I first joined BNI City Business in Auckland when I was with ABC Business Sales. I knew very little about BNI when I first went along in mid-2020: somehow, BNI had never been on my radar as something that would help me grow my business. Once a member, I saw the benefits very quickly. I was also lucky enough to join one of the best, most supportive chapters in New Zealand.

BNI – Business Network International – is a global organisation dedicated to growing member businesses through referral. It is the largest such organisation in the world, and I strongly recommend it to any business owner whose business is reliant on word of mouth for growth. BNI operates in over 75 countries, with every member being part of a local chapter. A chapter has 10 – 70 people, depending on its age and track record. In New Zealand, most chapters seem to be between 20 to 40 members. BNI City Business fluctuates between 40 and 45 members.

Each BNI chapter operates slightly differently, based on the chapter’s history and its members. BNI City Business are a high-performing group that aims to balance passion and energy with fun and collegiality. We run our meetings over breakfast – Friday mornings, from 7am to 8.30am – in a reasonably disciplined way.

For me, one of the critical factors that makes BNI successful is that there is no competition in the room: each member has an assigned category, and this category defines the role that person has when they are interacting with other BNI members in the chapter. There can only be one person in each classification in a chapter. This way, members build collaborative relationships rather than worry about competition for another BNI chapter member – and also reducing the potential confusion for other chapter members. If a member has a referral to give, it works best that there is no confusion as to who in the chapter they will give that referral.

BNI chapters meet weekly, typically in person. During the meeting, each member gets to ‘pitch’ their business, reminding the other members what it is they do, and to whom they would like a referral. In BNI-speak, this is typically referred to as a member’s 60-second pitch. BNI City Business, being bigger that many other chapters, has had to cut this pitch time down to 45 seconds to fit everyone in each week. At BNI City Business we have a slide deck that manages the flow of the meeting, which one slide for each member (that they have crafted) to drive the order of the 45-second pitches. Members can upload their pitch slide as often as they like to tailor their message.

When I stopped being a business broker, and returned to my personal consulting and advisory vehicle – TEQ Strategy – I stayed at BNI. I changed my BNI category, and created a new slot as a specialist business coach in Mergers and Acquisitions to SME business owners. And so, my pitch message also needed to change.

I wanted to have some fun with my slides, change the message each week, while entertaining and informing the chapter. I have here put together a collection of my slides, with a brief commentary about the message, or the story behind the slide. While I carefully prepare the slides, I do ad-lib somewhat. I don’t always stick to the script I create when I design the slide – and therefore haven’t included the full presentations. I will aim to share my slides regularly.

The slides include images sourced online, and undoubtedly some are subject to copyright that is not noted. I do not assert to claim ownership of these images, and I am happy to credit – or even directly link – the source material if requested by the owner of any of the content.

You can enjoy my pitch slides here.