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OPINION: A highly profitable marketing strategy that can help you attract a large number of new customers to your business (without lowering margins or prices) is: Let your best customers sell for you.

And that is the guiding principle for specific benefit testimonials.

The sad truth is that most business people and professionals don’t use testimonials at all. Or when they do, the ones they use are far less effective than they could be.

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Age units

A few years ago I visited the websites of two large companies that both offer the same thing. Both sell and manage retirement benefit units that seniors buy to live in.

Both companies have customers who pay large sums of money to buy and then live in a high quality retirement plan.

These two companies are located in different countries; However, both have testimonials on their website from a number of their customers who have purchased a retirement benefit unit to live in.

Here are three testimonials from the first company’s website:

“From the first time I came here it was the friendliness of it all, everyone was so warm and I like the ambience because it’s bright and light.” (Customers’ Name)

“I felt like I was going home somehow and thought I think I can settle down here quite happily.” (Customers’ Name)

“We all have to get to know people, we see them, we go out and chat with them whenever we want, and that really makes it a nice and pleasant feeling.” (Customer’s name)

If you look at these testimonials, you can clearly see that they are not very convincing. They don’t make you want to ask for more information.

These three testimonials all have a lot to say about this retirement facility and how pleasant it is to live there. However, they do not clearly explain the specific benefits their customers will get from living here.

Delivered

Marketing Advisor Graham McGregor.

Now compare this to the second store that sells the same thing. Here are three testimonials from their website.

“(Business name) is ideal for me because it’s very close to the train station and it takes me three minutes to get to Ealing by train so I can go back to my old hangouts and meet old friends. I like that (company name) offers both security and independence. I’ve already made friends with my neighbor on the next floor. I also love the peace and quiet here and enjoy the pretty garden – you would never know that you are in London. ”(Name of customer)

“Moving to (company name) has taken a lot of worries away and the development has a nice community spirit. We have a weekly music afternoon, art and drawing clubs, and on the weekends we have a group in the lounge doing the Telegraph crossword – sometimes we get all the answers too! Many of us are also members of the Baldock Society and the Museum and History Society. My daughter sometimes asks: ‘Do you sometimes stay in your own apartment ?!’ “(customer’s name)

“I enjoy regular weekend vacations so I need a home that I can lock up and leave without worrying about it being unattended. When I’m not caravanning, I often go on trips abroad alone or with friends. Now I can go, knowing that the estate manager and my new friends will keep an eye on things. ”(Client’s name)

These testimonials are so much better than the ones from the first deal. One of the reasons they are more compelling is because they highlight the specific benefits of housing for residents.

And that’s the kind of testimonials you’d want to collect for your business too.

Whoever speaks decides whether it is effective marketing or not.

Antenna / Unsplash

Testimonials are about who is leading the conversation, who decides whether it is effective marketing or not. (File photo)

Let me give you an example

Imagine you meet a businessman at a social event and ask him what he does for a living.

They say they are business consultants who specialize in helping business people double their sales in 90 days or less. Then they talk non-stop for 10 minutes about how wonderful they are and why every business should use their consulting services.

When you meet someone who behaves like this, you would think they are offensive and boring.

Now imagine the same function with a little twist.

At this event you will meet another businessman who tells you that he is running a business. He then points at another person in the room and asks if you know who they are and what they are doing. You say no “.

Then he tells you how that person is a business consultant helping companies double their sales in 90 days or less. And for 10 minutes he tells you how wonderful this consultant is and why every company should use him.

So you got the exact same information, but whoever says this is key.

In that case (if you were a business owner) you would probably want to button this business advisor and see what ideas you could get for free to help your own business double your sales in 90 days or less.

And that brings me to an important tenet in marketing that I call “The McGregor Marketing Rule of 10”: What others say about you, your company, your products and services is at least 10 times more credible than anything you say yourself in the name of.

Why specific benefit testimonials work so well

In each specific performance record, your customers are saying how wonderful your products and services are, and not you are saying these things, and that makes all the difference in the world.

• When you say it, potential customers tend to doubt what you’re saying.
• When your existing customers tell it, the same thing is much more believable.
• When your customers say wonderful things about you, it’s ten times more effective than anything you can say yourself.

How do you collect specific benefit testimonials for your own company?

One possibility is a short phone call.

Call one of your best customers who you know loves your business and ask them three questions.

• What do you really like about our product or our service?
• What special advantages have you enjoyed by using this product or service?
• Why would you highly recommend this product or service to others?

Take notes of what your customer is telling you, then write your notes in the form of a testimonial in which your customer says:

• Why they like your product or service.
• The benefits you enjoyed by using it
• Why you would highly recommend this product or service to others

Then email this for your customer to approve. Once they approve, you can use this testimonial in all of your marketing. You can easily do this for each client you speak to in around 10-15 minutes.

This is a simple system for obtaining a small number of specific performance certificates in a short period of time.

So try to use specific benefit testimonials in your own marketing. They are a great way to get your best customers to do your sale for you.

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant. You can download his free marketing guide, The Plan B Sales Solution, from www.simplemarketinganswers.com