Networking with bankable results

Business Networking International has a proven history of tangible success, and it now has a chapter in Cranbrook

1 of 2(L to R) Shelagh Redecopp, Vanessa Dickson and Brandon Wright are president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer of the Cranbrook chapter of Business Networking International. — Marie Milner photo

2 of 2Ozzie Kipnes, director consultant of Business Networking International, addressed members and guests at the Cranbrook chapter launch. — Marie Milner photo

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In November 2013, Shelagh Redecopp of Sun Life Financial in Cranbrook, B.C., was too excited about a new idea to worry about winter’s bite. Redecopp had become interested in Business Networking International (BNI), a structured, results-oriented, business-generating organization that has chapters in 52 countries—more than 285 of them in Canada—but until then none in B.C.'s Kootenay region.

Redecopp and two business associates—Vanessa Dickson and Tom Shypitka—sent out 100 letters to people they thought would share their interest, and from a core of six the group quickly grew to the pivotal number of 21.

“Right from the outset we had good, solid support from the business community, which was a factor in us growing to 21 so quickly,” Redecopp said. “When we reached that number, BNI provided us with six weeks of extensive training, some of it with Ozzie Kipnes (director consultant for BNI) in person and some of it online.”

The strengths of the system

Redecopp talked about what she sees as the strengths of BNI compared to other networking groups she has known.

• BNI is structured. The organization has rules, regulations and agendas to follow every week, and if you follow the structure you will get results. Rules and structure may not suit everyone.
• BNI sets out quotas that have to be met—this is much more than a social group where solid business leads are hit-and-miss.
• There’s only one representative per industry per BNI chapter: one Realtor, one mortgage broker, one web designer, one fitness coach and so on. That means that every referral generated in your chapter for your industry goes to you.
• Results are tracked. By the end of the year, every person in the group will know the dollar value of business generated by the group, the number of guests and referrals and essentially what they’re getting out of their membership.

“Something that’s maybe not apparent is that when you meet with the same group every week, you have the opportunity for an in-depth look at the businesses and the people behind them, and you learn a lot,” Redecopp said. “You get to see how they keep their commitments, their work ethic, their professionalism, their sense of teamwork. You really get to know them. You can’t get that sense from the more casual networking groups.”