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TESTIMONIALS:
How to use testimonials as a strategic competitive advantage in your sales and marketing

Part Four: How To Collect Testimonials

Now you've got some 'dream' testimonials. But how do you go about getting real ones, from real clients? As you'll see in the final instalement in this series, it's easier than you may think.

Testimonials may be actively solicited or unsolicited. Let's look at solicited testimonials first.

1. Follow-up Interview. I like this approach because it personally connects you with your client and should be part of your feedback process anyway.
   
   
2. Feedback form.This is fairly common for workshops, events and speeches. It allows your clients to take it away and think about it more carefully. However, the risk is that you'll never get it back, which is why respondents are often promised a small give-away as a token of thanks.
   
   
3. Web Form. This is the digital version of a feedback form. One of the best examples I have seen of this was created by friend and associate Colleen Francis of Engage Selling. You can view her web form on her website at:
   
   Unsolicited testimonials can come in many forms: a casual conversation, a comment made during a teleclass, an email, a comment box on your order form and even voicemail. One of my favorite testimonials came from a voicemail - you can listen to it by clicking on the audio link at the top left corner of: www.whatdrivesyoucrazymakesyougreat.com
   
   "Is it okay to draft the testimonial myself or should I wait until the other person writes it?"
   
   I get asked this question a lot. The answer is that most people prefer you write it for them. It's not that writing a testimonial takes up a lot of time, but it certainly requires focused attention - which is in short supply these days. By offering to write it for them, you are doing them a favor.
   
   However, I do NOT advise you to write it completely yourself - to be genuine and ethical, it absolutely requires the other person's input. But if you practice asking the questions in part two and three of this series, you should be able to probe for great content within ten minutes and piece it together in another ten minutes.
   
   Whenever I interview a client for a testimonial or I come across an unsolicited testimonial, I write down what I heard as faithfully as I could, making minor corrections for grammar and syntax, and then I email it to the author to confirm it's okay to use.
   
   In the email, I always stress the importance of being true to the intended sentiment, and I encourage them to 'edit, modify, change, transmogrify, delete entirely or embellish as you see fit!'
   
   I am amazed and flattered at how often it comes back embellished.
   
   So What's Stopping You?
   
   In the past few years, I have accumulated over 200 testimonials. What started as a 'nice-to-have' became an obsession with me, and the more I ask for testimonials, the easier it got - and the more I received.
   
   But in talking about gathering testimonials with members of my Bull Pen 'Consoaching' program (www.essentialmessage.com/bullpen.php), and participants in my workshops, it would appear that despite the best of intentions, there's something that holds most people back from gathering testimonials - even though they understand the mechanics of testimonials; even though they understand the enormous value in gathering them; and even though they see how easy it is to use testimonials in their sales and marketing activities to boost sales.
   
   The reason why is fear - fear of being turned down and fear of hearing negative feedback.
   
   Do something small in your quest to collect testimonials. Start simply by noticing the testimonials your clients are already giving you. Then ask your best clients for a testimonial - and help them give you one that fits the format I describe in this eLearning Workbook. Put a form on your website that allows people to enter testimonials themselves. Place a little checkbox on your feedback form that states your intention to use the person's comments as a testimonial. And when someone says something as a passing comment that sounds like one of your dream testimonials, send the person an email to say, 'this is what you told me - would it be ok if . . .?'

Start today.

Action Steps to Take Now:

Schedule an informal 'coffee' meeting with one of your best clients. Bring a pen and a notepad with you.

Like me, you'll find that the more you ask for testimonials, the easier it will get - and the more you'll receive. And the more you receive, the more confident you'll get. And the more confident you get, the more your business will grow. And the more your business will grow. . .

ABOUT OUR AUTHOR:

In the past 25 years, Michel Neray has been an award-winning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive.

He created The Essential Message to help companies and individuals discover their true differentiation and communicate it in the absolute, most compelling way. Thousands of coaches, consultants, salespeople, and advisor-based businesses have used The Essential Message to turn more people into prospects, and more prospects into sales. You can too.

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