How to Get Testimonials and Make Them Count
Why the big fuss about getting testimonials anyway?
It’s simple. I learned a long time ago that what you tell me about you is interesting but what I really want to know is what someone, who is a customer, like me is saying about you.
It’s not that as a potential customer we don’t trust what you’re saying…but we don’t…and it’s only natural to feel that way.
Think about it. When you go shopping for something like a car or even a service you need at your home, don’t you ask your friends, family members or even check out the testimonials of others? As people, we want to know who else will testify as to how good the product and/or the service you’re selling really is and we’d prefer not to be the Guinea Pig.
It’s not personal. It’s just human nature. WE want assurance. At least, we don’t feel foolish. So if we follow someone’s recommendation or rely on a testimonial and it doesn’t work out quite as well as we had hoped we don’t feel so silly. Nobody wants to appear stupid and most, if not all of us, are more than happy to let someone else test the waters first for us.
Okay, so now you know why testimonial advertising and marketing are so powerfully effective and why it’s critical to keeping your phone ringing.
To help capture testimonials, you need to work at it. The big thing is to do a Customer Survey each and every time you do work for a customer. And the time to do it is as soon as the work is completed and they’re hopefully feeling the best about you and your company.
Here’s the template I use with clients to solicit testimonial comments by sending them out after each job called the “Customer Survey Form”
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY
Appleseed Business, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ 85254 (480) 205-5164
[Date][Customer Name]
[Street address]
[Town], [State] [Zip]
How would you rate the service you recently received? (please check only one answer for each item)
Very Satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied
The politeness of the office person __ __ __
when you called for service?
The company's ability to set a scheduled __ __ __
time range that was at your convenience?
Service Technician's arrival within that __ __ __
scheduled time range?
Politeness of the Service Technician who __ __ __
performed the service?
Technical knowledge of the Service Technician __ __ __
who performed the service?
Workmanship and quality __ __ __
of the service work done?
The work area left clean and neat? __ __ __
Would you use Appleseed Business again? Yes__ No__
If you would like to make additional comments, please use this space and reverse side if necessary.
_____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________
May we use your comment in future marketing? Yes__ No__
Signature:____________________________________________
Date:__________________________________
Note: It’s the comments they write in that count the most! That’s because it takes effort and you can use them if they give permission in your marketing. Check boxes are not as helpful.
Note: It’s easy to think that you can ask your Techs to hand them out when they do the work. STOP! You think if I was your Tech and I ticked off a nasty customer that I’d actually hand them one of these? No way! That’s why they must be mailed or if you like you can try emailing them.
Here’s an alternate example of a set of questions that I have some of my clients use when completing big ticket jobs like installations so they can potentially get a good testimonial to use with prospective new customers:
- What was going wrong before we arrived
[or did our work]?
What were you most afraid of before working with us?
What were you most pleased with about the way we did our work?
Would you recommend us to others?
If you want to really ramp up the effectiveness of your testimonial marketing, try to get a picture to go with their good written testimonial. The worst they can say is, “No” and you’d be surprised if you do a good job how amenable they are.
The trick is to get the testimonial as soon as possible after the work is done and they’re feeling good about you. And if you want to learn how to leverage testimonial sales and marketing read the Special Announcement below.
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