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Sam. Foreign. Welcome back to BNI and the Power of One podcast. Good to finally be back again. A lot of the travel now wrapped up. We're back, we're ready. Appreciate everybody who continues to engage by submitting questions, topics, weekly presentations, etc@bnipowerofone.com we're going to get back to the to the weekly presentation reviews this week as well. And so with that, let's just dive right in to a question that got submitted anonymously from anonymous BNI director. It says hi Tim, As a BNI director, I often hear concerns and questions around evolving membership strategies and I'd love your perspective on a topic that recently came up in a conversation with the member. The discussion centered around companies that place multiple representatives into different B and I chapters to increase visibility, networking opportunities, relationship building across the region. The member raised questions around how the strategy aligns with the spirit of power, partner relationships and chapter loyalty when the same company is represented in multiple chapters that may contain overlapping professions or referral sources. Some of the questions that came up were how should chapters view company loyalty and relationship building when a business has representatives in multiple chapters? Does BNI encourage or support this as a chapter, as a growth strategy, or is it simply a business decision made independently by companies? While different representatives may naturally have different spheres of influence and networks, how should members think about referrals empower team dynamics on the company level? Should this be approached how should this be approached when involves spouses or husband and wife teams joining different chapters under underrelated or complimentary businesses? I think this could create a valuable conversation around chapter culture, collaboration versus competition and maintaining strong referral relationships while businesses continue to grow their presence in bni. Appreciate all you do for bni, so thank you for that. There's a lot here. I'm going to try to simplify it. Each person that applies to your chapter should be looked at independently as an individual and everything that goes into that. So when somebody applies to our chapter, we need to take into account multiple factors. The company they work for is one of them and not so much as how represented is this company and other chapters, because most members won't even know that. You might know that as a director, but a lot of members aren't going to really know that and it doesn't really matter. It's more of is the company referable? Is the product the service they offer, you know, to the level and quality that we would feel comfortable referring them? And then it's about the individual from there. You know, are they referable? Are they going to be committed, Are they going to be able to give, where are they in the business? What is their role in the business? All of these kind of questions will come up and then thus make the decision on is that individual somebody that we can commit to and want to put into our network and all the things that go along with being a BNI member. The strategy of multiple representatives in multiple chapters is kind of both front. Mostly it's a independent strategy by the company locally that they're getting results somewhere and they want to, you know, maximize their opportunity and their exposure. That's perfectly fine. BNI makes relationships with, you know, franchise companies nationally and globally kind of the same kind of concept. But what it really comes, it doesn't really get into play around power partnerships or you know, context viewers or power teams or whatever term you want to use because it comes down to the individual. Now having said that, one of the key things you want to figure out is what is this person's role in the company and how committed are they going to really be? Because I've seen this work and I've seen it not work. And I think where it works is when a company has multiple sales reps, multiple commission based people who have, you know, some kind of incentive as an individual to be out networking for referrals and business for the company. So you think about all your big insurance companies, often multiple chapters, your big finance companies, often multiple chapters, big mortgage companies, often multiple chapters, companies with sales teams, multiple chapters. But each one of those has kind of an individual purpose for being there. Their sales, they're commission based, their, you know, their take home pay is affected by it. However it is, if I was a chapter I'd want to know that A is there and B that they have one because they will be independently motivated to do all the things they need to do in the chapter. In theory, I mean each individual is different but in theory, right, they will have the personal drive to do B and I fully do the one to ones, take the trainings, improve themselves because their direct bottom line is affected by it. Where I've seen it struggle is when a, when a company owner has a lot of success in BNI and then they just want to send all their employees out to chapters. And by employees I mean just like you know, general operations people who will get no real benefit from any kind of increase from B and I referrals and stuff, those ones tend to struggle a little bit because again the individual member is only there because they were told they have to be there and because they have to be there. They'll do the minimums, but they're not really motivated or pushed to do anything more than the minimums. And that's when, like, the business owner will come to me and talk about, like, this works really well for me, but it doesn't work in all my other chapters, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, right, because nobody can network for you if you're telling them, go out, network for me. It ain't gonna work very well. They need to be networking for themselves. They need to have some. I mean, again, they could be a regular employee that gets an incentive plan built around the results they get from bni. That's enough. But I'd wanna know if that exists. I don't need to know the details. You don't have to tell me what kind of commissions and everything else. But I'd wanna know, like, why are you here? Are you here because somebody told you you have to be here? Are you here cause you wanna be here? That would be the biggest differentiator. Because each person does come in with their own network. That is true. They got their own friends, their own family members, their own colleague. They've got all their own customers, usually when they're in sales. And so whether they're, you know, fellow sales rep is in another chapter shouldn't really affect your chapter at all and the relationships you're building. And even if they were an employee, as long as they have some kind of drive to do it, they have their own contacts, they have their own friends. They don't. You might be looking and it's like, well, the company's customers are tied up by the business owner. And I guess you could look at it and say that. And it is true in some sense. So I'd be asking that question like, do you have access to refer customers and clients of the company? But don't leave out the fact that they also have their own friends and family members and everybody else. They say the average person knows 250 people. That's outsider work. So 250. They have that network that isn't a part of the company. So there could be value. And there probably is a lot of value there as well. And it comes down to, you know, the most important thing the chapter can do is do it. Do your due diligence, ask the right questions, have the right interview with the individual to really get a sense of who you're accepting into the chapter. Just because a company has multiple reps across a region doesn't mean you have to Accept the next one. Just because they have multiple represents across the region doesn't mean you shouldn't accept the next one. You have to do your due diligence and really think about it. The should members be looking at, you know, whether the company as a whole will be returned? I don't think the general member. I think this is what the membership committee is really about, and they should be looking at that. What is the opportunity for this person to give back? What is going to be the level of dedication this person's going to have? Are they going to be accountable? Are they going to be engaged? Do they have, you know, where are they in the company? Where are they in their business path? All of these types of questions that will tell you, are we accepting the best person for this one seat we have? And that's how I would look at it. And, you know, husband, spouse, husband, wife, two different chapters, that's perfectly fine, too. Will there be times when, like, they both come up, you know, they get a friend who is in a referral and they have to debate which chapter they give it to? Sure, that can happen, but that's not going to happen every single time. And, you know, that happens now. That happens now. Like, again, you got to remember, everybody in your chapter has relationships outside of that chapter. And there are times when they are passing referrals to people outside of the chapter, and that's okay. There's nothing in BNI that says you have to end all other relationships. It comes down to, you know, what kind of relationship and trust and education and all that do you build with that member that would convince them that you are the best person for them to refer to, despite any other relationships. If you're just sitting there going, like, I deserve this because I'm in the chapter with you. You've got B and I all wrong altogether. So to simplify the answer, should it be considered? Yeah, as a, as a piece of the puzzle, like every other piece of the puzzle should be considered. But ultimately it comes down to the individual. Do you feel like this individual is the best representative for the profession and service that you have the opening for? And are they going to be the dedicated, committed, accountable, engaged, you know, positive? Are they going to be, you know, are they going to be a valuable addition to the chapter or not? And whether the company's in multiple chapters or not is one little piece of that. And it could be the deciding factor against, but it should, and it, it could also be the deciding factor for. It really comes down to that individual situation. And so yeah, it's, it's not a yes, no answer. It's, it's, it should be considered, but it shouldn't. It's not an automatic in or automatic out. It's just a piece of the puzzle. And you know, again, you'll see this continue to increase because again, there are national, I'm talking from the US standpoint, I have no idea where this is coming. There are national organizations with franchise owners and sales reps nationally that will be, you know, all joining different chapters. You might be, oh, that makes sense in different states, but that's true locally as well. And they can have tremendous success and be tremendously valuable for the chapters. But again, it comes down to the individual you are accepting and ask the right questions to make sure that you are 100% comfortable with the individual. The company they're part of is a piece of whether they're referable or not. Right. Like is the company sound and credible and all that kind of stuff. Whether they're in multiple chapters or not, again, comes down to what's their role and all that kind of stuff. So I'm rambling, I keep repeating myself. So hopefully this is helpful, gives you some more perspective on it. And I would encourage companies, if you're having success, look at expanding your opportunities, but make sure again that you're doing it with the right people, that they have the right motive, they have the right incentives to actually be fully engaged in a B and I chapter. Because if they're just doing it because you told them to do it, they probably won't. And if they don't, they're definitely not going to get the same results you might be getting. And it could, you know, you could be wasting your time, your money, their time and the chapter's time just by trying to throw people out there to get additional exposure. Great question. As always, appreciate you all. If you're finding value, leave a review, share with another member, submit your question, submit your weekly presentation and we'll talk to you soon.