As a multi-millionaire, LeTourneau gave 90% of his profit to God’s work and kept only 10% for himself. A special friend of Billy Graham, in his early days, LeTourneau designed a portable dome building intended for Graham crusades. He also founded a university that is thriving to this day. LeTourneau said that the money came in faster than he could give it away. LeTourneau was convinced that he could not out-give God.  ”I shovel it out,” he would say, “and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel.” Many people see Letourneau as one of the most influential people of the past hundred years.  http://www.letu.edu/about_LU/museum/Museum_Online/ .

As the father of the modern earthmoving industry, he was responsible for 299 inventions.  These inventions included the bulldozer, scrapers of all sorts, dredgers, portable cranes, rollers, dump wagons, bridge spans, logging equipment, mobile sea platforms for oil exploration, the electric wheel and many others.  He introduced into the earthmoving and material handling industry the rubber tire, which today is almost universally accepted. He invented and developed the Electric Wheel. His life’s verse was Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” LeTourneau’s example reminds me that we too can be Mountain Movers. As the Great Physician said in Matthew 17:20, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  RG LeTourneau once said: “You will never know what you can accomplish until you say a great big yes to the Lord.” My prayer for those reading this article is that God may raise up many creative leaders who, like LeTourneau, will be movers of mountains and people.

I recently updated my LinkedIn profile to reflect my role as CEO of Team Demangos. It is very important to make sure all my information is fresh and up to date. People are curious and interested how I have achieved over 90 recommendations. They ask how I got them: my formula, I ask for them.

Four Keys to Writing a Great Recommendation

LinkedIn network for professionals is more than a living resume. It’s a reputation engine, a visual representation of your business network’s reach, and a place to express your business capabilities. It helps us find potential opportunities where we can help others, and to share what knowledge we have with others.

1) Recommend Colleagues Before They Recommend You (Law of Reciprocation)

The people I recommend are people that I can say something good about. We want to be authentic. I’ve passed out recommendations for over 85 people so far. Recently I have been writing a few every week. It takes time, so I try to balance it out. Consider investing 15 minutes per day.

You’ll notice when you read the recommendations that I give that I use different levels of language. I only say “Highest recommendation” when I feel someone is the very best in a specific field or occupation. So, pay attention to your own language within the recommendation.

The service you perform by recommending others you’ve done work with creates synergy in both directions. It says something about that person, and it says something about you for taking the time to participate and recommend.

But what should you say? How should you help someone by writing a recommendation? And what are some of the rules of etiquette around this?

2) What to Say

Recommendations are social proof. They exist so that a third party will obtain a better perspective on your business colleague’s profile. Thus, your goal, ultimately, is to make sure that third party feels educated about your colleague. Make sense?

As such, be very clear about what you’re recommending…

3) Help Your Colleagues Write Your Recommendation

• Ask why he/she chose to work with you
• Ask how he/she benefited from your products
• Ask him/her what other people should know about his/her business

4) How to Ask for Recommendations

Ask people who know you well enough to recommend you. Somebody you just met should not be able or willing to recommend you. Asking someone who doesn’t know you very well for a recommendation is inviting an awkward moment and a horribly mis-representative recommendation at best.

Use the recommendation system within LinkedIn to send the recommendation request. If you email it to someone, it’s another chance to NOT get it filled out. The system’s there and it’s easy, and it stacks up the requests in a queue for someone to address when they have a moment. Remember, you must have credibility in order to receive a recommendation.

The best way I’ve found to ask for recommendations is not to ask. In order to receive, you must first be willing to give. I’ve asked people from time to time, but I’ve found that my best recommendations come when I write a good recommendation for someone I can vouch for. This is where the “Law of Reciprocation” kicks in. Try it and watch what happens!

…And remember, the power of LinkedIn’s recommendations are:

• They never go away (Verbalized recommendations are forgotten after 72 hrs)
• Recommendations are living and viral to the world (you never know who will stumble upon them)

Here they are in order of importance:

1. Timely Follow-Up on Referrals
2. Positive Attitude
3. Enthusiasm/Motivation
4. Trustworthiness
5. Good Listening Skills
6. A Commitment to Networking
7. Gratitude
8. Helpfulness
9. Sincerity
10. Dedication to working one’s Network

Just out of curiosity, what is the best method used to follow up? Answer: the one you do the most consistently. Remember, if you fail to achieve trait number one, you might as well skip the next nine! I personally use three methods: (PEG Method)

1. P = Phone Call Follow Up
2. E = Email saying nice to meet you/how can I help?
3. G = Greeting Card (not an electronic one – a physical paper card from SendOutCards)

Now, if you want to become a master networker, get out there and start following-up…

When the competition started to emerge, they were formidable: Microsoft, Apple, Google. They have tons of money to advertise, Roku with 100 employees didn’t. What does this have to do with referrals? 

Roku had fans. (My family being one of them for over 3 years) They knew they had customers that talked about the player and wanted to tap into that market. In 2010 they launched a refer-a-friend marketing campaign, which rewards customers for recommending the company’s video players to people they know. (By the way, I was in too early to get the refer-a-friend bonus. I shared with my next door neighbor who bought one, AND subscribes to Netflix too)

Word of mouth marketers have long touted the power of customer referrals. Here is what Roku now does:

• Send emails to customers 45 days after purchasing a Roku Player offering they one free month of Netflix service if somone they refer purchases a Roku

In the first three months, 15,000 customers recommended Roku players to their friends, and 1,500 customers bought them after clicking the link sent to them by friends.

The refer-a-friend campain proved more effective than banner ads or any other advertising they had done on the internet. People who were referred were three time more likely to purchase than a visitor who clicked on an online ad. Friends who know, like and trust each other had already endorsed the Roku before they even went to the site! Word of mouth, and referral marketing wins again…

Amazing Technology

Clue: Networking isn’t selling…

My definition of networking: Building reciprocal relationships that will lead you to your future clients. My selling definition: Finding a problem and solving it with my product or service. If you’re looking for results, invest three minutes and read this…

I love what the Godfather of Networking Ivan Misner calls the “Networking Disconnect.” Most people who attend networking events go to “sell” their product or service. The problem networkers face is the fact that everybody is there to sell, but nobody specifically there to “buy” what they are selling. So, if all of the networkers are trying to sell to a group of “non-buyers,” they’re doomed and will waste their time and perhaps blow their much needed credibility.

Here is what I suggest when networking at events:

1. Spend no more than 3-5 minutes chatting with each person. Your time is well spent following up. (Secret, most won’t do this and helping you stand out above the competition)
2. Don’t “collect” business cards, rather “exchange” cards with those who offer theirs.
3. Don’t vomit on people. Only talk 30-45 seconds about your business. (No selling) Then, create a U-Turn and ask them all about THEIR business.
4. Give honest testimonials about OTHER peoples’ businesses at events. (Not your own business)
5. Stand next to one of you best clients so they can brag you up! (Love doing this. Third party is so much more convincing than talking about yourself)
6. Absolutely follow up with the people you meet. I have come up with three immediate touch points. I call it the PEG method.
   (Phone Call, Email, Greeting Card)
7. During your follow up, invite them to another event that will help them meet professionals in their target market or business category.
8. Schedule a time to get to know more about them and their business over coffee or lunch.

It’s funny, people ask me all the time how my wife and I have built such powerful networking groups. We have between 80 and 100 attendees every week. The secret is in the PEG method I mentioned above, and still most people will not invest the time, leaving them desperate for referrals and new clients, leading to even more hard work and failure!

Here is a known fact, people will buy from those who they know, like and trust, period. The best follow up tool I have ever found is SendOutCards . Contact me and I will share this tool by giving you a free account to test drive the system.

Remember, networking is building reciprocal relationships that will lead you to your future clients. This takes time. The people looking long term are giving and receiving the most business. Will you be one of them?

Those considering SendOutCards whether as curious retail subscriber or for the person considering this as a viable income stream, the barriers have been removed! I have been with SendOutCards for over 4 years now and have had the opportunity to join when the cost of entry was $400 plus. The were no BIG cards, and no video cards, and very few gifts.

Anyone looking at SendOutCards in my opinion should consider starting out as a customer, come aboard and send cards of appreciation. Experience what people have to say about receiving unexpected cards and gifts and see the amazing things that happen.

So…the fact that SendOutCards has removed all the retail packages and simply is giving anyone willing to pay $9.80 per month the opportunity to fully use what we SendOutCards affiliates get for $458 is awesome. They have removed the one and only negative in my opinion for someone to start using the service. Would you rather be remembered or unforgettable? Get engaged in SendOutCards…

Contact me for a free demo,

David