People do business with others that they know, like and trust. I’ve been hearing that for the past year; even more so since I started my business in November.
Clients are always hesitant to engage with a new business for the first time. They’re not sure if the business can deliver what they promised; they’re not sure they’re going to get value from the relationship. Testimonials can reassure your prospects that you have a successful track record.
Now, there are great testimonials and then there are not-so-stellar testimonials. You’re asking your client to take time out of their day to write something for you, so you should make the process as easy as possible.
My process:
- Either upon completion of a project or after benchmarks have been met, I send the client an email asking if they would be willing to write a recommendation (LinkedIn terminology) of my work that I’ve completed for them. If they say yes…
- Send them a Recommendation Request through LinkedIn. I write the recommendation and tell them that what I’ve written can be used as their recommendation or merely a guideline to help them craft their own. This saves them time (faster turnaround time on the recommendation) and it gives them a point of reference.
- When I receive a recommendation through LinkedIn, I re-purpose it. It goes on my website and in my newsletters.
How do you collect recommendations/testimonials from people you’ve done work with/for? Or are you???
