Run a Great Meeting

Back in March I talked about 5 key fundamentals that drive referrals: https://thereferralsgroup.com/referrals-fundamentals/
Quick Recap on what those are:
1-Face-to-Face meetings
2-Attendance Rate (above 80%)
3-Mindset, focusing on help others
4-Run a Good meeting
5- Grow membership to your ideal size

A lot of new groups do a great job in areas 1-3, which are extremely critical to the foundation of all groups.   I hear from a lot of groups in the 6-18 month range that they like their core group of people, but they want to grow.  Then, they focus simply on inviting guests.  Inviting guests is HUGE piece of growth.  However, inviting guests isn’t the only solution.  Groups also need to run a good meeting every meeting to capitalize on growth opportunities.  It isn’t just as simple as inviting.

Your habits when you are in growth mode need to be the same habits you’ll have when you hit your ideal membership range.  Act and run things as if you are already there!

Most groups need to tighten up how they run the meeting.  By tightening up the meeting you’ll create more time for dialog and freedom to have a few extra discussions in the meeting that create additional opportunities.

Suggestions & Tips  (based on a 75 minute meeting)

1. Getting Started                     

*5 minutes after start time:  Have the Chairman kick things off and give a 30 sec overview of what we’ll do today.  This will help set the stage for a great meeting.  Then have members/guests do brief introductions.
 2. Speaker
*run the timer.  Have it count down and go off after 15 minutes.  Then reset for 5-7 of questions.
*when the timer goes off after 15 minutes go ahead and put the Referral Report up on the TV/AV screen.  This will prevent dead air & create a smooth transition.
*this is also the “cue” for members to log into their account and be ready to talk about the referrals they’ve sent.  Be in the Referrals tab on your phone

 3. Referrals
*have more dialog about the referrals you’ve sent.  Start with the sender talking about the scenario, how the identified the referral opportunity, and the language they used to “setup” the referral.
*remember when it doubt….log the referral so we can talk about the scenario.  We’ll learn from these.
*for more on how to talk about a referral go here:  https://thereferralsgroup.com/talk-referral-referral-section-meeting/

 4. Attendance
  *upcoming speaker/facilitator rotation is also in the Attendance tab for quick reference.

 5. Group Business

 *B Education:  Send out article in advance.  Take 2-3 minutes to present topic and then ask members/guests “What were your take-a-ways or what did you learn that was helpful?”  
 *C Recruitment members be in the Recruitment tab on your phone
*Goal:  add 2-3 targets per meeting.
*Have recruitment chair prompt members make the additions & add notes (on their phone) to existing targets while in the meeting.  It will make sure things happen.

6. Member & Guest Introductions (30, 45, 60, or 90 seconds)   *we do this last for two reasons.

1- We want it to be the last thing you hear.  So, if you think you have a referral opportunity for another member based off their commercial you can walk over to them and talk about how to set up the referral.
2- Along with talking about referrals doing this last helps to prevent any junk referrals from happening.

Remember that running a good meeting (regardless of whether you are in growth mode or not) helps create referral opportunities and creates value for all the members.  If you need help in this area don’t hesitate to reach out.  We are always happy to help improve the experience.