Get Raving Testimonials for Whatever You’re Offering
Testimonials are one of the key ingredients to successfully launching and selling any service or product. That being the case, you have to be proactive about collecting them. Here are some ways to go about doing that…
Prep for the launch
First off, you want to collect testimonials for your product before it goes live. Don’t launch a product without a page full of glowing testimonials.
The easiest way to get them is to give your product to several people in your target market (ahead of the launch) in exchange for their approval.
If you’re writing a funded proposal (and you ought to–see the Funded Proposal section) you could say something like “Hey Bob–I’ve got a book I’m going to sell on my web site and I’d like your opinion on it. I’d be happy to give you a free copy if you’d be willing to give me the most raving testimonial about it that you can honestly give. Would that work for you?”
Usually it will.
Collecting the testimonial
Before you conclude the conversation with Bob, be sure to say something like “This book is about 30 pages long. How long do you think it would take you to read it?” If he says it will take him a week to finish it, set a time right then to talk a week later.
Tell him you’re setting this appointment so you can “answer any questions that come up” and “make sure everything in the books makes sense”. Feedback is great, but what you’re really trying to do is set a deadline for Bob to read your document and give you a testimonial.
The last thing you want to do is send your work to someone and find out, a month later, they still haven’t gotten around to reading it.
Testimonial sculpting
After lining up least 10 people who will give you testimonials, come up with a couple key points you’d like your testimonials to cover. What would you like your testimonials to say? If there’s something in particular you’d like said, decide it ahead of time.
Seriously–let’s say you want a testimonial that specifically says “This book is worth twenty times what I paid for it!” As you’re collecting testimonials from people, choose someone and say to them:
“Your testimonial is great, but there’s one thing I’m looking for. I’d like a testimonial that speaks to the value of this book. I’m looking for something to the effect of ‘This book is worth twenty times what I paid for it!’ Would you be comfortable in saying something to that effect and, if so, could I add that to your testimonial?”
Granted, this person didn’t pay anything for it (so it was definitely worth twenty times what they paid for it). Putting that aside, you want them to answer as if they had paid money for it. You’re looking for honesty (honesty in the form of a rave review, but honesty nonetheless).
If your product is good enough, people will agree to say all sorts of things. I have not yet gotten anyone to say for one of my books “This is the most profound work of literature since the New Testament”, but I’m working on it.
Final testimonial editing
Lastly, make sure to change any testimonials you get so that they’re directed at you (instead of your site visitors). You’ll get testimonials that say:
“Jarom’s book is the bomb. If you want to amount to anything in life, you should buy it.”
…and it sounds like they’re pitching your book to your web site visitors. You’ll want to change this to something like:
“Jarom, your book is the bomb. I think anyone who wants to amount to anything in life should buy it.”
When people start buying your product, happy customers will send you testimonials you might need to edit too. Editing testimonials is fine as long as you get the final okay from the person who sent it to you.