- Original Poster
- #1
Hey all
I think that the topic of testimonials if often over looked. Yes we all talk about them and know they are great, but are you collecting them and using them properly?
In all of the businesses I have run I have always been keen on testimonials.
In this post I am going to share with you my systems of getting them and how I use them. The testimonials have I gathered has lead to thousands of pounds worth of sales as well as attracting investments.
When I first started running my first company it was promoting bands in Manchester. What I used to do was hire a venue and PA system and put 3-4 bands at a monthly gig. The bands would buy 100 tickets in advance and sell them to their friends. In this business getting punters coming to the shows was not where my focus was, getting the bands to purchase advanced tickets was.
Local unsigned band nights are really hard to fill and all bands want to do is play to packed venue.. because of the ticket system we used we always used to have a great crowd. I found convincing new bands to part with their money hard at times so I decided to get past bands to write testimonials. Once we had these we sent them to new bands and we found they were then happy to sign up.
I devised a system where I would contact each band the day after the gig to get their feedback. I would then ask them to provide a testimonial. As 95% of the bands played to a packed venue and made about £200, they were more than happy to do so. These testimonials were sent via email, we then put them onto the website and had them ready to send to prospect bands as part of a package.
My next business was MK Printing, an online print and design studio. Selling print online is hard as people are often sceptical about quality. So I decided to speak to every customer, get feedback and ask for a testimonial. I then put these online and also categorised them to send to prospects. Now when a new business, a design studio or designer contacted me, I had testimonials ready to send them from relevant people. I collected close to 200 testimonials.
My next business was a business networking events company called Brookfield Networking. As we had used testimonials so well before, we wanted to use them again but also use more updated methods. Instead of getting people to email written ones, we videos people instead.
My current business is doing hypnotherapy. It is essential to have testimonials for something like this as it is still rather new and little is known about it. So address this I started interviewing my past clients. So I spoke to people who had lost weight, stopped smoking and over anxiety issues and recorded the calls. I then put the calls onto my website and youtube. Some of the calls are 30 minutes in length and very in-depth.
When prospects contact me now, I send them relevant testimonials. This has made my job so much easier as most of people's questions are answered in the interviews. This builds up a lot of trust and confidence and therefore they are very willing to come to see me.
Testimonials have been fantastic for my businesses because I have used systems to make sure they are collected, published and used in the right ways. Once you have a testimonial you can use it in many different ways. You can change the format i.e. video to audio to transcript.
The better the quality of the person giving the testimonial, the more effective it will be. At the moment I am in talks with several acting agents as I may be doing something with some celebrities. This would be great as a marketing point of view as everybody knows who they.
Your testimonials also need to be recent, genuine and traceable. Lots of people write their own testimonials or simple use ones from years ago. On all my testimonials I make sure that the person giving it is traceable (by giving their company name or seeing them on video) and that the date is mentioned.
So all in all, used properly testimonials are fantastic. I will always use them as a major part of my market, regardless what businesses I go into.
If anyone has any questions, please ask them here or send me a PM.
Matt
I think that the topic of testimonials if often over looked. Yes we all talk about them and know they are great, but are you collecting them and using them properly?
In all of the businesses I have run I have always been keen on testimonials.
In this post I am going to share with you my systems of getting them and how I use them. The testimonials have I gathered has lead to thousands of pounds worth of sales as well as attracting investments.
When I first started running my first company it was promoting bands in Manchester. What I used to do was hire a venue and PA system and put 3-4 bands at a monthly gig. The bands would buy 100 tickets in advance and sell them to their friends. In this business getting punters coming to the shows was not where my focus was, getting the bands to purchase advanced tickets was.
Local unsigned band nights are really hard to fill and all bands want to do is play to packed venue.. because of the ticket system we used we always used to have a great crowd. I found convincing new bands to part with their money hard at times so I decided to get past bands to write testimonials. Once we had these we sent them to new bands and we found they were then happy to sign up.
I devised a system where I would contact each band the day after the gig to get their feedback. I would then ask them to provide a testimonial. As 95% of the bands played to a packed venue and made about £200, they were more than happy to do so. These testimonials were sent via email, we then put them onto the website and had them ready to send to prospect bands as part of a package.
My next business was MK Printing, an online print and design studio. Selling print online is hard as people are often sceptical about quality. So I decided to speak to every customer, get feedback and ask for a testimonial. I then put these online and also categorised them to send to prospects. Now when a new business, a design studio or designer contacted me, I had testimonials ready to send them from relevant people. I collected close to 200 testimonials.
My next business was a business networking events company called Brookfield Networking. As we had used testimonials so well before, we wanted to use them again but also use more updated methods. Instead of getting people to email written ones, we videos people instead.
My current business is doing hypnotherapy. It is essential to have testimonials for something like this as it is still rather new and little is known about it. So address this I started interviewing my past clients. So I spoke to people who had lost weight, stopped smoking and over anxiety issues and recorded the calls. I then put the calls onto my website and youtube. Some of the calls are 30 minutes in length and very in-depth.
When prospects contact me now, I send them relevant testimonials. This has made my job so much easier as most of people's questions are answered in the interviews. This builds up a lot of trust and confidence and therefore they are very willing to come to see me.
Testimonials have been fantastic for my businesses because I have used systems to make sure they are collected, published and used in the right ways. Once you have a testimonial you can use it in many different ways. You can change the format i.e. video to audio to transcript.
The better the quality of the person giving the testimonial, the more effective it will be. At the moment I am in talks with several acting agents as I may be doing something with some celebrities. This would be great as a marketing point of view as everybody knows who they.
Your testimonials also need to be recent, genuine and traceable. Lots of people write their own testimonials or simple use ones from years ago. On all my testimonials I make sure that the person giving it is traceable (by giving their company name or seeing them on video) and that the date is mentioned.
So all in all, used properly testimonials are fantastic. I will always use them as a major part of my market, regardless what businesses I go into.
If anyone has any questions, please ask them here or send me a PM.
Matt
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