You know. Your Doorman. That person you’ve charged with deciding who comes into your room and who doesn’t. Otherwise known as your Chapter’s Membership Committee (MC).
It’s the Membership Committee’s role to assess applicants who want to enter your “room”.
When potential members apply to join your Chapter, it’s ultimately the Membership Committee who decide if they’re suitable or not.
So how does your MC go about it? Are they effective in determining who could be a great BNI Chapter member? If you’re on the Membership Committee for your Chapter, are you satisfied that the applicants you’ve approved have become valuable members of your marketing team?
It’s not an easy gig. Being on the MC that is.
Many of us are positively minded people who want to give opportunities to others. But giving an opportunity to someone who doesn’t fit the culture of your Chapter, or doesn’t have a plan for business growth, or worse, struggles with the “Givers Gain®” principle, can have a detrimental effect on the health of your Chapter.
There’s a reason the MC is comprised of a team. It’s the cliché, two heads are better than one. Except that in an MC’s case it’s more likely to be five or more heads. The collective knowledge and experience of the committee enables more considerations to be discussed and thought through better than if one person was to tackle the responsibility by themselves.
So make no mistake…the Membership Committee is the Doorman of your Chapter.
There may be a Leadership Team operating things on the inside of that door, but if the Doorman is letting in unsuitable players then the Leadership Team’s role of assisting members to increase their ROI is made substantially harder.
Each seat in your Chapter is exclusive to that category. If you don’t have the right person in that seat, there’s a potential cost to every member of the Chapter. The wrong person in a seat who brings in small referral numbers, leading to less Thank You For Closed Business from their fellow members. This, of course, means that members are making less money than they would be, if the right person was in that seat, adding value by bringing in more referrals.
Being on the Membership Committee is a privilege and an honour, but it’s also a responsibility. A GREAT responsibility. If you’ve served on your Chapter’s MC, I’m sure your Chapter is grateful for your diligence and efforts. If you’re yet to be approached to serve on the MC, look forward to it. It’s one of the best way you can actively help your Chapter and your fellow members, and is a clear way to display your “Givers Gain®” ethos. If you would like to make a positive impact on the culture of your Chapter, please speak to your Vice-President, or your BNI Director, about serving on the Membership Committee.
For more information on this, check out the “Who’s In You Room?” podcast.
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