Testimonials can be the most powerful marketing copy written for your business. In fact, if all you have on a leaflet or website are testimonials alongside your contact details, you won’t go far wrong in attracting plenty of leads.

But what makes one testimonial stand out from others?  Why do some just fall flat and yet others sing out and turn a cold lead in to a hot, hot, hot one?

Let me give you a couple of examples to compare:

“Jane was great. I was pleased with her service and would certainly use her again”

This is OK, isn’t it.  It shows that the client was pleased enough to consider using Jane again at some point.  But it’s a bit flat, isn’t it?

How about “I decided to hire Jane because my life was in chaos. I was tired, felt awful and snapped at everyone around me.  After just one month, Jane had helped me put in place some simple and practical actions which has led me to feel like jumping for joy – even at 8am!”

Why does a testimonial like this sing out?

It tells a story – it has a beginning [what life was like before Jane], it has a middle [an indication of what Jane did for the client] and it has an ending [the outcome of working wiht Jane].

If you were to feel tired and snappy, you would relate to this story.  And I am sure the thought of jumping for joy first thing in the morning would be a pretty good goal to aim for.  If that person feels like that, then why couldn’t you?

What about the testimonials you have for your business?  Have a long hard look at them.

Do they match up to the first example or do they sing out like the second?

If testimonials have the power to convince interested clients in your services, make sure your testimonials are working hard for you.

 

Other articles you may be interested in:

1. Small Business Mistake: Attracting anyone and everyone to your business
2. Is your business really hard work at the moment?
3. Is your website telling your visitors what they should be doing?

Tags: testimonials

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Marketing Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.