If there’s one thing that can make or break your sales….it’s your testimonials.
You read that right. I said testimonials!
Why? The voice of your customer is an incredibly powerful thing. Our clients are our best promoters because they’re PROOF we deliver on what we say we can.
Who better to provide a glowing reference of your services than someone who has actually used them?
Testimonials fall under the scope of “social proof”, meaning that your potential clients rely on the opinions and experiences of other when making their decision about working with you. If someone is thinking about hiring you, they’ll likely be looking for social proof to validate that choice.
Think of it the same way as buying a new gadget. You want to read reviews from other people who have already purchased that item so you can make a more informed decision. (Fact: Studies consistently show that people rely heavily on reviews and trust them way more than anything the company claims.)
Reading testimonials from real people can go a long way to help persuade your potential clients.
Now that you know you need testimonials, how do you ask your clients without it being awkward? (I know you’ve been avoiding asking for this very reason!)
We’ve got you covered with three easy steps to asking for testimonials in this video.
#1. Make Asking Part of Your Process
When you want to ask for testimonials you need to have a plan. Which is why making “the ask” part of your process is the easiest way to make this happen. You shouldn’t be waiting until you actually need a testimonial to be asking your clients.
The end of your project is the ideal time to ask your client for a testimonial because the project is winding down and the client is able to reflect back on all the awesome work you have completed.
If you haven’t already, make asking for a testimonial part of your offboarding process for every client. It’s much easier to ask now than try and track a client down months later and hope they remember how fabulous you are!
If you’re working with ongoing or retainer clients, you can still build asking for a testimonial into your process. With retainers, we like to wait about three months from when we start. This will allow time to establish a strong working relationship and your client can provide some concrete examples of what you have done for them.
#2. Make It Easy to Say Yes
If you want to make sure your client says yes to providing a testimonial, then your top priority is to live up to your end of the deal when it comes to the work you deliver. No one wants to be asked for a testimonial for mediocre work.
From there, you need to ensure you make it easy for them to say yes to providing a testimonial. The process you follow should be simple and straightforward and there should be no guessing as what exactly you want from the client.
Keep your request for a testimonial short and sweet. You need to be crystal clear what you’re asking for and why you want to showcase them in this way.
Over the years, I’ve secured countless testimonials (okay, thousands) as I worked on voice of the customer programs. For my clients.
Here are a few things I’ve found make this process of asking clients go smoothly:
- Remember they’re doing you a favour. You want to take up as little of their time as possible.
- Have only a handful of questions for them to answer. Ideally, include no more than five questions.
- If they’re super busy or don’t like writing, interview them and offer to write it up for their approval.
#3. Create a Template
The last step to gathering testimonials is for you to put together a template that you can use each time to make asking your clients even easier. You’ll want to give a short introduction to frame up your ask and then give them a few questions to answer.
As part of this step, you’ll want to draft a template email you can use along with a list of questions to ask your clients. These questions should cover their challenge, the solution and the results of your work together.
Some sample questions:
- What challenges/needs brought you to our business?
- What made you choose our service?
- What is your favourite part of our services?
- How did this enhance your business?
- What results have you experienced?
- Would you recommend our services to someone else?
Be sure to let your client know that if they don’t want to craft the actual testimonial, they don’t have to. They can just answer two or three of the questions and you can draft the testimonial for them. The easier you make it for the client, the more likely they’ll be to provide you with the testimonial.
Get Into Action
There you have it! You can totally get good testimonials without all that awkward avoidance and waiting until you absolutely NEED a testimonial to ask for one.
Get started now by figuring out who you can ask for a testimonial in the next few days and then nail down exactly what and how to ask them.
