Don’t Take Our Word For It!
7 Powerful Ways to Get and Use Testimonials
How many times do you check someone’s feedback when you purchase something on EBay, Amazon or Trip Advisor? A lot I bet. Well these reviews are testimonials and a powerful way of convincing a buyer they are in safe hands and that they trust the seller.
Well generating business and selling is for me, one of the most rewarding things about being in business. Going through the exciting process of the sale with a client is quite involved; lots of trust being built, research, questioning and matching, proposal writing and presenting, not to mention closing the sale. One of the most powerful tools that a sales person can have to help build trust in their arsenal is the testimonial. These documents are pure gold and the ultimate substantiation and proof that a businesses’ services have worked. If they work for the EBay, Amazon and Trip Advisor businesses they can work for you.
So here are my SerialTrainer 7 top tips for gathering and using testimonials
- If your client is really happy with you (and why wouldn’t they be, you are amazing right?) and has mentioned how well your business has worked for them; simply ask for a few words about their experience and how it worked. It is not rude or vulgar it is good business sense and creates referrals. I am sure your clients are very good people and would happily say a few words to potential clients if they were called up, so ask if they are happy with that?
- You could ask them to create it on an email or a word document for you, just make sure you always have the date it was submitted, the name of the person and their business name. This is a bit like when you had to write an academic paper and had to source quotes. It also demonstrates how fresh the testimonials are. You could also ask for a video testimonial, these are very popular and can be posted on your own YouTube channel and on your website. There really are so many ways of saying nice things about your business.
- You might prefer to have your testimonials posted publicly on your LinkedIn profile; this is what I do, check ‘em out! From here your clients are not only connected to you, but also actually writing about you in the public domain, this is a terrific place to store them too. If you have a Facebook or Google My Business page then these too have places for reviews and testimonials.
- When you receive your testimonial either on LinkedIn or otherwise make sure you grab it as a screen shot or turn it into a jpeg so that it can be posted onto your other social media profiles and business pages, not to mention any social media networking groups you belong to.
- Make your testimonials work across a wider platform too, not only on your social media channels, but also harvest them and replant them on your website too, this way you create a thread of consistency, don’t stop there though…
- When you create any form of client proposal always ensure you include a complete testimonial or quote from one, referring of course to the source. This really brings home the message “don’t take my word for it, read what my other clients are saying.” So you see, your testimonial then goes across three live platforms at once, your LinkedIn profile, your website, then your testimonial.
- Pay it back. Be sure to thank your client for the testimonial and offer one back. You could also look to refer people to your client or my personal favourite is to jump onto the #FF (follow Friday) trend on Twitter by telling all of your followers to follow them and why. This is a super way of advertising your clients on social, and help get their name out there.
So go on, talk to your happy clients and ask them for a testimonial, when you start generating business based on what people are saying about you, you will wonder how you ever managed without them. Thanks for reading, if you liked this please share it.
If you would like some specific sales training for yourself or your business, visit www.serialtrainer7.com a visit or give me, Simon Hares a call on 07979 537824 or email Simon@serialtrainer7.com.
