That’s a bit of a set up statement.
Testimonials are still an important part of marketing and they do work, just not always as effectively as they once did. I once sold 42 coaching slots on one day during an event (not mine) in Texas a few years ago. That number is especially significant considering there were 112 eligible buying units in the room at the time of my presentation.
The Power of Testimonials
Why am I telling you this? Not to brag (I know it looks like it), but to share with you that the presentation, my pitch part of it, consisted of about 85% testimonials I had collected. This was not the intended pitch I had scripted, practiced and memorized. But some unexpected circumstances occurred right before lunch (I was second up after lunch), which had to do with another presenter’s offer, dictated that I do something drastically different or fall flat on my face when it came time to selling my coaching program. I completely overhauled the presentation during the lunch break and decided to rely on the power of the testimonials to do the heavy lifting. It worked.
I tell you the story to demonstrate the power of testimonials. Having said that, testimonials are not as effective as they once were, for several reasons: one is that folks today have become jaded when it comes to testimonials and there are several other reasons, such as the lack of attention people give any type of sales presentation. They have a tendency to skip over most of the testimonials and even most of the content.
Change Your Testimonials To Be More Effective
Another is how they’re presented, including when they are presented and what is in the testimonials. I’m not here to give you a lesson on testimonials, you can find that in a lot of places including Dan Kennedy’s book The Ultimate Sales Letter. Nor is it my intent to convince to stop using testimonials. DO NOT stop using testimonials. My intent is to get you to think about how you might change or improve what you do with testimonials, to look at how you might improve them.
I personally have gone back and looked at a bunch of awesome testimonials to see how I might improve how they’re presented, where they’re presented and more.
I’ll leave you with a couple of suggestions, one is try to use the parts of your testimonials that address objections your prospects have to buying. Another is shorten them, cut out a lot of the fluff. Keep in mind the consumer mindset, how and what they respond to, especially how they read and/or don’t read or even look at what you present.
If you’d like to STOP going the long, slow, painful route to growing your business and your income, contact Lois@GreatResultsMarketing.com or call her at 440-842-8938, about joining our mastermind program and or working with me on a personal basis through my private consulting options.