Its proven that word of mouth among friends, colleagues and indeed customers drive more purchases and relationships than any other “purchase” influence, so start to understand the importance of testimonials today!

Testimonials and recommendations give you and your business the ability to demonstrate your credibility and expertise.

We strongly believe every business owner, leader, manager and team member should continue to get a better understanding of this. After all, unless somebody refers your services, all potential clients need to be able to trust you when it comes to their initial and on-going relationship with you. Having a recommendation makes it all that more powerful, as everybody likes to see good track records, and positive words said about the people/company they are dealing with!

Not everybody has a long list of high profile clients to post on their website, or other social media sites, however what you most probably have is experience, so focus on getting testimonials on your skills instead of just your current role.

Now that you understand the importance of testimonials, we have listed our top tips below:

1. MAKE A LIST OF PEOPLE

This could be people you have worked with directly within your firm, or people you have worked with on projects or implementation from other firms. You need to get the people you have had more frequent dealings with, and that have truly benefited from your guidance and/or expertise.

2. REACH OUT TO THOSE PEOPLE AND ASK FOR THE RECOMMENDATION/TESTIMONIAL

To make the process that bit smoother and quicker, we would suggest sending a link to your LinkedIn, or a tool similar, to others you have already obtained so that they can use as guidelines, etc. This often speeds up the process.

3. THE REQUIREMENT

If you would like a specific skill or role mentioned, then let them know. We would suggest either using the recommendation tool via LinkedIn where you can choose the role and company you are wanting the recommendation for, or in the subject of the email name the role or skill you are wanting to be included.

4. THE FOLLOW UP

We all get busy, and sometimes we think “I’ll just come back to that one” and guess what… we forget! Don’t feel bad, and send the reminder.

This is not a one-off exercise, you should be actively on the ball in this area and constantly looking at upgrading and adding fresh testimonials. This should be live at all times.

Testimonials are so strong for many things such as credibility, online presence, personal branding, etc. so do not underestimate the power of these, and get asking!

We have been in many meetings over the years and when we discuss obtaining referrals and testimonials, the amount of people that feel “uncomfortable” with asking is huge. Trust us and take note, if you are doing a great job, ask for the recognition, and get it on your profile. You deserve it!

We will all agree that the majority of people now research people, firms, products etc. before making any decisions, so the better your profile and branding is, the better your career will be.

We have enclosed our “What others say” for you to see and use as guidance, as trust us, its such a powerful thing to have – do not underestimate the importance of testimonials!

If you would like to speak to an expert then get in touch with Mike Coady today!

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