Slips Completion Process
Entering “slips” into BNI Connect is how BNI tracks the activity and successes of its Members. Like a business will set and track goals, so does every BNI Chapter. We are working towards standardized global reporting and the first step is to have all Chapter Members use either the BNI Mobile App or the BNI Connect Web version. The following explanations highlight these four activities:
- One-to-One Slips
- Chapter Education Unit Slips
- Referral Slips
- Thank You for Closed Business Slips
All slips can be entered online at www.bniconnect.com. Once logged in, go to My BNI Business and Submit your respective slips on the lower half of the page. Or you can use the BNI Mobile App, screen shots to follow. By entering your slips electronically, you are now able to track your activity electronically, reduce the paperwork within your Chapter, as well as automatically enter your personal activity on the Chapter PALMS Report, thereby saving your Vice President time!
One-to-One Follow Up
Purpose: One-to-Ones are key to relationship building and learning how to pass higher quality referrals to your BNI Chapter Members. In essence, it is a referral strategy session.
One to One Follow Up Completion Process
The Member who initiated the One-to-One Enters the One-to-One electronically
Recommended reporting:
When a Member enters a One-to-One electronically, both parties receive credit for completing the One-to-One. With electronic reporting, a Member can enter One-to-Ones with Ambassadors, Directors and Members of other BNI Chapters throughout the world! as well as Members within their own Chapter. For detailed instructions, visit BNI Connect Help.
Vice Presidents: When checking and submitting your weekly PALMS report in BNI Connect, the electronically entered slips will automatically appear in your report.
Chapter Education Units (CEU)
Purpose: Have you ever heard the phrase: “Learn More to Earn More”? There is a direct correlation between the networking education you complete and the revenue you generate from referrals. Submit your Chapter Education Units to report training and education you achieve through BNI sources.
Chapter Education Units (CEU) Completion Process:
The Member who completes any level of BNI education such as:
- BNI Academy Presentations,Training Programs, Podcasts, Webinar recordings
- Keys Skills Workshops
- BNI Books and Podcasts by Dr. Ivan Misner
- Mentor Program, Member Success Program
- Chapter Success Training (Leadership Team Training) and Area/Regional Leadership Roundtables
- Each hour you spend on Chapter Education is equal to one credit. 1 hour = 1 credit For detailed instructions, visit BNI Connect Help.
Reporting When a Member enters Chapter Education Units electronically, the data is automatically entered into that week’s PALMS Report. No paper CEU slip is necessary.
Vice Presidents: When checking and submitting your weekly PALMS report in BNI Connect, the electronically entered slips will automatically appear in your report.
Referral Slip
Purpose: Referral Slips are not the actual referral, rather a mechanism to pass and record the information about the referral. When a potential referral is identified, contact the Member immediately to pass along the information so the referral can be acted upon in a timely manner. The BNI Connect Mobile app is the fastest way to pass a referral!
Referral Slip Completion Process:
Completion: The Member who is making the referral connection can pass a referral to any Member, Director, Ambassador or Global Support Member. For detailed instructions, visit BNI Connect Help.
Be sure to select respective boxes for tracking purposes:
- Inside: You are referring yourself (or an immediate family Member in the household) for the first time to use another Member’s product or service. One referral slip is given for the first time you use their service.
- Outside: You are referring someone outside the Chapter (not an immediate family Member in the household)to use another Member’s product or service. One referral slip is given per new client referred.
- Given Your Card: Optional.
- Told Them You Would Call: Not optional. This is what makes this referral a true referral. When the person you are referring is expecting a call from the Member with anticipation. (To follow generally accepted privacy practices, some professions are prohibited from calling on potential clients; therefore, the person being referred must initiate contact.)
Reporting - When a Member enters a Referral electronically, the data is automatically entered into that week’s PALMSReport. They will not show up on your activity until the Vice President submits the PALMS report. Additionally, the Member receiving the referral automatically receives an email or push notification indicating the referral information so contact can be made right away. You may choose to print and bring to the BNI Chapter Meeting your Personal Meeting Activity Sheet using the Print Your Weekly Slips link under My BNI Business. For detailed instructions, visit BNI Connect Help.
Vice Presidents: When checking and submitting your weekly PALMS report in BNI Connect, the electronically entered slips will automatically appear in your report. In viewing summary reports, to calculate total number of referrals passed, the Referrals GivenInside and the Referrals Given Outside must be added together. In order to perform the Referral Reality Check, use the Slips Audit Report.
Thank You For Closed Business (TYFCB) Slip
Purpose: The Thank You for Closed Business (TYFCB) program is used as a note of appreciation and acknowledgment to the Member who GAVE you a business generating referral. The program acknowledges Members passing qualified referrals, as well as measuring the value they are providing. It is important that the Member who receives the referral acknowledge the Member who passed them the referral. Report revenue you generate from referrals you receive.When you submit this data, you remain anonymous. Be consistent in your reporting.
Beyond benefiting the individual who brought you the referral, the Thank You for Closed Business Slips, at full value, demonstrate the value to Members and visitors of your Chapter’s referral business. For this same reason, any business that originated with a BNI connection requires a TYFCB Slip forever … even if the person who referred it is gone.
“Thank you for closed business” Completion Process:
The Member who received the referral that turned into closed business can enter the Thank You for Closed Business online, or using the BNI Mobile App. For detailed instructions, visit BNI Connect Help.
Thank You To: The only name referenced in the Thank You for Closed Business Report is that of the person who passed the referral, not the person who received payment; therefore, this is an anonymous program that credits the Members for the business that they GIVE to others. When reporting electronically, the person you are acknowledging DOES NOT KNOW that you entered this data. This information is only stored on your BNI Business Page, so YOU know how much revenue was generated from your BNI connections; no one else has access to the revenue that you report.
Thank You for Closed Business may also be submitted for business that comes from other Chapters, visitors or past Members; simply enter the Member who originally invited the past Member or visitor, enter the Visitor’s name or enter BNI in the Thank You To line … that way all business is recorded!
For a referral in the amount of $: This is not meant to be an exact science for reporting purposes. The goal is to have a consistent reporting system to recognize those Members who pass qualified referrals, while conservatively reporting the amount of business recognized by our Members. For consistency, please see the following pages for reporting guidelines.
“Thank you for closed business” Reporting Guidelines:
Reporting: When a Member enters their Thank You for Closed Business electronically, the data is automatically entered into that week’s PALMS Report for the Member that is being recognized. The data will not show in your activity until the Vice President submits the PALMS Report that week. You may want to print and bring to the BNI Chapter Meeting your Personal Meeting Activity Sheet using the Print Your Weekly Slips link under My BNI Business; this creates a visual demonstration for the visitors how much completed business is being passed each week.
Vice Presidents: When entering your weekly PALMS data in BNI Connect, the electronic entries will automatically appear in your report; simply add the paper slip value (if any) to the data already entered. In viewing summary reports, this will show each Member’s value as a referral giver to the other Members of the Chapter.
Note: The TYFCB reporting is NOT to be used verbally as a replacement for the Referral and Testimonial time during the Chapter Meeting.
What Value Do I Enter as Thank You for Closed Business?
Here is a general explanation of how to track closed business based on what type of business you are in. Not all professions are listed below. Use the suggestions below and common sense when it comes to measuring your profession’s results with consistency. Consistency is the key!
Commission-Based Industries
- Enter your gross commission figure.
- Examples: Realtors, Mortgage lenders, Financial Planning, Investments
- EXAMPLE: Realtor: A realtor sells a home for $400,000. Most of that money goes to an owner or a bank. But the full amount that comes to the brokerage is credited to BNI even though the individual realtor may earn less than the full commission. The part that goes to the brokerage firm is one of your expenses of doing business. A realtor would write down the total fee to their company on the sale of the house, not just their personal commission. A $400,000 house with a 7% realtor fee would be entered as $28,000.
Insurance Fields
- Enter the amount of the premium check. If the car insurance is $600 per year, the amount entered is $600. It is recommended that the annual value of the insurance plan is entered, even if they are paying month-to-month. This way a TYFCB slip is submitted only once per year for that client.
Financial Advisors
- Enter amount of the commission fees, whether a fixed rate or percentage of portfolio amount. If the account is $1,000,000 and the fee is $1000, the amount entered is $1000. If you work for an insurance company or an investment firm, the amount the customer is paying is what you credit to your BNI team Member, rather than the amount that actually ends up in your pocket. In other words, you report the amount that your company would report as gross income.
Nonprofit Organizations
- Enter the estimated dollar value of donated goods, services, and volunteer time. Report the full amount of monetary donations. If the donations are a recurring amount, you can choose to report monthly or quarterly as long as you are consistent with the reporting.
Service Providers
- Enter the gross amount you charged for your service. A $1,500 website would be entered as $1,500. Fields thatbill insurance would report the co-pay plus the insurance.
- Examples: Website designer, Business coaching, Pool repair/leak detection, Title Service, Photographer, Salon / Spa, Graphic designer, CPA, Entertainer, Pest Control, IT support, Attorney, Medical doctors, Dentists, Naturopaths, Chiropractors, Massage Therapist
Product Providers
- The gross sale of the product plus service costs. A $500 air filter plus $100 installation would be reported as$600. Include any insurance claims if applicable.
- Examples: HVAC, Fencing, Shutters, Roofing, Plumbing, Flooring, Cabinets, Landscape design and installation, Custom wood products, General contractor, Alarm systems and monitoring, Promotional products, printing, Online sales (greeting cards, etc.), Nutritional products, Weight loss products, programs
Banking
- One tricky category is banking. If a banker has a way of tracking how much revenue is coming into the bank, thenthis would be reported. Otherwise, please follow the definitions below to report closed business for non-commissioned referrals to banks:
- Loans: Report the interest that would be generated if the loan would go full term
- Deposits: Report 10% of the initial amount to open an account
- Lines of Credits (i.e. credit cards, home equity loans, commercial lines of credit, etc.): Report 10% of the line amount
Not all professions are listed above. Use common sense and the examples above when it comes to measuring a profession’s results with consistency. A short way to remember the complex description above is that with some exceptions, we generally track the total revenue to the individual Member and their respective company represented in BNI.
What about my privacy? These numbers are tracked anonymously. You don’t enter your name when tracking Thank You for Closed Business. The numbers are ultimately combined with everyone else’s numbers.
What if I have more questions? Talk to your Director about how the Thank You for Closed Business Program can help your Chapter pass even more business.
Downloadable PDF
Happy Connecting!
Version 2015.03.20.1124
Copyright © 2015 BNI, All Rights Reserved
Comments
31 comments
Hey guys,
BNI HQ has updated the SLIPS program regarding Bankers so that the deposits are recorded as Closed Business as 10% (just like Lines of Credit). This page above still has the old amount (the whole amount). Thought you might want to update it here too.
HOWEVER, this is an AWESOME tool in addition to the pdf on Documents!!
Jeremy, do you have a new version of the online slips program hand out. I know it is some where and can't find. Thank you in advance for the direction.
Still trying to figure out how to enter a referral. That should be the easiest thing to find on the website!
Hi Richard,
The guidelines to enter a referral online is found here: http://support.bniconnect.com/entries/22092766-Entering-Referral-Slips-Online
We hope this helps.
Where can I find the printable download for the slips? specifically tyfcb.
Hi Wray,
The slips are available online on your landing screen.
Downloadable format of any slip, including TYFCB is a controlled item at your Regional office level, as it is used for printing the said slips to supply to chapters.
I added an on-line referral but I now need to delete it. How do I do that?
How do I enter thank yous for former members of the chapter? We used to have this option, but now I only see members, visitors and "BNI" Should we add up all former members and cross chapter thanks in that field?
Andrew Deighton, you may edit or delete a slip as long as it is in Draft mode (the weekly meeting PALMS Report is not submitted by your VP) from your landing screen, Review My Referral Slips, then you will see this: http://screencast.com/t/mOvbpTLBUX
You can either edit or delete accordingly.
Elizabeth Moffett, yes you can lump all up in BNI (for business received from BNI Directors, substitutes, former members) and Visitors for business received from visitors.
Hope this helps.
Hey Folks,
Is it possible to print out a TYFCB slip to pass around at the meeting? Or, do we still fill out the old ones?
Thanks,
Steve.
Hi Steve,
If you have already entered TYFCB online, then there is no need to fill in the paper slips, as it might cause a double entry of the same.
As long as you have submitted it, it will be recorded accordingly.
And remember you can always track this from your own login.
We hope this helps.
There needs to be a navigation class so we can find out where to input online slips. I found it one time, made and entry and then after several days I could not find it again.
Re: Banking thank you... I may open an account with $100, and be thanked for $10 according to the guidelines. Next week I deposit $10,000... Is this taken into consideration in any way? The bank is certainly deriving income from the additional funds I deposit, and somehow it seems as this should be taken into consideration.
For example, say I opened an account with $250, many years ago. In the 1990's I did very well in the stock market, and in the course of 25 years put over 2 million dollars into that account, and had a fairly large balance for about 10 years. How is this considered?
Michael,
We have a YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/bniconnectglobal
The specific recording for Online Slips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xORuXTKFQ
Hope this helps.
Where do I go to see where I am in the power of one? I am working to improve my score and want to see where I am.
Where do I find the points allocation for CATS & what does CATS mean?
How do I order more Referral Slips?
Can you please explain what 'Fives' & 'Sixes' mean on the Member Commitment Report
Where are the slips. i went through every option
Ms. Elizabeth J. Moffett's question from Jun 6 had not been answered, and I wondered the same thing.
How do I enter thank yous for former members of the chapter? We used to have this option, but now I only see members, visitors and "BNI" Should we add up all former members and cross chapter thanks in that field?
Wray,
Apologies - Thank You's for former members should be entered using the "BNI" option at the bottom of the drop down.
Nina: The slips are all available on the very first page when you log into www.bniconnect.com. Here is a brief video showing the process:
http://support.bniconnect.com/entries/22092766
Jeannette,
The CATS report is only used in a very few areas around the world. That being said, here is some information about them:
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who should use the BNI Member Commitment Report?
This report is for everybody in the Chapter, but in particular the Leadership Team and the Membership Committee. Great Membership Committees are concerned about the level of activity of members and results they are getting. Best practice involves looking at this report to get a sense of who is doing great, and who needs mentoring and support. Everybody in the Chapter needs to contribute and it is the Chapter Leaders responsibility to make sure everyone get assistance and support when needed. In BNI we look after our own!
What are the Fives, Sixes and CATS columns?
These are measures of member commitment to Givers Gain® over a rolling 6 month period. We know that closed business is the goal, but how do we get there? We get there by members attending the weekly BNI event. We get there by doing great 121s with our fellow members. We get there by inviting Visitors and introducing them to BNI and to the members of our Chapter.
How are the FIVES calculated?
The Fives column in the BNI Member Commitment Report is calculated as follows: Attendance + Substitutes – Late – Absent + Visitors + Referrals GIVEN + 121s (Dances). The period covered is 6 months of activity. Generally speaking Chapters require members to achieve a FIVES score of 50+ over 6 months, but that’s up to Membership Committees to decide for themselves what is appropriate!
How are the SIXES calculated?
The Sixes add in to the Fives 1 point for every $1000 of closed business given by a member. Why did the members want that? Because it is important to take into account results when assessing a members commitment to Givens Gain®
What do you mean by “the SIXES inform the FIVES”?
It is great when someone demonstrates commitment by being active, but unless we take results into account when assessing someone’s performance we may miss the opportunity to help that person be active and great at the same time! Ideally someone REALLY active is doing so with great skill, and is getting result for the members! This is why we say the SIXES inform the FIVES.
What CATS?
BNI Chapters with members that want to be held accountable for their activity and commitment to Givers Gain® are those that make the most closed business, and CATS stands for Chapter Accountability Tracking System. CATS was developed by the members of BNI because they are really serious about getting result for their members.
CATS is a more sophisticated measure of performance that gives different weightings to the activities that lead to closed business. This is how CATS is calculated:
- Plus 1 for each 121/Dance.
- Plus 1 for every Internal Referral.
- Plus 1 for every 1 Thousand Dollars of Closed Business given credited to the member.
- Plus 2 points for every External Referral.
- Plus 2 points for every Visitor recorded against the members’ name on the PALMS.
- Less 2 points for each Absence without a substitute.
How should the BNI Member Commitment Report be used?
Great practices include sharing the report each month at the weekly BNI event. This report is definitely useful when assessing Chapter Health and the performance of members in the Chapter, and is used extensively by Membership Committees for planning purposes. We recommend you also bring any matters of concern to the attention of your BNI Director so he/she has an opportunity to contribute!
Great I know how to do it but I can't find the landing page to do it on. Thanks for this nice page it is pretty but worthless.
I saw this some place before but can't find it. If I refer an individual to a member, that is a referral. Any business after that becomes a TYFCB. Correct? Would there ever be a second referral for the same two people?
We have a member who is in the travel industry and actively uses Connect to pass and receive referrals. She is complaining that she cannot do this cross regionally and internationally online. Is this facility available yet?
Thanks
Solveig McCormick
South Africa National Admin
BNI Profit Makers, Hudson Valley, NY, USA
Debbie Coladonato has tried several times to enter a large TYFCB (about $12,000) which I gave her. She tried on her cell. I tried doing it for her on her cell. And she has tried entering it on her computer at home.
It does not show up in our PALMS, in my TYFCB, or anywhere that we can find.
What steps do we need to take?
Thank you so very much! Connie Wehmeyer (VP, Profit Makers)
We just added 3 non-profit organizations to our chapter. Is there any direction on how non-profits should track/report TYFCB?
@tyson - I guess it depends on the type of non-profit it is. I would assume that any donations and fund raising would naturally have a dollar value associated, so that should be fairly easy. Do you have specific scenarios that maybe we can help with suggestions?
Good question. One non-profit will be soliciting both donations and volunteer time. Obviously the donation has a dollar amount, but I wasn't sure how to do the volunteer time. I was thinking we might just assign a dollar amount to every hour spent...maybe $25 per hour, but I was hoping BNI had some guidance on this type of thing.
Another scenario is if a non-profit asks for and gets an introduction to a new board member for instance. How would you track TYFCB for something like that.
I'm still learning how to best give referrals to these members, so I'm not even sure what we would need to track. Again, looking to see if BNI had any guidance. My search on Business Builder was fruitless and my google search led me to this page.
@tyson - all good points! While BNI has always had non-profits as members, it hasn't been something that became very popular until just recently. It is a great idea that HQ should try to standardize this reporting while we are now just starting to get rolling with more and more non profits.
I recommend reaching out to your regional director (check the contact us page on your region website) to get the conversation started. I will also pass this thought along to the training teams that I am in contact with.
It won't happen overnight, but hopefully we can see something maybe by the next round of leadership training :- )
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