BNI 805: Explaining the Value Through TYFCB to Visitors and New Members - BNI & The Power of One

Summary

BNI & The Power of One: Episode 805 Summary Explaining the Value Through TYFCB to Visitors and New Members

Host: Tim Roberts
Release Date: April 7, 2025

Introduction

In Episode 805 of the BNI & The Power of One podcast, host Tim Roberts delves deep into the intricacies of demonstrating the value of BNI (Business Network International) through the metric of Thank You For Closed Business (TYFCB). This episode specifically addresses a listener's query about tailoring the explanation of BNI's value to different business contexts, ensuring that both visitors and new members can grasp its benefits effectively.

Listener's Query: Pete from Nashville

The episode kicks off with a question from Pete, a five-year BNI member from Nashville, Tennessee. Pete shares his experience, highlighting how the podcast has transformed his approach to BNI membership. He also raises a technical concern regarding audio balance between Tim and Mike in a previous episode, which Tim addresses promptly.

Pete's Message (00:25):

"Hi Tim, love the podcast. Been in BNI five years. Discovered your podcast about 18 months ago. Feel like it's changed my approach to membership, which is great..."

Understanding TYFCB and Value Proposition

Pete's primary question revolves around how different businesses calculate their TYFCB and how BNI's value proposition varies across industries. Specifically, he mentions his experience in the sign business, where one closed deal can cover the annual BNI costs, contrasting it with businesses that have smaller average sales but higher transaction frequencies.

Tim's Insight:

Tim emphasizes that explaining BNI's value solely in dollar terms is limiting because business dynamics vary widely. He advises against using a one-size-fits-all approach and instead encourages members to understand and communicate value based on individual business contexts.

Key Points:

Avoid Monetary Exclusivity: "I would not be trying to explain the value simply in dollar amount to anybody because it is so different for everyone."
Comprehensive Value Proposition: "The value proposition for anybody is this is a tool to help you achieve your desired level of success... it’s going to make your business more efficient, more effective and a whole lot more fun."
Individual Variability: "What is $10,000 is different for every single member... those things vary so differently."

Calculating TYFCB Across Different Business Models

Tim breaks down the calculation of TYFCB into three primary categories to help members accurately represent their business values without inflating statistics:

Commission-Based Businesses:
- Definition: TYFCB is calculated based on gross commissions before any deductions.
- Example: Real estate agents should report their gross commissions rather than the total sales value of properties sold.
- Quote (02:30):
  
  "If I’m commission based, it’s my gross commissions... It's the commissions I make before I deduct any costs."
Service-Based Businesses:
- Definition: TYFCB includes the gross income from services rendered before expenses.
- Example: A roofer would account for payments received before deducting materials and labor costs.
- Quote (04:15):
  
  "If I’m a roofer and I own the roofing business, it’s going to be what I got paid to put the roof on the house before I deduct, you know, materials, labor..."
Employee-Salaried Businesses:
- Definition: TYFCB might be based on factors like the percentage of deposits or the total interest generated from loans.
- Example: Bankers could track TYFCB based on the total interest from loans or deposits secured.
- Quote (06:45):
  
  "If it’s a loan, it’s what would be the interest the loan would make the bank if it goes through fruition..."

Tim's Emphasis on Accuracy:

Tim stresses the importance of realistic and authentic TYFCB calculations to maintain the integrity of BNI’s statistics and ensure that members set realistic expectations.

Quote (08:20):

"If you try your best to make it as real as possible, that’s what matters. Because you don’t want to set misguided expectations... You shouldn’t inflate any statistic."

The Pitfalls of Inflated Statistics

Inflating TYFCB numbers can lead to misleading statistics, which not only distort BNI’s overall success metrics but also harm individual members' credibility and the perceived value of referrals.

Examples of Inflated Stats:

Counting every personal interaction as a TYFCB.
Recording recurring client payments as separate TYFCBs.

Quote (10:05):

"Like putting in a referral every single time, I’m just inflating a statistic... It has negative consequences when I’m inflating my 1 to ones."

The True Value of BNI Beyond Numbers

While TYFCB provides a quantifiable measure of BNI's effectiveness, Tim underscores that BNI's true value extends beyond mere numbers. It lies in the proven networking system, the supportive community, and the high-quality referrals that propel businesses forward.

Core Value Elements:

Proven System: Access to a structured networking framework designed for success.
Supportive Network: A community of professionals committed to mutual growth.
High-Quality Referrals: Consistent and relevant referrals tailored to each member’s business.

Quote (12:30):

"The value is you get access to a proven system within a network of people who have said they want to help you... designed to help you grow your word of mouth marketing business."

Additional Benefits:

Business Efficiency: Streamlining operations through reliable referrals.
Business Effectiveness: Enhancing the quality and consistency of business growth.
Enjoyment and Goal Achievement: Making business more enjoyable and aligning it with personal success metrics.

Quote (14:50):

"When you work it right and you invest your time right and you train yourself on how to do it the best way, your business will become more efficient, it will become more effective, it's going to become a whole lot more enjoyable..."

Encouraging Individual Accountability

Tim highlights that the success derived from BNI is contingent on individual members' commitment and utilization of the platform. Comparing oneself to others is discouraged, as it overlooks the unique factors influencing each member’s results.

Key Advice:

Focus on Personal Metrics: Understand and track your own TYFCB without relying on others' performance.
Avoid Comparisons: "One of the worst mistakes you can make... is comparing your results to anybody else's."
Leverage BNI Opportunities: "BNI is the same opportunity for everyone who joins. It’s those members who take advantage of that opportunity that will outproduce others."

Conclusion and Call to Action

Tim wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of understanding TYFCB within the individual context of each member’s business. He encourages members to focus on genuine metrics and leverage BNI’s resources to achieve their unique definitions of success.

Closing Remarks:

Encouragement: Recognize the uniqueness of your business and utilize BNI accordingly.
Feedback Invitation: "You can leave me a comment on what you think on Apple podcasts, Spotify, whatever... If you have more questions, comments, etc, go to bnipowerof1.com let me know."
Gratitude: Appreciation for members’ engagement and participation.

Quote (19:00):

"I hope this helps. I hope it adds some value for you and for everybody else. And as always, look forward to hearing from you."

Takeaways

Customized TYFCB Calculations: Tailor TYFCB tracking to fit your business model accurately.
Value Beyond Dollars: Embrace BNI’s comprehensive value proposition, encompassing networks, systems, and personal growth.
Authentic Representation: Maintain honesty in reporting to preserve BNI’s integrity and your own business reputation.
Personal Accountability: Focus on maximizing your BNI involvement to harness its full potential for your success.

By addressing these facets, Episode 805 provides valuable insights for BNI members aiming to articulate the benefits of their membership effectively, ensuring that both visitors and new members can appreciate the true value BNI offers.

Transcript

A (0:25)

Foreign. Welcome back to BNI and the Power of One. We are back with your show. Submissions, questions, topics, etc submitted@bnipower of1.com appreciate everybody who continues to do so as we move forward here in our episode, counting our chase to a thousand. So today's question comes from Pete in Nashville, Tennessee, says, Hi Tim, love the podcast. Been in BNI five years. Discovered your podcast about 18 months ago. Feel like it's changed my approach to membership, which. Great, I appreciate that. First, the technical request. Can you do something to equalize yours and Mike's volumes on the Business Matters episode? I have to turn it up to hear Mike, but then you come blasting through. To be fair, my hearing is a little diminished and I always listen in the car, but anything you could do would be appreciated. We're trying and so people have said that and I think it goes episode by episode. We don't record in the same room just for full disclosure. We record via Zoom. And I wear a headset whenever I do a podcast and it sounds equal to me. So that's the hard part. But I've been trying to pay attention a little bit more to make sure they're coming across equal levels in the board. And then same thing with the music I've heard and stuff. So we're working on it. But yeah, so I'll try, I guess is the answer to that first part. Okay, let's get to your question topic I'd like to hear about how do different businesses calculate their thank you for closed business and how does the value proposition of B and I differ between businesses? I'm in the sign business. I can easily pay my annual B and I cost with one order, but there are other businesses whose average sale is relatively small. I was a visitor host last year. I'm on the membership committee this year and I want to help members and potential members understand the value in their context, not mine. Okay, so great question and I'll talk about how different ones do it, but I would not be trying to explain the value simply in dollar amount to anybody because it is so different for everyone. Yeah, your ticket price on a sign is much larger, but your profit might not be your because your cost might be a lot higher. The number of referrals you're going to get might be fewer because they might be harder and less frequent to find. Right. So there's a lot of things that go on just besides the sticker price on somebody's product or service. The value proposition for anybody is this is a tool to help you achieve your desired level of success, however you define that word in a more efficient, a more effective and a more enjoyable way, I would leave it at that, that our job is to help you if achieve your goals by increasing the number of high quality referrals your business is receiving throughout the year on a more consistent basis, which is going to make your business more efficient, more effective and a whole lot more fun. Beyond that, it's really hard to define the value solely on numbers. You can use statistics to just kind of highlight some achievements your chapter's having. Right? We can say, hey look, our chapter last year past a million dollars to each other in commissions and those kind of things, which is fantastic, but that I would remind everybody, but each person's individual piece of that and results vary so differently that, you know, that's just our cumulative result. Because what is $10,000 is different for every single member, what is 100 referrals is different for every single member, Those kind of things. So I'd be very careful about worrying too much about defining value. We talk about, you know, the statistic of average seat value in a chapter. It's a true statistic. I talk about that. The average return on investment in my regions is around 7,000%. As a true statistic, does that make it true for every member? No, it's an average. It's an average. So that means half my members are making more than that, half my members are making less than that. But what's less than 7,000? Is it 5,000%? That's still a really good. Or is it a thousand percent? That's still a really good return. But some people are making, you know, 20,000%, whatever. So they're averages. So we use them to say, hey, this is our average return. These are our average things. But it's different for everybody. You have to take into account your own ticket price, your own profit per your margins, those kind of things, your own ease of referability. Meaning is it going to be easy for us to find you a lot of referrals compared to a profession that might not be easy, it might not be frequent, but has a much higher ticket price. They have to be able to look at all that because really the value isn't just in your example of I can easily pay my annual BNI cost, annual B and I cost. In what form? Are you talking the dollars for the dues? Are you talking the dues plus whatever room dues you might have for your chapter? Are you adding in your time element into it and the cost of time? Right. So that's all different for everybody, too. In my member success program trainings that I do when I'm talking to new members, we have all our members on there, but I highlight for new members in particular, I say one of the worst mistakes you can make when networking and in BNI particular, is comparing your results to anybody else's. Because there are too many factors that go into what somebody's getting that you won't be able to compare all of those factors. So if you just look at, well, that person's making a lot of money and I'm not, well, why? There's a million reasons why that could be and a million factors that go into that. That's why I always crawls up my backside when I hear somebody say, oh, yeah, B and I works for these professions, but not my profession. That is bs. It's just a very easy excuse for a lack of accountability for what they did. To be like, yeah, it works for them. No, P and I doesn't work for anyone. Okay? BNI is the same opportunity for everyone who joins. It's those members who take advantage of that opportunity and all that their BNI membership provides them that will outproduce others. And it's all that. Those are the factors into it. All right, so how do other businesses track and calculate their thank you for closed business? It breaks down into three basic categories. There's commission based, there's service, just general service based. And then there is employees. Salaried employees, basically, or hourly employees. So if your commission the easy. I'm tripping over my tongue. The easiest way I've ever been able to truly get people to understand thank you for closed business in a real context. There are some chapters out there. There are some regions out there that I know are encouraging and tracking gross sales at all times. And that is not the way it should be done. My humble opinion from somebody who would benefit from my region doing that. Okay. If my region was encouraged to, hey, it's gross sales no matter what, my thank you for closed business numbers would be astronomically higher. My average seat would be astronomically higher. My average return would be astronomically higher. But I know it's not real, right? So when a real estate agent isn't saying, oh, I sold a million dollar house, we got a million dollar thank you for closed business. No, but there are regions that have done that and do that. I find that to be gross. So what we're trying to do is get as real as we can. So it's the best way I've ever been Able to define it is what would you report on your tax returns before deductions. We're not trying to get you to figure out what was my gross profit or net profit on this. Da, da, da. It's like if, if it would have to be reported on your tax returns, be on the top line of your tax returns, that's the number. Okay? So that covers the first two categories, commission and services and stuff. So if I'm commission based, it's my gross commissions, it's not the commissions, it's not the sale. So it's not the premium on the insurance product, it's not the sale of the house, it's not the total number, you know, loan value on the mortgage, it's not those. It's not the car deal, the sale of the car. It's my commissions, gross commissions before I would deduct any costs I had under that. And again, if I when. So when I was doing life insurance, it was my commissions. It wasn't the commissions my office made, which were high part. It was just what did I make before I deducted, like my marketing and my office costs and all that kind of stuff. If I'm a roofer and I own the roofing business, it's going to be what I got paid to put the roof on the house before I deduct, you know, materials, labor and everything else. So it's always been for me the easiest way for people to kind of comprehend what we're talking about. Like what is your. So, you know, I just use real estate agents, so a lot of them will do like they talk in business. Like I did, you know, $10 million in sales last year because they sold houses where the total sales prices was 10 million. But it's like, yeah, but what was your actual commissions you made? That's your business line, right? You can't sell the, you know, the value of the homes you sold anymore. It's the, the commissions coming in like B and I terms. It would be, we collect membership dues, so it would be the gross membership dues before costs. The tricky one gets down to, and this is mostly none of them catches everybody, but mostly like your bankers, those kind of things that might be salaried with the bank. What do they do? It's, it's usually a percentage of the deposit. If it's opening a new checking account, those kind of things, it'll be that it would be. Or it could be the deposit amount, you know, hey, they're opening $100,000 account. Put $100,000 okay, great. It could be if they're doing a loan, it's what would be the interest the loan would make the bank if it goes through fruition, meaning goes all the way through. So you know, it's a 10% loan for 10 years. What's the total interest paid if they pay that loan all the way through? That would be what the bank would make. You'd be tracking it that way again, just trying your best to make it as real as possible. Is there a perfect formula? No. Will everybody get it exactly right? No. But if you try your best to make it as real as possible, that's what matters. Because you don't want to set misguided expectations. You don't want to get people. Like inflating any statistic has negative consequences to it. If we go around and count everyone to. Every time I saw you in person, you know, hey, we, we, we ran into each other at the restaurant, we got a drink with each other, hey, you know, let's count this as a one to one. That's just inflating a statistic that will have negative consequences if like. And some of these are questions that are going to come up if every time I get paid on a new you refer me to a client that pays me monthly. It's not a new referral every month. And if I did that, I'm just inflating a statistic. I'm inflating a referral statistic, but I'm degrading the value of each of the original referral. Right. It should be new. Thank you for close business every time, not a new referral. If I'm putting in a referral every single time, then my average referral is getting negatively impacted. The number of referrals I'm actually receiving on paper is way higher than what it really is in life, which has a negative consequence when I'm inflating my 1 to ones. It's not about BNI getting like having a negative consequence to this again, you're just inflating general stats from a B and I standpoint. But then when you go back and you go, well, look at all the one to ones I did and I didn't get anything from it. Well, it's because you put in inappropriate one to ones when we inflate. Thank you for closed business. It has negative consequences. Look at all the business we're doing. Well, yeah, but I didn't really get that much or I'm not making the, I'm not even coming close to the average or it just can have some really serious negative consequences. So try to make it as real as possible. Those would be the three areas that 95/ percent of your members are going to fall into one of those three categories. That's how they should be doing it. That's what you can teach your new members about doing it. But when talking about value, the value for BNI is not just in how much money am I going to make? Because you can never dictate that for any new member or current member. The value is you get access to a proven system within a network of people who have said they want to help you, where you're the only person that does what you do. That system is designed, if you utilize it to help you grow your word of mouth marketing business, grow your high quality referral generations into your business. That was bad English. That's the value. Okay? And that when, when you work it right and you invest your time right and you train yourself on how to do it the best way, your business will become more efficient, it will become more effective, it's going to become a whole lot more enjoyable and you're going to be progressing towards whatever goals you have designed for yourself and getting closer to however you define success for yourself. That's the value. The value is so much more than just the tangible dollar. And again, a tangible thousand dollars is different for everybody in that chapter. So I wouldn't overly focus on that part of it. Pete, it's a really good question, really good question, and it's really good for you to be thinking this way in general of just like realizing it is different for everybody and what's the best way to approach it. I hope this helps. I hope it adds some value for you and for everybody else. And as always, look forward to hearing from you. You can leave me a comment on what you think on Apple podcasts, Spotify, whatever. If you haven't left us a review yet, do that. I'd really appreciate it. And if you have more questions, comments, etc, go to bnipower of1.com let me know. We'll definitely talk about them on upcoming episodes. I appreciate you all have a great day.