President's Weekly Letter, Champions SoCal BNI

Wooooooooo, CHAMPIONS!

Don't forget to read the blog and post a comment. Those posting...including those outside the chapter, will be entered in a drawing for a special prize courtesy of your faithful President!

The Champions SoCal BNI felt a little like the royal wedding this morning with all of the hat varieties...no princes, princesses, Bentleys, or QE2s...just lots of crazy hats!
The visitors were especially vocal in their praise during stand and deliver.

Chelsea Canterbury from Ajasrika Wellness was inspired
Eric Uriata, a commercial photographer from Liaisons, loved the SMMs
Lola Gershfeld, an executive coach, was impressed by the creativity and
Tom Roby, from Spectrum, always likes that there is something new at Champions!

The goal today was to frame a profitable intro with one, two, or three of the provided hats or to frame the intro with a hat from your profession. The Champions embraced the stimulant and the results were astounding!



The Sales Manager Moments, AKA profitable intros were in fact regal, however, as some in the chapter exclaimed that they have never seen the SMMs delivered better, with more flair, or more planning! Several "career" moments were delivered...Dr. Real, always a contender, in his magician's hat; Greg Beck complete with a hat and a paper star, Joe Davis with...a pirate hat, really?; Randy Clement with his "I can't pay the rent", but "you must pay the rent" impression, Steven Stakley with a Cabo San Lucas retirement hat; Christina Pham in her Taco Bell hat. In the end, Kathy Penton won her second ITA with her gardener's hat. Well done Kathy! That is why we picked you to head our "Evening" committee.

The EC Moment:

I asked that Jim Sando send this to me in it's entirety so that I could post it. I believe it was particularly good and is taken from "Success Net".

"Isn’t a BNI 30-Second Commercial or Sales Manager Moment really an advertisement? Isn’t it a sales message?

I’d like to share one way that you could do a 30-Second Commercial at our next meeting.

First, consider this: What does your product or service do for your customers?

That’s a question that might have hundreds of answers. But just a few of those answers will “hit home” with the majority of your current and past customers. Figuring out the most relevant answer to this question is key to creating an effective sales message.

When you need to create an advertisement, email, sales letter, 30-Second Commercial, direct mail postcard—anything related to sales and marketing—pretend that one person (your prospect) has a problem, a problem you can fix.

In your sales message, address the problem first. Addressing your prospect’s problem gets their attention. They think, Hey, I’ve got that same issue. I wonder what they’re going to do about it. It’s best to be specific in your sales message. The more specific your message, the better you’ll connect with your audience and attract their full attention.

Now that you’ve got them “hooked” for a few more seconds, what’s next? I would suggest you tell a short story about how one of your customers had a particular problem. Give details about their problem, and then share exactly what you did to make their problem disappear. People love stories, and they also like to hear that they are not the only ones with that same problem.

Finally, briefly summarize everything. Remind them of their problem, let them know how you would fix it, and tell them to contact you regarding their similar problem.

There are many different angles and creative ways to tell your prospect how you can help them. Just remember that your potential new customers don’t really give a darn about your product or service; they just want to know if you can get rid of their problem.

A final note: There’s no “right” way to give a 30-Second Commercial. Don’t get caught up in what you think a 30-Second Commercial should sound like. Don’t be afraid to break the rules. Alan has given us examples of that! If you give the same commercial week-in and week-out, you’re training your fellow Champions to forget you.

Now, don’t want you to take three hours to come up with a good commercial. You’ll never create the perfect one. You have many stories to share about how you can help people. Don’t try to cram everything into one. Attend every week, and feed us a bit of new information each time. You may think we know everything about your business, but…I promise you…we don’t."

Leaders and Chapter Biz:

May referral leader, Bill "quack-quack" Edman
May one-to-one leader, Jim McCracken with 28...has been a leader in this category all year long!
May visitors leader, Aric Gless
ITA, Kathy Penton
Champions Spark Plug Award, Robert Perez for volunteering his time and video talents toward the keynotes, SMMs, and footage for the "people's choice" video which will air in October at the "Evening Among the Stars"

Year to Date as reported by the Sheriff, Greg Beck:

Referrals 982
One-to-Ones 2111
Visitors 75
TYFCB $547,000

Bill Edman and Jim Sando keynoted and shared with us some excellent testimonials, ways to refer them, and their key clients. It is clear to me that the keynote workshops are beneficial...thanks Lem Bucago!

Announcements:

Post to the blog and enter a cool drawing

Evening update...twenty Champions and counting!

Basic (advanced) MSP for veterans on June 21st at Collette's

Quote action:

A lion awakens early every day, running, hoping to catch a speedy gazelle. A speedy gazelle awakens early every day hoping to outrun the slowest gazelle, lest he be eaten by the lion. The moral, whether you are a lion or a gazelle, you better wake up each day running. Your action is to leave a blog comment...

Sincerely,

Your faithful, running, President

Allen Buchanan