Step 1: ASK for the testimonials

This sample email message can be adapted for testimonials or permission for featuring someone in a case study.

From: [YOU]
To: [CUSTOMERS YOU LOVED WORKING WITH and WHO ENJOYED YOU - Be choosy. It's not only rude, but a really bad idea to contact people who did not FULLY enjoy your company for a testimonial. Contact them for feedback if you want, but not a testimonial.]
Subject: testimonial for website

Dear [CUSTOMER NAME],

[FRIENDLY GREETING OR INTRO TO MESSAGE]

As you now know, I am building a website for ["me" or "us" or NAME OF YOUR COMPANY], and am asking for a few minutes of your time to help me.
What we are going to do on the new site is tell some success stories and I would like to feature the project we did with you.
Thank you for responding to the following questions. I would like to quote you in the story.

1) Why did you choose to hire ["me" or "us" or NAME OF YOUR COMPANY]?

2) Name 3 aspects of working with ["me" or "us" or NAME OF YOUR COMPANY] that you appreciated the most.

3) How did ["me" or "us" or NAME OF YOUR COMPANY] help you achieve your goals?

4) For what reasons would you recommend ["me" or "us" or NAME OF YOUR COMPANY] to someone else?

THANK YOU and I would love to hear any other feedback you have for me/us about the work we did for you. We really enjoyed working with you!

Best regards,

[YOU]

Step 2: Tie up Loose Ends

• With the testimonials that come back right away (within a week):
  • Send an immediate, hand written, THANK YOU card in the mail.
• With the folks who do not respond right away, call each one and reconnect:
  • Ask how they are doing
  • Ask if it would be easier to just give you a testimonial or feedback on the phone
  • Promise to show them what you type up for their approval before you publish it as a testimonial
  • Get it typed up and approved quickly. Call them again if necessary to for phone approval to keep your process moving.
    
  • Send an immediate, hand written, THANK YOU card in the mail, as soon as you get approval.

Step 3: Follow-up

When you launch your site, be sure to share the joy with these folks FIRST.

• Get your name out there! (ok, become known, but for what?)
• Go after your niche (well of course! nothing is for everyone – who are your raving fans?)
• Have a consistent brand presence (yes, consistency is the foundation for establishing your integrity)
• Go viral (this one really feels yucky to me, how bout you? when news travels by word-of-mouth it is the sign of success — why associate success with disease? I prefer to call it “making friends.”)

Marketing is Three Things

• Shining
• Making Friends
• Nurturing Your Fans (some would argue this is really Public Relations)

Shining

Shining is intangible. It is not a budget line. It is not magic strategy or formula. When your light is really turned up as bright as it will go, words are not even involved. People notice the brightness of your shining as soon as they lay eyes on you. Before you’ve spoken a word. Before you’ve given your elevator speech. Before you’ve given them a brochure.

Here’s the rub. Even if your elevator speech is polished and smooth. Even when your brochure is drop dead gorgeous. If your shine does not show up, your lack of true confidence or possibly a lack of integrity turn people away.

On the other hand, if you are shining , without an elevator speech, without a brochure, you will still attract people who feel the excitement at witnessing your radiance.

(For real life practice and support with shining, join us for this workshop.)

Making Friends

When you set out to make a new friend, you are at play. You are attracted to the other person for some reason that feels good, feels mutual, feels like a match.

Of course, you might meet under the pretense of something in common like knitting or chess, but you know you don’t feel this resonance with every knitter, every chess player.

This resonance is the basis of a peer-to-peer relationship that is the root of all great business interactions.

Friends are often interviewed to learn more about someone. Testimonials are interviews of your company’s friends. They know the company. They feel they have shared in the Spirit of your company. They have a relationship with the company.

When you make friends for your company, your company is becoming known to people who will be proud to know you and tell others.

I can hear the doubtful voice, “What if I need lots of customers? Do I have to make friends with all of them?” The short answer is yes, you do. The good news is that its a lot easier than you think!

It is possible to make friends through a web site, through packaging, by the way it feels when people enter your store.

To me, marketing is all about SHINING. It is about being a beacon. Make it easy for people who are already looking for you to find you. Show up where they are and offer what they seek from you.

When these seekers discover you, they are the first to shout out, “Hey! Look what I found!” And if what you offer is a strong match for them, you have just met a new raving fan.

Nurturing Your Fans

So now you have this fan base, what are you doing with them? The number one thing that fans want to do is CELEBRATE! Find ways to support them celebrating your company, your product and themselves.

Anything you can give your fans that they can share with their friends supports their fan-ship relationship with your company. Coupons, frequent flyer miles, rewards programs and referral discounts are ways to support your fans.

Inviting their participation with each other is another way to support their fan-ship. This can be an essay contest, a video ad contest, invitations to product testing, even a simple party in their honor.