And of course you’re using their lovely words in your marketing, aren’t you? Wait, what? You’re not? Oh no! You’re missing a huge opportunity to use a free marketing tool to grow your business – we need to talk!

OK, let me explain something to you about the power of testimonials…

I had a lovely surprise recently. One my clients, a lady who took one of my programmes last year messaged me on Facebook with a great testimonial. This is what she said: “Hi Claire I know you’re promoting your latest ‘programme at the moment and thought you might be interested in the following facts re. my business since taking the course in November: I’ve worked with 23 new clients as a direct result of word of mouth recommendations from contacts made through the programme. In the last six months, I have earned as much as the previous year, so I’ve effectively doubled my income. Last month, I hit the monthly figures in my vision. I also have 53 people signed up to my mailing list, which I know isn’t a massive amount, but it’s 53 more ideal customers than I had six months ago that I can contact with special offers and build a relationship with! I am getting about 80% of my work from repeat business. I don’t know whether you can use these figures but I thought I’d send you an update”

Now that in itself is wonderful. I’m super proud of this lady because she has put what she learned into practise and she deserves to be doing so well. I’m delighted that she took the time to write to me and share these results, without me having to ask. But I’m also over the moon because I can use her wonderful testimonial to show how good my programmes are.

I Bet People Are Talking About You!

And then I got thinking about you. I bet you’ve got loads of feedback from customers, right?

I’m sure there are lots of occasions when a happy customer has said something  lovely about your business?

Maybe you’ve even got emails from some people saying how happy they are and how awesome YOU are? Hmm?

And if that IS the case then what are you doing with them? If you’re like most people you might have smiled when the customer said those lovely things, got a warm fuzzy feeling and then just carried on with business as usual.

Because MOST people don’t realise the power of testimonials. MOST people don’t understand how big an impact they can have on your sales. But you’re not MOST people – you’re about to become a testimonial ninja and you’re going to start using them to grow your business. OK?

Why Testimonials Grow Your Business

The thing is, it doesn’t matter how many adverts you see for a product or service, testimonials always have more power. They are from real people. People just like you. And as a result they carry more weight. This is called Social Proof.

How do you feel about my programmes now? I’ll bet you’re thinking ‘those are GREAT results, I’ll at least take a look. If it worked for her, it might work for me…’ And that’s how it works. When you can see that people like you have bought products or services and they WORKED and even better, that the person was so happy they were willing to say something nice about it after the fact and even put their name to it, well…that’s got to be good, right?

So, How Can YOU Use Testimonials In Your Business?

Well, first of all you have to start collecting them. And even ASKING for them. I ask my clients for testimonials after we’ve started working together – I don’t even wait until they’ve finished the programmes because often the biggest excitement and ‘aha’ moments come when they first get stuck in and start learning.

When are YOUR customers most excited?

When you ask for testimonials, lots of people don’t know what to say so make it easy for them – if you’re emailing say something like ‘Hi Jane, remember when I delivered your cakes  and you said ‘Oh my goodness, these look like they were made by angels?’ – well that was such a lovely thing to say, could I use it in my marketing please? And would you mind if I showed a photo of them please?

Or if someone says in your shop ‘I always come to you because the service is brilliant, I always feel like I’ve been visiting a friend when I’ve been shopping with you’ then say ‘Bev, that is such a lovely thing to say and I am so happy you feel like that. Would you mind if I used your words on my website to show that we’re a friendly shop, because it’s hard to know what a shop is like just from photos on a website’

Most people will be more than happy to let you. And some will even suggest improvements to their testimonial.

Where Can I Use Testimonials In My Marketing?

The short answer is EVERYWHERE!

• On your Facebook page
• On Twitter
• On Pinterest – turn them into little images using Canva
• On LinkedIn
• On your website
• On YouTube if you can persuade your customers to stand in front of you while you film them on your phone saying nice things about your business
• In email marketing
• On flyers and banners and brochures.

When I say everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE – because there is no better marketing tool than an endorsement from a customer and the more you have, the easier it will be for potential customers to see how great you are, how well looked after they will be and how fab your products and services are.

Testimonials build trust and bridge the gap between someone knowing about you and buying from you.

I want you to start collecting testimonials today. If you have testimonials you haven’t used yet then start using them – put them on your website and social media, shout about them. It’s a free marketing tool that really works and it’s time for you to start using it in your business now!

Question: What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your business? Pop your comments below and let’s see what a talented bunch we are!