Miles Ahead Marketing

Before we dive head-first into the nuts and bolts of using testimonial marketing to send your business skyrocketing, it is first important to understand just why it is that the technique works in the first place.  And believe me, it does work.  Before long, you’ll be working smarter (not harder) than ever before, and you’ll realize the tangible benefits to your bottom line.  But, like I said, first things first.

The Jerk
Picture this: You’re at your 20-year high school reunion.  You’re having a great time catching up with the great looking girl you dated when you were 17, when suddenly a gentleman you don’t recognize interrupts your conversation. 

He begins to regale you with his tales of business success and world conquest.  He tells you about the cool million he made his first year out of college and the quaint summer home he just purchased in the south of France.  Unable to get a word in edgewise, your lady friend wanders away, leaving you there to listen to this guy’s pompous ramblings.

This scenario is everybody’s worst nightmare.  There’s nothing worse than listening to somebody drone on about how great they are.  Right? 

Then why do we do exactly that to potential customers?  Like you and I, prospects aren’t interested in hearing somebody babble on about how attractive they are or what award they’ve won; this technique pushes people away rather than drawing them in.

The Hero
Imagine if the scenario above had unfolded with your gorgeous high school gal pal pointing the stranger out from across the room.  She whispers to you about how he graduated early from college, made a million playing the stock market a year later, and went on to be a renowned business guru and philanthropist.  Chances are, your curiosity would be peaked and you’d want to learn more about this overachiever.

And therein lies the beauty of the customer testimonial: you are transformed from a nameless entity trumpeting your own greatness into a credible business offering a quality product or service. 

Marketing guru Bob Serling calls it the “pre-emptive strike.”  Rather than being your own cheerleader and allowing the prospect’s flag of skepticism to be raised, you make a strong assertion right out of the gate – and offer irresistible customer quotes to back up each and every point you make.

So get out there and let your prospects know just how amazing your business is – but let your satisfied customers do the talking.

In my next blog, I’ll show you a few examples of customer testimonials that have made a huge difference for my business and explain why they’ve worked so well.

More marketing tools

I owe my success in business to my customers.

As a small business owner, the expense of hiring and training sales people can be overwhelming. In the 11 years since I took the entrepreneurial plunge, I have found that my customers are my best sales people - and they’re not even on the payroll. 

Believe it or not, over 33% of my business this year is in some way a result of customer referrals.  Typically, the referring person has already done the sales job for me; I just need to confirm the order details. 

Customer testimonials break down natural resistance and make your marketing claims credible by saying things that would sound too good to be true if you said them yourself.  Hearing the details of a good buying experience from a fellow customer can move mountains in terms of overcoming buyer skepticism.
 
I am convinced it is absolutely critical not to overlook the wealth of marketing power we hold in our customer records. We all spend so much time looking for new business when we have acres of diamonds in our existing customer base! These are the most powerful tools a business owner can use to market his business.

As a business owner, you know how difficult it is to play all of the roles you need to play in order to keep your business afloat.  With all of this juggling, it is easy to lose site of the bare essentials that keep your business trudging on - marketing.  Systematic marketing, where a repeatable system is in place, is a must-have, yet is too often taken for granted.  And when that sale is complete, you need a system for turning that satisfied customer into more leads by requesting and harnessing that all-powerful testimonial.

I feel so strongly about the topic of customer testimonial marketing that I have decided to bring you an entire series of comprehensive blogs on the topic.  I will show you, step by step, how to put together an effective testimonial marketing strategy and explain to you exactly why it works.

This series will cover:

• Why Your Customer Can Say What You Can’t
• Why Customer Testimonials Work
• How to Use Testimonials in Your Marketing Materials
• 7 Ways to Increase Response Using Testimonials
• Testimonial Checklist

Keep checking in for the great tips and updates I’ll provide in the rest of this series.  I promise, your business will never be the same.

In my next blog, I’ll tell you why your customers have the power to say the things you could never say yourself.