BNI 893: Weekly Presentation Coaching 156 - Steven Davidson - Hiring Expert

Summary

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BNI & The Power of One - Episode 893

Weekly Presentation Coaching 156: Steven Davidson – Hiring Expert
Host: Tim Roberts
Aired: April 24, 2026

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Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode focuses on weekly presentation coaching, featuring a submitted speech by Steven Davidson of Higher Engine. Tim Roberts critiques and coaches Steven’s BNI "weekly presentation", aiming to help listeners construct more effective and referable networking moments. Special emphasis is placed on making presentations actionable for referral partners, not just educational or commercial.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Live Presentation Analysis

• Tim reads Steven Davidson's submission aloud, simulating the experience for listeners and noting the timing (01:11) exceeds the 1-minute BNI standard. He measures 216 words, diagnosing the root of time overrun.

Notable Segment:

[01:04] Steven closes with:
"...Introduce them to me. I'll help them stop gambling with their team and start hiring with certainty. I'm Steven Davidson with Higher Engine. Measure twice, hire once."

2. Critical Feedback: Presentation Structure

• Timing Issues:

  • Steven's presentation is 11 seconds over the standard minute.
  • The number of words meant content had to be trimmed (00:55).

• Primary Weakness – Referral Triggers Placement:

  • The "Who" is only identified at the end.
  • Listeners need referral triggers earlier—present the ideal client/audience right away.

• Commercial vs. Actionable Approach:

  • Steven’s talk sounded more like a commercial pitch (explaining his process, capabilities) than a practical request for referrals.
  • Tim suggests this is common:

    [04:47] “What you did is very common in a lot of weekly presentations…they're more commercial like, in the sense of explaining what we do…you ended with part of the trigger…that would be one trigger, right?”

3. Strategies for Effective Referrals

• Be Specific:

  • General asks ("Who do you know?") don’t work.
  • Avoid vague terms: "anyone", "someone", "anybody", etc.

• Paint a Picture:

  • Be explicit—name the role/title, context, pain point.

    [05:23] “You need to paint a very specific picture. It's a business owner or a hiring manager…maybe whatever the role is that you need. But a business owner currently hiring, such as XYZ company.”

• Use Triggers & Leading Questions:

  • Identify pain points up front.
  • Each pain point can be a weekly topic:
    • Complaints about "bad hires"
    • Struggles finding employees
    • Wasting time on job boards
  • Tell referral partners exactly what to listen for.
  • For each, provide a natural conversation starter or question.

4. What to Say Next?

• Train Your Network:

  • Don’t just tell referral partners to "introduce them"—give them language/scripts.
  • Example questions:
    • “Have you ever worked with someone who specializes in this?”
    • “What tools are you using for hiring?”
    • “How are you finding your candidates?”

      [07:06] "What are all the different objections that are going to come up based on the trigger that you gave them so that I can get through that and introduce you?"

• Cut the "Fluff":

  • Save technical/process details (personality tests, deep interviews, etc.) for client conversations, not for weekly presentations.

5. Restructuring Recommendations

• Start With the Referral Picture:
  • Open by defining WHO you want and what they are experiencing.
• Shorten and Focus:
  • Mention credibility quickly (e.g., “22 years’ experience”), then pivot back to the problem you solve.
• One Trigger Per Week:
  • Rotate triggers/pain points weekly for memorability.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

[04:47] Tim Roberts:
"What you did is very common in a lot of weekly presentations... they're more commercial like in the sense of explaining what we do and explaining, you know, over explaining our processes...and then at the end be like, okay, so this is Who I'm looking for. I would reverse that. Start with who you're looking for. Come right out of the gate."

[05:23] Tim Roberts:
"You need to paint a very specific picture. It's a business owner or a hiring manager...A business owner currently hiring, such as XYZ company."

[07:21] Tim Roberts:
"The mindset of all of these is training. I'm training people on what to look for, how to identify these things and what to say when they see them. The rest of this doesn't really solve all of that."

[07:52] Tim Roberts:
"There's a lot of fluff in here that can be cut to get more to the point...This is who I'm looking for. This is how you're gonna identify somebody who's struggling with this. And here's what you say."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:27 - 01:38] — Reading of Steven Davidson’s weekly presentation
• [01:38 - 03:07] — Immediate feedback: timing, word count, introduction of "triggers"
• [03:07 - 06:15] — Discussion on specificity, commercial tone, common pitfalls in weekly presentations
• [06:15 - 08:15] — Structuring for action: setting up triggers, leading questions, cutting technical details
• [08:15 - 09:45] — General advice, encouragement to resubmit, value of feedback loops

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Episode Takeaways

• For Effective Weekly Presentations:
  • Be succinct—stick to the 1-minute mark.
  • Lead with the ideal referral scenario, not the menu of services.
  • Equip your listeners to recognize, qualify, and introduce referrals with embedded triggers and sample phrasing.
  • Treat each pain point as a unique weekly theme.
  • Keep technical processes brief; these matter more after the referral is made.

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Practical Application

Listeners—especially BNI members—can apply these tactics to refine their own weekly presentations, making it easier for networking partners to recognize and act on referral opportunities. The approach transforms the weekly presentation from a passive advertisement to an active "training" tool for your chapter.

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For further feedback or to submit your own weekly presentation for coaching, visit BNI Power of One.com

Transcript

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[Weekly Presentation Coach]

Wayfair Every style, every home. Welcome back to bni. We're back with our weekly presentation coaching episode where we review your submitted weekly presentation to give feedback to help make them as effective as possible. So let's pull up today's we are hearing from Stephen Davidson. He is in Edmonton, Canada. So let's pull up his weekly presentation here. So Stephen, same thing as I say each and every time. I'm going to pull up my timer and read it, tell you how long it took me. You and I will do it at different speeds of course, but it gives us a point of reference. So we want that. And so let me just get that out and we'll get right to it here. Here we go. Good morning everyone. I'm Stephen Davidson from Higher Engine where we power businesses forward one hire at a time. Let me ask you, have you ever seen a business owner try to DIY their hiring? It usually looks like this, copy a job ad, posted it on, indeed, pray the right person applies and spends hours shifting through resumes. They interview whoever shows up, hire the least risky option and then hope it works out. That's called post and pray process and it's why so many business owners feel frustrated, burnt out and stuck with the wrong people. Higher Engine takes a very different approach. I use a 15 step data driven process built from 22 years of experience that includes personality profiling, competency validation, reference, deep dives and structured interviews. Instead of guessing, my clients get confidence knowing the person they hire is not just a fit for the job, but a long term asset to their business. So this week my ask is simple. Who do you know that's frustrated by DIY hiring someone wasting hours on job boards or who just told you told you they made another quote bad hire. Introduce them to me. I'll help them stop gambling with their team and start hiring with certainty. I'm Stephen Davidson with Higher Engine. Measure twice, hire once. Okay. So long. It went a minute and eleven seconds for me. I could kind of tell it might be Long just by the number of words is about 216 words in here. But let's dive in. So besides that, we got to cut it a little bit for timing. Assuming you go a minute, this one doesn't tell me, so I'm just going to assume you have a minute. Oh, it does say 60 seconds. So yeah, a minute. I think we missed some of the key parts. You ended with part of it. You ended with part of the trigger of like how do we know somebody is in need of your services? Just by when you said they told you they made another bad hire. That would be one trigger, right? I don't really know if somebody's wasting hours on job boards or doing this post and pray thing necessarily unless I'm in a conversation about it or unless there's some auditorial trigger to tell me that they're in that so they made another bad hire would be a trigger. But out of the who, how, what, that's the only piece we hit. Okay, so your ask was who do you know? When. When we ask things like who do you know a good or do you know someone? The answer is no one. Okay. Same for why we don't say good referral for me. Is anyone someone? Anybody or somebody? You need to paint a very specific picture. It's a business owner or a hiring manager, maybe whatever the role is that you need. But a business owner currently hiring, such as XYZ company. I need to speak to your friend who's a business owner who is complaining about their, their latest bad hire. Or they're complaining about the struggle finding good employees or they're complaining about the struggle of not being able to find employees. These are all different triggers you can use and each one's a different weekly presentation. And I would put that up front like right out of the gate, not at the very end. What you did is very common in a lot of weekly presentations, which is, they're very, they're more commercial like in the sense of explaining what we do and explaining, you know, over explaining our processes or and stuff like that. So again, the 15 step data driven process built from 22 years of experience, that would be fine just as itself, but when you go into it, and that includes all the, you're selling the service at this time. Okay, so it's very common because this is how we talk the rest of our day. And it's also very common to put like all the fancy, you know, stuff up front, which again is more commercial like. And then at the end be like, okay, so this is Who I'm looking for, I would reverse that. Start with who you're looking for. Come right out of the gate. I work with business owners with X number of employees who are actively trying to hire. Their biggest challenge that they're facing is wasting time, bad candidates or not enough candidates coming in. I help with all of these and get right into that. So here's what you need to listen. For somebody who says they're complaining about the recent bad hire, you know, next week, here's what you listen. For somebody who's complaining about the time they're spending with resumes, here's what you listen for somebody who's saying they just can't find good candidates. Those are each individual things. And then what you definitely didn't do in this one is, okay, I hear it. What do I say to them? You just say, introduce them to me. Well, again, I need to know how to get into that conversation to introduce you. Right? So give me the leading question. Have you ever worked with somebody who specializes in this? Are you trying to do it on your own? What tools are you using? If they say, well, I'm posting on, indeed, you know, say this. If they say, no, I've never thought of that. Say this. If they say, well, I've done that in the past. It didn't, it was a waste of money. Say this, right? What are all the different objections that are going to come up based on the trigger that you gave them so that I can get through that and introduce you? So again, the mindset of all of these is training. I'm training people on what to look for, how to identify these things and what to say when they see them. The rest of this doesn't really solve all of that, Right. It's the, it's really kind of designed to the people in the room in the sense. You didn't, you did a good job of not saying, have you ever done this? Have you ever experienced this? Have you ever, you know, when you do this, that's great, but there is a lot of fluff in here that can be cut to get more to the point, one, you gotta cut 10 seconds. But also to the point of, this is who I'm looking for. This is how you're gonna identify somebody who's struggling with this. And here's what you say. So I would, I would start over by again, putting that stuff up to the front end. And, you know, you can mention the David data driven process, built over 22 years of experience. You know, I solve this pain for these people. But you don't need the what it includes the personality profile and the competency validation, the reference that is for you to explain to the end user, the client, the referral. I don't need all of that to find you the referral to bring the referral to you. So I'd start over, but again, as always, I hope this is helpful. Just it's different. We got to think about these things differently. We got to approach them differently. It's true for all of us. It's not necessarily easy. It's not natural. It's not like how we're going to talk the rest of the day. And I feel like this would be kind of more like how you would talk to a prospect the rest of the day. So with that, as always with anybody, you can resubmit. It will definitely keep tweaking it if you want. If you've never submitted yours, do so go to be an I power of one.com it's the best way to really understand how your weekly presentations coming across is you got to hear it and get that feedback. And if you're finding value out of these types of episodes, let me know. Leave a Review Leave a Comment Share with a fellow BNI member Let's if you can help us reach more BNI members, that's that's our goal. Have a great day. Warning the following ZipRecruiter radio spot you are about to hear is going to be filled with F words.

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[Weekly Presentation Coach]

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