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01.24.12
Ask PW — “What’s the best way to ask for testimonials?”
“My question is the following: I just launched my business and want to ask for testimonials from women, but I know they need some guidance because it is not common here to ask for testimonials. [She's from Uruguay.] Should I ask them questions or have them complete sentences? If so, what kind of questions or sentences do you recommend?”
Luz Mara Sande
Since your clients aren’t used to being asked for testimonials, you may want to try a few strategies. Asking questions is a great place to start. A few questions to try would be:
“What were you struggling with before you hired me/joined my program/used my product?” (Or you could ask “what were your challenges before…” or “what was your life like before…”)
“Why did you decide to hire me/join my program/use my product?”
“How did your life change after hiring me/joining my program/using my product?” (Or you could ask “what results did you experience after…”)
What you want to do is paint a picture before they used your products or services and what their results were after using it.
Remember, what people buy are results and the transformation. So make sure your testimonials focus on that.
Now it’s your turn — what are your strategies for getting testimonials? Please share below in the comment section. Or if you have a question about marketing, business or writing copy, feel free to put in the comment section and I’ll answer those in a future Ask PW column.
Bill Lampton, Ph.D. said,
January 24, 2012 at 11:50 am UTC
You provided excellent probing questions we can use to help our clients shape their testimonials. I invite you and your blog readers to watch my brief video review of a new book on this topic, Fearless Referrals:
http://bit.ly/wu1mXs
Michele PW said,
January 24, 2012 at 12:19 pm UTC
What a great title — so many people live testimonials or referrals to chance rather than put a plan together to get them. I’ll have to check it out.
Jo said,
January 26, 2012 at 12:34 am UTC
Michelle, this is great advice, thank you. I’ve just run a workshop and did do the impact question, but completely forgot to do the before question! Going forward I’ll remember “results and transformation”!