Why are testimonials critical? When you make a statement about you, your company, your products, or your service, it’s a claim. When your satisfied or enthusiastic customer makes the same statement about you, it’s a fact. You cannot overuse testimonials. The number one marketing error most business people make is the under use of testimonials. If you do nothing else to improve your marketing, but use testimonials you’ll have a strong competitive edge on your competition. For Starters, think of testimonials as a pair of verbal “snapshots.” The first is the “before” picture—the problem or the skepticism: The second is the “After” picture—the positive result, the pleasant surprise, the solution. Second, view testimonials as strategic weapons. Make two lists: one of every claim, feature, benefit, and fact about what you’re marketing that you want to substantiate; second, every doubt, fear, or question that might exist in your prospective customers mind. Then collect and use testimonials that specifically substantiate the claims and eliminate the doubts. Determine all the objections a prospect will have for not buying your product or service. It could be price, not interested, they don’t want to put forward the effort, they don’t want to invest the time, etc. Whatever the objections you might encounter for people not buying your product or service, gather testimonials that will address each of those objections. You want a letter with three or four benefits your customer received from working with you. Put the testimonials on the customer’s letterhead it that’s possible. List the customer’s full name and city where they’re located. (If you’re uncomfortable publishing their name get them to sign a short release form stating you have the right to use their name and city. In over 25 years of using testimonials I have never had a business owner or employee object.) If you struggle getting testimonials then you can write them and get your customer to sign them. The way I’ve done this is to comment to the customer, “Mr./Ms. Customer, you’ve mentioned several times of your happiness with our service/product. I know there are many other people who would love to enjoy the benefits of our product/service if they only knew about it. Would you mind if I place your kind comments on a sheet of your letterhead and shared it with others? I’ve never have anyone to say “NO.” If you have a good relationship with your customer then you shouldn’t have a problem. You should use testimonials whenever you can. On brochures, on your web site, in letters you send to customers, on any advertising, even in proposals. You can never use too many testimonials and they’ll boost your sales closing ratio. If you’re having difficulty getting testimonials let me know and I’ll find out if I can help you become more successful at it. Testimonials are critical for you to establish trust. Soar With The Eagles David L. Sims

As you probably already know there’s three critical conditions that have to exist before clients will buy from you. First, “they must like you.” Most everyone probably likes you so that shouldn’t be a problem. Second, “You must provide a good product or service.” You probably are capable of delivering a good product or service so that shouldn’t be an issue. The third and most critical condition is this, “The Prospect Must TRUST You.” TRUST is critical and key. There is a TRUST GAP between you and your prospect. This gap either prevents them from buying or it moves them towards buying. The width of the gap is determined by how much the prospect knows about you and what kind of relationship you have with them. The wider the gap, the harder it is to sell. The smaller the gap the better your chance of closing the deal. There are about “nine trust gates to customer commitment” that are constantly going through your prospects mind (these all happen subconsciously) when they are trying to make a buying decisions. When you receive a Referral to a prospect from someone who has influence with the prospect, you have instant credibility. That is you have instant TRUST. The “TRUST GAP” is instantly closed and you are your prospect are standing on the same side of the gap. When that happens you have a great chance (about 80 to 90 per cent when your referral is gathered correctly) of closing your deal. Most business people invest most of their marketing dollars on advertising that’s done incorrectly and doesn’t work. Invest some money in building relationships and you’ll see your number of referrals grow. David L. Sims

Can you believe it? The year is almost over. How are you doing on your 2012 goals? You have two and one half months left to make it happen if you haven’t. What is the best way for you to achieve your goals? By getting referrals. I know many people are mesmerized with social media. But think about how your met your best customers. Think about how you acquired the people you consider your best relationships, If you think about it you were probably introduced (referred) to these people. So why don’t you just get more referrals to expand your base of relationships? Let me give you a hint about how to easily and comfortably get Referrals. Here’s the key. Most people I work with tell me they feel uncomfortable asking for Referrals. There’s many reasons. Some people tell me they feel like they’re begging for business if they ask for a Referral. Others tell me they feel that if the person they’re talking to wanted to refer them they would without having to ask. You would be amazed at how many reasons people tell me for feeling uncomfortable asking for Referrals. Here’s the solution. Don’t ask for Referrals . That’ll take all the pressure off you and off the person you’re talking to. Here’s the answer. Instead of asking for a Referral ask your friend or your customer to INTRODUCE YOU! The way to phrase your question is as follows. “(Name), I’m looking to expand my network and I have room for a couple of people like you. Would you be willing to introduce me to a couple of your friends?” — If you have a good relationship with your friend or customer 95% of the time they’ll answer “sure, who are you looking for?” Then you give them a description of the person you’re looking for. I’ve discussed how to identify your target market in previous messages. If you need help with this just contact me. If you need additional customers before the end of the year, ask for INTRODUCTIONS and watch what happens. Soar With The Eagles.

There are two ways to generate referrals for your business. First, you can be proactive, and use a Referral System like the system I implement with companies, and go out and get referrals. However, it requires work on your part. You must create a description of your four kinds of clients. You then need to go through your data base and identify your “Spheres of Influence, Referral Partners, and Clients.” You then create a plan and set a goal to do the work to meet with all of these different resources to create the referrals you need to grow a prosperous business. However, you may be like the majority of people and you just don’t have time to do all that work. You’d rather have someone else do all that work for you. Instead of you having to schedule the meetings, go through the uncomfortable feeling of asking to be referred to prospects, then asking about information about them, and then ask your resource to call and introduce you. Or write a letter on your behalf for the introduction. If you’re this kind of person then I have the answer for you about how you can get others to refer to you. Here’s the key, “Provide extremely excellent customer service and an extremely exciting experience” when a customer does business with you. Most business people provide just good enough service and just a good enough experience to keep their customers from going to someone else. However, the customer service “WOW FACTOR” and “EXPERIENCE” isn’t good enough to get their customers talking about them to others. For example, let’s measure your customer service on a scale from one to ten. Let’s say one is “awful” and ten is “exceptional.” Most companies will come in at a “3 or 4.” If you are old enough you’ll remember that gas stations used to be called service stations. Why you ask? Because when you drove up to a gas pump at a “service station” an attendant would come out and ask you what you wanted. You might respond, “Fill ‘er up with ethyl.” Then the attendant would beginning filling up your gas tank. While that was going on they then would check the air in your tires, wash your windshield, check your oil level and if you needed a quart of oil they’d add it for you. They finished filling the tank with gas and you paid and drove off. You felt pretty good about the exchange because you got more than you paid for. Now fast forward to today. The “service station” is no longer referred to as a “service station.” It is a “Quick Stop, or Kum & Go, Quick Mart, Etc.” Now you drive up to the pump and if you don’t want to use a credit card you have to walk into the store and pay for your gas in advance. You then go out and put gasoline in your auto. If you want your windshield washed you have to do it yourself. If you want you air pressure checked, you have to do it yourself. And so on. In other words you are satsified, but not excited, when you leave the station because you got what you paid for. That’s not unlike what happens in most businesses today. You get exactly what you paid for and nothing more so you have no story to tell your friends and neighbors about a unique place with exceptional service. If you want your clients to refer their friends and neighbors to you then you must provide that exceptional serivce and experience so they will tell others about you. I have one last item for this posting. Recently I published my sales book on Amazon. This is the sales system I’ve used for years to create over a million dollars in sales for me and milliions for countless others. The title of it is, “The Ultimate Sales System For Professionals.” On Amazon you can buy a Kindle version or a print copy. The investment for the Kindle version is currently $4.97. However, in the middle of March the Kindle edition is going up in price to $11.97. Here’s my offer for you. For the first 15 people to purchase a Kindle edition and post a review before March 15th. I will provide for you a “FREE 30 MINUTE TELEPHONE CONSULTATION” about any aspect of your business you wish. So you get two values all wrapped up in one. You get one of the best sales books on the market and a free consultation on how to become more successful in business. Go Fight The Good Fight David L. Sims