BNI - Business Network International

I've been invited to the founding meeting of a BNI chapter here in Munich. I've looked at their website: BNI Europe - Deutsch (or see BNI Europe for the English version), but it's missing a few key details. Namely, does it work as well as their advertising makes it seem? And how much does it cost? Anyone have any ideas? I'll probably go to the meeting and find things out, but it would be nice to be prepared beforehand.

Hey... did you go, and if so what was it like?

Didn't go in the end.

It's been a while since Showem asked about the BNI. So I think I can't hurt to ask again. Has anybody ever been to a meeting, been a member or do you have some information you'd like to share.

I belonged to BNI in the United States and it worked well for my business. It is word of mouth networking group... so it works on referrals... Only one person from each profession or business category is allowed to join and then you pass "leads" which are personal referrals for different work.. so lets say someone needs to sell a house, you would give that lead to the real estate person in the group. Most people will ask others for contacts or suggestions of where to go... and this is one way of organizing those referrals. you keep track of the referrals etc and the person who gets the most during the month gets a little prize etc. Everyone gets a business card holder and ten or twenty business cards from each member to pass to people they meet.

Each member of the group gets the chance to make a presentation to the group to showcase things that they do or products they sell. This way everyone in the group is aware of what the others do...

The cost is something like 300 euros a year... but for my business, it was well worth it since that was only two hours of work billable to clients.. so one client from the group really paid off... it might be cheaper... it has been three years since I lived in the US so I don't remember... and you can pay by semester or annually.

If you need more information, you are welcome to contact me.

We are members of BNI, and would happily invite people who want to come along and see for themselves without commitment.

I have been to one of these meetings. They are very good and not as cliquey or stuffy as OpenBC or the AGBC. You get to introduce yourself to everyone i.e you actually get to stand up, have everyones attention and introduce your business or product for one minute. The meetings are well structured and organised. I would recommend to small businesses or start-ups. To join for a year is approx 700 Euro a little prohibitive I think. Meetings are every Wednesday morning at 7am!! in the Holiday Inn on Effnerstr. Talk to Genesis Systems for an invite. They try not to encourage job-seekers or MLM types. Breakfast is included and very tasty.