Giving testimonials is nothing new for us to lend a helping hand to our business referral partners. As business owners, we always want to have a good testimonial given by our own customers or people who had used our products or services.
A testimonial is a declaration that certifies the character, qualifications, or excellence of a person (Gray, 2016). Of course, what makes our products or services to be reliable to the consumers will be highly dependent on the testimonials given by our customers or clients. In a business referral community, we can help our own referral partners by giving good testimonials that will be visible to their customers in order to increase their credibility within their industries.
Surely, with good testimonials, it will help them to sell more!
Firstly, testimonial is always about the other person. The valuable part of giving testimonials is to talk about how good the other person is. By giving a testimonial, it is part of the contribution that we can provide to our referral partners. We are helping them to generate more referrals but increasing the credibility in the eyes of the public.
Next, the testimonial should be focusing on one particular benefit or value of the service or product. Being specific on one particular incident and value that the person had created for you or someone that you know. Only when we being specific in the testimonial, we will bring a better impression to the listeners and the testimonial creates a better value for your referral partner.
Lastly, the testimonial should be about ourselves or someone that we are close with. A reliable and credible testimonial is nothing about hearsay. A first-person testimonial sounds like something we can feel and see by merely hearing it. It shall be something that is impactful!
Although it is great to put testimonials for our referral partners in writing, it is not a requirement to do so. We do not want to be a “sales prevention department” that hindering a testimonial to be given just because it is not “written”. What is more important is how impactful is that testimonial to be? Make that testimonial to be something meaningful and personal, and our referral partners will thank us for contributing to them with a powerful testimonial that helps them to generate a higher confidence level to their customers.
Of course, if it is a good testimonial, we always have the choice of backing it up but putting it into writing.
Start giving out testimonials if we do not have something to contribute during our meetings. Giving testimonials is also part of the contribution. It is fun!
References:
Misner, I. (2010) Episode 176: “What Makes a Good BNI Testimonial?”, The Official BNI Podcast, From : https://www.bnipodcast.com/2010/10/13/episode-176-what-makes-a-good-bni-testimonial/
Misner, I. (2019) Episode 628: Testimonials, Badges, and Applicants (Ask Ivan) , The Official BNI Podcast, from: https://www.bnipodcast.com/2019/10/02/episode-628-testimonials-badges-and-applicants-ask-ivan/
Foulkes, R. (2018) How do referrals and testimonials increase credibility at BNI?, BNI New Zealand Blog, from: https://bniblog.co.nz/networking-tips/how-do-referrals-and-testimonials-increase-credibility-at-bni/
Gray, M. (2016) What Makes a Good Testimonial, BNI.com, from: https://www.bni.com/the-latest/blog-news/what-makes-a-good-testimonial
JJ Phang formally served as President (02), Network Education Coordinator (01), Mentor Coordinator (01), Membership Committee (02) and currently as Event Coordinator (04) of BNI Smart Biz, Hall of Fame Chapter.
JJ Phang is also currently the Director Consultant of BNI Extreme Chapter, Melaka Region.
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