You can attract or ‘catch’ more clients by collecting testimonials from your customers and using them in your marketing materials (both online and offline). It lets your customers do the talking, convincing and persuading for you and your business. If possible, include the customer’s photograph, their real name, position within their company and location. That way, prospects can see that the testimonials are genuine.

Some testimonials aren’t particularly useful: they’re the ones that say “Wow! Your company’s great!” SuccessTrack Founder Jonathan Jay recommends you ask customers to go into detail about how the product or service has improved or benefited their lives.

“You need testimonials that give sufficient detail. For example, someone might go on an investment training course and they might say: ‘When I first came on your investment training course I was £5,000 in debt. However, after using the advice I am now £10,000 in credit – after paying off all my credit cards – and I now have a bright future ahead of me because I now know that I’m in control of my financial destiny.’ That’s good whereas a testimonial that just says, ‘Fantastic!’ – is not so good.

“You need to build up the layers of detail. A testimonial that just says: ‘This product is absolutely brilliant’ with the person’s initials underneath, is not very powerful. The business owner should have asked for the testimonial and explained it was going to be used on their website and in their marketing material and was going to be read by other people.”

Most people don’t use testimonials effectively and therefore they don’t see the impact they can have, says Jay.

“They don’t even see the necessity of collecting testimonials from clients. But if you get the right testimonials from the right people, it builds respect, prestige and your professionalism. It elevates you in the eyes of the person reading the testimonial. They say, ‘Well, if this person says she’s good – she must be good!’

“The key is to get testimonials about different aspects of your service or product. If you get a whole range of testimonials saying the same thing it reinforces the point – but ideally what you want to see is them coming from different angles. So have:

• One testimonial saying what great service you provide
• One testimonial talking about the quality of the materials
• One testimonial saying how easy you are to do business with
• One testimonial talking about the value for money
• One testimonial talking about the outcome derived from using your product or service and how it exceeded their expectations
• One testimonial saying how much they have recommended the products or service to their friends and family
• One testimonial saying, “I’ve tried other companies products or other companies services and they don’t measure up to yours”.

“Have a range of testimonials to endorse what you do from every single angle. Think of it as a CAT scan – providing clarity from every single angle and providing absolute transparency so there is zero doubt in anyone’s mind.”

Hank Stroll and Meryl K. Evans say referrals don’t always happen just by accident. They are the product of a great customer experience – a mix of sales, marketing and customer-support efforts. It’s too easy to forget to remind customers how great their experience was so that they will be more willing to make further referrals. Out of sight is definitely out of mind, in this case.

They recommend you identify the ‘ideal’ referral candidates, articulate your company’s USP and how it relates to their network, create the ideal environment for referrals and thank the referrers.
Referrals, they say, are the best low-cost marketing projects you can deliver. The best way to make referrals work for you is to stay in contact with your network.