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Added for You - 10 Secrets to Asking for Effective Client Testimonials for Your Website
Your sales are down and leads are rare. The phone’s not ringing. Let’s blame marketing!If you join this band wagon to rationalize your poor sales results, you need to step up and take responsibility for your own fate. It’s amazing how often sales teams play the victim here. They blame the marketing department, team or an individual, for their lack of sales.Don’t get me wrong, I’m on your side. Often, in a typical, let’s say “traditional” organization, there is disconnection between marketing and the sales organization. There is a lack of communication, team work and common goals. Sad but true.Often, the larger the company, the less marketing serves the individual sales professional. In corporations, it seems the norm for marketing is to concentrate on selling “the brand” and not products and services. Corporate marketing sells ‘the logo’ to trigger trust and positive emotions when people see it. Not all, bu
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can creat
The Globalisation and Internet are the two major forces that are responsible for the radical changes that are going on among the business firms in Asia. Successful 21st century corporations respondedwell to the threats and opportunities of the business environment. What makes these corporations different? Its the effective management systems in place that is responsible for their success.Successful organizations, adopt effective management system and policies that are able to generate profit through their employees. Cascio (2006, p.27-29), in his book titled 'Managing Human resource: productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits'(published by McGraw-Hill) lists seven practices/dimensions that form part of the 'management systems that produce profits through people' . They are:Job Security: Though the life-long employment is no longer possible, successful business organizations continu
As a service business owner, requesting testimonials from satisfied clients is one of the quickest ways you can start to establish trust with your online visitors. Why? Because it's not just you touting how wonderful you are -- it's other people stating how happy they were with your product or service and how its use changed their lives for the better. Testimonials create credibility, believability, and a sense of security for prospective customers when they visit your site, as they then know that others have successfully used your product or service.
As a side benefit, requesting testimonials from happy clients creates increased loyalty to you from your existing clients. This happens because the act of providing a testimonial puts their credibility on the line, as well, in terms of backing a product or service that they are willing to stand behind. Additionally, they feel that they are making a vital contribution to helping your business grow and prosper.
How do you go about getting effective testimonials for your website? Here are 10 strategies for creating testimonials that will make your visitors say, "Wow -- I've got to get that!":
1. Ask when the timing is right. When should you ask for testimonials? It depends on the nature of the work you're providing for someone. If you tend to work with your clients over a longer period of time, ask for the testimonial within the first few weeks or so, or at the point where they experience their first "ah-ha" or significant breakthrough or change with you. If you offer a short-term service, ask for it when you receive payment. For example, we recently had gutters installed around our house. The man who did the work was quick, efficient, thorough, easy to work with, had a great product, and did a wonderful job. Had he asked, I would have provided him with a written testimonial on the spot!
2. Request specific results. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial.
3. Keep it short yet powerful. No one has time to read a testimonial that goes on forever. Three or four sentences is optimal for an effective testimonial. It should be one that will quickly grab your reader and deliver a powerful punch. Your clients will appreciate knowing that you value a short testimonial--it takes much less of their time and doesn't seem like such a major hassle to complete.
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can create
Using this powerful Strategic System you will in five easy steps create your strategic plan in one day.It is so simple that people may prefer to spend so much money hiring consultants to give them the same strategic planning result, all be it, in more days and with elaborate language.But such is life... Our overall strategic system consists of two major parts:-1- What is your strategic position (strategic planning)2- How to advance that position (strategy)One word of caution: Strategy is not Strategic Planning. Strategic planning is done in a controlled static environment. Strategy deals only with changes in the field of operation and how you strategize to reach your mission and goals.In this article we will only deal with first major part of strategic planning or positioning. Five elements or steps must be considered, analyse
As a side benefit, requesting testimonials from happy clients creates increased loyalty to you from your existing clients. This happens because the act of providing a testimonial puts their credibility on the line, as well, in terms of backing a product or service that they are willing to stand behind. Additionally, they feel that they are making a vital contribution to helping your business grow and prosper.
How do you go about getting effective testimonials for your website? Here are 10 strategies for creating testimonials that will make your visitors say, "Wow -- I've got to get that!":
1. Ask when the timing is right. When should you ask for testimonials? It depends on the nature of the work you're providing for someone. If you tend to work with your clients over a longer period of time, ask for the testimonial within the first few weeks or so, or at the point where they experience their first "ah-ha" or significant breakthrough or change with you. If you offer a short-term service, ask for it when you receive payment. For example, we recently had gutters installed around our house. The man who did the work was quick, efficient, thorough, easy to work with, had a great product, and did a wonderful job. Had he asked, I would have provided him with a written testimonial on the spot!
2. Request specific results. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial.
3. Keep it short yet powerful. No one has time to read a testimonial that goes on forever. Three or four sentences is optimal for an effective testimonial. It should be one that will quickly grab your reader and deliver a powerful punch. Your clients will appreciate knowing that you value a short testimonial--it takes much less of their time and doesn't seem like such a major hassle to complete.
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can creat
There are several ways you can earn money using a blog. One way is with Affiliate Sales which is promoting another person's product where you get paid a commission. Another way is with Adsense which is where you have advertisements for other people's products put on your blog and you are paid when a visitor clicks on this ad. Yet another way is with direct sales where you are selling your own product or a product that you have the resale rights to.If your plan of action is to use Affiliate Sales, you need to find two or three related affiliate programs to join. A few of the places to check for affiliates is Clickbank, Commission Junction or PayDotCom. There are several others that are also available. You can find these by use one of the search engines such as Google. To get traffic to your site, you can write articles pertaining to the niche that you are designing your blog around or you could write reviews pertaining to
1. Ask when the timing is right. When should you ask for testimonials? It depends on the nature of the work you're providing for someone. If you tend to work with your clients over a longer period of time, ask for the testimonial within the first few weeks or so, or at the point where they experience their first "ah-ha" or significant breakthrough or change with you. If you offer a short-term service, ask for it when you receive payment. For example, we recently had gutters installed around our house. The man who did the work was quick, efficient, thorough, easy to work with, had a great product, and did a wonderful job. Had he asked, I would have provided him with a written testimonial on the spot!
2. Request specific results. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial.
3. Keep it short yet powerful. No one has time to read a testimonial that goes on forever. Three or four sentences is optimal for an effective testimonial. It should be one that will quickly grab your reader and deliver a powerful punch. Your clients will appreciate knowing that you value a short testimonial--it takes much less of their time and doesn't seem like such a major hassle to complete.
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can creat
What do salespeople and philosophers have in common?For one thing, they have time to think, which is very rare these days.Look around you, particularly on the highways at 7:45 or 8:45 in the morning, People are rushing to get to work so they can then rush from one task to another.Usually, they aren’t in charge of their schedules—other people make decisions for them as to where they’ll be, and with whom they’ll speak, and when they’ll do it.Salespeople are some of the few functionaries in our society who can plan their communications with prospects and clients, who can reflect on their goals for meetings, and who can take some care in adopting certain strategies for convincing their listeners.In this sense, they’re like Socrates, the greatest philosopher, and the very best sellers design their presentations with this immortal, in mind.What was Socrates’ greatest strength?He was an expert a
2. Request specific results. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial.
3. Keep it short yet powerful. No one has time to read a testimonial that goes on forever. Three or four sentences is optimal for an effective testimonial. It should be one that will quickly grab your reader and deliver a powerful punch. Your clients will appreciate knowing that you value a short testimonial--it takes much less of their time and doesn't seem like such a major hassle to complete.
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can creat
You are a business. You are the president of your own personal services corporation. If a business is going to grow and prosper it must market itself, and you are no different. We are living today in an indifferent global market that is more competitive than at any time in history.The world doesn’t care who succeeds and who fails. It plays no favorites. To be successful today you must be able to identify and then market all of your unique talents and abilities to the world. You must have clear and concise message and a way to deliver that message to the right market.The first place to start in marketing yourself is to set a goal, a field of interest, a career path, or a company that you want to join. Nothing will happen until and unless you take the first step and start something.When you begin taking action, you begin to attract ideas and get hunches that eventually lead to new feelings and experiences. These will
4. Request to use their contact info. Make your testimonial provider a "real person" in the eye of your visitors. When you ask for a testimonial, it's most helpful if you request to use the name, website, and photo of the person providing the testimonial. Technology exists where you can request an audio testimonial from them, or if you're at a conference, you can create a video testimonial as well. Testimonials with initials and a city or just a job title don't strike me as authentic -- to me, they appear to be fabricated by the business owner.
5. Get diverse testimonials. I become quite skeptical of testimonials of well-known Internet marketers, for example, when all I see on their sites are testimonials by other well-known Internet marketers. It appears like they have a testimonial club established. I'm also skeptical if all I see are testimonials from people in the same industry as the person who is requesting the testimonial. Remember, the point of providing testimonials is so that your visitor can see a visual representation of someone like him/herself who has used your product or service successfully and has gained real results from doing so. Make sure that the testimonials you use represent a cross-section of your target market.
6. Request their permission to use the testimonial in all of your marketing efforts. You may decide to incorporate testimonials into your brochures, direct mail, special reports, print ads, etc. Make sure that you can use the testimonial in any of your marketing strategies.
7. Write the testimonial for them. This may seem counter to every strategy listed above, but reality dictates this step if you have busy customers or clients who simply hate to write. In many cases, you may have heard your client sing your praises so often that all you need to do is write down what you've been hearing and send it to that client for any revisions and approval. Or, you can request a a 10-minute interview with the client and create a testimonial based on what answers are given in the interview and send that to your client for approval, as well.
8. Use case studies if you're new in business. If you've just opened your business, you probably have few, if any, clients at this point, which means you have no one to ask for a testimonial. In that case, I tell my new business owner clients to use either use testimonials from their former lives as employees, which is a passable strategy but not the best, or better yet, create and use case studies on their site.
Some case studies anonymously document a situation and a problem of a client and then how the business owner helped the client resolve that problem. However, newbie business owners will need to research the problems of their potential clients and then create a solution for those problems. The problem-solution case studies can then be used in lieu of testimonials to help the new business owner create credibility with website visitors.
9. Create a system for requesting testimonials. If you're selling information products online, incorporate a testimonial request and testimonial writing guideline into your follow up autoresponder system. If you work with clients on an ongoing basis, incorporate your testimonial request
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