Circle of Connections

Ways to Get your Testimonials?

Long Term Customers

Start by calling your long-term customers or those customers who are repeat buyers. You know these people well. You’ve done a lot of business with them. These are easy testimonials to get. They will be more than willing to help you.

Tell these customers what you would like them to focus on in their comments—remember your benefits. This step will produce some immediate testimonials.

Search Your Mail

Search your morning mail, invoice payments or letters for positive comments from your customers. Many times, people will write a comment when paying their bill. This can be the source for a testimonial. When you find something good from one of these sources, call them, thank them and ask them if it’s ok to use their words in your sales and marketing efforts.

Third Party Endorsement

Every business has other businesses they work with. Go to these businesses and ask for a testimonial about your business. Exchange testimonials about their business. Third party testimonials have the additional quality of showing how your business is part of much larger business network. This impresses the customer.

Industry statistics

This type of “testimonial” starts to stretch the envelope on testimonials but it has its place. For example, national studies show that when a business has sales training, they increase their profits by 16%. That does not say anything about your sales training, but that statistics show a 16% increase when a company gets sales training. This type of testimonial will help some customers buy your product.

Customer Call Backs

After every sale, call the customer to see how they like the product. Have a series of questions that leads the conversation in the direction you want. When you get some good comments, thank the customer and ask if it’s ok for you to use their comments. As a side benefit, you will learn a tremendous amount of information about your business. It’s wonderful feedback and takes only a few minutes for each sale.

Networking

It is common practice at most business networking meetings to give others members of the group a verbal testimonial when someone has used their service. “I want to tell you what good service I received from Jane last week when I went to her bank to switch over my account.” Typically, Jane nods her head and says, thank you. Go to the person after the meeting and ask if you can write down what they said about you and your business and if you can use it in your marketing efforts. Don’t let an opportunity like this slip by.

Photo Testimonials

Use photos of your customers using your products or services—make sure they are smiling! If you provide a service, have someone take a picture of you doing the service. I know a financial adviser, who gives workshops to seniors. He had his picture taken at a workshop, then used the pictures in brochures to advertise his workshops.

Have a contest with your customers to send in the best picture of them using your product or service. Give the winner a free dinner. Always, let people know you may want to use their picture for marketing purposes, call back the winners, thank them and again ask permission.

Customer photos with written testimonials are doubly powerful.

Audio Testimonials

Present you testimonial in audio form. You can easily create a customer hot line where customers can call in at any time to comment on your product or service. This could be a dedicated line with an answer machine. Make it easy for the customer to give you a testimonial. Some customers find it easier to call in comments, rather than write comments. These audio comments can be used on websites or turned into a testimonial CD.

Ask Before you Start the Project

This is a great systematic way to generate an ongoing stream of good testimonials. Make your request for testimonials part of the package you are offering the customer. As part of the details with closing the deal, you ask, “I assume that I will do a great job for you. If I do xyz will you be willing to give me a testimonial about the job?” I have never had a customer turn me down when I have made this offering.

This technique gives a different impression of you. The customer realizes that it’s your intention to do a good job. They will happily want to write a testimonial about that job. This is also a wonderful way to systemize a testimonial system to get ongoing referrals in an easy, no effort way.

Customers Feedback Forms

There are many versions of customer feedback forms. These forms help you direct the types of questions you ask about your products and services.

“Did you enjoy our product? What was the best thing you liked about the product? What was the thing you leased liked about the product? What other comments would you like to make about the product or your buying experience. May I use your comments in my efforts to help other customers?” (Enclosed a self-addressed envelope)

Keep it simple for the customer. You may also wish to give them some reward for taking the time to complete the form. Giving rewards is perfectly acceptable because you are asking the customer to do something extra.

Expert or Well Known People

Expert testimonials can be two types. You can find expert opinions that speak to one or more of your benefits but are not speaking directly to you particular product. Doctors speak about conditions necessary for weight loss programs. Your program has several of those conditions. Like industry statistics, these become a form of endorsement or testimony for the generic use of your product.

The second and more powerful testimony comes from an expert who has actually used your program or service and wants to tell others about it. Who hasn’t read reviews on a back of a book cover to help you decide to purchase the book?

Movie stars and athletes have been using their names to sell products for years.

Conduct an Interview

Have a third party conduct an interview with some of your customers. This could be a professional, a PR person or a friend. They invite the customers to offer their comments about the recent purchase. Customers feel free and easy sharing comments to a third person.

You can use these interviews in their audio or visual form or you can transcribe them and edit them into useful written forms.

These are powerful testimonials. Even when you use a professional , your costs will easily be offset by the return these types of testimonials will bring to your business

Surveys and Questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires receive mixed reviews as a technique for getting testimonials. Remaining anonymous is usually a chief characteristic of surveys. This would defeat one of the primary qualities of good testimonials—using the name and address the person giving the testimonial. Without the name and address you sacrifice the power of the testimonial.

Their Name in Print

One popular reward you can offer for a testimonial is getting your customers name in “lights.” You address the customers, “I was wondering if you could help me. I want to thank you for being a wonderful customer and ask for your help. Could you answer the following questions?” You give them some simple directive questions to answer and tell them this may result in using their name on your website, in your brochure, etc. Everyone loves their 15 minutes of fame!

Offer to Write it for People

There is nothing wrong with helping the customer write a testimonial. You can say, “I know that you are very busy. I’d be happy to draft something you can use. You can edit or change it.”

Many customers prefer this method of giving a testimonial. They want to say nice things about your business but they don’t know how to articulate them. They don’t know where to start so they put it off in their busy schedule. They promise to give you a testimonial. You wait and wait, not wanting to bug them. Helping them write it overcomes this bump in the road and allows you to get some very pointed testimonials.

Personal Testimonials

You can use personal testimonials. You may need these especially when you are just getting started in business. When I wrote my book about how to buy carpet, I had a good friend provide a testimonial for me. She said in the testimonial, “I did not use Al’s book, but he has worked on our house in the past and his experience and insights were wonderful.” In short, you can trust Al, the person. While these are not as powerful as product testimonials, they have their place.

Use testimonials as Success Stories

On your website or other marketing materials, you may have the occasion to share success stories with prospects. These can be very powerful, especially when a customer does not know a lot about your product. Design the success story in the following manner.

Describe the problem the customer was experiencing. Provide some details about the problem—so the reader can identify with it. Then tell how your product or service solved the problem. The third section is the quote from the customer about your business. This simple three step process is very effective because in step one and two you create a clear problem-solution scenario. The customer testimonial becomes reinforcement to that scenario.

Al Hanzal
www.successfulmarketingtools.com/wordpressblog