Networking group hits £1.7m turnover

BNI networking groups in East Lancashire are celebrating after members generated £1.7m in business for one another in the last year.

Part of the world’s biggest referral organisation, Business Network International, BNI Kudos, BNI Infinity and BNI Zeus, meet every week in Burnley, Blackburn and Accrington respectively.

Established more than 30 years ago, BNI has upwards of 200,000 members in above 70 countries worldwide.
 
It works by organising weekly networking meetings for groups of businesses who work to find business opportunities for one another. 

Each group, or chapter, follows proven networking processes to ensure the maximum amount of business is generated for members.

Jaydee Davis, Dean Williams and Kate Woods represent the leadership teams of the three chapters in East Lancashire that have generated the revenue in the last year.

BNI Kudos chapter president Davis said: “We’re really proud to have collectively generated £1.7 million for businesses here in East Lancashire.

“One of the reasons BNI stands out from other types of networking groups is that we have proven procedures that ensure we take a proactive approach to generating a significant amount of business for each other.

“One of those procedures is the Thank You for the Business box, passed around each week, which is how we know we have generated at least £1.7 million of business – though that figure doesn’t actually take repeat business or second generation referrals into account.  If it did, the figures would be even higher.

“Kudos is a relatively new group and all the groups are growing gradually.  The long term aim is to grow each one to 40 members with the aim of generating £2m a year, per group.  The key to success with BNI is getting the right people in the group.
 
“We’re lucky to already have a great group of businesses in all the groups, but we always have our doors open for visitors to see what it’s all about and decide if it could work for them too.”