This is the third post from a my special report on using testimonials to generate more profits in your business. What is true of testimonials is true for resolutions. Today, I look at elements involved in a good resolutions or testimonial making. Enjoy. If you want to see the entire report, click here http://tinyurl.com/cj5yz6.
Most testimonials are dull and boring. If you are going to add this ingredient to your business, why not use the best? Use the following framework to make testimonials a powerful tool in your business.
Framework of a Good Testimonial
I am a customer just like you.
I had a problem and I wanted the same benefits as you.
I wondered if there was a solution.
Now, I know there is a solution.
This solution will also work for you.
Testimonials that follow this thought process lead customers to buy your product! The following are 10 rules for creating powerful testimonials in your business.
Proven Techniques to Power Testimonials
1. Start by listing the benefits of your business–those things that make you unique and special. Get testimonials that speak directly to these benefits. Your prospect wants to hear about how you are going to make their life better.
2. Avoid the “Rah, rah, Bob is great” style of testimonials. Customers get very little from cheerleader comments.
3. Try to obtain your testimonials as close as possible to the customer’s greatest satisfaction from your product or service. This is when they are most excited to tell others about what they have experienced. That excitement carries over into their testimonials.
4. Get testimonials come from a credible person who has nothing to gain from giving the testimonial. Testimonials from experts or famous people add power to your testimonials.
5. Make sure the testimonial is specific and detailed. It’s much better to say “I realized a 19% increase in profits,” rather than “I improved my profits.” Which statement do you find more believable?
6. Use the person’s own words in the testimonial, even if they aren’t grammatically perfect.
7. Make it easy for customers to give you testimonials.
8. Include the name and the city where the person lives. Adding a photo or audio gives the testimonial even more power.
9. Get the customer’s permission to use the testimonial.
10. Thank your customers for the testimonials.
Conclusion
If you’re not using good testimonials in all of your marketing and sales materials, you’re keeping your “best sales person” in the closet. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get this sales force working for you. When you start using good testimonials, you will start seeing more customers, better customers and more loyalty in your business.
To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…
This is the second in a series of posts where I am using materials from a White paper I developed on Testimonials. The information in this white paper applied to your Resolutions on your Linkedin page. Today, I look at the many ways you can get Resolutions/testimonials. If you want to see the complete paper go here: http://tinyurl.com/cj5yz6 .
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 and Video 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 or video 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.
To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…
Last year I wrote an extensive paper on how small business owners can use testimonials to generate more profits for their business. The principles I developed in that paper totally apply to the creation and use of Recommendations on your Linkedin page. In the next several posts, I invite you to read the principles I developed in that paper and apply them to your Linkedin thought process. I have divided the paper into four parts and four posts. If you would like to read the entire paper now, click on http://tinyurl.com/cj5yz6 . You can read it on line or print your own copy. Remember, every place you see testimonial substitute the word Recommendation.
Linkedin Resolutions and Testimonials–Your Secret Sales Force
Adding the Secret Ingredient to Grow Your Profits!
Successful small businesses have more customers, who buy more often and have more loyalty. Yet, when you look closer, these same businesses do not have superior products or services. What secret do they use?
Successful small business owners use this secret—plenty of good testimonials. These testimonials become like a powerful sales force for their businesses. The average small business owners keep this potential “sales force” locked in their closets.
In this paper, I’ll show you how good testimonials improve your bottom line. You will also learn the formula for creating good testimonials so you can start making more and better sales right now. You will learn why Resolutions are so important to your Linkedin page.
How Testimonials Attract and Improve Your Sales
We live in skeptical times. Customers, especially internet buyers, are very nervous about letting go of their money. Customers want to believe your claims because they want the benefits your product promises.
But customers don’t want to be hurt or disappointed or look foolish. So, they resist their urges. If you don’t overcome this customer skepticism, you lose the sale. They leave. You may never know how close they came to making a purchase!
How can testimonials change this picture and help overcome customer skepticism? Here are some of the ways good testimonials will make a difference in your business.
Testimonials make you more believable. Customers trust what others, especially people like themselves, say about the results they receive from your business.
Testimonials provide a tract record for your business. They show that customers have gone before them and been successful in using your business.
Testimonials create more customer loyalty. Once they put their name on a testimonial, customers feel obligated to stand behind their decision, even if it doesn’t turn out the way they proclaimed in their testimonial.
Testimonials create a sense of security for your customers. Everyone loves to be part of the “in-crowd”—to join others who are using your product.
Testimonials cement the selling process. Testimonials raise the excitement of the customer’s interest in your product. It makes them more eager to purchase by reducing the buying anxiety.
Testimonials give you insights into why customers are buying your products. People will state in their testimonials why they bought from your business. Their reasons may different from your reasons.
How to get testimonials that add to your profits
You have seen the power testimonials can have in your business–no matter what business or to whom you sell. So why do so few small business owners use this tool in their businesses?
Most small business owners cite a lack of time or the mistaken notion that asking for testimonials bothers the customer. Or maybe, they just don’t know how to get good testimonials.
As a small business owner, you have spent a lot of money getting this customer to buy from your business. Now you have the opportunity to leverage this customer’s experience into getting more customers to your business. Why waste this opportunity?
When customers have a good buying experience, they love telling others about it. When you ask them to help you by giving a testimonial, they feel honored. They feel they are contributing to your business. They are happy to help.
For purposes of helping you implementing testimonials in a step by step process, I will assume you have few or no testimonials that give you the power you want in your business. I will take you through a process that shows how easily and quickly you can start using powerful testimonials to attract more customers and more sales. Follow these steps and I guarantee you will see immediate improvement in your business.
A System for Getting Testimonials
Step One Focus on your Target Market
Your prospects want to hear from customers just like themselves. This is the type of proof they want before they purchase. What group of customers are you going to focus on for their testimonials? Identify the group now.
Step Two Clarify your Marketing Message
Powerful testimonials focus on your key benefits—those items that make your customer’s life better. You want to get at least one testimonial for each benefit. List at least three benefits your product or service provides to your customers.
1.)
2.)
3.)
Step Three A Testimonial Blitzkrieg
You can never have too many good testimonials. Set yourself a goal for the next 30 days to get 25-50 testimonials. Make this a priority for your business. They will be worth their weight in gold. When you see how easy it is to get testimonials, you will say 25 is too few!
Step Four Create an Ongoing Testimonials System
As you begin using some of these techniques for getting testimonials, start thinking how you can continue to use one or another of these techniques as a regular part of your business operations. Your ultimate goal is to create a system that regularly and automatically produces fresh and new testimonials—with little or no effort on your part.
I believe that next to your Linkedin Profile (your personal brand see my earlier post Branding and Linkedin Continued…) is the second most important element in your Linkedin page is your Recommendations. Before we dig into the details on the how to do Recommendations, let me share with you why I feel so strongly about their power.
Personal Experience
Last Christmas, my wife asked for a new winter coat. This is dangerous business for any husband. You need to get the style, the color and size right—otherwise the present goes back. I went on line and found a coat I thought fit all the requirements. I asked my 13 year old daughter, Laura, for her opinion. She thought it was a very nice coat. Then, she read the comments section from women who had already purchased the coat.
She said, “Dad, you don’t want to buy this coat. Read about all the trouble women are having with this coat.” I read the comments and she was right. I left the website and found a different coat. (My wife loved it!)
Websites
When I work with small business owners creating their websites, I have them put a testimonial on every page of their site. My logic is that for most internet buyers, the business is a stranger to them. They expect the business to say good things about their products. Before they buy, they want to hear what other people like themselves have experienced with the product.
Small Business Owner and Believability
Many small business owners think their “smallness” gives them an edge with customers. It’s true. When all things are equal, most customers would rather buy from a small business and have a personal transaction. However, customers do wonder whether the small business can deliver on the promises they make. They know that larger, brand name businesses are more impersonal. They also know large businesses have been proven in the market place. Their products have been purchased by many people and if they were not working, people would not buy them. Small business must overcome a believability issue.
Social Networking
Dave Evans in his wonderful book, Social Media Marketing, One Hour a Day, says the real power of social media programs comes with the consideration phase of the buying process. He says there are three steps in the buying process: awareness, consideration and the purchase. Social media programs allow consumers to share their experiences with products. These experiences carry a larger weight than traditional media when people are considering a particular purchase.
He shares his own experience of trying to decide between a PC and a MAC computer. He asked for people’s advice on his social media program. Many people shared their experiences with both types of computers. Their information helped him decide which computer to purchase.
Linkedin Bonuses
Recommendations within Linkedin reflect this changing landscape of business credibility. Here are three Linkedin bonuses that come with Recommendations.
1.Statistics show that after the Profile, Recommendations are the most read section on a Linkedin page. People want to know what others are saying about you. If your page does not have Recommendations, they wonder, “What’s wrong with this person?”
2.When you give a Recommendation to another person in Linkedin, your Recommendation is noted on the right side of your Linkedin page. It is also found on the page of the person receiving the Recommendation. Both of these items give you more visibility and an additional touch point for the search engines.
3.Each time you receive a Recommendation or give a Recommendation, an alert is sent to all of your connections. This gives you added exposure with your connections.
Conclusion
People buying from strangers on the internet; the small business extra burden for creating believability; the power of social networking and social media to influence the consideration phase of the buying process are just some of the reasons the landscape of credibility has changed for small business owners. This makes the Recommendation step of your Linkedin page all the more important.
Before we move on to the next section of Linkedin, let me share with you a blog post from the official Linkedin Blog. Ian McCarthy has written a short blog article where he identifies additional benefits to the Linkedin’s Group function that go beyond what I identified in an earlier post.
In particular, he shows the “Follow” function you can use in following Group Discussions. When you use this function, you can get email updates on the Group conversation so you can keep in touch with the conversation without making a huge time commitment. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/cmljgj
Enjoy.
Linkedin provides another valuable resource for building your on-line social network–the ability to ask and answer questions with other people on Linkedin. How can this function benefit you and your business?
It’s another form of contacting and relating with Linkedin participants
You get access to valuable resources and business answers
Opportunities to demonstrate your own expertise
It becomes another Google touch point for your internet presence
Linkedin maintains a repository of valuable business information
It gives you more visibility and credibility
Before I show the details on how to Ask or Answer a question on Linkedin, take a few moments to browse this function. Click on the Answer tab on the top of any Linkedin page. Experiment with the keyword search tool. Look at the different types of questions people are making and the types of answers they are receiving. Check out the various Categories of questions. Look at both the “open” and “closed” questions and this “Week’s Expert”.
Ask a Question
Follow this sequence of 10 steps to Ask a question on Linkedin.
1. Write down your question
2. Search the Answered Questions to see if there may already be an answer to your question
3. Click the Answer tab and the Ask Question Tab to get a new form
4. Write the short version of your question. Think of this first box like the subject line in an email or the heading in a newspaper. It should be a very short and succinct version of your question. You get better answers to better written questions.
5. Check to see if you want people outside of your network to respond. (Usually a good idea)
6. Now you can add more details to your question. It still makes sense to keep this short, or bullet points that help illustrate your questions.
7. You then need to pick one of the Categories in which to place your question. Your geographic area can be one of the categories.
8. Finally, you need to identify whether the question revolves around
Recruiting
Promoting your service/product
Job Seeking
9. Hit the Submit button
10. Be sure to thank people when they offer you answers to your questions. This can be the start of more valuable relationships.
It’s a very simple process to join a Linkedin Group. Start by clicking on the Group Button on the left hand side of your profile page in Linked. You will be shown three options:
My Groups
Following
Group Directory
Create a Group
If you are not a part of any Group, select the Group Directory. You will then be taken to a search box that allows you to search the many groups that already exist. For each group you will be given a description, the number of people in the group and how long it has been in existence. To start, choose two groups that you want to join.
When you click on a Group to join, you will be taken to a screen that will ask you several questions. These include, whether you will display the group’s logo; your email address; how often you want to be notified about digests of the group’s activities; allowing members to send you direct messages and a general consent form for participating in the group.
You can then send a message to the group leader telling them why you would like to participate in the group. You will then await, usually a day or so to be accepted into the group.
Once accepted you can now see previous group discussions, learn about the people in the group and initiate and participate in discussions.
Creating Your Own Linked Group
Here’s the form you must complete to create your own Linkedin Group. Once you complete this form, you will submit it to Linkedin and they will review your request for creating a group.
Group Identity
·*Large Logo:
Your logo will appear in the Groups Directory and on your group pages.
Before we start focusing on the Group functions in Linnkedin, I thought you might enjoy an short article on ways to use Linkedin in your business by Peggy Murrah. Enjoy.
Al Hanzal
www.successfulmarketingtools.com/wordpressblog
Social Media Tip of the Month -5 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Your Business
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By now, you should be familiar with all of the social networking aspects that LinkedIn offers. LinkedIn has helped so many professionals get in touch with each other and forge new relationships. Many jobs have been found through the use of connections and members have been well placed in their respective company networks. LinkedIn remains to be one of the largest networks of professionals seeking to build their careers.
LinkedIn is, however, more than just connecting with others and building relationships. Here are 5 other ways that can help you as a member of LinkedIn.
Have your questions answered
Similar to Yahoo! and Google Answers, LinkedIn offers an area where members can type in questions that can be seen by all members of LinkedIn regardless of connections. Since LinkedIn is a network of professionals, you can expect to get better answers than other sites like forums.
Conduct reference checks
LinkedIn is a great source for looking up companies and individuals for reference purposes. All you need to do is fire up the Reference Check Tool and just search for a person or company to see some information about how long they worked there and other backgrounds. It is great for crosschecking the legitimacy of profiles since LinkedIn is officially networked to some top resource sites like BusinessWeek.
Obtain information on competitors
Knowing your competitors’ progress and connections can be advantageous in taking your team above them. By taking the time in getting information on individuals and their connections belonging to rival companies, you can highlight their main strengths and weaknesses and find ways to work around them.
Get indexed in search engines
Since LinkedIn has a high Google page rank, you can take advantage of this by setting your profile on public and filling it with as much information as possible. What happens is all that information is indexed by Google and other bots while taking in keywords in the process. This gives you an opportunity for non-registered LinkedIn users to see your profile just by doing simple searches that may match your profile’s description. It also makes it easier for people to find more information about you and don’t know where to look. You can even use this to advertise other websites and gain exposure through LinkedIn.
Find more information about people you’ll meet up with
If you are going to have a huge meeting with a few top executives of a company, try to learn more about them by searching in LinkedIn. Even if their profiles may not be listed, you can do other checks such as searching for the company and see any familiar names there. It is important to know the backgrounds of the people you are about to do business with so you can make better decisions and judgment.
These 5 ways are sure to help and encourage you to use LinkedIn more for any business related tasks. Use these methods to your advantage so you can have the edge over competitors and other people in your network. You can really stand out if you utilize the LinkedIn network using your own creative ways.
If you have been following this sequence of posts about adding connections to your network, you have now invited all those who are already on Linkedin to join you. In your Outlook file and other email services files, you will have many more names that are not on Linkedin. What is going to be your strategy for inviting them to be part of your networking efforts?
Again, you want to use the your overall purpose for using Linkedin as the guiding principle to additional invitations. Continue to ask yourself, how will this person or these types of persons who emails addresses you have, help you achieve your goals for the program. Revisit your decisions such as quality networking verses quantity networking.
More than likely, you will have a number of people whose emails addresses that are not on Linkedin. Break this larger number down into chuck size pieces so that you can invite them your join your connection each day. A consistent effort of 5-10 invites a day from your existing lists of contact will produce an amazing result even over the course of 30 days.
Here’s an example of a script I used for people I know but who may be unfamiliar with the Linkedin program.
Script
“Hello, its been sometime since I have connected with you. I hope you are doing well. I am not sure if you are familiar with the new social networking programs people are using on the internet? I belong to the Linkedin program as a way of networking with a group of people who have similar interests as me. I would like to invite you to join my network. It’s very easy to get started. You can go to www.Linnkedin.com and sign up to be on the program. It’s free and I think you will enjoy it. I am currently working on an e-book of tips for people using the Linkedin program and would like to send it to you. Let’s try to connect on each others network. Check out www.linkedin.com and join so we can connect on a more regular basis” Thanks, Al
Change the words to suit your situation. With this script, I am making an invitation, telling them about Linkedin, showing them how easily they can get started and making a promise to share something with them. These ingredients make the script work.
Use this or a similar emails invitations to those on your list and do it on a consistent basis.
Manual Invitation
The last direct tool Linkedin offers for building your network is the Manual invitation. Go to the green Get Connected button and click on it. You will see a manual section where you can now type in six email names and addresses to invite with one stroke of the key board.
I found it helpful to take some time to research the names and email address I wanted to invite and then place them in a word document. I then copy six names on a daily basis from this list and send an invitation to all the people I wanted to invite.
Recycling Your Invitations
On a sixty to ninety day basis, you may wish to invite again those who have not responded. If you go to your Inbox on your Linkedin Home Page and click on “Send” you will see all the people to whom you have send invitations and the status of those invitations. From here you can choose to resend invitations to specific people.
In an earlier post, I talked about making a decision on what strategy you were going to use to build your Linkedin network. Qualitative verses Quantitative. Currently, there is a heated discussion going on regarding Twitter and the same decision about building your network. Do you automatically follow everyone who wants to follow you?. It’s the same qualitative verses quantitative discussion.
As you add more names and invitations to your Linkedin connections, it is worth while to listen in on this Twitter debate. It will give you additional insights into what type of connections you want to form on your Linkedin program.
Let me help you jump into the debate by sharing with you a short video by Seth Godin who always has a way to say things so pointed. Here’s the reference to his short 2 minute video. http://www.openforum.com/marketing/video_socialgood.html.
In the next post, I will give you much more content about the Twitter debate.
