Pete Bowen's site

How I help my clients get great testimonials

...drops his head in shame...

https://app-petebowen.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/screenshot-2024-07-22-at-16.46.42.png

That's how a new client responded when I asked him about his process for getting testimonials.

He does great work, and gets a lot of referrals, but we didn't have much to put on his landing pages to prove it.

Testimonials reduce the fear of doing business with you. They make it easier for strangers to trust you. They can be the difference between getting a lead or not. They can be the difference between getting a new customer or not.

But, most people don't have a library of great testimonials. They either don't ask for them, or the testimonials they get aren't very effective.

I figured it was my job to fix this for my clients.

Getting more testimonials.

The best way to ask for a testimonial is to automate the asking. That way nobody has to remember to do it.

You might be able to do this from your customer management system. If you can't, the next best thing is to add an item to the list of work you do at the end of a contract.

I added a 'Request a testimonial' button to the CRM system I give all my clients. Clicking the button sends a pre-written email to their customer.

Getting better testimonials.

My thinking on what makes a testimonal effective started with an article by Sean D'Souza.

He says that most testimonials are 'sugary'. They're all about how good the business is and that makes them boring and less effective.

He describes effective testimonials as stories.

Stories don't start with 'And they lived happily ever after'. They start with some difficulty or challenge that the hero has to overcome.

Overcoming the difficulty is what makes the story interesting. It's the same with a testimonial.

A good testimonial starts with the doubts and hesitation the customer had about choosing you. Then it describes what it was like working with you. It finishes with the happy outcome and a recommendation.

How do you get your customers to write interesting testimonials?

But, your customers (probably) aren't writers. Unless you help them, they're going to give you a typical testimonial:

She's a great person and the work was good and nice.

Sean D'Souza suggests asking questions that lead to the customer telling a story. Here are his questions:-

  1. What was the obstacle in your mind/hesitation before buying this product/service?

  2. What did you find as a result of buying this product/service?

  3. What specific feature did you like most about this product/service?

  4. What would be three other benefits about this product/service?

  5. Would you recommend this product/service? If so, why?

  6. Is there anything you’d like to add?

I've used a version of these questions in the past, but I found that the resulting testimonials didn't read well. I got more natural comments when I changed the questions into prompts. For example...

You can see exactly how this works on the page where I ask my clients for a testimonial here.

Putting it all together.

  1. Get more testimonials by making asking for a testimonial part of your end of contract process.
  2. Get better testimonials by using questions or prompts to help your clients tell their story.
Next steps

1. Get a new article every Tuesday. Put your details in the form below and I'll keep you updated.

2. Need help with Google Ads? I offer 1-to-1 consulting and mentoring on things related to Google Ads, landing pages and turning more leads into sales. You’ll get help, advice, support and answers without having to commit to a long-term contract. Details here.

3. Want someone to manage your Google Ads for you? I might be a good fit if you're using Google Ads to generate leads. Please contact me to arrange a chat.

Related articles

Why we lost sales. Losing potential sales always hurts. But, if you know why you lost the sale you can make changes that'll help you win more sales down the line.

"Forget about reducing the CPC" In money terms my client paid Google about $1 400 per client he contracted with. He could live with spending $500 per new client. Here's how we're going to hit that target.

What to do if leads don't answer when you call. Last month a client got 4 150 leads but their sales team was unable to contact 1 277. Here's how we're going to reduce the number of non-contacted leads and help the client make more sales.

An easier way to sell services. Bigger value projects take a lot of work to sell. You have to have the discovery calls, meeting notes, customised proposals and quotes. And, you often need several follow-up meetings. There is another way.

Why I don't just delete fake leads from my inbox If the only thing you do with fake leads from Google Ads is delete the lead delivery email you risk getting swamped by fake leads. Here's why and what to do to improve lead quality.

Why I never use reCAPTCHA on Google Ads landing pages Nobody wants an inbox full of spam, but preventing fake leads from submitting your form is wrong if you’re paying for online advertising. Here's why...

What to say on the first call to an internet lead. Calling leads back fast is the best way to ensure you get a sale if there is one going. Here's what to say on that call.

More sales are lost because of inertia than price. Most of your potential clients want what you sell but haven't handed over the money because they've run out of steam. Here's how to keep them moving towards a sale.

How to win more quotes without lowering your prices In a perfect world you'd win every quote but the reality is that most quotes don't turn into sales. It is possible to turn a lot more quotes into sales without lowering prices. Here's one way.

You could be shooting yourself in the foot if you send quotes in Excel or Word. There is a problem with emailing quotes in Word or Excel: There is no guarantee that the quote will look like it should.

Is your sales process chaotic? I was surprised when three small business owners used the same word - chaos- to describe how they currently handle leads.

The weak link that might be causing you to lose leads Some of your leads never make it from your website to your inbox. And, there is a good chance you don't know about the missing leads.

Leads ghosting you? A business owner complained that his leads were ghosting (ignoring) him after initially showing interest. As we worked together we uncovered a mismatch between lead temperature and his response.

60 leads a week and no sales Their first instinct was to change the adverts. It sort of makes sense. Adverts aren’t producing sales so the adverts must be broken. Fix the adverts and you'll get more sales. But, they could change their ads, spend a load more money and get no sales. This is because the adverts might not be the real problem

Google Ads delivers leads not sales What’s the most important problem in your industry? In my industry the most important problem is that Google Ads delivers leads but doesn’t deliver sales. Here's what I've been doing about that...

How to get leads from different sources into your CRM automatically I’ve got a client in the motor trade who gets about 2 000 leads a month from 22 different online sources. Here's how we put them into his sales engine automatically without expensive computer code.