I am going to rock the boat again a bit here. I am NOT a big fan of the Customer or Client Testimonial as an effective marketing or promotional tool. Yes, I am referring to those few sentences where one writes heartfelt comments of appreciation about you and your business.
Why? For the following reasons;
- You usually have to approach your client or customer to ask for a testimonial and that can be awkward.
- While often happy to help, it puts the individual on the spot with just another thing they have to get done. You made them work. They remember that.
- They usually struggle with what to say.
- People reading a testimonial know all of the above, and don’t take it seriously.
- The testimonial is all about YOU! And it can come across as self-serving like a sales pitch.
- Consumers, these days, do NOT like a sales pitch!
SO — unless the testimonial is from a famous person or big name in your industry or area of expertise that would really impress, I don’t think a testimonial is as effective as, say, a Success Story.
What is a Success Story?
A Success Story is like a case study, except it isn’t about you or what you did for your client. Instead, it is a way to showcase the success of one of your best or ideal clients.
And this is how you can create a Success Story in Three EASY Steps —
a) Take a Great Picture of your client appropriate to what they do. If they make sailboats, go down to the dock. Own a factory? Go to the factory floor. Financial adviser? Take a photo in front of the stock exchange. You get the idea. And chances are they might have a great photo of themselves like that already!
b) Write a Couple of Paragraphs about their business or occupation. Where does their passion come from? What success have they had? What are their goals for the future? Keep it short!
c) Create a One-Page Template and insert the picture, the copy, add your logo, and presto, you have an impactful Success Story that you can;
Post On Your Website, and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media tool you use.
Send To Your Client who, by the way, also gets a free marketing tool that hey can use to promote themselves or their business. They love this!
Send or Give To A New Prospect to initiate a conversation of how you help your clients.
Frame and Display in your office! (I have a client who blew up their client success stories into posters and put them on the walls of their boardroom!)
Your Client’s Success is Your Success!
The Success Story is a powerful way to promote your business. By promoting your clients’ success, you are in essence also promoting the success of your business or services.
Need Some Examples?
Here are a couple of Success Stories that I recently wrote about my clients and sent out as a Newsletter.
http://mailchi.mp/d53beb6ff2b3/shelley-white-now-thats-a-success-story
http://mailchi.mp/7e7aa9efa1cc/flying-high-with-cathy-press-canadas-first-female-flight-instructor