According to Visibility Expert, Nancy Marmolejo, "Word of mouth referrals are perhaps the strongest way to build a business. Think of all the times you ate at a restaurant, or tried a service based on a referral from a trusted friend. Testimonials are a type of word of mouth referral, allowing your prospects and clients to hear for themselves how others enjoyed working with you.
An effective testimonial will encapsulate the client’s experience with specific examples. It will give prospects the chance to connect on an emotional level with you and your business. That emotional connection is what makes testimonials such a powerful tool.
Getting a testimonial isn’t too hard. Getting a GREAT testimonial takes a bit more thinking but delivers far more powerful results. It involves asking open ended questions and being specific."
Nancy suggests 6 tips in her "crash course on getting great testimonials." Her first tip is
Ask the right questions
"People need helpful structures to write great testimonials. If you ask, “Did you have a good experience working with us”, then they can answer in a single word, “yes” or “no”. That is called a closed ended question. Asking open ended questions (questions that can’t be answered with a yes or no) will open the client up to be more authentic. Here are some great examples of questions to ask (you may need to vary them based on the type of business you have):
1. What were the three best things you experienced while being our client?
2. If you were to describe your experience to a friend, how would you phrase it?
3. How did we help you reach your goals?"
Get Nancy Marmolejo's other 5 tips at A Great Testimonial is Like Money in the Bank.
When it comes to testimonials and endorsements, it's important to be honest and ethical. I've been reading the last few posts on business authoring expert Glenn Dietzel's blog. It seems some underhanded marketer is out there claiming to be the secret behind Glenn's success. He's posted on his information product that Glenn is his client and taking credit for Glenn's success. The fact is Glenn's never even worked with the guy! So not only are people stealing identities on the web, it looks like they're stealing endorsements too! Gimme a break!
In his recent post The Etymology Of Black Hat Marketing With Media Releases, Glenn defines some important terms for us to remember when a) buying anything on the internet and b) selling anything on the internet:
"A Black Hat Marketer is someone who manipulates marketing techniques and strategies to undermine some else’s promotion or leverage another’s success for their own success. I refer to this person as a marketer and not entrepreneur as I do NOT consider unethical practices to be a part of entrepreneurship.
A White Hat Entrepreneur is someone who puts value and one’s prospective clients first. This person combines one’s passion and expertise and creates incredible value from the person’s unique perspective (UPP) and one’s system for solving defined problems (USP).
A Black Hat Virus is the worst kind of virus. It combines elements of truth with elements of dishonesty. It does what Mark Joyner discusses in his book, Simpleology, which is to get the market place to agree upon some basic truths, and then take them down a path that simply cannot be verified. (Note: I am not saying that Mark’s book has anything to do with black hat marketing!)" Glenn Dietzel The Etymology Of Black Hat Marketing With Media Releases
So... the next time you're looking at laying down a significant amount of money for a product or service on the internet, you might want to ask for some references you can actually email or call on the phone. If you're a major expert in your field, you may wish to do periodic searches to make sure no one's using you as their fake endorsement!
Finally, as you use testimonials on your site, here's an idea to increase credibility from our official Dating Expert Stephany Alexander, CEO, WomanSavers.com, the World's Largest Database Rating Men: "Getting endorsements from quality people for your product or service is an absolute necessity. Get endorsements from experts, leaders, successful business people and even celebrities if you have access to them. Even better, place a photograph of yourself with the endorsee holding your product or place a digital photograph of the two of you next to the endorsee's quote. Now that's a believable endorsement that people won't think is made up."
There's always a bad apple who spoils things for everyone else. It's hard enough to build trust with customers online without people using black hat marketing tactics to create a new kind of lie.
Ronda
Posted by: The Story Lady | February 27, 2008 at 04:22 PM