Episode 885: The Connector Effect (Classic)

Summary

Episode Summary: The Connector Effect (Classic)

Podcast: The Official BNI Podcast
Host: Dr. Ivan Misner
Guest: Robert Scrobe
Release Date: November 6, 2024
Episode Number: 885

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Introduction

In this classic episode of The Official BNI Podcast, hosted by Dr. Ivan Misner, founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Priscilla Rice introduces guest Robert Scrobe. Robert, a seasoned marketing expert with over two decades of experience, is the co-author of the book "The Connector Effect", alongside Dr. Misner and BNI CEO Graham Weimiller. The episode delves into the principles of referral marketing and the transformative power of BNI membership.

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Understanding The Connector Effect

[03:31] Robert Scrobe:
“The connector effect is a fresh look at BNI as been around for, of course, 36 years now. And being able to look at it with a new prism of how really BNI chapter membership is actually kind of like a disruptor for a small business...”

Robert defines The Connector Effect as the exponential growth in a business owner's ability to attract clients and solve problems through an expanding network of trusted referrals within a BNI chapter. He emphasizes that as one's network grows, so does the capacity to generate referrals, thereby enhancing business growth.

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BNI as a Force Multiplier

[04:52] Dr. Ivan Misner:
“Yeah, someone told me once it's like a force multiplier belonging to BNI, which I think is a great term...”

Dr. Misner likens BNI membership to a "force multiplier," a term borrowed from the military, highlighting how BNI amplifies the effectiveness of individual networking efforts. This metaphor underscores the compounded benefits members receive through collective collaboration and shared referrals.

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Gamification within BNI

[05:03] Robert Scrobe:
“...there's a huge movement in the tech world today to try to create gamification... So does BNI. With your scoreboards and your referral counting and being able to track it makes making money fun.”

Robert discusses the incorporation of gamification elements in BNI, such as scoreboards and referral tracking. This approach not only makes the process of generating referrals engaging but also fosters a sense of friendly competition. Dr. Misner shares a personal anecdote about his experience with gamification in apps like Waze, reinforcing its effectiveness in motivating consistent participation.

[06:14] Dr. Ivan Misner:
“Gamification really is effective because it's about... competing with yourself to be amongst the best.”

The conversation highlights how BNI’s gamified systems encourage members to strive for excellence in referral generation, ultimately benefiting everyone's business within the chapter.

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The Power of a Trusted Referral Network

[09:02] Robert Scrobe:
“Your BNI chapter gives you a network that you can trust to refer your friends, family, and best customers... becoming a master connector is all about the person that people come to when they have a challenge...”

Robert elaborates on the core value of BNI—a trusted network that facilitates the exchange of high-quality referrals. He explains that becoming a master connector involves being the go-to person within the network for solving business challenges, thereby reinforcing one's reputation and increasing referral opportunities.

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Evolution of Networking with Technology

[11:08] Dr. Ivan Misner:
“When I started BNI, I wanted to be a master connector... but now with technology we can just do so much more. Wouldn't you agree?”

Dr. Misner reflects on the evolution of networking from traditional methods, such as mailing contact lists, to leveraging modern technology through BNI’s systems and apps. This transition underscores the enhanced efficiency and reach that contemporary tools provide to BNI members.

[12:32] Robert Scrobe:
“Your BNI chapter is a system that plugs into your existing business that gives you access to that power all together...”

Robert agrees, emphasizing that BNI’s integration with technology simplifies the process of building and maintaining a robust referral network, making the role of a master connector more accessible than ever before.

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Final Thoughts and Purpose of The Connector Effect

[13:21] Robert Scrobe:
“The reason why we created the connector effect were two things. One, to help your chapter grow by improving retention... and really the most important, helping business owners grow their business...”

In his closing remarks, Robert outlines the primary objectives behind "The Connector Effect": enhancing chapter growth through better member retention and providing business owners with a powerful strategy to expand their businesses. He asserts that BNI remains the most effective business growth strategy available, aiming to support entrepreneurs globally in achieving success.

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Conclusion

Dr. Ivan Misner wraps up the episode by expressing gratitude towards Robert for his contributions to the book and the podcast. He encourages listeners to explore "The Connector Effect" by visiting theconnectoreffect.com or finding it on Amazon, highlighting its availability as a resource for both BNI members and prospective joiners.

[14:19] Robert Scrobe:
“Absolute honor to be here. Thank you, Dr. Misner.”

The episode concludes with a brief mention of the podcast sponsor and an invitation for listeners to tune in to future episodes for more insights into referral marketing and networking strategies.

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Key Takeaways

• The Connector Effect illustrates how BNI membership acts as a catalyst for business growth through a trusted referral network.
• Gamification within BNI enhances member engagement and fosters a competitive yet cooperative environment.
• Building and maintaining a trusted referral network is essential for becoming a master connector and driving business success.
• Technological advancements have revolutionized networking, making systems like BNI’s more efficient and impactful.
• The ultimate goal of BNI and "The Connector Effect" is to transform lives by empowering business owners to grow their enterprises collaboratively.

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Notable Quotes

• Dr. Ivan Misner [04:52]:
  “It's a force multiplier belonging to BNI.”

• Robert Scrobe [09:02]:
  “The connector effect is the giver's gain implemented.”

• Dr. Ivan Misner [06:14]:
  “Gamification really is effective because it's about competing with yourself to be amongst the best.”

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For those interested in enhancing their networking and referral marketing prowess, this episode offers invaluable insights into leveraging BNI’s frameworks to become a master connector and drive sustainable business growth.

Transcript

[Priscilla Rice]

Hello, this is Priscilla Rice and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio. This week we're going to have a rebroadcast of one of our earlier classic podcasts. We hope you enjoy it and thanks so much for listening. Episode number 697, the Connector Effect.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You're listening to the official BNI Podcast with BNI Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Dr. Ivan Meisner.

[Robert Scrobe]

Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Suggestions and insights into getting the most from your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.

[Priscilla Rice]

Hello, everybody and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the Chief visionary officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Hi, Ivan, how are you and where are you?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Well, I'm still zooming around the world like most other people are, but I've been to a number of countries including the United Kingdom and Singapore for big events and I'm happy to be able to talk to so many people around the world using zoom. It's at least one of the benefits of this crazy world we live in right now.

[Priscilla Rice]

I know, and that's great. That sounds like fun.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

It is, actually. It is fun. So I've got a guest today, Priscilla. It is a good friend and co author of a book. His name is Robert Scrob. Robert is a marketing expert and he's been in the field for more than 20 years. He's helped thousands of businesses attract and retain their best target customers. Robert, superpower is simplification. I love that. Robert, I tell people my superpower is persistence. So good combination. He simplifies people's messages to attract customers, simplifying what you deliver to improve long term retention, and simplifying how you deliver it to increase your profits as you scale. And while he's worked with entrepreneurs in more than 100 business categories, today he specializes in helping businesses grow, reoccurring subscription revenue. And Robert is the co author with our CEO of bni, Graham Weimiller and myself for a book called the Connector Effect. And we'll have a link here in this podcast. I believe it'll be the connector effect.com, but it will also be here. You can click on it. Robert, welcome to BNI Podcast.

[Robert Scrobe]

Thank you so much. I'm honored. Dr. Misner, been a longtime fan and absolutely, it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to chat with you again and be a guest on your show. Thank you so much.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Well, listen, it's great having you here. And just for full transparency, Robert did the heavy lifting for this book. He deserves most of the credit and, you know, we certainly contributed a lot. But Robert, this is something that Robert really took the ball with and ran. And it's a brand new book and it's really aimed at not just B and I members, but people that are thinking about joining bni. Why would I want to come to bni? And the reason is to become a master connector. So Robert, what is the connector effect and why did we create the book?

[Robert Scrobe]

Yeah, thank you for that. The. The connector effect is a fresh look at BNI as been around for, of course, 36 years now. And being able to look at it with a new prism of how really BNI chapter membership is actually kind of like a disruptor for a small business because it changes everything about how they generate customers, how they, how they connect with other entrepreneurs, how they get information about growing their business. And the connector effect was a way of showing givers gain in action that by passing referrals is the secret key to growing your business. The connector effect specifically is that your ability to attract people to you, it grows in proportion to your referral network and your ability to solve problems for your friends, family and your best customers by referring those people to members within your network. And that as your network grows, so does your ability to solve problems and attract customers to you.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Yeah, someone told me once it's like a force multiplier belonging to bni, which I think is a great term. I know it's a military term, but I think it's really true. It's a force multiplier totally.

[Robert Scrobe]

And there's so much that goes along with BNI membership that we really don't think about. And me coming from the outside looking at it going, you know what, there's a huge movement in the tech world today to try to create gamification and everybody's trying to figure this out. Similar to Waze, helps you find your particular destination and connects you to other users of the app along the way. So does bni. With your scoreboards and your referral, counting and being able to track it makes making money fun. And so that not only are you doing it in order to grow each other's business, but there's a friendly competition and the winner is everybody because we grow our businesses. And so being able to bring forward these sorts of ways that in the systems that BNI gives you as a small business. I was just really thrilled and excited about bringing that forward. In this book.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You mentioned gamification and you mentioned Waze, and I think that's a great example. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, and I'm admitting it on recording here. When I was on Waze, I wanted to be Waze royalty. There's like Waze baby and there's Waze night. I. I have three college degrees, but my big goal was I wanted to be Waze royalty. I'm very happy to say I am now. But gamification really is. Is effective because it's about. It's about, you know, kind of competing with yourself to be among amongst the best. Of course.

[Robert Scrobe]

And within your BNI chapter, of course, the score is based on how many referrals you pass and the BNI systems that somebody coming from the outside watching members of the chapter kind of keep score by passing referrals, that can feel kind of mercenary because outside of bni, that's very uncommon. And so really framing something that might turn somebody off instead, really helping to illustrate that that's a real benefit to them and that you can enjoy it and it's fun, was really the kind of the key of taking each of these elements of this ingenious system that together is worth well, more than the sum of its parts and helping illustrate how they work to somebody that's new so that they could really appreciate it.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Yeah. And measuring things, you know, we measure things in addition to the referrals. Thank you for closed business and of course, one to ones. But these are all measuring things that make a difference in the success of membership. So it's not just measuring things to measure things. It's measuring things. It's measuring the right things to get great results.

[Robert Scrobe]

And that's really, well, gamification for a purpose rather than simply becoming the king of. Of ways. Well, that certainly is important. I will not diminish your status, your highness. But, but if when you're the king of. Of thank you for closed business, you have changed some lives in your chapter. And, and so having a friendly competition of who gets to wear that crown, everybody in that chapter wins.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You know, that's so important what you just said there. I want everyone to listen to that again when you, based on, you know, keeping track of thank you for closed business and referrals, have one to ones that as you. You're changing people's lives. And that's the goal here, is to transform lives, to change the way the world does business and to do that through our referral marketing platform. And that's really what I see as the benefit of being a great connector. So can you explain a little bit for us, Robert? What is the connector effect as we describe it in the book?

[Robert Scrobe]

Yeah, absolutely. The key point of the book is your BNI chapter gives you a network that you can trust to refer your friends, family and best customers. A group of people who trust you to do what they promise. And because they trust you to do the same, they pass referrals of their friends, family and customers to you. One of the things that I heard from a lot of B and I members was that it can take a couple or three years before you fully experience the benefit of receiving referrals. And what I thought is that really discounted a tremendous amount of value that you get from your B and I chapter the very second that they accept you into your business category in order to join. And that is the ability to solve problems for your friends, family and your best customers. And that is really what becoming, what we talk about in the book, becoming a master connector, is all about the person that people come to when they have a challenge, when they have a problem. And many of them you're going to be able to refer to yourself and be able to help them within their own business and provide your services. And other times you're providing your referrals to your BNI chapter members. And the key is that the more members that you have within your network, the more problems you're able to solve. And because if you don't have a category taken within your referral network and within your chapter, that means that there's problems that you're encountering that you don't even know that you can solve. And once you have those folks in those slots and giving weekly presentations, it creates in your mind an open loop that you can close when you encounter individuals with those types of problems. And the bigger your network gets, the more referrals everybody generates. It's really the connector effect is the giver's gain implemented.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You know, the technology that exists today is, is just mind boggling to me compared to what it was when I started bni and, and I. When I started bni, I wanted to be a master connector. And I don't know if, I don't know if I ever told you this, Robert, but this is what I did was I. Once every two or three months, I would send a letter to like hundreds of people that were in my database, which was mostly a Rolodex and for those of you who are Gen Xers, I'm not talking about an expensive watch. It's a little paper document that you turn and you get these cards with all the addresses. And anyway, I would mail to all of my contacts a list of business professionals that I did business with. That's it. Not their names, not their phone numbers, just. And then I'd have a cover letter that said, you know, I really believe in connecting people who need referrals. And so here's a list of professions. If you need one of these professions, call me. And you know, you know, it took about six months or a year, but people started calling me, Robert and ask, hey, do you know this person? Do you know that person? I didn't give the phone number cause I wanted to make the connection personally. And that was sort of a, you know, paper based master connector. But now with technology we can just do so much more. Wouldn't you agree?

[Robert Scrobe]

Absolutely. And I think that's the real power. You know, whereas you had to assemble all of those names yourself and vet those individuals and have meetings with them and, and really work to curate that list that, that you were, you know, that you had, that you, you were making available. Your BNI chapter is a system that plugs in to your existing business that gives you access to that power all together, really at the power of your BNI Connect app. And so it's fast, it's effective and makes you a master connector so much easier than it was for you out on your own 36 years ago.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Absolutely. Any last thoughts before we wrap up? We're over time. Any last thought before we.

[Robert Scrobe]

Yeah. The reason why we built the or we created the connector effect were two things. One, to help your chapter grow by, by improving retention because members have a better expectation of what, what BNI membership is all about and really the most important, helping helping business owners grow their business. BNI is the single most effective business growth strategy out there today. And I want to do everything we can in order to help business owners around the world appreciate it, use it more effectively and grow their business for the benefit of their families.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Well, Robert, thank you so much for doing this book with me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for being on the podcast today. You're helping to make a difference in a lot of people's lives. The book is called the Connector Effect. It's written by Robert Scrobe, Graham Weimiller and myself. You can go to theconnectereffect.com or find it on Amazon. Thank you, Robert.

[Robert Scrobe]

Absolute honor to be here. Thank you, Dr. Meisner.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Over to you, Priscilla.

[Priscilla Rice]

Okay, thank you both. That was some great information. The sponsor for this podcast is Ivan's Inner Circle. Go check out the great content available. It's at www.ivansinnercircle.com. and he has assembled a variety of interesting topics for you to learn about and also to participate in. So thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of the official BNI podcast.