Talk:BNI (organization)

Revamp

I have done a major re-write as the article was a mess and full of puff - hopefully it is tidier and tighter now. Brookie :) - he's in the building somewhere! ^(Whisper...) 13:41, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Meeting

BNI and small business: I was recently invited to a BNI meeting, although I found it very informative I found out that my business reallly did'nt fit in, although they wanted me to sign the dotted line and hand over $450.00 for the one year fee. I felt there were too many obligations for the average small business owner: you must be at every meeting every week (you are allowed to miss 2 in a 60 day period), If you cannot make the meetings, you must send someone in your place, you are obligated to bring guest, you are obligated to bring referrals every week, the meetings are 90 mins. long and you are obligated to stay the 90 mins. When you own a Restaurant like myself, this is like working a second job, worse part is: you're paying for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wheatonview (talk • contribs) 10:29, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

sounds like a pyramid scheme and if os should this not be reflected in the article otherwise wikipedia becomes just a marketing tool when it should be informative90.210.187.85 (talk) 09:46, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

BNI is a MLM ?

There's been some edits and reverting of edits over whether BNI is a multi level marketing company. Anyone have any information on this, which we can reference in the article to substantiate / dispute this? --Oscarthecat 20:58, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Not yet. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return Fire)} 21:30, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

BNI is not a direct marketing organisation and therefore can't be an MLM Brookie :) - he's in the building somewhere! ^(Whisper...) 04:44, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Directors of local chapters are franchise owners, and thus earn money based on the number of memberships in their area. Members who invite others do not get paid any type of commission - the reward, in theory, is the increase in the number of referrals. Misner has written several books on BNI, but I hurt my back and won't be looking for any of them today. --otherlleft 02:36, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

If you look at their websites you can see the structure, plus if you can get hold of their text books or marketing manuals.

It is not explicitly cited online but you can see e.g. from the UK website that there are several levels of "Director". It's an open secret among the membership how it works:

US owned (by Ivan Misner) he franchises licenses to countries. They recruit "executive Directors" who work solely on comission and start a club in a sub-region. They then recruit "assistant directors" who set up more clubs, the exec director takes a cut on each of these.

So the structure is from bottom up:

"members" - they pay a fee which varies by country to be members
"assitant directors" - they're paid a fee out of this membership money
"executive directors" - they take a fee on all the members that join in their down line
"franchisee" takes a fee on everything in their downline
"BNI" - takes a cut on every member

It doesn't propogate extra levels like a lot of pyrmaid or MLM companies, thats pretty much that, but what people need to realise is that other than that it is run very much like Amway. In fact so much so though that Ivan Misner himself tells a story about people thinking he was selling Amway to them when he first tried to get people to run Chapters for him. this is in the book "Givers Gain, The BNI Story." which was written by Misner and given to all members a few years ago.

The similarity to MLM extends to things like training, and they really do instill a recruitment culture into people which is at the core of the organisation. I was a member for a very long time. I liked it. I got business from it. It worked. But people should be able to read that it is based on these MLM principles and it is very much run for the benefit of people in the upline.

There is a dual nature to it - a good club will generate the members business, but that is essentially the benefit that BNI is selling to you, the members are it's product, and they are in the business of getting more of them.

Disappointing that I found references to all this and someone trampled my edits regardless due to a "conflict of interest" whereas I suspect the real conflict is that BNI doesn't want to be thought of as MLM. I don't know why when their system works they shouldn't actually be affraid of it. I even went to great pains to indicate that it works as long as you buy into it and that is true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.137.19 (talk) 19:42, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

The only way that members make money is by receiving referrals from other members. In an MLM you make money by recruiting people who recruit people, and so on. Since the members aren't making money directly by recruiting new members, it's not MLM. --otherlleft (talk) 17:07, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Not MLM - Members of BNI make money by the increase in their own business by receiving referrals from others, not recruiting. For example the realtor sells a house and then refers the client to a mortgage broker they have worked with and trust and who is a fellow BNI chapter member. Members join, gain the trust of others and prosper selling their own business. If a new member is not trustworthy or is unable to provide referrals they can lose their membership. I would estimate 97-98% of members do not derive any income from BNI membership fees and do not base their career on working for BNI, not even chapter presidents. That is only at the regional and national director level. The only motivation for inviting guests and acquiring new members is the increased network of members who can refer business prospects to you. There is actually quite a bias against members who are promoting MLM schemes as most members are developing their own independent business. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.246.182.71 (talk) 03:22, 27 March 2009 (UTC) This last comment Not MLM unsigned is from new member theleftbrain.

Also, when a classification in a chapter is filled, for example an electrician or a landscaper, application for membership by a prospective member in that same classification is denied. What MLM do you know which turns away new members? Most MLM's will sign you up if you can breathe and have a checkbook. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Theleftbrain (talk • contribs) 03:42, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Attendance policy

MLM - BNI also has rigid rules for members about not attending to the meetings. If you miss two meetings for what ever reason like if your child is sick and has to go to the hospital or an important business deal they don't care. They then ask you for someone to stand in your place at the meetings or else they will end your membership without returning fund. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.208.120.117 (talk) 16:54, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Anonymous editor: I added a new header since this is really a different subject, hope you don't mind! BNI's attendance policy is strict, but a fair bit more complex than you stated. Members actually can miss up to six of the weekly meetings in six months, but the way the policy is designed serves to confound and confuse. I wouldn't be surprised if it were often misinterpreted. I would add something to the article about it, but the only source I'm aware of is one of founder Misner's books, and even though it explains the policy I don't think it demonstrates that there's anything notable about it.--otherlleft 17:30, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Recurring Vandalism

Someone with an obvious issue with BNI continues to vandalize the site by making unsubstantiated claims or conclusions that BNI is a scam.

Yes, there is a membership fee.

Yes, the fee is distributed up the chain. But it is an annual membership fee, not a fee based on either the number of referrals passed, or the number of dollars of closed business passed.

I am a member of BNI, and I paid USD$365 for my annual fee. I have been passed over $10,000 in business in my first year (all from the business, NONE from BNI, since I'm not part of the leadership). I'll pay another USD$365 next year, and continue to get good referrals from my BNI group. I'm not sure how this warrants the organization being called a Scam.

Let's stay off our soapboxes and be objective, like Wikipedia should be. If you want to clarify the financial structure of the local chapters, that is fine. Drawing conclusions that it is a Scam is unwarranted (and incorrect). — Preceding unsigned comment added by George Halt (talk • contribs) 03:16, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Adding unsourced information, particularly potential slander, is never appropriate; doing so from two accounts is reportable, so I have done so.--~TPW 13:51, 26 September 2011 (UTC)