Page 127 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

47 Build credibility with testimonials from happy
customers

Testimonials are statements from your customers saying
how great your business is. They are very good marketing
tools and they should be used in your promotional material
wherever possible.

Whenever we finish a major project it is standard proce-
dure to ask the client for a testimonial. We ask them to be
honest and to tell us the good and the bad points of dealing
with us and we welcome any suggestions for improving our
services. It is a kind of debriefing. Fortunately most of our
testimonials are excellent and we show these to prospective
customers who are thinking about using our services. Without
a doubt these testimonials help to generate most of our work.

The things you are looking for in a testimonial are
comments that emphasise that your company is reputable,
professional, reliable and honest. When using testimonials
in your printed material always include a name and where
the person comes from. Copies of letters sent in by happy
customers are even more helpful. It is amazing how many
companies have boxes full of letters from customers saying
how great they are but they never use them.

Don’t make up your own testimonials and if possible
you should check with the person supplying the testimonial
to see if it is OK to use it in your promotional material.
A great way to get testimonials from your customers is with
a guest book on the counter.

Testimonials should always be used in advertising and
the nicest thing about them is that they are absolutely free;
all you have to do is provide good service and ask your
customers for a few words.

A sample testimonial follows:

101 Ways To Market Your Business helped to turn my
business around. The information contained in it is

112