BNI New Zealand has just been awarded the Vero Excellence in Business Support Award ‘One On Many’ category for the second time.
It was a great evening – there were 12 categories with finalists present from all over New Zealand. BNI New Zealand was a finalist for two awards, the “One on Many” and the “Individual” award.
In terms of offering support to NZ business, the Vero “One on Many” is really the main award.

Pictured at the evening were, from left to right: NZ Director Sue Redknap, NZ Director Graham Southwell and Administration Manager Fiona Harrop. Not present for the photo of the BNI Support team is Leigh Mason.
Hospice fundraising
We’re unable to give you an update on your fundraising efforts for Hospice just yet, because we’re still co-ordinating activities. If you’ve done something special or out of the ordinary, let us know about it and send a photograph for inclusion in the newsletter.
Who do you know in Blenheim?
BNI is venturing into unchartered waters in Blenheim as we look to get a chapter off the ground there. Do you know anybody in the area whose business would benefit from BNI membership? Let us know at email: info@bni.co.nz
New Chapters & Name Changes
We have two new chapters on board this month - Hamilton Progressives and Oceanside (Tauranga).  The second group in Dunedin have chosen a new name and will now be known as Bizsical.
Small Business Expo
BNI NZ has been present at each Small Business Expo at the Auckland Show Grounds since it began four years ago, but more evident than ever before this time around was the awareness of BNI – our public relations and word of mouth strategies are paying off and the BNI brand has never been stronger.
As part of our campaign we issued a ‘breakfast is on us’ voucher to seriously interested visitors, encouraging them to visit specific chapters. In each instance, we wrote down the local chapter president’s details and invited the visitor to contact the president of that chapter. BNI will cover the cost of that person’s breakfast when they visit your chapter for the first time.
BNI New Zealand is very keen to find out how the campaign went - if you have any results, successes or anecdotes that came out of the ‘breakfast is on us’ campaign, please let BNI Support know.

Delusion! When was the last time you had a referral from your mum? From your dad? Your spouse? Oddly enough, it’s often the people most familiar with you who are most casual about giving you referrals.
Look at it this way: you’ve gone out of your way to cultivate your business referral relationships, and you’ve done so in a largely professional setting with others who are also interested in getting business referrals.
With your family and friends, however, the relationships grow out of non-business, more personal associations; therefore, it may not even occur to a family member to refer business to you – unless you make a point of asking for it.
If you’re not in the habit of talking about to whom you’re going to refer each other or when and how you’re going to refer each other, you’ll just continue with that same relationship of liking and trusting each other. It’s called inertia.
The fact is, anybody can be trained to refer business to you, including friends and family.
One of the first things you can do is get them to listen for key words – such as ‘backache’ if you’re a chiropractor – and to recognise circumstances where they can, through you, provide a solution to someone’s problem.
 Training your referral sources’ to hear the things that are relevant to referrals is key – and training yourself to do the same thing for your referral partners is even more important.
When you do this you are cultivating a true referral mindset in yourself – an awareness that referrals can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime – and you’re learning to speak the language of referrals, when appropriate or opportune, in all of your relationships.
Condensed from the book Truth or Delusion? Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths, by BNI founder Dr Ivan Misner, PH.D., Mike Macedonio and Mike Garrison.

The Epsom Chapter of BNI in Auckland celebrated its 5th birthday at the Cardrona Speights Ale House in Mt Eden recently.
Chapter president Alastair Gaudin said each member received a ‘birthday’ present most appropriate to them – everything from a shoe cleaning kit (for the member with the cleanest shoes) to diaries and photo albums.

“We’re a small chapter of twenty people, but we’re a happy chapter and we’re growing steadily. Visitors always comment that our meetings are lots of fun,” Alastair said.
Pictured: Members of the Epsom Chapter of BNI.

Being based in New Zealand can make us feel isolated from the rest of the world, let alone working from home, but a new online community for women in business using Web 2.0 technology is bringing women together virtually.
Entrepreneurette, a global platform to connect women in business, is the latest venture of BNI Assistant Director Fiona Powell (founder of Her Business magazine and the Her Business Networks).
As well as the usual online community features, entrepreneurette offers membership to small, exclusive peer mastermind groups.
“Communicating virtually, at a time and place that suits us – even if it’s two in the morning, sitting in your pyjamas in the home office - works really well for busy women,” says Fiona. ”Plus it’s exciting to think that in your peer group you could have women business owners from the UK or Germany giving you ideas on your market research issue.”
The council groups are facilitated to keep everyone motivated and on track and it’s not just about chatting – there’s optional business development exercises and goal tracking and reporting as well.
Visit the community at: www.entrepreneurette.com

Businesses don’t have to be similar to help each other sell more products and services, they just have to pull together – very much like in sport.
That’s the experience of BNI’s May National Business Champion, former rowing athlete Alison Storey, who attributes the growth and success of her own business (Storey Sport) to the team concept of BNI – diverse business owners from plumber to lawyer to garden services teaming together to help each other grow.

Selected from among Business Network International’s (BNI) more than 1,900 members countrywide for her networking skills, Alison now generates up to 85 per cent of her business through BNI word of mouth referrals from other diverse companies who make up her Cambridge Chapter in the Waikato.
“There are many parallels between networking and athletics,” says Alison. “If you want to achieve success, you need a team around you working together.”
Having been an athlete all her life – rhythmic gymnastics and rowing – Alison studied sports science ten years ago but only started her personal training business in 2005 out of a desire to pass on the knowledge and experience she had accumulated over that time to people in a one on one situation.
“In my industry it is personal; it is about going in to people’s homes and the trust that people put in me, to be in their space. Nothing build’s trust like "word of mouth" networking – peoples opinion of you is paramount."
“The other advantage is that when I go into people’s homes I hear about stuff like their leaking pipes. Being a member of BNI means I have a group of trusted suppliers – including a plumber – whom I can refer them to.”
Alison says a structured business networking environment works best for her on a number of levels, including giving a boost to her vision to be the premier source of fitness and health in the Waikato on a personal "one to one" basis.
“Business is a lonely activity, so meeting with other business owners once a week, tapping into their knowledge, experience and resources is very valuable. The knowledge that other business people are backing me and supporting me is tremendous,” says Alison, who remains ‘floored’ by how much of a market there is for her in the Waikato.
Alison is a founding member of the Cambridge Chapter of BNI and the chapter’s original education co-ordinator.
“Networking in a small town like Cambridge is a vital business activity. You have to say what you mean, and mean what you say because people are loyal to their townspeople and you have to do your best to uphold their reputation as well as your own.
“It really pushes the benchmark for everybody. But belonging to a team of fellow business owners adds even greater accountability to each other. There is no way my business would be in this shape if it wasn’t for BNI – it’s a proven, solid system and strategy for growing business.
“There’s real comfort in knowing that if you do these things that BNI recommends, your business will grow. I’m also really sold on the idea of working with other business owners to help grow mine and their businesses, together.
“Word of mouth is keeping my business where it is, and moving forward,” says Alison.
Pictured: Alison Storey