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The BNI Cross Island Referral Network in Little Neck, Queens, New York, is a 5-year-old chapter that had always been a Showcase Chapter. However, sometimes even the best performing chapters fall into the complacency trap of doing “BNI Lite” – not much energy, not much excitement.

Prior to starting Fast Track, for the first time in two years, they were below 30 members.  Referrals were still being passed, but the quality varied.  The chapter had members who would be absent and never send a sub.  Visitors were few, and they typically described the chapter as “nice but a bit stuffy.”

The consensus of chapter’s leadership and several veteran members was they had drifted away from the BNI fundamentals, even though they ran an excellent meeting.  When I gave this chapter the opportunity to do the Fast Track program, they went for it and did the program from April – June.

I went back and compared where they are today vs. where they were the three months prior to the program. Here are the key areas impacted:

• Before Fast Track, (January – March), 43 absences, 13 late arrivals, 1 visitor.


• With Fast Track, (April – June), 18 absences, 3 late arrivals, 17 visitors (and this doesn’t include Visitor Day held during Member Extravaganza).

One of the problems the chapter wanted to correct was tracking closed business, which they weren’t doing accurately.  Before Fast Track they recorded $180,000 in closed business beginning in January. With Fast Track they became much more aware of why recording closed business is critical to retention. They have recorded $250,000 since January. They couldn’t believe it. Needless to say, closed business is recorded accurately.

Fast Track is exactly what this chapter needed. Even though they lost three members in the process, they picked up five new quality members. The new members are getting on board and doing 1-to-1s immediately, which the chapter didn’t really emphasize before. In fact, the average number of 1-to-1s has, at a minimum, doubled per member since Fast Track.

Now, it’s a completely different atmosphere in the chapter. Visitor feedback has gone from, “Nice, but a little too dry and stuffy” to “This is a great chapter, very energetic and supportive of each other. Everyone is on the same page.”

We haven’t heard stuffy in months!

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


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