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No matter what we call it, we all pursue success.  We all have desires and strive to achieve them.  Our desires may be different from anyone else’s, and we may not consider achieving them to be “success.”  We look around and see people whose success we envy.  What is Jake doing with his supply of hours in any given day that puts him so far ahead of me in money, friends, and influence?  Why is he successful, and why am I not?  Why is he flying his own Learjet while I’m rattling around in ...

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Peter Drucker once said, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”  This is so true and extremely important because the quality of our relationships depends on the quality of our communications; and when it comes to sales for your business and growing your business through referral marketing, this concept is a cornerstone for success. Of course, not all sales transactions require incredible relationships or communication (e.g., online shopping), yet even big box ...

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted blogs on how embracing quality, adding members, and seeking engagement are all things that will help networkers and entire networking groups achieve success.  Today, I’d like to talk about an additional tactic for obtaining stellar networking results–sharing stories. Listening closely to the information shared by those in your referral network will help you in telling positive stories about them when you come across potential opportunities to refer them.  Condu...

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Engagement involves a promise and an action.  In order to achieve success in your group of networking relationships, you and your relationships must promise to support one another and then take the actions necessary to fulfill that promise. There are many ways that you can become engaged.  Have you taken the time to regularly meet with the people in your network?  Have you taken the time to educate them regularly on the key features of your business so that your products or services will be top of mind in the even...

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Years ago I learned that there is a dramatic correlation between the size of a quality networking group and the number of referrals which are generated by that group.  The fact is, the addition of new members brings an increase in the likelihood that any given networking group will be successful. Groups under 20 people do not generate as many referrals (proportionately) as do groups over 20 people and the math proves it.  If you have a group of 16 people, that group has 256 connections (16 x 16).  However, a group...

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Just a couple of weeks ago, I was in Sweden on business and my wife Beth and I had the truly unique and memorable experience of staying at the Ice Hotel®.  The owner of hotel happens to be a member of BNI®, the global networking organization I started back in 1985, and during my time there I had the opportunity to not only spend time with some of the members of the nearby BNI chapters,  but also to record this short video with Gunnar Selheden (National Director for BNI Scandinavia). In this video, Gunnar and I di...

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In this video, I talk about the two factors that I firmly believe are what make people successful in any situation–hard work and good choices.  The truth is, you can’t achieve success without both of these things. People talk all the time about the necessity of hard work when it comes to success and though they’re one hundred percent correct about the importance of hard work, I’ve seen people work hard for decades and still not achieve the results they want because they consistently undermine...

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I learned an important lesson about the fundamentals of success while playing football many years ago.  We had a fairly good team my junior year of high school and most of the players on the team were juniors.  The following year the team had mostly seniors, and we had some pretty high expectations for the season.  A situation like this can make one over-confident, and that’s exactly how we were at the beginning of my senior year. When the season started, we experienced that brutal rite of passage for all fo...

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There are little ways and big ways of making a difference in someone’s life.  More likely than not, there’s someone you can immediately call to mind who has impacted you and really made a difference in your life, whether it happened recently or even back during your formative years. There are definitely certain individuals in my life who have made a big difference for me and in this five minute video, I tell the story of how one of these people in specific really made a positive impact on my life back in...

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When it comes to business, having fun is something that’s almost never talked about–it’s almost like people think fun and business are two completely unrelated, and mutually exclusive things.  However, I don’t share that opinion at all.  I definitely think it’s important to have fun in business; in fact, over time I’ve learned that having fun is something businesses and networking groups alike need to do in order to truly enjoy lasting success. In this video, I talk about how imp...

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I’m excited to announce that during April 1st-5th, I am going to be participating in an online event called “Everything Your Business Needs” and I’ll be one of over twenty business experts presenting on an array of topics and areas of business that are important for every business owner to educate themselves in. This short video, put together by the event organizer, Jarrett Gucci of Dynasty Web Solutions (who also happens to be the person I have to thank for designing the BusinessNetworking.co...

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Strategy is often talked about in business schools, in fact it’s a primary focus.  Culture however, is less understood.  Culture involves a variety of contributing factors including a blend of attitudes, beliefs, mission, philosophy, and momentum that help to create and sustain a successful brand.  It represents the vision, norms, symbols, beliefs, behaviors, and traditions that are taught to new members of an organization.  Organizational culture affects the way people within an organization interact with one ...

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Nielsen recently did a survey regarding people’s “trust” in various forms of advertising (see the graph below). Remarkably, the two top categories of trust involved word of mouth!  All other forms of advertising were substantially lower than the top two (word-of-mouth approaches).  Furthermore, 82% of all forms of advertising (other than word of mouth) showed that more than half of all people didn’t trust that form of advertising much at all! The media often asks me why networking is so impo...

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At a recent Referral Institute Conference, I was interviewed by Tiffanie Kellog (Trainer for the Referral Institute in Tampa, Florida) about the most crucial component for referral success.  Before you watch this short video where I give Tiffanie my answer, try to come up with a couple of possibilities for what my answer may likely be.  After watching the video, I would love for you to share in the comment forum below what your initial guess or guesses were regarding what you thought my answer was going to be.  I&...

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Last October, I posted a video I did with referral marketing expert Eddie Esposito on emotionally-charged connections (CLICK HERE to view that video).  On a recent vacation in Bali, I had the opportunity to do this new, five-minute video with movie producer Barnet Bain (producer of the Academy Award winning film “What Dreams May Come”) which is a perfect follow-up video to the one I did previously with Eddie. Here, Barnet shares his two-step process for unlocking the key to being able to connect emotiona...

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With all due respect to the Mayans, it appears that we need to give some thought to our plans for 2013. Each year, a few days before New Year’s Eve, I head off to my mountain retreat in Big Bear Lake, California, to recharge my batteries.  Getting away to the mountains is something I’ve done for almost two decades.  It’s a great opportunity to spend time with the family and prepare for the onslaught of the coming year. It’s also a good time to give some thought to the vision I have have for my business ...

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In this short video, filmed at the 2012 International Conference for BNI, the networking organization I founded back in 1985, I talk with my good friend and BNI Executive Director Mark Carmody about systems and business. Mark tells how one of the stories in Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth caused him to have an epiphany about the value in systems and how systems can make it substantially easier to run an efficient business.  To sum things up, the more systems you incorporate into your business, the more succes...