What do you do when a customer compliments you on your product or service? (If you don't get any compliments, you need to read all of my other articles… NOW!) The correct answer is "I get it in writing!"It's wonderful when your customers appreciate you; it's even more wonderful when you can share that appreciation with others. After all, what gives you more credibility than a happy customer? And who better to spread word than that customer?
The word of day, then, is "Testimonial". Here are some tips and tricks to getting good testimonials and using them to your advantage.
1. If you get a compliment on your product or service, ask if you can get it in writing, preferably on their letterhead.
2. If you have what you feel is a good customer and you don't yet have a testimonial from them, ASK FOR ONE!
3. Regardless of how subject comes up, ask them some questions that will clarify benefit they enjoyed from your product or service.
4. Offer to put it in writing for them to save them time (and to word it way you feel is best). Naturally, you will ask them for approval of what you wrote and then, if appropriate, they can put it on their letterhead.
5. A good testimonial gives specific results; more specific better. For example, "Our productivity increased 35%" is much more powerful than "You saved us a lot of time".
6. Use testimonials everywhere you can. Every piece of literature, every brochure, every flyer should have at least one. And don't forget to use them generously on your website! (Don't include your customer's email address though, because that would make it available to spammers who comb web looking for addresses to steal.)