I want you to imagine two different scenarios:
1. There’s a prospective client who is interested in your products or services. So, you talk them through a little bit of education, focusing on the benefits of your product. You put together a very professional mini sales presentation.
2. As before, we have a prospect interested in your products or services. Except that as opposed to you talking about the benefits, a client (or many clients) of yours who used your products or services in the past is actually the one touting the benefits. They’re the one who is, in essence, doing the mini sales presentation on your behalf.
So what’s more powerful? You doing the selling, or your client doing the selling?
I’m going to make the argument that your clients can do a much better job of selling than even you. Yes, there are probably very few people who can sell your product better than you, but your clients may just be the one group that can accomplish this feat.
How do we get our customers to sell on our behalf? Well first, we need to gather testimonials from them. This is an often underutilized resource. Start reaching out to your past and current clients and gather reviews from them. You can ask them to post directly to your web-based business pages, such as Google Local, Yelp, LinkedIn, etc. Or, you can have them write testimonials on their company letterhead. Even better, get some short video testimonials from them. No matter which medium you choose, think about coming up with a few questions/pointers just to make it easier for your clients to provide you with these valuable testimonials.
Then, the second step is to definitely make good use of those testimonials you’ve gathered. You can use them in your sales presentation or marketing materials. Add them to your website, email signatures, newsletters, social media, etc. Also, if it’s ever possible, bring your customers with you live into a sales situation. That works wonders, especially if you have a higher priced product.
So in short, bragging, talking about, or touting your benefits are all very important. It’s good to do those things yourself, but it provides even better social proof if your customers can do some of the selling for you. Ready to get started? Go out, gather those testimonials, and make it happen today.
