'Givers Gain' at BNI meetings

Business Network International (BNI) is an international organization comprised of individual chapters with one business per profession in each chapter.

“The point of BNI is for each of us other members — as we’re meeting with our customers, our friends and our families — to refer business back to the other members in our chapter,” said Lisa Rammelt, longtime member and past president of the Yuma premiere chapter of BNI.

A sales manager for Chicago Title, Rammelt is one of the few members in her chapter who works for a large company. The majority of the other 14 members either run a small business or are self-employed, she said.

But they all share the common goal of working hard to drum up business for other members of the chapter, she said.

“That’s the point of it, for the other members of the chapter to be sales representatives for our fellow members. The overwhelming motto of BNI is ‘Givers Gain.’ I’m going to work hard to give business referrals to the other members in my chapter, so that in turn they will want to give business back to me.”

For example, while chatting with people who may mention a funny noise in their car, or a pain in their leg, she will refer them to Campbell’s Automotive or Acupuncture of Yuma because owners of those businesses are members of her chapter, she said.

Likewise, other members who speak to someone who is buying or refinancing a home will refer the person to Chicago Title, she said.

There are two BNI chapters in Yuma.

The Yuma Premiere chapter meets at 7 a.m. Tuesdays at Holiday Inn Express on Avenue 3E and Interstate 8.

The Business Networkers meet at 7 a.m. Wednesdays at Mimi’s Cafe.

“The meeting is one of a very structured agenda that has been honed over many, many years through BNI chapters, and it really does speak for itself," Rammelt said. "So when you get to the end of the meeting, and everybody gets to the point where they do refer business, that’s the best part.”

Meetings begin with what is called a Sales Manager Minute, she said. “We go around the room and everybody talks about their business for 60 seconds, the point being each week to instruct the rest of your sales people, as we call each other, on some aspect of your business. So being in title, one week I’ll talk about title insurance, one week I’ll talk about escrow, and one week I’ll talk about whatever other kind of things we come up with.”

Next, the group spends about five to seven minutes presenting information on how to improve its networking efforts, she said.

Each week, one member gets to do a very detailed 10-minute presentation about their business, and the type of presentation depends on the type of business, she said. For instance, the owner of Basket Creations and More always does a “show and tell” type of presentation with baskets and items from her store. The owner of Campbell’s Automotive typically takes in broken auto parts to discuss, and Acupuncture of Yuma does actual acupuncture demonstrations.

“After that, we go back around the room, and that’s when we pass our referral to other members,” Rammelt said.

Outside of meetings as well, she said,  “We try to stay in touch with other members as often as we can. Every week, we are encouraged to do a one-on-one meeting, where we each will pick one member of our group and we’ll get together and chat for 20 minutes, whether it’s over lunch, at my office, at their business or whatever.

“And of course, if I were to run into somebody in the middle of the week that needed help, I would call (the appropriate) member right away. I wouldn’t wait to pass that information along.”

With only 15 members, the Yuma Premiere chapter of BNI is looking for new members, she said. Anyone can join so long as their profession is not already represented in the chapter.

BNI’s whole purpose is one member per profession so that one member does not have to compete against another of the same profession within the group, she explained.

For more information about the Yuma Premiere chapter of BNI, call Derek Egeberg, chapter president, at 246-0422.

Ken Keslar, president of the Business Networkers chapter of BNI, can be reached at 317-0001.