Today’s tips are courtesy of guest writer Jordan Kaplan, the owner of Petaholics Dog Walking and Pet Sitting New York. 

A testimonial is the online version of word of mouth. It tells
people that you can provide what you claim to do and that other people are satisfied with your service/product. Testimonials can come from media, other companies, celebrities, experts, and your customers

Testimonials are a way of creating credibility. Nothing sells a product or service better than hearing from other satisfied customers of their experiences. People are generally skeptical of anything new and want reassurances and confirmation that they will have a good experience and results.

People don’t generally believe what one says about themself but do believe what others say.
The internet is an inpersonal medium the more you can do to “humanize” your website the more likely potential customers will call you.

Most satisfied customers will be happy to oblige and give you testimonials as they want to help you since you have helped them.

Having great testimonials is one great way to stand out from your competitors as on a compare/contrast basis, people will choose a product/service that makes them feel the most
comfortable. As humans we buy based on emotion not logic and it is this emotion that you want your testimonials to emit.

Make sure any testimonials you receive  have details of the customers experience including results/benefits received, just to say something is “great” does not help propective customers.

Seeing that someone else had the same problem and are now satisfied will get potential clients over a main buying obstacle. It is not unusual to increase sales by 30% or more from having testimonials.

Listed below are a few websites to help promote yourself, they list reviews submitted by clients.

yelp- www.yelp.com
citysearch- www.citysearch.com
angieslist- www.angieslist.com
judysbook- www.judysbook.com

Place customer testimonials on your website- and weave through your site not all on one page! You should also include testimonials in all of your brochures and advertising.

How to get them from clients and vendors- Ask!

Visit this former blog post to get your free customer feedback form that makes it easy to ask your customers for testimonials.

Join us on the next Pet Business Success Circle call on February 10th (next week!) to hear me interview Jordan and find out his best tips for dealing with difficult clients.  Click here to find out how to join us on the call for just $7 and get a bunch of free goodies now!