BNI 904: Weekly Presentation Coaching 161 - George Hattingh - Marketing

Summary

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Episode Summary: BNI & The Power of One – Ep. 904

Weekly Presentation Coaching 161 — George Hattingh (Marketing)
Host: Tim Roberts
Date: June 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode continues the tradition of Tim Roberts’ weekly BNI coaching sessions, where he reviews a listener-submitted weekly presentation, offering actionable feedback on how to make these presentations more effective. Today’s episode spotlights a submission from George Hattingh, a digital marketing professional from South Africa. Tim breaks down George’s approach, highlights common pitfalls, and gives concrete advice for making BNI weekly presentations yield better referrals and results.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Importance of Weekly Presentations in BNI

• Tim emphasizes the weekly presentation as BNI’s “most important skill set” for maximizing referral success.
• “It’s the best way to really learn whether we’re being as effective as we may think we are.” (Tim, 01:26)

2. George Hattingh’s Submitted Presentation

George introduces himself and describes his digital marketing business, focusing on businesses whose “online presence feels a little disconnected.” He lists signals of an inconsistent web presence and concludes with a call for referrals of business owners fitting this profile.

Sample Excerpt (Read by Tim, 01:49–02:57):

“...People might not know exactly what’s wrong, but they feel uncertainty. And uncertainty kills trust. As your marketing Butlers we help businesses create a complete digital presence that feels right... This week I’m specifically looking to meet business owners who are great at what they do, but whose online presence feels a little disconnected. Because sometimes the biggest problem isn’t broken marketing. It’s that something just feels off.”
(George Hattingh, as read by Tim, 02:20–02:52)

3. Tim’s Feedback and Coaching

a. Lack of Specificity — “Too Vague Gets No One”

• Tim points out that George’s request for business owners with a “disconnected online presence” is too broad.

  • “That is as vague as it can get because you're assuming everybody knows just what that means or what that looks like and how to identify that. And we really don’t.” (Tim, 03:14)

• Necessity to avoid “anyone, someone” requests:

  • “When we do that, we get no one and nobody... Your fellow members are not going to be willing to spend time during their week prospecting business for you.” (Tim, 04:27)

b. Teaching Members to Identify and Refer

• Members need training to visually recognize and act on referral opportunities.
  • “You need to give a very specific example. So when you say I'm specifically looking, you need to give a very specific example of a company you’re trying to get into, describing that end user.” (Tim, 03:38)
  • Recommendation: Name a specific industry, company, or even an individual.

c. Painting Clear Referral Triggers

• Tim suggests George provide tangible signs members can spot:
  • “When you go to Facebook and you see your friend’s business page and it looks very different than their website or it looks very different than their business card that you have, that's a trigger that things are disconnected...” (Tim, 05:15)
  • Recommend specifics like a business using a generic @gmail.com email on their website, mismatched branding, or inactive Facebook pages.

d. Giving the Tools for Conversation

• Members also need a script or “opening line” to make this delicate intro:
  • “If you don’t teach me how to bring you up, I’m still not going to do it...your members are not going to be willing to have an uncomfortable conversation for you.” (Tim, 07:34)
  • Suggestions include:
    • “Questions they can ask: ‘Hey, I noticed this. Are you working with anybody?’ Whatever that answer is, you’re the expert there to train them…” (Tim, 09:22)

4. The Three Elements of Effective Weekly Presentations

Tim boils it down to training on:

• Who specifically you want to be referred to (with an example or real name)
• How to recognize a good referral opportunity (clear triggers/signs)
• What exactly to say to start the conversation/referral

“We need to be training them on all three elements and narrow their focus.” (Tim, 08:22)

• Tim encourages rotating industries or focus weekly, but always providing clarity and actionable steps each time.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You’re almost kind of like, just give me anybody, just give me anyone, just give me some business. And when we do that, we get no one and nobody.” (Tim, 04:19)
• “You’re making two assumptions: you’re assuming that I know what a disconnected online presence looks like, and you’re assuming that I immediately know somebody off the top of my head who’s good at what they do, but they’re disconnected. And you’re assuming I know how to bring you up. And that’s a lot of assumptions.” (Tim, 07:00)
• “So if you don’t teach me how to bring you up, I’m still not going to do it.” (Tim, 07:34)
• “As much as we live giver’s gain, as much as we want to help each other... your members are not going to be willing to have an uncomfortable conversation for you.” (Tim, 07:54)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:14 – Tim introduces the episode and George Hattingh’s submission
• 01:49–02:57 – Tim reads George’s weekly presentation
• 03:14–04:19 – Tim critiques the vagueness of “businesses with disconnected online presence”
• 05:15 – Tim provides examples of clear referral triggers
• 07:34–09:22 – Tim explains the need for conversation tools and scripting
• 08:22 – Tim summarizes the three essential elements: Who, How, What

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Takeaways for BNI Members

• Be specific in who you’re looking to meet—name names, industries, or company types.
• **Break it down for your fellow members—show them what referral opportunities actually look like, using examples they’ll recognize in their networks.
• Equip your team: Give them words to say to start an easy, non-awkward conversation that benefits everyone.
• Rotate your ask, but always provide clarity—change target industries or triggers each week to educate and vary opportunities.
• Submission & Feedback Loop: Tim encourages re-submitting improved presentations for continued learning.

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Summary Conclusion

Tim’s coaching in this episode offers a blueprint for maximizing weekly presentations: focus, specify, and train your fellow members. By painting a clear picture of who you want to meet, how to spot them, and what to say, you convert vague requests into actionable referrals—moving from “anyone/someone” to actual names and opportunities.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

Welcome back to BNI and the power of one episode 904 and more importantly our weekly coaching episode 161. So continue to get submissions for these types of episodes is where we review somebody submitted weekly presentation, try to give feedback, advice on how to make it as effective as possible and appreciate everybody who continues to submit them and would encourage you to do the same. It's the best way to really learn whether we're being as effective as we may think we are, which is the most important skill set we have each week at our BNI meeting. So getting right into it. Today we are hearing from J. George Hatting. He is from South Africa and does not say in here anywhere how long. So I'm going to assume a minute just because that would be the normal standard. And George, I'll time it reading it just to give you a point of view. Again, you and I will do this at different speeds, but here we go. We'll start right now. I'm George Hatton from your Marketing Butlers. We do digital marketing. People often trust their gut. In business you've heard it before, something feels feels off. Sometimes it's obvious. Contractor misses deadline, someone doesn't return calls. A deal looks too good to be true. But sometimes something feels off is harder to spot. A company has a website, a Facebook page, maybe an Instagram account, but nothing feels connected. The branding changes, the information doesn't match. Reviews are old, post stop posts stop 3 months ago Emails go unanswered. People might not know exactly what's wrong, but they feel uncertainty. And uncertainty kills trust. As your marketing at your marketing Butlers we help businesses create a complete digital presence that feels right. Google Ads, social media reviews, content, digital business cards all working together so clients stop wondering and start trusting. This week I'm specifically looking to meet business owners who are great at what they do, but whose online presence feels a little disconnected. Because sometimes the biggest problem isn't Broken marketing. It's just, it's that something just feels off. George Hatning, from your marketing Butlers. Okay, so I went a minute and five seconds but obviously stumbled through some different parts. So you're probably very close to a minute. Let's review who, how, what are we teaching them, who we're looking for? Are we teaching them how to identify people like this and are we teaching them what to say? I would say in this case, George, the answer to all three of those is no, we didn't hit any of them. When you say I'm specifically looking to meet business owners who are great at what they do, but whose online presence feels a little disconnected, that is as vague as it can get because we don't, you're assuming everybody knows just what that means or what that looks like and how to identify that. And we really don't as fellow people who are not in marketing and who maybe don't think about all the social media and online presence things. I have no idea who that is. Right, so you need to give a very specific example. So when you say I'm specifically looking, you need to give a very specific example of a company you're trying to get into describing that end user. Hey look, I'm really trying to work with plumbing companies right now, such as XYZ Plumbing company need to meet with their owner, you know, Bill Anderson, and give that example of a certain company you're trying to get into, maybe a certain industry with a certain company you're trying to get into, who typically might be good at what they do. But online presence is not all that it's should be for that industry. That's something you will know. That is not something to assume your fellow members will know. So this almost gets into the anyone, someone, anybody, somebody theory, right? You're almost kind of like, just give me anybody, just give me anyone, just give me some business. And when we do that, we get no one and nobody. And to review why that is is because again, we're asking our members to grow prospecting for us. And no matter how much they love us and want to help us and we live givers gain and all these things, your fellow members are not going to be willing to spend time during their week prospecting business for you. And you are quite literally in this example asking them to do just that. So we, you gave some examples up at the top about, you know, a company has a website, a Facebook page, but in Instagram, but they don't feel connected. And you know, you gave, you know, the branding Changes the information doesn't match. Those are all two things. But you got to really train on how do we pick up now. So the second piece, like, how do we pick up that somebody's just not on it or something is just off when we are seeing these things online. So one of the things you could say is, you know, when you. When you go to Facebook and you see your friend's business page and it looks very different than their website or it looks very different than their business card that you have, that's a trigger that things are disconnected. When you see that they have a website but their email is [e-mail], that's something that's disconnected. You can give very specific examples of what a disconnected online presence looks like. That would trigger somebody to say, oh, there's a disconnect. They might be a good referral for George, but you got to train them on that. You cannot assume that your members know how to look or match those things up. And so, you know, again, we want to get into very specifics. I think you went into, like, too much of what the something feels, often this. So your time needs to be very specific. On. All right, I'm looking to work with plumbers. They often have a disconnect between their websites and their social media, unless they have somebody internally because they're very busy at, you know, fixing pipes and doing that kind of stuff. So I'm specifically looking to get an XYZ company and speak with the owner, you know, Bill Anderson, or your friend who owns a plumbing company. One of the things you're gonna notice is that when you're on Facebook, they either have no presence, you haven't seen them in a while, or their branding looks different than when you're on their website, or their branding looks different than when you're on. You pick one, whatever, and then it's, here's what you ask them. Here's how you start a conversation. You didn't get into any of that at all. You just said, I'm looking to meet these people. But let's just assume you're making two assumptions. You're assuming that I know what a disconnected online presence looks like. You're assuming that I immediately know somebody off the top of my head who's good at what they do, but they're disconnected. And you're assuming I know how to bring you up. And that's a lot of assumptions. And most of your members don't know any of those. But even let's say they know the first one or Two, if they don't know the third part, which is how do I bring you up? They still are not going to take any action. So we need to be training them on all three elements and narrow their focus. And the great thing is, you could pick a different company in a different industry every single week if you wanted to, or you could pick an industry you're trying to get into with a different company each week if you want to, and you could pick a different trigger each week, but you gotta hit all three of them. And again, let's assume that I immediately thought of somebody because you did a great job. And I was like, oh yeah, I know somebody whose branding is completely different on their website than it is on their business card and all that. But I don't know how to approach them and say, hey, knucklehead, your branding is different on your website than it is your business card. So if you don't teach me how to bring you up, I'm still not going to do it. Because again, as much as we live giver's gain, much as we want to help each other, as much as we love each other, all of those things, your members are not going to be willing to have an uncomfortable conversation for you. And while this isn't as uncomfortable potentially as things like, say, life insurance, investments, those kind of things, it's still pretty uncomfortable if you're expecting me to be like, hey, you, you have an online problem in their business, so you got to think about how do I train people to bring it up? Questions they can ask, hey, I noticed this. Are you working with anybody? Like, whatever that answer is, you're the expert there to train them on how to do that. So I think we missed the training aspect of the weekly presentation or the training focus of what the weekly presentations are supposed to be in this one example. But you got things you can work off and build off with it, so hopefully that's helpful. Really appreciate you submitting Josh. If you rework it and you want to submit it again, definitely do that. Same for everybody else who's ever done it. And again, I hope you guys are finding value. If you are, leave a review, let us know, share it. All the things that that'll tell us you're enjoying it. But also if you could share with other members who might get some value out of it, I think it will help them. It definitely helps us appreciate you all. Talk to you.

[D]

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