time and Rehearse It
You get 30-60 seconds a week. Don’t waste them!
Two of the easiest ways to botch a presentation are making it too long or too short. If your presentation is too short, you haven’t utilized the available space to effectively present information about yourself. Too long, and the buzzer goes off, causing you to finish without making an essential point, or worse, going over time and disrespecting the time of your other members.
Use your full allotted time, but don’t go beyond it. And while you rehearse, notice what comes out easily and what’s a little clunky. You don’t need to treat it like Shakespeare. Depending on your comfort level with public speaking, one or two run-throughs may be enough.
Don’t Say the Same Thing Every Week
30-60 seconds doesn’t seem like a long time, but what about 26-52 minutes? When you add up all your weekly presentations over the course of a year, you get between thirty and sixty minutes. That’s not bad!
When you have nearly an hour, why not take the time to emphasize different facets or values of your business? You can divide it by services, verticals, or any other relevant category that makes the most sense for your business.
Tell a Story
From religion and history to modern commercials, humans remember and understand best when they’re taught in the form of a story. So one of the best ways to make the most of your weekly presentations is to include a success story of how you helped a client.
People love it when they can relate, and if it has an emotional angle, all the better.
When you finsh your short story, tie it into your weekly ask.
Be Specific with Your Ask
After sharing your story about helping a client, ask for a similar client - but be specific. It’s tempting to say something like, “I can really help anyone!” And that might be true, but it’s not useful.
Your goal is to trigger a thought in someone’s mind of someone they can refer to you. A human being applies to everyone, so it will make your chapter think of no one.
You want to say something like, “I want to meet your cousin who owns a salon.”
Does everyone have a cousin who owns a salon? No. But the mention of “salon” will help them think of anyone who owns one, and “cousin” will make them feel about family with similar businesses.
Explain How to Introduce You
Not every business is easy to work into a conversation. So do your members a favor by teaching them how to bring you up and qualify a lead. It’s hard to just say, “Do you need_____ services?” particularly if the blank is something personal or sensitive.
Refer!
The more time and effort you put into your weekly presentation, the more likely you are to get business out of it, so we hope you’ll take our advice going forward to make the most of your weekly presentations!
