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The third quarter survey of the BNI Business Index was not very promising for business around the world.  The survey included responses from over 1,200 business people representing every populated continent in the world. The number of people who said that business was growing or growing substantially in the third quarter of 2011 dropped to 66.9% compared to 70.4% in the second quarter of 2011.  More notably, the number of people who said that business was declining or declining substantially almost doubled from 5.4...

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  A few weeks ago, I spoke at an event in Israel and while I was there, I got to talking to my good friend Sam Schwartz about the very different networking styles and tendencies which occur from country to country. It is very important to consider and respect cultural differences when networking and doing business in different countries across the globe and, in this short video, Sam and I discuss why it is important and how you can prepare yourself in order to achieve great networking results no matter where in ...

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When Martha Taft was a young girl in elementary school, she was asked to introduce herself to a group of people. “My name is Martha Bowers Taft,” said the child. “My great-grandfather was President of the United States. My grandfather was a United States Senator. My daddy is Ambassador to Ireland. And I am a Brownie.”  I thought of that quote when I recently heard the following story from Nanette Polito from Cincinatti: In this day of technology, our younger generation understands all the social media and ho...

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Have you ever wondered about what the best way to pass your business card to someone might be? Watch this under-two-minute video where Phil Berg from BNI UK offers a very valuable tip on how (and how not to) to pass your business card to ensure that it will be valued and well received. At the end of a video, Phil and I ask a question that we’d love for you to answer in the comments section below so, please, don’t be shy and chime in with your comments . . . thanks!

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When it comes to business networking, you never know who people know.  One of the important keys to being successful at building a powerful personal network is diversity.  In running a large business networking organization for the last two decades, I often speak to people who tell me they want to network exclusively business professionals who have similar clients.  Although it is good to include these people in your personal network, networking with them exclusively would be a tremendous mistake. It is human natu...

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In this video, Michael Gerber and I discuss one simple idea: SYSTEMS. I used Michael’s ideas about systems to build my business and as a result, my networking organization has grown to over 6,000 chapters in 50 countries around the world. Watch this video to find out more about building business with systems and about Michael’s new website www.WorkingOnIt.com–a fantastic resource for business owners and entrepreneurs around the world.

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I saw a presentation at a BNI Conference a couple years ago by Chick Gallagher, my Executive Director in Delaware and part of Pennsylvania. In his presentation he talked about “perception” being relative and how small things can substantially alter one’s perception.  On one of his Power Point slides he had the words: A woman without her man is nothing. As you might suspect, it got loud boos from the audience.  Then, he added two commas to the wording.  It still fell in disfavor with the audience ...

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In this video, Michael Mayer, an esteemed worldwide business networking expert from Austria, gives an excellent example that teaches why it is so important to  be specific when introducing your business to others at networking meetings and events. Watch the video and find out what to say and what not to say when introducing your business in order to get great results from your networking efforts. On a side note, you’ll also be surprised at what a powerful tool the image of pink socks can be  in helping you t...

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I was talking with a business woman recently who is fairly new to networking and I was explaining that networking is a contact sport–that it requires people to get out there and actively and strategically build relationships.  At one point she asked, “Well, what exactly does that involve? . . . What defines ‘active’ networking?” This is actually a great question because it opens up a discussion about not only ‘active’ networking but also about ‘passive’ networkin...