How I Learned About the Power of Testimonials

How I Learned About the Power of Testimonialsstring(45) "How I Learned About the Power of Testimonials"

I learned about the power of testimonials in 1985 shortly after I started BNI®, the networking group I founded to get referrals for my consulting business.
At that time, there was only one chapter. During our weekly meetings, we followed an agenda similar to the one that over 10,400 BNI chapters use today. During the meeting, each member gave a weekly presentation about their business. Then we introduced our visitors, followed by our featured speaker’s presentation. After that, we passed referrals.

During this last part, if you had a referral to give to fellow members, you stood up when your turn came and said, “I have two referrals for Joe and one for Angela, and here’s what they are.” If you didn’t have any referrals, you simply said, “Pass,” and the next person would take their turn.

We’d been meeting for about two months, and at the end of one meeting the chiropractor in our group came to me and said, “Ivan, I haven’t gotten a single referral yet. I know it takes time, but here’s what concerns me: Nobody has even come up to talk to me or asked a question about chiropractic care. How can they refer me?”

I said, “You’re right. You’ve got to get them to use you so they can refer you. Why don’t you offer a free initial consultation to get them to come in and see what you do and how it works? Then they’ll be able to refer you. Here’s an idea. At next week’s meeting, just stand up and offer everyone a free first visit—even throw in an X-ray and do an adjustment—so they can see what chiropractic care is really all about.”

The next week when he did that, only one person out of the entire group said they would take him up on his offer. The chiropractor came up to me at the end of the meeting and said, “Brilliant idea, Ivan. They didn’t exactly flock to me.”

The Power of First-Hand Experience    

The following week, the meeting was moving along nicely, we were passing referrals, and it came around to this guy who had visited the chiropractor. He stood up, hesitated, looked at me, and said, “Ivan, I don’t have a referral today, but I don’t want to pass.”

As President of the chapter, I was running the meeting agenda, so I asked him, “Okay, then, uh . . . what do you want to do?” He said, “Well, I’d like to say a few words.” I said, “O-o-o-kay, well, uh, what do you want to say?”

He said, “Well, I just want to talk about Dr. Rubin. I had an X-ray done. He showed me all around his facility, explained all the things that he did, and then he did an adjustment.” He continued, “I’ve had lower back pain for about seven years. Nothing incapacitating, just a nagging ache that bothers me when I stand too long. For the first time in seven years, my back doesn’t hurt! You all are crazy if you don’t take him up on this offer! I just wanted to say that,” then he sat down.

I looked around the room and saw people picking up pens and filling out referral slips for the chiropractor. I thought, Wow! My agenda doesn’t work! You can’t just tell people to pass; you have to give them a chance to talk about the business they’ve done with other people! It’s critical!

That’s when we started the BNI Testimonial. From that point on, if you didn’t have a referral to give, you didn’t just pass. Instead, you gave a brief testimonial about the business you had done with another member of the group. That way, your experiences would become my experiences, and I could refer the member to somebody else.

My lesson about the power of good testimonials has helped BNI chapters around the world and can be beneficial to all networking groups. Without testimonials, networking groups are missing a great opportunity to generate more referrals for their members.

I invite you to share your experience about a good testimonial.

Truluck's

You Achieve What You Measure – A Truluck’s Storystring(60) "You Achieve What You Measure – A Truluck’s Story"

Since I moved to Austin Texas, I’ve discovered a number of restaurants that I really enjoy.  One of them is Truluck’s in downtown Austin.  The first time my wife and I went to Truluck’s we couldn’t help but notice how engaged the host was when we walked up to check in for our reservation.  He was welcoming, friendly, and conversational.  It was unusual in that the host seemed more engaging than the normal friendly host you might get when you enter a good restaurant.  He was incredibly personable and it stood out to me. I took a mental note and wondered if the rest of the experience would be the same.

I sat down and the wait staff was very attentive (but not too attentive).  They were right on the spot when I needed something but they didn’t interrupt constantly.  The wine list was great (see this blog to know why that’s important to me).   Then, the meal came out.  It was phenomenal.  For me, a great meal paired with a great wine and great service are the proof of the existence of a divine being.  OK, maybe I exaggerate a little but it was really good.

My wife and I had a nice long dinner and a great experience.  When we were ready to go, the wait staff brought out the bill and a computer tablet.  The tablet had a series of survey questions on it.  The first is the screenshot on this blog.  They asked if I received a hospitable welcome from the host when I arrived!  Voila!  I now understood why the host really went out of his way to make us feel welcome.  (By the way, I scored it as “Absolutely!)”  The restaurant had about six questions in total relating to the experience during the evening and I checked each one of them at the highest possible level.

Truluck's

Trulucks measured key factors in their restaurant experience and the management got an immediate, real-time result for each of these areas.  This is a perfect example of “Achieving What You Measure.”  In their case, there was no delay in getting the results.  They could tell exactly how people felt about the experience before the customer even left the restaurant.  On one of my visits to Trulucks, I spoke to the manager, Thomas, about the survey system at the restaurant.  He said that the previous month they received a 98% positive rating from the customer surveys.  I told him that was outstanding.  I love his response.  He said, “actually, we always shoot for 100%.”

We could all learn from this type of management control system.  Well done to Trulucks.  I look forward to going back again soon.

 

Ivan Misner chats with Barnet Bain about his film “Milton’s Secret”string(85) "Ivan Misner chats with Barnet Bain about his film “Milton’s Secret”"

Video Blog:

Barnet Bain, director of the film “Milton’s Secret” talks to networking expert Ivan Misner about the importance of emotionally-charged connections between people and his film, Milton’s Secret”.

“Milton’s Secret”is a dramatic feature film based on the book by Eckhart Tolle and Robert S. Friedman. Milton’s Secret is a coming of age story about an 11-year-old boy growing up in an economically depressed suburb, and the elderquest of his grandfather. Milton’s troubles seem to be coming from every direction. His mother and father are workaholics with marital and financial problems, and he is being bullied at school. Fear and dread are everywhere. When his unconventional grandfather visits, Milton learns that rehashing bad experiences and worrying about the future are preventing him from finding true happiness in the Now.

Tiffanie Kellog: Facts May Tell But Stories Sellstring(48) "Tiffanie Kellog: Facts May Tell But Stories Sell"

I’ve done quite a few video blogs with Tiffanie Kellog and there’s a very good reason for that . . . she is an outstanding Referral Institute® Trainer, Consultant, & Speaker and she has an unending supply of highly useful ideas and comments to offer.

In this video, I talk with Tiffanie about the power of using compelling stories as testimonials for your products and/or services.  Everyone who makes an effort to build their business through referral marketing has the same goal–to have all those in their network talking positively about their business on their behalf.  So, the best thing to do in order to achieve this goal is to arm those in your network with compelling stories of how you’ve helped clients in ways that have transformed their lives in some aspect . . . your fellow networkers can then share these stories with others who may be potential prospects for you, thus creating the most powerful form of a testimonial you can receive.

Watch this short video now to find out why testimonials that simply state facts about your business do nothing more than tell and how in order to really sell someone on your product or service, you need compelling stories.  Remember . . . facts tell, stories sell!

Be sure to check out Tiffanie’s website by clicking here or visiting TiffanieKellog.com and if you have a compelling story about how you’ve helped a customer or client that you think would be a great testimonial for your business, please share it in the comment forum below–you never know who will see it and you might even generate some referrals by sharing it!

Xerox, A Love Storystring(19) "Xerox, A Love Story"

I love a company that takes care of its employees.  When times are tough, you hear one story after another about companies callously letting go of the very people who drive the business.  Well, here’s a story that I think every company should emulate.

A number of years ago, Xerox had some big cutbacks.  A large government contract had not been renewed and Xerox was forced to close down work being done in one of its large plants in Southern California.  Unfortunately, three buildings had to be shut down, and virtually all the employees working in those buildings had to be let go.  My dad was one of those employees.  He was 62 years old and had worked for the company as an electrician for nine years and 8 months.  He was, unfortunately, only four months short of vesting in his retirement and medical benefits.  When management discovered this, officials worked with him to change his classification and to allow him to help clear out, board up and shut down the three buildings.

When my dad finished the job early, Xerox found other work for him to do.  The company ended up laying off every employee in those buildings, including my father’s supervisors.  However, it kept my dad on until he hit 10 years and one week of employment.  Then the company laid him off with all his fellow employees.  However, he was now fully vested in his retirement and medical benefits, which completely changed his lifestyle for the better during his retirement years.

Most companies, under these circumstances, would have let an employee go without blinking.  Most companies would not have cared that an employee was only four months short of retirement.   Xerox cared.  I love that about the company, and I love its product. This happened more than a decade ago.  I promised myself that I would only buy Xerox copiers from then on.  The latest one is in my office today.

I love a company that cares about its people this much because it speaks volumes about the company’s ethics and loyalty–it shows me that it does what’s right even if it doesn’t necessarily benefit the company.  A company that cares about doing what’s right is a company you can trust; you don’t have to constantly look over your shoulder and wonder if it’s going to take advantage of you or rip you off.  To this day, I have great confidence in Xerox as a company and I am more than glad to give it my business.

If you have had a great experience with a specific company, why not pay them a little lip service?  I, for one, would love to find out about great companies that probably deserve my business.  Leave a comment here and tell me what company you love and what it is about them that makes you love it.