The Power of Personal Testimony

"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;" Revelations 12:11 (NIV)

Your most powerful tool
Today I want to focus on the power of personal testimony as it relates to marketing your business. Not your testimony, but the testimony of your customers. What do your customers say about you? Is it what you want them to say?

We all know that word of mouth advertising is the best kind of advertising. Why? Because prospective clients don't know if they can trust you or not. So providing examples of real customer who have used your service or purchased your product gives new customers a way to gauge your business, and predict the way you will treat them.

Nothing is more powerful than a personal testimony from a satisfied customer, and nothing is quite so damaging as the caustic critique of a dissatisfied customer.

A Real World Example
I recently attended an online seminar series called The White Paper Success Summit. It was relatively expensive, so I thought hard about signing up.

One of the things that convinced me to take the plunge was the testimonies of satisfied attendees listed on their website. Of course they were all glowing, but more importantly, they included the names of the past participants and their cities.

A quick Google search turned up the website of one of those participants. I emailed her and asked for confirmation of her testimony. The next day she assured me that the summit she attended was well worth the money.

Next, I looked at my own experience with the people producing the seminars. I knew two of the authors, in fact I have their books sitting on my desk, Writing White Papers by Michael Stelzner and The White Paper Marketing Handbook by Robert W. Bly. I knew that I'd already found their advice helpful, so after a little more consideration I finally decided to sign up.

I've got to say, it was worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned so much, that I've added white papers to my list of services.

How do you get testimonies?
Getting testimonies is pretty simple: Ask for them. Ask your customers for a letter of recommendation, or ask them to leave a message on your voice mail. If your customers are busy people, take the initiative to write a testimonial for them. When you ask for the recommendation, say you've put together a draft to help them get started. Many times, they will simply sign your letter and return it to you.

The main point is: When you need to build credibility a few good testimonies will go a long way.