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Coeur d'Alene Metro chapter in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, increased its membership from 20 to 33 in 90 days while doing the Fast Track program. The chapter is 11 years old and a recipient of the BNI Networking Secrets raffle at the International Conference last November in Long Beach. We caught up with Carolyn Schultz, the chapter president and 10-year BNI veteran, to find out more.

What happened when you started Fast Track?

Until Fast Track we were just going through the motions—not doing the fundamentals. We saw ourselves as successful but had never been able to reach 30 members. When we listened to the CDs and started the curriculum we had a WOW moment. We were reminded of everything we weren’t doing.

What results are you seeing?

There is a remarkable increase of 1-to-1s. From January 1 to April 1 we did 202. We never did that before. Maybe we did 202 in a whole year. We’ve had 24 visitors, and we are now at 33 members, with a goal of 40 members. We are being very selective and picky about who joins because we don’t want to ruin what have. Before, when we had a visitor, we would just grab them. Not now.

What about referrals?

We have gone from giving leads to giving high quality referrals - a real transformation.

Anything else?

From September 2009 to February 2010, we did $85,000 in booked business. In March we did over $100,000 in booked business. We did more in one month than we previously did in five months.

How has the chapter “culture” changed?

Now at the meetings the energy level is so amazing; we are excited about learning about each other’s business—and have fun sharing. The speaker’s eight-minute spot is incredible and you can tell they aren’t waiting until the night before to prepare. Everyone has stepped up a level with this program. We also have multiple people from the same category putting in applications the same day. We never had that before.

What’s your next step?

We have decided to go through the Fast Track program again using the new curriculum materials. When we do this, we will bring a whole new level of excitement and success to our chapter. The sky’s the limit for Coeur d'Alene Metro.

(For more information on the Fast Track Program, go to www.delfuego.com/bni.)




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