Presidents weekly letter, Champions

Wooooooo, CHAMPIONS!

Many thanks to Gary Lorge, incoming Prez and guest blogger while I'm away supporting Mrs. Buchanan in her speaking career. We are eating our way through Chicago and having a blast. VERY much miss the Champions, however. Here are the facts, Ma'am:

Allen is missed as he attends the conference in the windy city.  We have 5 Visitors in the room:
Dr Janet Jackman: Optometrist
Tom Morris: Real Estate Appraiser
Joe Salazar: Senior network Consultant
Lem Bucago
Another fantastic educational moment with Jim Sando.  Jim had great thoughts about “getting out of your comfort zone”.  Reach out beyond your typical networks in order to positively impact the number of referrals you are receiving.  You never know where a quality referral will come from!
Dr. Hercules Real took over the awarding of the ITA. Hercules is a multi – time winner and always delivers the goods. After much consideration (Many delivered the sought after trifecta) Dr. Real awarded the hot stuff to Angelo Dionisiou who obviously has no problem operating on minimal hours of sleep with a new baby in the house.
Angelo took the award and then took the floor to review with us a topic I am always riveted by: Commercial Insurance. He explained how he visits clients in person to make sure they are properly covered and to uncover all savings.  Thank  you Angelo for a great presentation.
Visitor Day is announced. Greg Beck took the GRC moment and ran with it as he revealed the plans for a Champions Visitors Day in October.  Excitement is brewing as we shoot for our goal of 100 people in the room.
Our leader was missed and we all look forward to his return to the helm next week!  Have a safe trip back enjoy Allen.

Dr. Misner, Jan Norman of the OC Register and me!

Woooooooo, CHAMPIONS:

Your faithful President was able to provide the founder of BNI with a referral! For those keeping score at home, I am still one behind as Dr. Misner has kindly featured me (us) on the podcast, Episode 191, and on the Annie Armen show. As most of you know, I am diligent about listening to the BNI podcasts...OK, I enjoy hearing from the founder and his wealth of networking insight. In Episode 205, Dr. Misner asked for media publicity for his business index...voila...a specific ask.

From Episode 205 (the ask):

"...The idea really is to get the media to say, hey, this looks interesting, to comment on it and to build the BNI brand. So this is really more for the media than it is for members..." "...if you are listening to this podcast, feel free to leave a message here (which I did...see for yourself) on the BNIpodcast.com website and let me know what question you think might be valuable in the future that the media be interested in. What would the media like to know about how business is?"...

I have collaborated with Jan Norman of the OC Register for several months (I have been a fan for several years) and was able to connect the two via a telebridge and the below article was the result. I got to listen to the interview and even participate...very cool!

Excerpts:

"What does Misner recommend to his BNI members?"

“Two things have come out of both surveys. Stick to fundamentals…at the same time be creative and try things counter-intuitive to your industry.”

"Misner used as an example, Allen Buchanan, principal in Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. Buchanan often calls up business owners he reads about and builds relationships in industries and types of jobs he wouldn’t normally meet and that his competition isn’t going after. He had a record 2010 despite the spotty economic recovery."

“Business networking is more like farming than hunting,” Misner said. “People may let go of a vendor but they won’t let go of a friend.”

You can read the entire article by clicking the link below:

Survey: Sick of ‘politics and power trips’ - Jan Norman on Small Business - The Orange County Register#comment-43311