Blackwing’s Quick Tip – Asking For Testimonials

I had a question on the Blackwing Profit Facebook page about how to ask for testimonials, so I thought I’d just get this down…

BLACKWING’S QUICK TIP: The key to asking for Testimonials from a client is to be specific!

If you say “Would you give me a testimonial about our business?”, the answer you could possibly receive is either “No!” or “Meh… that sounds like hard work”.

However if you say something like “If there was only one thing that you got out of your involvement with [your firm], what would it be?” or “In your opinion, what has been the most valuable thing about your journey at [your firm] so far?”, you are asking them what they like or appreciate most.

Then once they have answered your question you can reply with something like:

“Great [Name]! Would it be OK with you if I shared that with some other clients or business owners so that other people can hear that story too?”

Since most people would be flattered to think that you wanted to share what they just said with other people, the likely response is going to be positive.

Now all you have to do is ask them to write it down and sent it to you or you ‘coach’ them through writing down what they said and ask them to include as much detail as possible.

The law of specifics comes into play here and the more detail you can include, the more powerful the result.

In other words… “we would recommend [your firm] to all our family and friends. The staff were friendly” is not nearly as powerful as:

“With the help of [your firm], we were able to reduce our tax by $13,200 this year and streamlined 4 insurance policies into 1 and saved @2,400 per year. We have also set up a saving/investment plan with this additional money to pay for a trip to Thailand next Christmas… We feel relaxed and comfortable about our finances now”.

Sounds more compelling doesn’t it?

Do this next time you help a client and watch the positive response you get.

If you’d like to know more about this or other smart strategies to grow your financial planning business and make it more profitable, send me an email ideas@blackwing.com.au and ask me directly.

Alternatively, you can check us out for FREE for a 30-Day Trial and see what all the [positive] fuss is about!

Steve Salvia