Tap into the Power of the Referral

Are you looking for members for your Toastmasters club? Of course, the answer should be a resounding “YES!” According to Toastmasters International, every club should seek to add 1-2 members per month to grow and to replace members who leave.* Not only will this build a healthy, prosperous club with exciting meetings, the club will achieve two goals – 4 new members, plus 4 more new members – toward becoming a Distinguished club.

So how do you go about the task of finding prospective members? Tap into the power of referrals and endorsements by opinion leaders. In the pharmaceutical business, companies seek “key opinion leaders” (KOLs) to help them research, launch and market new drugs. KOLs have valuable insights into the target disease(s) and corresponding treatments. More importantly, KOLs present their work at conferences, talk to colleagues, and work with patients on a daily basis. How’s that for exposure?

This morning I saw this article in the New York Times. It seems that Victoria Beckham, recently transplanted into Southern California along with her soccer star husband David, was spotted in May with a certain diet book. E! News picked up the story in June and suddenly, this book – which had seen low sales since publication – was hot! This weekend it will be #3 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list. How’s that for exposure?

Ms. Beckham has unwittingly become a “consumer opinion leader”, or COL, for diet books. After all, aren’t we all more willing to try something if someone we trust has already tried it and will vouch for it? This is the power of the testimonial, the power of the referral.

In fact, “a person like me” or a peer is considered to be the most trusted spokesperson throughout most of the world (in Asia, second to physicians), according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2007, an international credibility survey. High visibility celebrities can’t be much farther down on the list of respected spokespeople.

How can you harness the power of the opinion leader to your advantage in your Toastmasters club? By finding your own opinion leader to refer potential members!

For example, in a company or corporate club (one that restricts membership to company employees only), senior managers including the Director of Human Resources are your opinion leaders. In the community, they tend to be physicians and teachers.

Once you have identified your opinion leaders, invite them to a meeting. Make it a great meeting, fun and enthusiastic, with everyone in attendance. Talk to them; describe the benefits of Toastmasters that are available to them, their employees, their friends, etc. If you can persuade your opinion leaders to adopt your point of view, your membership will grow. Your opinion leaders will be critical in moving your club to its “tipping point,” so be sure they come away with a POSITIVE view of Toastmasters and your club!




*(To help your club determine how to retain members, try the Moments of Truth training module from the Successful Club Series.)