How to Ask for Testimonials
HOW TO ASK FOR TESTIMONIALS
We all know the power of testimonials, or at least we think we do. Are you aware that a review from a stranger has more impact on your client’s buying decisions than any of your other marketing or advertising efforts?
I can tell you firsthand that I always read reviews before purchasing a product that has not been suggested to me by someone I know, like and trust. We all crave social proof these days and marketing-driven testimonials are one of the keys to engaging new clients.
How do we define social proof? It is a result of our online and in-person environmental experiences. We like to buy from people and brands that we have a history with or that someone we trust has worked with. Most of us tend to “follow the herd” and if someone has 47K followers on Instagram, we make assumptions about their trustworthiness and how that factors into our buying decisions.
Do you do your due diligence prior to hiring someone to work for you? Hiring a designer is a very personal and emotional decision. We can all get reviews from clients but some sound scripted. The best reviews emote the feelings and thoughts about the experience your client had with you. The crux of the story is that your client’s opinions can make or break your business.
The power of word-of-mouth marketing has been evident throughout history but let us look at how we can benefit most from asking for our client’s love! If others have invested in you and had a valuable experience, you are more likely to be hired.
No one wants to be a guinea pig or wants to invest in something they are not sure will work. So, everyone, and you have seen this yourself whether you watch an infomercial or looked to hire someone. You always want to know what kind of results to expect. This is both a conscious and a subconscious process and this is one of the best low to no cost secrets for getting new yummy clients.
Testimonials from clients create this powerful tool for acquiring new clients, and best of all as I mentioned above, they do the selling for you, even when you are not around. Imagine that someone goes to your website, and it is two o’clock in the morning for them. They can spend time doing their research while you’re sleeping.
Perhaps, they follow you on Facebook or Twitter, and if you put testimonials there, or if you have a YouTube channel with video testimonials, the prospect educates themselves about what results you get for people without you having to say a word! It is so much easier for someone else to sell a client or former client in the form of a testimonial to sell you, then it is for you to sell yourself.
Testimonials will also validate you and the work that you have put into your business and that particular client, and it helps the prospect see where your strengths lie. Your testimonials can also become a third-party endorsement. It is an enthusiastic referral from someone who doesn’t benefit directly from that prospect working with you. While the person who wrote the testimonial may never meet the person who’s reading it, that prospect of yours, the prospect will realize this and say, “Well, that third-party endorser doesn’t have anything to gain by me working with this designer, but they’re enthusiastically advocating it.”
You can stand on your soap box every day and tell people how great you are. Nothing you ever say will be more powerful than what a third party will say. A prospective client will trust a third party more than they ever will trust you, until they become your client and see the value first-hand. Potential clients are more likely to trust someone else’s opinion about how great you are because they understand that you have a vested interest, which is money.
Another important thing about testimonials is they can be used as references by potential clients if you set it up that way. Here is what I mean. All my client testimonials, the ones that are written, are set up in an easy-to-read document. In each case, I have asked for permission to put the person’s name, website, and if they are willing, their email address.
The key to writing a great testimonial is not just before and after rags to riches makeover, it must be very specific and tangible. So, in the past, I have asked clients to write me a testimonial for my website over email, and the key is to ask for tangible and specific results that they have experienced or gotten since working with you. For example, “I had this horrible bathroom, and then I worked with you, and now my bathroom is not only functional but a joy to step into to start and end my day.” “I had this problem, and then I worked with you, and now my situation looks like this.” That’s the kind of testimonial we’re looking for.
I designed a cheat sheet for my clients, which I give to them when I ask for the testimonial. When you give people a format, they are delighted to follow it. Most always, clients are honored to fill it out, and they love to give something back to you. You have given a lot to them, and now they want to give something back to you. Best of all, you can take these powerful results-based testimonials and add them to your marketing materials with low cost, high impact results. Once you ask these for this social proof, you will get one of the most client attractive things you can share with other prospects.
I am going to give you a valuable excerpt from our template now. Here is the first thing we ask our clients to do:
Please give us a passionate/enthusiastic expression of the benefits and results you are enjoying or have enjoyed from working together.
Then
Before working with you, (brief statement of conditions before), then, (statement of the value you have received.)
And lastly, “the three most significant improvements are….” And you can provide examples for them here to jumpstart their thought process. It is almost like “suggestology.” You are suggesting which things they should talk about in terms of their significant improvements. So, after that, thanks to you, or thanks to working with you –
So, that is your formula, one that I have used for many years and it creates, in my opinion one of the best marketing driven makeover before and after testimonials, to help a prospect sell themselves. They sell themselves into engaging your services and into working with you. I would like to invite you to think of five to ten people right now, who you could ask to write a testimonial.
Now that we have all gotten so used to being on camera, I also would invite you to ask for video testimonials. Video testimonials are very powerful and can be even more engaging. They provide a higher level of credibility because there is no way that you’re writing this. People are always skeptical. So, if it comes from the horse’s mouth, if it shows emotion, and if you are also on camera, it is GOLD! If you are in it, interviewing the client, the prospect will be able to see the bond between the two of you.
With the technology that we have now, it’s so easy. On your phone, you can do a video testimonial, or someone can do a video testimonial on their phone or on their computer and send it to you. Obviously, it is live because you’re right there, but the key with video testimonials is that you can then post them on YouTube, on your website, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Twitter, everywhere. You should try to get a mixture of marketing driven written testimonials and marketing driven video testimonials.
So, in closing, social proof is one of the biggest counters to objections that they will have during the closing of the sale. When somebody has an objection, a testimonial will almost always be the strongest thing to quiet down that little objection inside, and you can use this all over your marketing.