I was having a One-to-One with a new member a while ago and they
asked me “do you know the secret sauce of BNI?” I said “well, for a start there is Givers Gain®.” They said, “I get that, but did you know that the weekly sales pitch is a positive affirmation?”
Positive Affirmations are something you repeat to yourself that help you with positivity and resilience. They are scientifically proven to work.
Thinking about our weekly sales pitch in terms of a positive affirmation, I realized they were right. Each week we stand up and say positive things about ourselves and our businesses in front of our chapter members. That’s got to be good for how we feel about our business and ourselves!
With the education we regularly look at an aspect of how an effective weekly presentation or sales pitches. This week we are going to bring Positive Affirmations into an education about effective weekly presentations.

Who’s heard of Positive Affirmations? Most people? Who does them? Not so many. Some find them a bit cringey maybe? Anyone here that does them find them useful?
Science backs you up. According to researchers, studies on the practice of positive affirmations reveal that affirmations can improve our ability to problem-solve while stressed, reduce the occurrence of defensive responses hindering our growth, and even prevent depression.
Clearly, the benefits of positive affirmations are not all in our heads. Pun intended.

Positive affirmations are almost as easy to define as they are to practice. Put simply, they are positive phrases or statements used to challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts. Practicing positive affirmations can be extremely simple, and all you need to do is pick a phrase and repeat it to yourself.
You may choose to use positive affirmations to motivate yourself, encourage positive changes in your life, or boost your self-esteem. If you frequently find yourself getting caught up in negative self-talk, positive affirmations can be used to combat these often subconscious patterns and replace them with more adaptive narratives.
There are no hard and fast rules about timing or frequency when it comes to practicing self-affirmations. Affirmations can be repeated up to three to five times daily to reinforce the positive belief. Writing your affirmations down in a journal and practicing them in the mirror is a good method for making them more powerful and effective.

Examples

I choose to be happy;

My life is taking place right here, right now;

I’m gifted with and surrounded by amazing friends and family;

I opt to rise above negative feelings and ditch negative thoughts;

I am resilient, strong, and brave, and I can’t be destroyed;

I am responsible for looking after me;

By being myself, I bring happiness to other people;

My goals and desires are as worthwhile as everybody else’s;

I can achieve anything that I set my mind to;

I’m fine with who I am, and I love who I am becoming;

There are thousands of examples, just find some or come up with ones that resonate with you and you are comfortable saying to yourself.

Yes, groan, there is always a link to BNI!

But think about this.. we often talk in our Weekly Presentations about how excellent our business is and how it we help clients. This is a positive affirmation.

Saying positive things out loud about our own business is a positive affirmation.We might not do this too often outside of BNI!

BNI offers 52 opportunities a year to make a positive affirmation about your business – that’s pretty awesome!

No one likes a braggart or hearing delusional statements, but we should all be proud of our businesses, skills, services, and staff and be able to say so.
In our weekly presentations we say who we are, what we do, a story, our specific referral request AND we should, as a positive affirmation, say how and why we are good at what we do.
Examples are: we are the best plumber in Tampa Bay, our inspection process is incredibly detailed, all our staff are fully trade
certified for your peace of mind, or we are so confident about our service that we have a double your money back guarantee. These are statements about our credibility as well as positive affirmations.
Don’t be shy about how good you are!

Claiming your skill, your excellence, your passion, your point of difference not only reinforces your own self-belief, it makes
you easier to refer.

Try It!
Add a credible positive affirmation to your weekly presentation today! Try it and see how it feels to be proud of how you are and what you do!