One of the most effective ways to do this is to use positive testimonials from happy clients who have already used your expensive service and were delighted with the outcome they received.
Here's the simple rule to remember:
If you say something positive about your business people will tend to doubt you because you are trying to get them to spend money with you.
If a delighted customer says something positive about your business this is 10 times more persuasive because the customer is not trying to sell you anything.
(They are just sharing their positive experiences using your business.)
So take a look at all your marketing messages...
On your website, in your proposals, in your brochures and so on.
Ask yourself a simple question:
Who is saying positive things in these marketing messages?
Is it 'your business' saying positive things about what you sell?
Or is it 'happy customers' saying positive things about what you sell?
In most cases you will see that it is 'your business ' doing most of the selling.
My recommendation is that you collect and use some positive testimonials from your delighted clients and then use these in a lot of your marketing messages.
This is instantly more persuasive and can work incredibly well.
Let me give you an example:
The Garden Lighting Company
This business installs outdoor lighting for their clients.
If you go to their website and click on the testimonials tab you will see a number of positive testimonials from their delighted customers.
Here is one of these positive testimonials...
"The Garden Lighting Company gave us wonderful advice on garden lighting. They are friendly and listened carefully to what we wanted. They have created stunning outdoor light effects in our home. These allow us to enjoy the gardens and landscapes at all times of the day. We get a lot more use and enjoyment from our outdoor areas. It's like we've added some brand new living areas at a fraction of the cost of having to build them!
Our visitors love how it has transformed our gardens and created a magical wonderland. They can't believe how good it looks for such a reasonable investment. The Garden Lighting Company considerably enhanced the front garden even though it wasn't in the original plans. (This was a nice add on.) We recommend the Garden Lighting Company because of the depth of understanding you have. When using their services there are no hassles. They take care of the complete installation and all other trades. They provide a quality installation with the backing of a New Zealand product with a five year peace of mind warranty."
(On their website you will see many more testimonials like these complete with the names of each client who gave the testimonial.)
When you read all these testimonials you can't help but think to yourself:
'This business is really good at outdoor lighting and they look like they do a great job for all their customers'.
And that's the value of positive client testimonials.
They remove a lot of the fear and uncertainty that potential clients may have about using your expensive service.
And make it easier for them to choose your service to spend their money on.
So take some time over the next month to collect positive testimonials in your own business.
They are an easy way to improve the effectiveness of all your marketing messages.
'To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.'
Winston Churchill
Action Exercise:
I've written a short guide that explains 17 ways to use positive testimonials in your marketing. I'd like to give a free copy to all Herald readers. Just contact me using the email link in this column and ask for the reference guide 'How to market with testimonials'. (I'll also give you some further ideas on how you can collect amazing testimonials from your own customers at the same time.)
Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing.
You can download his 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage' Ebook at
no charge from www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com
