Last week I raved about “What others say about you is ‘infinitely more believable’ than what you say”.

I also challenged those who already use testimonials that there is a powerful way to get them and use them and the lame way.

• What should your testimonials say?
• How to double the power and readership of yours!
• When is the best time to get your testimonial?
• How should they be signed?
• How and where should you use them?

What if you don’t have any testimonials?

It’s not that difficult. Start at the beginning, first talk to clients you know just love you.

Ask them outright. Tell them you need their help and just be up front of them. Let them know you’re going to make it easy for them and you don’t expect them to write a novel about you. Most people are willing to give a testimonial but some people have difficulty putting pen to paper and that’s pretty well the only reason they might resist.

Once they have agreed there are two ways to handle this:

• Simply tell them you have 2, 3 or 6 drafts for them to choose from so whatever they feel comfortable with is great… or
• You can have a questionnaire, quick and simple, for them to tick a few boxes and make a comment if they choose. You can make your testimonial from this…

Obviously you need to prepare some drafts or the questionnaires with some compelling emotional copy. Doing it this way can avoid all those ordinary legalistic testimonials. I have a few of those in my testimonial arsenal and appreciate the spiel but if I’d done it a little different in the early days some of my testimonials would be a lot more powerful. Here’s an example, great guy too.

Hi Peter, I am writing this email to thank you for the wonderful job you have done in putting together our Website for LoanEasy. Not only are we extremely happy with the look and functionality of the site but we are appreciative of the guidance regarding the marketing side of promoting our business.  Whilst putting our marketing plan together with you we have found you to be helpful, courteous and patient as well as open to our ideas whilst adding your experience to the marketing mix.

We look forward to an ongoing relationship with you as we go forward.

Kind regards,

Mark Coonan – Managing Director

P: 1300 883 453 F: 08 9330 8750 WA FINANCE BROKERS LICENSE 4509

A point to remember is to ask them to sign whatever they choose giving their permission for you to use their comments and testimonial. Even if you have a great relationship with them this is still a wise protocol to follow. If they email it to you that is implied permission so you’re good to go.

So when is the best time to get your testimonial?

Straight away of course! Emotional testimonials are so powerful. When people are emotional they speak with passion and power and that’s exactly what you want. Capture that from now on, always.

So what should your testimonials say?

They need to support your Unique Selling Position and your claim to fame. The more specific they are the more powerful they are. People relate to specifics and this is a relationship building tool… right?

That’s a point… why haven’t I got more specific testimonials?

Wish me luck trying to get any testimonial out of a broker. You people make it hard for me, playing everything so close to the chest – all guarding your territory so fervently it seems. I have more testimonials coming but I’ve had to make an offer with extra coaching in the deal at no charge as the bait for “Actually tell us some real numbers in your results” testimonial. It’s a legal and ethical bribe, the numbers don’t lie. This is what I’m driven to working with brokers, things are grim hey

I do have quite a collection from the Yellow Pages Ads clients and coaching clients which is great… Hey, I give good phone… and ads

Back to “what your testimonials should say”.

Make sure they are varied. In drawing up the drafts or questionnaire make sure you have a range of testimonial responses. Obviously they need to be positive statements and need to address the benefits of using you. For every benefit you should have at least one testimonial. Try and build a testimonial base giving you many testimonials for every benefit. Know this, you can never have too many testimonials.

How should your testimonials be signed?

Remember, the whole essence of having testimonials is to provide credibility. To help with credibility it is important to include as much information about the client as possible. It shows people they’re real.

You should include their name, occupation, suburb and city… and even a phone number if they’re courageous. Having that preponderance of proof elevates your credibility exponentially…

How do I make sure that people read my testimonials?

By giving it a headline… BUT… there is a golden rule that you have to abide by. The headline text has to come from the testimonial itself, otherwise it’s not legitimate. That’s my take. Apart from it being unethical to edit or alter if you only use excerpts from the testimonial  for the headline then you know that you’re saying exactly what your client DID say and not what you think they would say. Make sense?

How can you make your testimonials stand out over every other business?

Having a photo shifts the reality factor like no other but you can even take this to the next level.

Surely you’ve heard of Joe Girard, the World’s Greatest Salesman. A car salesman even, quite a remarkable man and the point here without going into his full story is he leveraged off and pioneered using photographic proof like no other. Every car he sold he had a photo taken of himself handing over the keys to his client with their new car.

Why is that so powerful? Not only is he showing evidence of happy clients but he’s tied them to himself in the photo. The other factor is showing the fruit of the deal, the car, that new toy. It paints the picture of the end transaction of doing business with me, you.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing but why aren’t business owners showing the world their clients being made happy. It doesn’t matter what you flog, surely you can show your clients with their new “whatever it is”, all with beaming smiles. Those smiles will capture the hearts of your prospects like you wouldn’t believe and strip away any resistance to do business with you.

Why haven’t you got those photos’ in your showroom, on the office wall, in a show and tell book and on your website?

We’ve all got happy clients right? If we don’t show off the joy when we get the deal done then who will?

Stop being a slow learner and start shouting how good you are in any way you can. Tell the world! This is only one of the many tips and tricks in our Smarter Marketing System. To find out how you can access this you can go here NOW!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler.

Finally: A lead generation and marketing system that generates a stream of “highly qualified” clients for small business owners and retailers that’s self managed so they ‘own’ it and it positions them as the experts in their area and ends all lame and frustrating and sometimes costly advertising and marketing methods.

All those in favour of that say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to Peter B Butler on… Direct Response Marketing, Websites and Lead Generation!