Any opinions of joining BNI verses Chamber of Commerces?
BNI Vs Chamber of Commerces
- Thread starter HuntAssuranceGroup
- Start date
Join both, they are not exclusive from one to the other.
Chamber is good to get to know everyone in town, but its full of realtors and insurance guys.
BNI is more of a referral group, but you are limited to who gives you referrals, since every group has a P&C person.
Both make sense, at least for while.
Dan
Chamber is good to get to know everyone in town, but its full of realtors and insurance guys.
BNI is more of a referral group, but you are limited to who gives you referrals, since every group has a P&C person.
Both make sense, at least for while.
Dan
MackAflac
New Member
I personally have been visiting BNI meetings. I'm new to my area, and have had a lot of fun getting to meet select groups of other business owners. I like the fact that I will be the only representative in my industry.
I haven't been to a chamber meeting yet, but it is definitely something that I am looking into.
I haven't been to a chamber meeting yet, but it is definitely something that I am looking into.
- 249
If you can fill the spot for BNI take it and do what they tell you as far as the meeting with members and learning about there biz as to who you can refer to them. It is very hard to find an Insurance slot in BNI.
- 882
I've been in two BNI groups in two different states. Both times I had to spear head starting a new group as a P&C agent. Worth all the time & effort in my opinion. Best consistent source of new business I've ever had. Plus, Nothing beats a referral. "lead" is a bad four letter word in a BNI group
You don't give leads to friends, you give referrals which carry the weight of your credibility with them.
The chamber was good when I was a newbie to meet other business owners but as a source of referrals....not worth my time. I used the Chamber to network to find the members I wanted to recruit to my BNI group. Both BNI groups were in towns where I had no background/connection at all in so I had to network like crazy.
You don't give leads to friends, you give referrals which carry the weight of your credibility with them.The chamber was good when I was a newbie to meet other business owners but as a source of referrals....not worth my time. I used the Chamber to network to find the members I wanted to recruit to my BNI group. Both BNI groups were in towns where I had no background/connection at all in so I had to network like crazy.
- 215
Agreed on all these. I'm in a local group and its a good one, but the lead flow isnt what I'd like. I visited a BNI group and holy cow did they have their act together and were passing referrals like crazy. Good use of time in my opinion, but like they said, its hard to find insurance slots without creating a group or getting lucky with a referral.
Powercore is another one of those and we were working on starting a new group, but its not going anywhere fast. I visited one that only had 8 members and it wasn't nearly as strong as the others with 20-25. The quality of the groups can vary greatly.
I havent joined the Chamber yet, but intend to, from what I hear its networking to meet people, not much of a lead generator. The key to any of these, though, is to GIVE leads to other people and they will reciprocate.
Powercore is another one of those and we were working on starting a new group, but its not going anywhere fast. I visited one that only had 8 members and it wasn't nearly as strong as the others with 20-25. The quality of the groups can vary greatly.
I havent joined the Chamber yet, but intend to, from what I hear its networking to meet people, not much of a lead generator. The key to any of these, though, is to GIVE leads to other people and they will reciprocate.
- Thread starter
- #8
There is a slot. But they have a State Farm P&C guy, an independent life/health person, and I would try to go in on Medicare Supplement, Disability. Any thoughts on that?
Plus its a new group and will get chartered at 20 people.
I can see an advantage of being on of the 'first' and helping to charter the group.
Someone told me that I could join (3) chambers for the price of the fee to BNI. But just not sure where to put my money for networking / referrals.
Plus its a new group and will get chartered at 20 people.
I can see an advantage of being on of the 'first' and helping to charter the group.
Someone told me that I could join (3) chambers for the price of the fee to BNI. But just not sure where to put my money for networking / referrals.
- 1,896
I'm the designated life/health person in our BNI group, but there are 4 others who do life and health insurance in our group. A few of us offer 401K plans, as does our financial planner. Our personal lines P&C guy and commercial P&C can handle a lot of the same stuff.
Yet all of us manage to pass an enormous amount of clients back and forth between us, because we all specialize in a given area. We trust each other, and have built up that trust over 5-6 years, but we've found that it's more profitable to specialize in something and pass along a less profitable line of business than it is to do it all.
Our group is in the Chicago area. We don't pass the most referrals of area groups, we don't have the most members (only 23-24 right now), but we do pass the most business of any area group ($40K per member this past year).
Your success in a BNI group is to find the right group of people who want to push each other to success. If everyone isn't moving in the right direction, doesn't have a positive attitude, and doesn't want to see others succeed, you'll have a negative BNI experience. But if that does all fall into place, it will be a strategic move for your business.
Yet all of us manage to pass an enormous amount of clients back and forth between us, because we all specialize in a given area. We trust each other, and have built up that trust over 5-6 years, but we've found that it's more profitable to specialize in something and pass along a less profitable line of business than it is to do it all.
Our group is in the Chicago area. We don't pass the most referrals of area groups, we don't have the most members (only 23-24 right now), but we do pass the most business of any area group ($40K per member this past year).
Your success in a BNI group is to find the right group of people who want to push each other to success. If everyone isn't moving in the right direction, doesn't have a positive attitude, and doesn't want to see others succeed, you'll have a negative BNI experience. But if that does all fall into place, it will be a strategic move for your business.
So i can contact my local BNI and ask them to let me try working with them?
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