The following excerpt is from Wendy Keller’s book Ultimate Guide to Platform Building. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
One of the most overlooked yet critically important benefits of building a rock-solid business that really serves its customers is that people like what you’re doing. Maybe some of them send you referrals or give you a testimonial. They might endorse something you’re doing or give feedback on new products or services you’re thinking of launching. Or, they might not.
If you’re doing a good job but aren’t getting the kind of support you need from your customers, there can only be one reason: You aren’t asking for it.
The beauty salon that doesn’t capture the name, email address, phone number, birthdate, wedding anniversary and children’s names and ages (and remembers to commemorate these dates) for every single client does itself no favors and will always be “accepting walk-ins.”
The business consultant who assures himself that someday some CEO will be golfing with another CEO and his name will maybe come up is likely to be taking a side job to support his consulting business for a few years.
The restaurant that tells itself that OpenTable, TripAdvisor or Yelp reviews don’t matter is going to be competing against every other restaurant in town for the foreseeable future.
The number-one misconception most people have about asking for these things is that they think they’re asking for a favor. Actually, you’re making a square trade — you just have to see it from another perspective. The majority of people love to be asked for their opinion — it’s part of our nature. Ask a customer who likes your business to comment on it, and it will likely make the customer smile just to have been asked.
Types of testimonials
A testimonial is the positive feedback you get from a customer that you use to help market your business. Here are some examples:
“Joe, your pizza is the best I’ve ever eaten!” — Susan Kritzer, your hometown
“I can only say that working with you saved my life. The day I met you, Elizabeth, I had been thinking that it would be better to end my life than to continue with [this problem], but now…” — Chelsea P.
“This man is the best person I have ever met in my life. He helped me figure out the entire theory of relativity. Thanks, Jim.” — Einstein
Testimonials are incredibly easy to get and incredibly useful to you. A testimonial guides your prospect to think, “Hey! Other people like this product or service. I likely won’t be screwed over if I buy this or use this. I can trust this company to give me what they seem to be promising.”
Testimonials work because me telling you how brilliant I am at marketing is suspect, but when…