One of the most powerful influencers in your marketing arsenal is social proof.
Why? Because whether it’s a recommendation for a movie, book, or restaurant, all of us to a greater or lesser extent are influenced by other people’s opinions.
So why would it be any different when it comes to people considering buying your products or working with you?
That’s why getting effective testimonials, case studies and recommendations from your clients are so important. Testimonials demonstrate to your prospects that there are other people, just like them, using your products and getting great results. Which infers that they’ll get great results too. All of which leads to an easier sale for you.
However, many businesses make 3 critical mistakes when it comes to getting effective testimonials, and miss out on the power they can bestow to their business.
I’ll start with the mistakes and then give you a fool proof formula you can use to get effective testimonials that will resonate with your prospects and get them to sit up and take notice.
Mistake #1
Getting testimonials that focus on you and your character rather than the benefits your clients ultimately get.
This is the most common type of testimonial out there. They’ll extoll your virtues and talk about how great you are, how much the client loved working with you. In short they say wonderful stuff about you, giving you a nice inner glow.
While this might be great for your ego, it doesn’t provide any real idea to a new prospect as to whether you can solve their specific issues.
Remember, we’re all thinking about “What’s in it for me”, and “Can this person/product/service solve my problem?”
So testimonials and case studies need to be as meaningful and specific as possible. You want the client to talk about how much you saved them and how much you made them and how you made them feel. Specific numbers really help tell the story here.
Here are a couple of examples from our files…
“When we engaged Rashid & Barbara we were turning over $3M a year. We're well past the $11.5 million mark now and business is going very well.
Rashid & Barbara - Thanks for your help in achieving this milestone. I know the time we spent together was definitely the turning point for the company.” Ken McInnes, MD, Heraeus Kulzer
“We had the second best month in the history of the company after following your advice when exhibiting at National Manufacturing Week in May2010” - Chris Oke, MD, Kemppi Australia
Mistake #2
Not getting the testimonial as soon as the work’s completed.
Timing is everything. You must strike while the iron’s hot.
Believe it or not, people forget what you did for them. All those wonderful emotions they felt when you initially delivered fade over time.
So it’s critical to get the testimonial just after you’ve delivered, when they’ve still got the satisfied glow of a job well done. This is when the events are also freshest in their minds and they remember details.
Mistake #3
Not guiding your clients when it comes to writing their testimonial.
If you leave it up to your clients to write the testimonial, a couple of things are likely to happen. You’ll end up with a character testimonial. But usually you may not get one at all.
Why? Because even with the greatest intentions, life comes in the way. Then you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to continually chase them up – which can lead to you feeling like a stalker and resentment on their part.
So what should you do instead?
You have some choices.
You can write the testimonial for them and ask them to add or change anything as appropriate. I do this all the time and I find they’ll just agree to what I’ve written and in some cases even embellish it.
Alternatively you can phone them and conduct a min-interview with the following steps…
Step #1
Start by asking them to talk about the problem or challenge they had before engaging you.
You want them to focus on the pain. What was going on in their lives/businesses that caused them to take action.
This is very important because your other prospects are looking for someone with similar issues they can relate to. This makes prospects sit up and take notice.
Step #2
Now ask them what most impressed them most about working with you. i.e. What it was like dealing with you, how you interacted and what you did for them.
Step #3
Ask about the final result, outcome or benefit they got. Hone down to specifics and tangible results. And remember to ask about their feelings. How they felt when achieving the results. People connect emotionally so you need both the facts and the emotions.
Remember, the secret to a great testimonial is it isn’t about you. It’s about your client and the results they got from working with you. And the more it comes from the heart, the better it will connect with your potential clients.
Step #4
Once you’ve got the information, write it up in a form of “problem they experienced”, “what impressed them about you” and “what the results were”.
Then send them off to the client for approval which should be automatic (after all, they gave you the information).
The process works – you just need to do it.
Now some of you might feel you couldn’t compile an example testimonial or interview your clients to get one.
If this is you… Have us interview your clients and write the testimonials for you.
Announcing: A testimonial & Case Study Service
As a special offer to our readers, I’ll interview up to 6 of your clients and write up a testimonial and case study covering the points above.
The testimonials can be in writing or if your clients are available on Skype, we can interview them on video so you get a video testimonial (which one study showed to be 201% more effective than the corresponding written testimonial).
Your investment as a valued reader of our newsletter? Only $660 inc GST. (Normally we’d charge $990 for this as there’s a lot of work involved).
Interested? Call me now on (02) 9499-7958 and we can get under way to getting you effective testimonials which make your sales process easier.
Rashid.
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