How to get a great testimonial that gets YOUR emails and voicemails RETURNED.
I read an article recently by Ivan Misner, a networking guru, about asking our customers for written testimonials. It’s a great idea that most of us don’t do near enough. Here’s another reason for doing that.
We hear questions all the time about what should be the value proposition in voicemails and emails. Our response is that we should be sharing why others do business with us. If we can be quantitative about an increase in sales (our value proposition), an increase in their market share, or perhaps a decrease in costs, so much the better. Ergo, if that’s what the customer experienced, get them to put that in the testimonial.
But back to the voicemails and emails: We’ve got to remember that when we call someone, they don’t believe they need us yet, so sharing with them how we believe we can help them falls on deaf ears. However, if we can move them from their state of complacency by telling them that our customers have experienced some great result that would potentially be important to them as well, we’ve got a better shot at a returned call.
So, here’s how to marry Ivan’s idea to voicemails and emails. We should be taking the testimonials we receive and use them in our voicemails and emails. The message is powerful because it is from a customer, and just as importantly, it will give us more confidence in how we deliver that message as it didn’t just come from our marketing department, or our boss’s experience. It is real; and as you’ve heard me say many times, the tone of our voice—in this case because of our confidence in the message we’re delivering—will get us more appointments!
So, we should all be making the time and go back and visit with some of our customers and get them to tell us why they do business with us. Then get them to agree to put it in writing. I am constantly surprised at how many will truly love to do that for me.
One last piece of advice: When they say yes to your request, after sharing why they love us, we should ask them if they’d like for us to paraphrase what they told us for them. Most people will be relieved that we’ll do the heavy lifting; of course, giving them the final approval of what we wrote. It will also assure that it will get done (best intentions…) and it will be written in a way we can use.
If you’d like more information on voicemail and email strategies, or why no team of sales professionals has ever failed to at least double the number of Initial Appointments they were setting after going through one of our programs, give us a call or drop us a line. We love talking about the challenges of appointment making!
Caponi Performance Group and Contact Science jointly market the telephone prospecting and cold calling solution called Coldcalling101™. It is the only comprehensive solution to solving the biggest barrier to success in most selling organizations—the inability to secure enough Initial Appointments to begin the selling process. We accomplish that through simultaneously addressing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. We can be reached at 817 224-9900 or at bcaponi@caponipg.com. You can also find answers to many of your challenges in our books: Contrary to Popular Belief, Cold Calling DOES Work! Volume I: Effectiveness, The Art of Appointment Making and Volume II: Efficiency, the Science of Appointment Making.
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