The BNI Testimonial is fundamental to chapter meetings. You’d think it was a finely-honed strategy that we’ve had since day one. But its origin was more happenstance.

Here I share what makes a stand-out BNI Testimonial and how they came to be. I believe understanding our past helps us to understand why we do things the way we do.

The Breakdown of a Good Testimonial

First, let’s focus on the elements you should include to make your BNI Testimonial work for your chapter members.

Focus on One. A good testimonial should be about just one other BNI member.  Don’t give a laundry list of who you’ve used.  Talk about one member and go into detail regarding how good they were.

Be Specific. Talking in generalities does little or no good.  Talk specifically about what makes the member’s services good.  What did the member do right?  The more specific you are the better we’ll remember it.  Specific is terrific in BNI. Use up your allotted time to share how good this person’s work is.

Give a 1^st-Person Testimonial. Most importantly, tell people how good you feel about what they did right and how it helps the organization when good service supports good referrals.   Whenever possible, make the testimonial a 1^st-person endorsement.  Tell the members what you thought of their service – even if it was communicated to you by the person you referred.  First-person endorsements are stronger than third-person endorsements.

History of BNI Testimonials

When BNI was only one chapter, we followed an agenda similar to what we use today. First, we gave our 60-second commercial. Then we introduced our visitors. Next, our main speaker. After that, we passed referrals.

During this last part, if you had a referral to pass, 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 her turn.  (Yes, that’s how we used to do it!  Each member passed, if they had no referral!)

We’d been meeting 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. Now, I know it takes time, but here’s what concerns me: Nobody has even come up to talk to me or ask 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 what you can do. 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 all about.”

Of the chapter’s couple dozen members, only one guy said he’d visit the chiropractor.

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 1^st-Hand Experience

The following week, the meeting was moving along nicely, we were passing referrals, and it came around to this guy who 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.”

Now, to understand why he hesitated, you need to know what kind of guy I am. I like for things to move along quickly, efficiently, on time, and on schedule. Don’t get sidetracked. Snap. Snap. Snap.

As the president of the chapter, my aim was to get us through the meeting in the most efficient way possible. I had created the agenda for efficiency.

So when this guy said, “I don’t want to pass,” I hesitated. “O-o-o-kay, 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.

“I’ve had lower back pain for about seven years,” he said. “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,” he said, and 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. It was the first thing that we changed in the agenda. 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.

It was an instant referral multiplier—and we discovered it by accident. This was the first of many BFOs we’ve had in BNI. (That’s “blinding flash of the obvious,” in case you were wondering.)

When I designed the original agenda, I set up a process that was efficient, but not necessarily effective. The most efficient thing to do, if you didn’t have a referral, was to pass.

But I learned that it was more important to be effective than to be efficient. Without testimonials, we had been missing a great opportunity to generate referrals.

Follow the suggestions in the beginning of this article and remember, specific is terrific in BNI.

I’d love to hear what you think about testimonials.  How can they be done right?  What would you add to my list?  Give an example of a great testimonial you gave or received and how it helped you.  Leave your comment below.

Called the father of modern networking by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. His latest book, Networking Like a Pro can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. You may read more of his material on his blog at www.NetworkingNowBlog.com.