BNI chapters in East Lancashire are celebrating after being named the top region in the UK for the international referral marketing organisation.
BNI Lancashire East, which encompasses five chapters meeting in Blackburn, Burnley and Clitheroe, came first out of 72 regions across the UK in an annual league table of top performing areas.
Established over 30 years ago, BNI now has over 200,000 members in over 70 countries worldwide. It works by organising weekly networking meetings for groups of businesses. Groups, known as chapters, use their combined network of contacts to find business opportunities and referrals for one another, to a specific brief that members outline at every meeting.
In January, three chapters Zeus (Accrington), Kudos (Burnley) and Infinity (Blackburn) celebrated generating over £3 million of business in the previous year. Since then, two more chapters Vista (Blackburn) and Beacon (Clitheroe) have been set up, putting the region well on course to being one of the highest earning regions in the UK.
The league table is not just based on earnings though, but on an average score across a number of measures including chapter growth, retention and average chapter size.
BNI Executive Director Mike Holman, who manages BNI operations in Lancashire, Great Manchester East and Kirklees and Calderdale, said: “One of the things that is absolutely true about BNI is that we measure everything. That’s how we ensure we keep on track, to provide our members the very best support to help them make a success of their commitment to BNI. The BNI philosophy is Givers Gain, so we like to celebrate the givers as much, if not more, than the big earners.
“There’s a huge enthusiasm and community spirit amongst the BNI members here in Lancashire and that, I believe, is reflected in the figures.
“It’s fantastic that the hard work everyone puts in is being acknowledged nationally so I’d like to offer heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved.”
