I’ve been working in the military for about three years now, in the demanding aircraft maintenance career field. (You’d be suprised how much pressure we get to ensure aircraft get off the ground.) Nonetheless, this book flipped my world upside-down. At first I thought it was simply too simple and I thought I had people figured out — I was sure everyone was selfish and greedy and would take my advantage of any kindness offered. But after I read your book and tried to apply these very simple yet profound principles, I was pleasantly suprised. As I started to take the initiative to go the extra mile, people truly and genuinely took notice.

I found a little poem that summarizes my experience:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

“Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation … and I could indeed have changed the world.”

Now, I am not an old man (in fact, I am only 25), but I found this poem to be spot on. This kindness has spread like wildfire, and I am happy to see these results.

I manage about 240 people and directly supervise eight individuals. But now, as the military world goes, I’ve been reassigned to a new job across base and soon I will be departing to my next duty station. As I was thinking of something to give my team as a sort of going-away present, I could not think of a better gift than The Go Giver. Even though I live in a very disciplined workforce, I have found charisma has gone a long way. What better way to say thank you, than to pass this book along to my team here at Dover Air Force Base.

I’m sure you get things like this all the time, but I just thought I would write you this quick story (which has turned out to be a bit longer than expected) so you can see the impact that this has had on my life.

Very respectfully,
Jordan P. Healy, 1LT, USAF
Executive Officer, 436th Maintenance Group

After reading The Go-Giver, our first call to action at Pizza Gallery & Grill was something we call “Mondays Matter.” Every Monday, our pizza and pasta bar is half-price, and all our gourmet pizzas and calzones are half-price — and they’re staying that way every Monday until unemployment comes down.

We followed that with “Take-out Tuesdays”: every Tuesday, any pizza or calzone take-out order goes out at half price. Again, until unemployment in our area goes back down.

We value the true meaning of restaurant, which means “to restore,” and we wanted to do something to help restore our community.

And wow, has every one of the Five Laws come true!

Law of Value: We are definitely giving more in value (our incredible pizza & pasta bar, gourmet pizza & calzones) than we are taking in payment (half-price until unemployment goes back down under 10 percent).

Law of Compensation: We have more than doubled our guest count on Mondays (a 100 percent increase) and have added more staff to make sure we are still providing our excellent service.

Law of Influence: We are intentionally looking at our community’s best interests first, and genuinely doing so because of the unemployment factor.

Law of Authenticity: At PGG, we are in the people business. We knew it was important to meet our guests at the door, especially on this unemployment community service day, with genuine hospitality!

Law of Receptivity: Our community has been sooooo grateful. Our slowest day of the week is now our second or third busiest day and the rest of our week has increased as well.

It is a true blessing to serve others’ needs with an incredible “dining experience” — as it says in the book — at Pizza Gallery & Grill!

I just finished Go-Givers Sell More — I loved it! What a breath of fresh air.

Working in the alternative health care industry in a culture where “you don’t pay for health care,” selling my MacGuffin can oftentimes feel very “schmarmy.”

Reading the book has reframed sales for me into a context that I can do. The nature of what I do every day is to focus on the patient, listen to them and add value to their life. Every time I would think about sales — developing my “pitch,” contacting prospects, dealing with objections, closing the sale — it would make me cringe. Now I know why: it takes the focus away from the other person, which goes against the very grain of my training as a naturopathic doctor.

Go-Givers Sell More has given me permission to stay in my core genius as a naturopath when thinking about growing my business — focus on the other person, listen and add value. I will definitely be recommending it to my colleagues who are struggling with this part of their business and careers.

If ever an endorsement by an ND is of value to you I’d be happy to oblige.

Keep up the good work!!

Every business expert who joins BizEnrich receives a copy of The Go-Giver to help clarify the values of the organization and inspire them to serve their clients in a way only a true Go-Giver can understand.

Last Friday [Nov. 20, 2009], BizEnrich held our first annual “Thanks-Go-Giving Celebration.”

The purpose of the event was to gather as a community to express our gratitude for the generosity of our members and share our blessings with each other. Our members were treated to a complimentary gourmet luncheon by our sponsoring organizations.

Prior to eating lunch, we hand-wrote personal Thanksgiving cards to 70 foster parents in the greater Seattle area. Foster parents make some tremendous sacrifices to care for their foster kids and it was a great joy for us to thank them for their generous spirits. We have “adopted” Olive Crest, a regional charity who does great things with foster kids (and parents) to reduce abuse.

Throughout the three-hour event, everyone was given an opportunity to share something personal with the group. They were given guidelines ahead of the event, and were given a tremendous amount of freedom to share a story, a poem, a physical gift, or whatever they wanted to do. Each person was also given a copy of one of the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and asked to make it relevant to something in their own life.

The sharing was incredibly touching and personal. We learned things about our business colleagues that only best friends share with each other. We heard poems from authors like Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver. We heard stories of heartache and triumph. We heard heartfelt statements of appreciation for each person in the room. We received gifts of recipes and song lyrics and memorabilia from local charities.

We all left the event with full bellies and hearts.

In the 24 hours since the event, I have received several personal emails of appreciation and gratitude. One member was so moved by the event that he claimed, “Today’s meeting did more to build relationships between the members than all the meetings this year combined.”

Happy Thanks-Go-Giving — Berry

P.S. Everyone I know who reads The Go-Giver is moved by the story and finds some way to engage the spirit of the book in their lives. One of my members carries a copy of The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success in his planner. Another member tried to get her 14-year-old daughter to read the book. (Sorry, but The Go-Giver is not quite “Twilight” to her.)