Blog Insights

Customer testimonials add credibility to your brand. The heart of a good testimonial is a story, and nothing captures emotion like a story. Stories are scientifically proven to pull us in and make us feel something, and 89% of B2B marketers consider testimonials a powerful marketing tool. B2B decision-makers also trust them – 62% say peer recommendations are a strong purchasing trigger. 

If your website, blog, premium content offers, marketing programs, etc. are on point, you’re doing a fantastic job of establishing expertise in your industry and drawing prospects to you. But do you find that prospects come and go without ever becoming customers?

Businesses that perform technical consulting services that stretch out over a long period face a particularly difficult challenge when it comes to getting client testimonials and stories. At Leading Results, we work with a number of these types of companies (environmental consulting and remediation, ERP consultants, long-term labor outsourcing, and the like). You don’t run across these types of business on a daily basis – they perform very niche, but very vital, services for other businesses.

• Testimonials overcome skepticism. A good testimonial has the power to convince even the most skeptical prospect that your product or service really made a difference in your customer's life--and youcan help them, too.

Here’s an example of a great testimonial (sorry, have to toot my own horn).

It's a service economy. Or, it’s an experience economy. You’ve heard one of those before, right?  Actually, if you own or run a professional practice (MD, Attorney, eye care, CPA, Physical Therapy, etc.), it’s both.  You are providing a service and it is the result of the service and the experience around the service that counts.

Let me tell you about my recent dental experience.  Wait you are saying – no one likes to hear about the dentist. It is never a good story.  Well this one is, and it is illustrative of what I said above.

All consumers, business or personal, go through the process of getting to know, like, and trust your organization or team before they will try your products/services and buy from you. Testimonials and case studies from your current clients are a key component in building trust. If you are having a difficult time getting testimonials, it may be time to do a little digging to see what is really going on with your organization.

Testimonials from your clients (or partners) are traditionally used in the sales process to help a prospect develop trust. Trust that you or your product does what you say it does. What many businesses miss however, is the opportunity to use their customer testimonials to generate new inquiries and leads.

We’ve written a lot lately about testimonials – how to get good ones, what makes up a good testimonial, why they are important – and sometimes, the most powerful testimonial is a picture of all the people you do business with.

You see, as an individual, I don't want to be the only one doing business with you.  I want to be one of hundreds of satisfied customers.  So how can you help me understand that?

Here are seven tips I picked up, mostly through trial and error, as well as talking to photographers and videographers.