Can Someone Give Me a Testimonial?

1. Can Someone Give Me a Testimonial? Testimonials That Resonate With Potential Students Lee Colony, Gateway Technical College NCMPR, Chicago, March 2013

2. Simply powerful Longest running drama … what’s the key? Testimonial, pure and simple

3. Some overriding thoughts

4. Set your goals ahead of time • Boost enrollment? • Boost specific program? • New program? • Specific college effort? • Show diversity? • Excellence? • Employer buy-in to the college?

5. A call to action • At its core, a testimonial is a call to action.

6. People want to see people • Quotes and faces – words and photos • These move along stories in mass media, and testimonials are no different • Graduates motivate potential students to enter college, earn their degree – change their lives • They are more interesting, and are a mirror to potential students

7. Seeing the light • Really, that’s the goal of the testimonial • This is the most important part: The light

8. What’s the light? • It’s their success • A better way of life • Better salary • Health care • More hours • Career advancement • Stable career or workplace

9. What’s the light, 2? • Showing them what you college has to offer ... • Flexible scheduling • Added courses • Several campuses • Blended courses • New programs

10. Story vs message Make sure of your testimonial’s message before you release it Story? Someone else’s … Message? Yours

11. What you seek … You seek a graduate – or student -- with a compelling story who will illustrate your message and draw people who are in similar circumstances.

12. Solid pay. Working in an industry that’s strong and growing. After searching for years, a career that’s a perfect fit. Work that challenges and presents different and interesting options every day. That’s the career Chris Nauta found, and more, through Gateway Technical College’s Industrial Mechanical Technician degree program. “My degree has definitely changed my life,” says Chris. “Every day, I use something that I learned at Gateway. The pay is solid – earning my degree meant I received a healthy raise. I like my job because on most days, I am doing something a little different. It’s never boring.”

13. Let’s Brainstorm

14. Who will this resonate with? • Let’s name some components of a testimonial tht will resonate with potential students …

15. Who will this resonate with? • Include these components • Age • Culture • Geography • Family status • Work status • Industry • Military

16. Stephanie Hupp says she is finally doing what she was meant to do – and it took a second chance at college and enrolling at Gateway to give her the skills to get there. Hupp, a technical writer for Briggs & Stratton Corporation, has settled into a career she says she feels comfortable in and will enjoy for many years to come. Helped by Gateway Technical College’s industry-savvy instructors and flexible class scheduling, Hupp entered a field where she says she’s found her comfort level and her future.

17. “There is no second-guessing – this was what I was meant to be,” says Hupp, who is responsible for producing installation, operator and repair manuals for stand-by generators. “I look forward to going to work. It’s a perfect fit for me.” …

18. … Hupp enrolled at Gateway while a manager at an area Burger King. While she says Burger King was “bringing in good money,” the last few years drained her emotionally and professionally – but she felt she wasn’t qualified for another position or one that would pay a similar wage. She had attended college briefly after high school, and always had it in her mind to return. Then her mom put voice to those thoughts.

19. “My mother said quit and go back to college – so I did,” says Hupp. “I was 36, a single mother of a 12-year-old child, and I quit and went back to school. To this day, I am thankful and fortunate that I took that step.” Hupp had some misgivings about returning to the classroom after 16 years away, but says Gateway helped her in several ways to transition back into it. The diversity of the student body also made her feel at home, she says, noting that many were her age or older.

20. Aim for balance • In sum, aim for balance among your testimonials • Consider this: Put your testimonials end-to-end. • Does it represent the demographics of your college? • What would those reading it say of your college? • Is it what you WANT them to think of your college?

21. Pitfall of urban college: end-to-end means: “Go here when you are failure at school, lost job, gone to jail, live with grandma … but can still graduate and get a job.” • Well rounded: “We offer opportunities to meet you where you are at, take you where you need to be, offer careers for those good with hands … and good with their brain.”

22. Instructors are your friends

23. Instructors know students best • Ask them to help

24. Thoughts from instructor on testimonials • Show personal side • Thought enough to share story • Students listen to other students • They have a direct effective on enrollment

25. Ajay Gomez says connections he made with industry professionals through Gateway opened doors for him to land a job five months before his December graduation. Gateway instructors provide opportunities for students to attend business conferences and meetings where they network with industry professionals, potential colleagues and employers -- which is where Ajay met the person who would later become his boss.

26. “One of the professionals I met was looking to hire for some job openings,” says Ajay. “After talking to me for a while, I was able to land an interview with him – which later led to a job.” … “Gateway prepared me well for my job – I haven’t been faced with anything yet that I am unable to do,” says Ajay. “I really do think this job is recession proof. Business must have computers to work, and they depend on programmers to work every day.

28. Student or graduate?

29. If we are working on the assumption that testimonials show students the light at the end of the tunnel, that light is graduation and entering a career.

31. The interview

32. Set the interview …

33. Tell them what you’re going to do … • Don’t rely on e-mails only … call and e-mail • Ask them if they’ve had a positive experience at the college • If they say no – dance! • Why? You don’t want them representing the college

34. Prepare for the interview

35. Prepare your questions … • Write them down • Review background from instructors • Consider your message even before the interview • Why did they turn to your college? • What piece will resonate with others?

36. Conduct the interview • Slide • Open • Move into the meat of the interview • Second-to-last question. What do you think it is?

37. The life-changer • This is the most important thing you will do in this process. • How did the college change their life? • That, then, is the light at the end of the tunnel • DO NOT LEAVE interview without gathering that question

38. Delilah Souter is making a difference in the lives of others – because the instructors at Gateway Technical College made a difference in hers. Souter has used her career training and Gateway experience to become a successful hospital nurse and then founding and running the Racine-based Graceful Aging Inc. – all within four short years.

39. Souter says her position in life and within her career are due in large part to Gateway. Instructors who encouraged her, a student group that challenged her to become a leader and a nursing program framework which guided her, created the foundation for her current success. “How I care for people was truly embedded in me at Gateway,” says Souter. “I am the nurse I am today because of Gateway.”

41. Last question … • Always ask: Is there anything I haven’t asked that you feel is important to mention? • Guarantee: Gold • Water Resources, Good News

42. The written word

43. Get to the point … • Show them the light quickly, or you will lose them • Opposite of a feature story • Feature story is background first, setting up current punchline • You don’t have time for that – show them the light NOW

44. Think like a reader … • Write to the reader – not each other • Make it plain, not eduspeak • Simple word and active verbs aren’t a sign of weakness – they have power and resonate with potential students.

45. Readability • Keep publication testimonials fewer than 500 words • Web copy 300 words or less • Lead paragraph fewer than 30 words • Sentence average 20 words • Flesch-Kincaid, ninth grade

46. Work as a team

47. City on a hill strength • Find someone else to check your work, give you perspective • Provides good framework for you

48. Framework for a team • Kristin Gunia: Messaging, editing, accuracy, readability • Jayne Herring: Story mechanics, messaging, grammar, foundation • Greg Lebrick: Messaging behind the lens