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BNI & The Power of One
BNI 859: Are They Just Padding Stats?
00:12:28
In this week's Power of One we go on a full rant about padding stats for recognition.
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Sam Foreign welcome back to BNI the Power of One. Thank you for joining me again today. We are back with your Questions submitted@bnipowerofone.com if you got a topic you'd like us to talk about question and any of the sort go to be an I power of1.com leave it there. It can be BNI related. It could be business related for the Business Matters podcast. It could be your weekly presentation for weekly presentation coaching episodes today as a lot of them have been, which is perfectly fine, is asked to be kept anonymous and I read this one ahead of time so I'm just going to say it's not in my regions because if it was I would be at that chapter meeting the next day because of how ridiculous this is. So here's the question. It says our BNI chapter has some competitive members regarding BNI metrics and they use unique tactics to get more slips each week. For example, if they attend a voluntary roundtable session, they record a one to one for the week with everyone who attended the roundtable, whether they talked with them or not. If they go to a networking event, they record a one to one with everyone who attended the event. I thought the purpose of one to one is to learn more about other members and how we can help each other grow and this seems counter to that. However, they are often praised by chapter leaders for their numbers on the reports. Have they just figured out a better way to do the slips than I have? Or is my gut right that this is padding numbers for appearance? Your gut's 100% right and that's gross. That's insanely ridiculous. Okay, let's just start with the title of it, meaning the activity. What is the activity called? It's called a one to one. So just starting there. Does this logically make sense, what they're doing? No. There is no such thing as a 1, 2, 3, 1 to 4, 1 to 20, 1 to 20. It's a one on one, one to one, person to person, BNI member to BNI member with a specific focus of learning about each other, deepening the relationship and training each other on how to find referrals. Anything outside of that is not a one to one. Okay, the I ran into you at the beer line. Hey, let's put in a one to one which has happened. I've seen it literally is not a one to one. Hey, we all went to the roundtable. Let's put in 15 one to ones with is not a one to one. Hey, we went to this. Any other networking event at all wouldn't count because it's not a BNI thing. A one to one with somebody who's not a BNI member is not a one to one for your chapter. In fact, I wouldn't even be counting one to ones really with other BNI members because I'd want to know what am I doing with my chapter members. That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't do one to ones with other B and I members. And this is a controversial subject and most people don't agree with me on this one. But if I was a member again and I was tracking my one to ones I would. I would be tracking everything I'm doing on my own but for my PALMS report in my chapter I'd only be doing and tracking what I'm doing with members of my chapter because I'd want to know and be able to pull the data to see how effective am I being in my chapter now if in my membership I would have all the other things one to ones I'm doing with other members. Thank you for close business I'm getting from other members. Referrals I'm getting from other members. You should track that as well, but not in your chapters. POMS report. Another one that we've done a subject on and I'm going on a tangent I know is thank you for closed business from previous members is utter BS and should not be tracked in your POMS report. You should track it on your own to know because these are relationships and things that started with your B and I membership and it adds value in ROI to your BNI membership. But it's just padding the chapters. Thank you for closed business numbers and it's actually teaching your members it's okay to leave because look, we still get business anyways to your question because I'm ranting. It's gross. It's utter part of my language bullshit and should not be happening. And the chapter leadership should not only not be praising them for, they should be putting an end to it immediately because one you will only create more of it and we're just padding data that's false for recognition that then becomes false itself. 2 is all your data now is worthless. It's absolutely worthless as a chapter and as a member doing it. That data is junk. It's the classic, you know, shit data in, shit data out. You cannot tell how B and I is effectively working for you because you're padding ridiculous stats. How do you know the value of each one to one? You're doing. You don't. You don't. Because you've added all kinds of utter garbage in there. How do you know you know what types of referrals you're really getting? You can't. You just. You literally can't track anything after that. And that's what the data exists for. It's not. Yes, we recognize on activity, we recognize on data. Listen, this is a challenge for me every year we are pulling stats right now because we have our annual award banquets coming up in October and November. And for anybody who thinks that those ideas started in a different state, they're out of their goddamn mind. But we pull these. And I know every year this happens. I have a. I have to. It's a conflict where I know, but I can't prove that when I pull some data points or some members that it's utter bullshit, that there's no way they did X number of referrals or X number of one to ones. And oftentimes I will know so much it's so ridiculous, I won't even recognize them. And then they come up and freak out. But I'm like, I. You've got to prove that these are real. And the one that's the biggest one is referrals. Because it's like, how did you pass all of these referrals? You're telling me you're averaging seven referrals a week, but your thank you for closed business does not match, does not equate. And it's because people. Oh, I mentioned you, so I put in a referral. Oh, I told somebody about you. But they're not real referrals. So it's all the same stuff, whether it's one to ones. CEUs, how many people put in? I listen to every podcast. No, you didn't. I mean, a couple people do, but like. Or just it's the challenge with the Palms report. And, and, you know, entering anything is. Is you. Nobody's going to call you a liar. So you can pad the stats, but you're only hurting yourself. And I don't like. For what? For what? To get a Chris Pie 5 at the meeting to get a. A notable network award for leading in one to ones. Like, don't do it. It's dumb on every level. It's, to me disgusting because it's just like, what's the purpose? Like, you just literally, you need. Are you. That you just need that kind of attention? Is that what it is? You need the attention. So you're gonna fake the numbers, but on the Same side. Like as example here your members know it's so there's still like, yay, you get a clap at the me. I don't understand it at all. Like, and you can tell it upset. I shouldn't get so upset. But it does. It drives me bananas because what is the purpose? There is no purpose there besides to hide your ineffectiveness. What I have found more often is people will pad the stats to hide the fact that they're actually really not doing much. It goes to, you know, other topics we talked about, like, thank you for closed business. When somebody was like, oh, I'm the biggest. Thank you for closed business pastor in the chapter. I'm the best. No, probably not actually. And a lot of cases you're only working with one or two people out of 20, 30, 40 people. And again, you're padding numbers is the same as people who put in or even regions. There are regions out there that teach their members put in the, the sale of the home. You know, it's not, it's not the commissions, it's the million dollar home you sold that's padding numbers. It's not real. Like, so I'm a big believer in make it real so that then it's effective for you to understand what, what do you need to increase? What do you need to become better at? What do you know? What results are you actually getting? If you pad stats, it has massive negative consequences. The negative consequences are far worse than the little bit of recognition, whatever I get at the meeting or what have you. So your intuition is spot on. It's disgusting. I hope you play this at your meeting. That's what I hope. I think your education coordinator should play this at the meeting because it's disgusting. It just is. It's not real. They're not one to ones literally. Listen to the title of it. It's called a one to one. So anything more than that is not. Doesn't count. You guys have a contact sphere meeting. Guess what? That's not one to ones with everybody. That's a contacts for your meeting. You should do that. You should 100% do that. You should commit to doing that every single month. It's not a one to one with everybody in the room. It's a contacts for your meeting. Where do we track down on the problems report? You don't. Does that make it less valuable because you didn't get credit on a report? Oh, we had a power team meeting we put in for. Nope, those aren't one to ones. It's not a one to one doesn't count as four doesn't. Doesn't give you that. One monthly meeting with five people doesn't attribute to your expected minimum one to one per week for the month. Doesn't. Nope. It's additional. Well, we don't get credit on the power on the on the Palms report. Nope. Does it make it less valuable for you now? Because if that's why you're doing it, then the value of that meeting is not there. Which means the meeting is not being effective. One to one with a BNI member. That's what it is. Anything else doesn't fit that definition, does it? So keep it to that. And it's the same with all your stats. Don't put in cus you didn't do. Don't put in referrals just to get a check mark. Make a quality referral. If it's not a quality referral yet, work on making it a quality referral before you pass it. Really focus in on what you're tracking because only then does it create some kind of value for you to understand what's actually happening in the in your BNI membership. And when your members are doing it. You should speak to your leadership team and put an end to it. Or try to put an end to it because it will have significant negative consequences. If you're praising people on a weekly and monthly basis on false numbers, that only tells the rest of the chapter. They should be putting in false numbers because it's not fair otherwise, right? Hey, I went to a baseball. I went to the Patriots game. 60,000 people. It's a lot of one to ones. I just did. Have a great day. Sam.