Harness the power of your customers' testimonials

Using testimonials is a great way to build credibility and develop rapport. In addition, customer endorsements are an effective sales tool when responding to a prospect's objections. Nothing promotes credibility faster in the mind of a skeptical prospect than a heartfelt and sincerely written testimonial from a trusted third party source.

There are many ways to request a testimonial from a customer, but as with most things, timing is everything. For example, don't ask for a testimonial from a customer that you're meeting for the first time, because you may appear overly aggressive. The most effective testimonials are derived from three primary sources; positive comments received from verbal feedback, customer surveys, and thank you notes. If you take the time to nurture your key customer relationships and go the extra mile when rendering service, most of your customers will be happy to give you a strong testimonial endorsement if you ask them for it.

Here are some valuable considerations to help you get the maximum benefit from your customer testimonials:

1. Always get your customer's permission prior to using his or her testimonial.
2. Never rewrite a customer's testimonial without obtaining approval.
3. The testimonial must show the person's name, job title, and organization. If you're using a written testimonial, it's a good idea to include your customer's picture as well.
4. There are three types of testimonial formats to consider; written, audio, and video. While written testimonials are by far the most frequently used format, audio and video testimonials have been proven to be more effective.
5. Obviously, some customers have better writing skills than others. You'll want to coach your customers a bit on how to properly structure their testimonials in order to make them effective. Provide specific guidelines and give them copies of your most powerful and persuasive customer testimonials to serve as positive examples.
6. Vague testimonials don't really say anything of value. The best testimonials use specific examples that backup key selling points. For example: How much money and or time did your customer actually save by using your product or services? How did your product or service solve your customer's problems or improve their lives?
7. You need to be proactive and set a business goal of having a minimum of twelve customer testimonials.

From an advertising perspective, a testimonial from a happy customer has the potential to be worth as much as a full-page newspaper ad. Harnessing the good will of your satisfied customers' is the key to taking your business to the next level.