Testimonials: Their Content and How To Get Them

Published November, 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* 1. Featured Article: Testimonials. Their Content and How To Get Them.
* 2. Born to Read Book Club with convenient Amazon.ca links:  by Get Clients Now! by C. J. Hayden and Going To Pieces Without Falling Apart by Mark Epstein, M.D.
* 3. Think About This Question. Where do you put your testimonials?
* 4. Make a comment On My Blog called Marketing to Small Business – at  http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com
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TRUDY’S NOTE

Hi There

A testimonial is something someone says or writes about you or your product or service. The best ones are unsolicited but you can remind clients to give you one or you can even ask for one. I’ve got them both ways.
Remember that you can and must make it easy for clients/ prospects/ friends/ family to write one.
I believe people are inherently good and want to help you succeed. A testimonial is a simple way they can help.
Read on to find out how to get them.
Read and comment on my blog at http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com for more of my thoughts on this and other things that relate to marketing for small business. (Marketing includes having a blog of your own and making comments on someone else’s!)
Thanks for reading.
My Happiest Wishes for you,
Trudy
Marketing Mentor for Small Business
mailto:trudy@smallbizbuilder.com  http://www.smallbizbuilder.com
Please print or forward this ezine to your friends and colleagues – I have lots to tell you and would like you to give this info as a gift to yourself and others. Enjoy.
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1. FEATURED ARTICLE. Testimonials. Their Content and How To Get Them.
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Testimonials are very useful to your business. They make you smile and feel happy when you get one especially if you didn’t ask for it. They come from everyone, everywhere and now and again when you least expect it. Sometimes, though you don’t have as many as you’d like or just the right one. You may be writing the content for your web site or you may be sending out a sales letter. Just ask for a testimonial!

1. WHAT SHOULD BE IN A TESTIMONIAL?
Every testimonial tells others of a positive experience a client had with you or your business.
Make it …. * be about what your business is and what you want people to buy from you (make it relevant)
* short and to the point
* detailed. For example ‘X did great work for me’ is poor. ‘I have doubled sales in my business and done this by using 2 people outside my company and all because of suggestions made by X’. Add ….
* the name, title, and a link to their business on the Internet (if you’re allowed)

2. WHO DO YOU ASK?
Ask everyone who is pleased with what you did for them whether you’re speaking or training or delivering your product or service. You give them an evaluation to complete, don’t you? Just add another space at the bottom for their comments or better yet, ask for a testimonial.
If you’re just starting up and have few or no clients yet, ask your friends or family who know what you do and whose designation or title reflects what your business offers. They may even have a ‘name’ that is known to your prospects.

3. HOW DO YOU ASK? Always be polite. It’s the way we were taught and takes so little time to be this way.
Smile if you’re asking in person. If you’re using email, be sure they know you’re warm and friendly. Too often, people are very impersonal online. You don’t have to be.

4. MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM.
There are a number of ways to make giving you a testimonial easy.
Here are a few suggestions: *have a handout at the end of your presentation with a slot for them to complete a testimonial
* ask by phone or email after you’ve provided a service or product
* tell them they can send their comments by email
* write a testimonial for them and send it to them. Ask if it’s alright and tell them they can rewrite it to sound more like them or leave it as is (leaving it ‘as is’ means you really knew what you did, them, and their business)

5. TELL THEM WHERE YOU’LL USE IT …. AND SHOW THEM.
All of us like to know that whatever we do is used and useful. Whether it’s a testimonial or a product or service, tell the person who gave it to you that you used it. It’s even better if you tell them where and how you’re applying it.
Computers and the internet make this easy to do. This only takes your time. Don’t just send the location but email a link to it if that makes sense. Others will appreciate it – and smile again!
Remind them that a testimonial is no cost promotion for their business, too.

6. WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?
Keep offering the wonderful product or service that you do.
Stay in touch with those who gave you a testimonial either by email or by phone. Let them know they’re special and thank them. Send an email whenever someone buys and names THEIR testimonial.
A testimonial is a way that clients show they believe in you and what you do. Say thanks for it.
** See my “Services” page on my website to get some of my time and I can tell you exactly how to do them! **
Keep learning, … and until next time.
© 2008 Trudy Van Buskirk
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2. BORN TO READ BOOK CLUB
Here are the two books for this issue. The first one is business and the second is spiritual. As always I own them both and have read them.
Get Clients Now! A 28 Day Marketing Program for Professionals and Consultants by C.J. Hayden.
C.J. Hayden is a woman who is a very good speaker and trainer who took some of her ideas for marketing for service professionals and put them into a readable book.
Hayden’s book starts with descriptions of each thing you can do for marketing, drawings (she starts with the “marketing and sales cycle), has several day by day (named as Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 etc), questions to ask yourself, many forms with examples filled in, and a way to measure yourself and whether you’re reaching your goals.
It’s one of the clearest and most straightforward books on marketing on the market. The first edition was published in 1999 and was updated in 2006 to reflect online marketing, too.
You can also sign up with her to give this as a course. I did and taught many business owners how to “Get Clients Now”.
Read and think about what is said in this book. Do what Hayden recommends and you’ll reach your business goals. USE it and do what she says.
Buy this book and read and use it. http://tinyurl.com/5559md
Going To Pieces Without Falling Apart. A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness. Lessons from Meditation and Psychotherapy by Mark Epstein, M.D.
I like this book for at least two reasons. First, the author is a Western psychotherapist and compares what he learned here with what he learned from Buddhism and second this teaches me more about the principles of Buddhism in a way that I can understand.
Epstein makes this book readable and intelligent. He recounts examples of himself and his patients to help us understand his points. There are four parts to this book – looking, smiling, embracing and orgasm (bringing it all back home) and he does a masterful job writing about each one.
Meditation forms the centerpiece of his writing. It can be done by sitting and doing it or by being ‘meditative’ when you work, walk, or play. Doing it is the key to feeling and knowing yourself.
If you’re looking for a Buddhist approach to your Western life without becoming a Buddhist then this book is for you.
Buy this book and tell others about it.

http://tinyurl.com/5n7lpu

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3. THINK ABOUT THIS QUESTION: What products and services do you have NOW that people can buy?
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4. Read and comment on my blog at  http://www.trudyvanbuskirk.typepad.com to learn more about marketing tips. I’m writing more often here about whatever comes up.
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DO YOU LIKE THIS NEWSLETTER? Please pass it along to your friends, associates, and clients who you think would appreciate it. It comes to you once a month from marketing mentor for small business and consultant Trudy Van Buskirk.
ABOUT TRUDY VAN BUSKIRK
Trudy Van Buskirk, is the founder of Smallbizbuilder. As a small business consultant, trainer, author, and resource (she knows people, books, etc… lots!), Trudy ensures that her clients get the results they want using her practical and disciplined systems which motivate them to plan AND to take action.  She has built three businesses from the ground up in Canada and the U.S.; consulted with small businesses and professionals; developed and delivered training courses for entrepreneurs; given keynote addresses and authored four books for TVOntario’s Bits ‘n Bytes television series on computers in 1982 and Winning Women in 1992, and uses e-coaching (coaching by email which you can do any time) in her practice.
CONTACT ME: Email:  mailto:trudy@smallbizbuilder.com
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