Mar30
I thought i’d take a moment to reflect back on my many years of networking and draw a personal comparison between my time as a member of BNI Brentwood and my membership of Essex Business Forum.
I joined BNI Brentwood almost as soon as it was launched in 1998. I was new to the world of running a business at this stage, and the concept of regular networking with like-minded business professionals was amazing. I joined after my first visit and enjoyed over a decade of membership throughout which BNI was responsible for a very significant part of my income.
Towards the end of my time at BNI, the concept of business networking was becoming very popular and many rival groups were emerging. Most of these groups didn’t last long and has only a small group of members. Networking groups without a critical mass of regular members are doomed to fail, and therefore anything less than 20 bodies attending the meetings each week just doesn’t work or last very long.
What finally made my mind up to leave BNI was the ever increasing feeling that as members of this organisation we were getting less and less value for money. Given the global size of this organisation, and the fact that all of the membership fees that were paid each year (around £600 per person I seem to recall?) the individual group saw none of this money and were left to promote itself and the members to promote themselves.
Introducing Essex Business Forum…
As a break-away group from Brentwood BNI, Essex Business Forum was formed back in Feb 2011 with just 17 members who all left Brentwood BNI is a mass exodus. This fresh new approach was welcomed by all members and very quickly the membership levels which we’d struggled to maintain let alone increase under BNI Brentwood policy started to grow dramatically.
The actual meetings were similar in that they both followed a structured agenda and were both focussed of doing business, but the EBF way was without the “military policies” that so many BNI members get tired of. Of course the most significant thing about Essex Business Forum is that all of the membership fees (Only £350 per year – much less than BNI) are used to promote the organisation and its members.
Below is a list of points that I hope demonstrates my personal views and differences between the two business networking groups:
Membership Costs:
Joining BNI Brentwood costs £435 + VAT per year (£522 per annum). Oh and that does not include the £100 + vat joining fee! So your first year in BNI is going to be £642.
Joining Essex Business Forum costs either £200 (No VAT) for a six month membership, or £350 (No VAT) for 12 months. There is also a one-time joining fee but this is just £50.
Compare £642 of which none of that money is used to promote your business, against £400 with which your business and the EBF Brand is widely promoted online and offline.
Online Promotion:
The Essex Business Forum website provides full details of all of its members in a directory style, and members have full access to add and edit as much content as they wish. This content is regularly promoted and gets a high volume of traffic.
EBF also commit to a constant advertising campaign through the use of SEO, Google Adwords, Social media and many other initiatives. Members have reported business deals worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds that have come on the strength of their listings on the EBF website. As I understand it, no such promotion even exists with BNI Brentwood?
Offline Promotion:
In a recent initiative, Essex Business Forum have now produced member directories which are being distributed to local businesses and households for the main purpose of generating more business for its members. These, I am sure, will generate lots of opportunity and business for the members.
Serious about Business, but fun at the same time:
The BNI meeting agenda is the same worldwide. It has been developed over a number of years and “apparently” is the best way to run a networking meeting from the many many thousands of Worldwide members and millions of meetings they must have had by now.
I just dont believe that one size fits all. You need a structure absolutely, and it should be focussed unashamadely around doing business, but that doesnt preclude a few jokes and great friendly atmosphere. In my opinion one of the strengths of Essex Business forum is the friendliness and welcoming nature of its members. Guests feel at ease and are made to feel part of the group, and it is because of this that they have over doubled in size from 17 to 36 members.
Evolution and Expansion:
For most of my 10+ year membership of BNI Brentwood everything was a nicely maintained status quo. Members joined and left, some like me stayed and were in for the long-haul and it was very worthwhile financially to do so. Even in my years of running my own businesses, I do firmly believe that the landscape for marketing yourself and how business promotion and communication happens is profoundly different since 1998.
BNI feels to me like it hasn’t really kept up with these modern trends. I dont just mean Social Media, but its whole approach feels the same now as it was when I first was introduced.
I know that Essex Business Forum has learned from what I consider to be these percieved shortcomings of the BNI way. Increasing the membership fees during a recession is just another example of the money-grabbing behaviours that I grew to dislike.
At least with EBF being Essex based and not global, when things need to change they can happen quickly and without fuss. Members regularly suggest new ideas or initiatives and these have been discussed and many of them have been successful.
My conclusions in the BNI Brentwood vs Essex Business Forum round-up:
BNI was an excellent organisation. It was a market leader and the Worldwide best business networking group. Notice I am saying WAS.
I think that BNI has had its time. Not just in little old Brentwood, but on a national or international level.
Business networking is everywhere today. BNI is like an old-fashioned network which still works but there are far easier and better ways of achieving the same or a better result.
I wish BNI Brentwood the very best of luck, and I do respect the many great things that being a member of their organisation has given me, but Essex Business Forum is in an entirely different league!
Please dont take my word for all of this. Both organisations allow visitors to attend infact welcome them. The BNI Brentwood website is at http://www.brentwoodbni.co.uk and the Essex Business Forum website is at http://www.essexbusinessforum.com. Pay a visit to both and make your own mind up.
I would also welcome comments from both Essex Business Forum and BNI members. These are my personal opinions but I know many other people who share them.
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Scott- there just is no comparison.
Having been to BNI and now the vibrant and buzzing EBF they are worlds apart.
Great job to all connected with setting up and running EBF.
It is an important part of my advertising budget.
Hi Scott – great blog and agree whole heartily with your comments and observations, I’ve been to a few other networking groups in pubs, etc but as you rightly say there’s no comparison with what the EBF offers,the value,venue, warm welcome and of course the members.
My first experience of Networking was with BNI Brentwood and I thought in my early years it was very professional and well run organisation .Both the local management team and the area management team took a keen interest in helping you to settle in and to promote yourself. Things started to change though ,the pressures to bring visitors and referrals started to intensify ( one group had a traffic light system to record failing members-we refused) and yet it became fairly clear that the BNI itself did not really want to contribute towards any promotion . The stock answer was always that it was upto the members to promote the group.
This was the time when people started to drift away, other much more cost effective groups set up and our new members/visitors dried up. The group was slowly dying and BNI didnt really have any answers to the problem . I think they firmly believed that they were the only networking group that would be strong enough to survive and who knows they may be right but I think you need to move with the times ,the world of business is changing daily and you need to adapt to the challenges presented.
My vision went beyond that – There is only so much business the members can bring to the group, i felt it was important that as a group we promoted ourselves to Third Party customers. We had groups of quality professional people sitting round the table who had one stop solutions to solve customers problems. Although we asked them BNI wouldnt provide funds to help , they were only really interested in getting new members but through our efforts and that was the turning point.
That is really the major difference. EBF was set up to promote the business not only to members but also to the Public. Fees are used to promote the business through the website and recently the directory’s and there are plenty more ideas in the pipeline . Dont get me wrong the meetings are business focused – our aim is to reward every member with opportunites to do business ,but they are also fun and there is a buzz about what we are trying to do externally as well as internally.
Like Scott ,I wish BNI Brentwood every success and suggest that you visit both groups to decide which is right for you
Thaks for this article Scott. I had no prior experience of BNI, but from all the positive experiences I’ve had since joining EBF, I can’t say that I need to find out! As a start-up, I’ve found EBF to be warm and welcoming, as well as a great place to learn from experienced business owners.
I actually listened to an audio interview with Ivan Misner recently (BNI founder) and I feel that he is genuinely all about the relationship-building that is so integral to business networks. However, as often happens with franchise models, the real vision of the founder can get lost, and the people using the service ultimately suffer.
EBF has a lot to offer, and having recently celebrated it’s first anniversary, I feel this is only just the beginning!
Thanks for the potted summary Scott.
I’m one of the group of 17 who were there as EBF came to life. The simple fact that all of the fees we pay go directly to the promotion, development and health of the local group means that we are promoted, we are developing and we are healthier.
No-one values something more than the person who “owns” it … and in one sense we all feel we own EBF because our fees are used for the benefit of all within the group rather than funding an umbrella organisation that provides little back.
We have the benefits of the good points we had in BNI but without the baggage. We are also very free to change and grow as a group … to be flexible. I’ll not trash the time I had in BNI, after all it introduced me to many of my EBF friends, but it turned out to be just the launch pad for what is now EBF.
joined BNI about 6 years ago. I did well with BNI but following the recession, businesses were struggling with money and BNI’s rigid structure meant it was difficult to attract new members. Essex Business Forum is like BNI in that it has structured referral giving as it’s centrepiece but offers so much more. The membership money stays within the group to promote members businsses unlike BNI where 90% of the money goes to franchise holders. Marks out of 10 – Esses Business Forum 9.5, BNI 7. See for yourself. It would be good to see you.
I have read Scott’s carefully constructed analysis of the differences between BNI and EBF and I do not wish to specifically comment upon that analysis, but I would like to pick out certain matters that I think we should recognise at EBF and use to take us forward in the future.
When I first joined BNI what impressed me most was the unashamed approach of an organisation to use networking to promote itself and its members. Help its members expand their businesses, the obligations to provide referrals for fellow members, the need to clearly define your own requirements as a business and the regular meetings that did not impinge the working day seemed to me to be central to a good networking organisation.
The BNI organisation, however, seemed to fail to meet the ongoing requirements that we had as a group both to enable us to move the Chapter forward by enabling the group numbers to be maintained.
In EBF I feel that we have found an effective approach that uses the best of BNI, but then moves to take things forward with a different ethos and modus operandi.
The meeting
The meeting itself significantly “borrows” from the BNI model with one or two additions here and there.
The organisation
This is where the real differences can be seen. The members fees have been reduced the funds that are received are ploughed back into the organisation which directly benefits the members.
We remain an effective network organisation which through the development of its website and the greater feeling of ownership that the members have in the meeting have led to the successful development of both the numbers of members and the volume of business passed (over half a million recorded business in its first year and on track for substantially more for the following year).
The fundamental difference is that not only are we looking to be effective networkers and not only are we looking to help promote each other within the group, but we are also seeking to be an organisation that promotes its members both individually and collectively in various groupings.
Promotion
The development of the website not only assists with the networking side, but also the promotional side and in addition we are now using the members funds effectively to develop the promotional side of the business. The first real step has been the production of the Directory which should form a basis of promotion that can be ongoing and continually updated and upgraded to reflect new members joining.
The development of groups within the organisation has started us on the route of producing promotional events and seminars which will take place as this year continues. Our organisation is more robust for having a membership that includes individuals whose businesses are promotion and development of business and their skills can help drive the promotional side of EBF forward.
If the group continues to grow as it has been doing then it is certainly a possibility that we can look towards opening a further meeting in a neighbouring area that can take up the slack for new members applying for membership categories that have already been filled. All of this will help increase the funding that will enable us to more better promote ourselves for the benefit of all businesses associated with EBF.
What most excites me about the prospects for EBF as we enter its second year is that we all have a stake in its development, our funds go to help us achieve those goals and we have very effective members who I am pleased to regard as not only fellow networkers, but friends and business colleagues.
I whole heartedly agree with Scott’s comments. Being a former BNI member myself and also having BNI as my very first introduction to any form of business networking I can honestly say that it did produce referrals for the business but the lack of support soon became obvious to me that we are on our own when it came to marketing etc. I’m now happy to be a proud member of EBF, it has brought me so much business over its relatively short existence that I now have to employ extra staff, but that’s just one element to EBF.
Essex business forum provides a constant support and help desk from all the fellow members and best of all if its advice you want then its qualified & free. Where else would you get quick, honest, reliable help from people who care.
I will continue to be an active member of EBF for as long as they will have me there, if its not for referrals then for a great breakfast and a chance to mix with friendly like minded business owners.
Scott
I agree completely that BNI was excellent at one time. It suited me and my business very well indeed. I knew of no other networking group that could touch it. But as you say, over the course of time, we all noticed those things that could be better for us but were in fact never made better which was such as shame considering the high value of the annual subs we had to pay. And OMG, BNI as I knew in then was so inflexible in its approach. But on the other hand I can hear the BNI directors saying that a rigid framework is exactly what makes BNI so effective. I don’t think so anymore.
I like EBF’s freestyle approach which is based on tried and tested procedures but it includes just the right amount of flexibility that we all need and appreciate. The thing is, EBF actually embodies everything that is good and worthwhile in networking.
I like the way you have given prospective members an opportunity to make up their own minds by providing them with the links for both the BNI and EBF websites.
Nick
Hello Guys.
I am delighted to hear of your success as a Group.
It is good to be reminded of so many old friends.
I am fine about you comparing us to EBF.
It is always a good idea to get the facts right!
BNI Connect is a tool available to all BNI Members. Each Member now gets a free websire with a page 1 listing on Google.
It connects all with 140,000 Members in 50 Counties.
An Essex Electrician got a deal for £240,000 of business from BNI Connect.
BNI Membership works out at £20 per week. BNI Members last year averaged a return of £35,000 each across the UK. That has risen from £26,000 in 2008 in a raging downturn. Something must be working at BNI !!
Last year, BNI Members in Europe notched up 1 Billion Euros for the first time.
I am really pleased that you are working the BNI system at last.
The training we run has been completely overhauled, and 120 people attended a brilliant day at Orsett Hall, for the outrageously high price of £40.00 !!! Including lunch !!
Since you bunked off to run our system without paying for all our hardwork, BNI has become a CPD accredited trainer.
So we have made significant changes.
But I wish you all well, and I hope you enjoy spending the £100 you save each year, or £2 per week.
Well done EBF!
Could I ask if there were any reprisals from BNI following your mass exodus and if any other breakaway groups have run into difficulties from BNI?
Hi Karen,
thanks for commenting on our post. 18+ months on from leaving BNI it is all but a distant memory now. We’ve grown to way beyond what the old BNI group ever was, and from the reports I hear from other people who I still know in BNI networking circles, many of our Essex based chapters have also nose-dived in terms of members and business passed. A lucky escape for us!
To answer your questions, we werent even the first break-away group from our Brentwood chapter. Our old chapter director left about six months before the rest of us and he set up his own group which is still going strong today. I guess partly the ease of which he did this and the lack of any BNI challenge or response gave us a theoretical “green light” to consider it as an option for ourselves.
Mr French (above, the Regional Director for BNI) incorrectly assumed that our reasons for leaving were based on cost, and draws comparison to our £2 per week saving. This was never an issue but it was about the value for money received and the support for our group. EBF provides so much more for our members now as all of the membership fees go directly towards the promotion of the group as a whole but also, quite differently to BNI, towards promoting and marketing of the individual members businesses too.
As a new group we passed our £1,000,000 of business threshold only about 13 months since we started. Our trends are that we continue to do more business every month and so our £2 million target is now much less than a year away.
Getting back to your main point – no, we were completely unchallenged by BNI about starting our new group. As I understand it, they have started another Brentwood chapter but it is still very small and of no significance.
If you’d like to call me to answer any more specific questions I’d be happy to do so. We of course did look very carefully into our leadership agreements and other legal matters but had all of these covered quite safely should BNI have considered a challenge.
I wish you good luck with your break-away networking group. Dont get me wrong, there are some great things about BNI and to learn from them is a good idea. Adapt your experiences into your own version of the meeting and i’m sure that with a dynamic leadership team and good strong group of “core” members you’ll have as much success as we’ve seen.
Hi Scott
Thanks for such fantastic and inspirational feedback. We will take your wise words and EBF success as a blueprint for what can be achieved. Our first meeting attracted two new members and a determination to work together to build a group that not only supports each other, but helps new emerging businesses, charities and our wider community.
I hope we can similarly reflect in 18 months time on doubling our existing numbers, £1m passed in business, and have a group every single member is proud of and can promote with confidence.
This is IN (independent networking) Group in Kendal – watch this space!