It is a good idea to have a cross section of testimonials you can use in your sales and marketing process. This way, regardless of your clients’ situation, you have a testimonial that will address their needs.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Asking for a testimonial is not arrogant or egotistical. When you go above and beyond, most people are willing to let others know how much they appreciate you or your product.

A short time ago my most recent book was released. Myself and my co-authors have enjoyed increased daily sales with 101 Ways to Get Your Foot in Door. Although many people are telling us how fun, creative and useful book is, I knew if we could get testimonials from readers we would be able to use them in our marketing and promotions efforts.

I sent an email out to a few dozen folks who had purchased book asking for written feedback. Within minutes I began receiving testimonials. Here two of dozens I received:

“I was pleasantly surprised reading 101 Ways to Get Your Foot in Door. I was so impressed that I am requiring my sales staff to read it and we are getting together to discuss how we can implement some of these ideas into our marketing campaigns. Great job!” Michele Michalewicz, CTP, President, Western Leisure, Inc.

“101 Ways to Get Your Foot in Door was full of great ideas to separate sales people from ordinary. This is a must have book for those that want to be remembered and stand apart from ordinary sales person or marketing company. This book has been referred back to often and will be a permanent addition to our business library. Thank you for putting these ideas into a book.” Craig Watkins, Owner, Premium Exteriors and Coatings of Utah www.WhyKeepPainting.com

What Craig and Michele have said is a greater testament to a potential buyer than me telling them how great book is. And notice what it is doing for them… their testimony is added visibility for their company. A win/win situation.

Although testimonials are great to use, keep in mind that they do not replace simple act of asking potential clients for business. Testimonials are simply another key aspect of an effective success strategy.

Likewise, edit or rewrite to eliminate word or sentence fragments isolated at top of a new column or page.

Hyphenation

Check that you have not hyphenated headlines and subheads. These look awkward and are hard to read. Make sure body copy has been hyphenated. In justified text, i.e., lines of equal length, hyphenation eliminates awkward word spacing. In flush-left/ragged-right text, (i.e., lines of unequal length), hyphenation eliminates alternating long and short lines.

Double-check hyphenation to make sure that words like “therapist” have not been split into “the rapist.” Use non-breaking hyphens to keep proper nouns from hyphenating.

Word breaks

Check that you have used non-breaking spaces to keep first names and last names, or dates, together on one line.

Working links

When creating Adobe Acrobat PDF files, check that all links perform properly. Just because URLs and e-mail addresses appear in blue and are underlined doesn’t mean that links are working properly! Recheck links when you edit your original publication file and create a new PDF.

Updating information

When publishing a newsletter, check that issue date and/or issue number information are correct. Double-check headers, footers, captions, and pull quotes.

Formatting and spacing

Check for correct headline, subhead and body copy text styles. Watch out for short paragraphs that should be formatted as subheads. It’s very easy to inadvertently change styles during editing. Watch for extra spaces between words and sentences. It is also easy to inadvertently add unwanted space when copying and pasting text. Use Find and Replace to replace two spaces with one.

Duplicate or missing text

Read text out loud to locate awkward or redundant words and phrases as well as omitted words that your mind inserts because it “knows what you meant.” Watch for overflow text in text frames at ends of articles. Often, hidden text is only indicated by a relatively small icon.