How to Get Testimonials and Make Them Count - The 7-Power Contractor

How to Get Testimonials and Make Them Count

Why the big fuss about getting testimonials anyway?

It’s simple. I learned a long time ago that what you tell me about you is interesting but what I really want to know is what someone, who is a customer, like me is saying about you.

It’s not that as a potential customer we don’t trust what you’re saying….but we don’t….and it’s only natural to feel that way.

Think about it. When you go shopping for something like a car or even a service you need at your home, don’t you ask your friends, family members or even check out the testimonials of others? As people, we want to know who else will  testify as to how good the product and/or the service you’re selling really is and we’d prefer not to be the Guinea Pig.

It’s not personal. It’s just human nature. WE want assurance. At least, we don’t feel foolish. So if we follow someone’s recommendation or rely on a testimonial and it doesn’t work out quite as well as we had hoped we don’t feel so silly. Nobody wants to appear stupid and most if not all of us are more than happy to let someone else test the waters first for us.

Okay, so know you know why testimonial advertising and marketing are so powerfully effective and why it I’s critical to keeping your phone ringing.

To help capture testimonials, you need to work at it. The big thing is to do a Customer Survey each and every time you do work for a customer. And the time to do it is as soon as the work is completed and they’re hopefully feeling the best about you and your company

Here’s the template I use with clients to solicit testimonial comments by sending them out after each job called the “Customer Survey Form”.

Note:   It’s the comments they write in that count the most! That’s because it takes effort and you can use them if they give permission in your marketing. Check boxes are not as helpful

Note:   It’s easy to think that you can ask your Techs to hand them out when they do the work. STOP! You think if I was your Tech and I ticked off a nasty customer that I’d actually hand them one of these? No way! That’s why they must be mailed or if you like you can try emailing them.

Here’s an alternate example of a set of questions that I have some of my clients use when completing big ticket jobs like installations so they can potentially get a good testimonial to use with prospective new customers:

  1. What was going wrong before we arrived or did our work?
  1. What were you most afraid of before working with us?
  1. What were you most pleased with about the way we did our work?
  1. Would you recommend us to others?

If you want to really ramp up the effectiveness of your testimonial marketing, try to get a picture to go with their good written testimonial. The worst they can say is, “No” and you’d be surprised if you do a good job how amenable they are.

The trick is to get the testimonial as soon as possible after the work is done and they’re feeling good about you.

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