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The Secret to Adding Credibility to Your Business - Testimonials!

You may not realize it, but you already have a gold mine ofendorsements waiting to be created. Everyone who is seriousabout building a business and creating credibility uses thisidea. What is it? Testimonials from your satisfied clients.


You may not realize it, but you already have a gold mine ofendorsements waiting to be created. Everyone who is seriousabout building a


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business and creating credibility uses thisidea. What is it? Testimonials from your satisfied clients.

Whether you are just starting out or have been in business foryears, testimonials are a proven way to communicate the valueyour business delivers. Think about it, don't you want to knowwhat other people think about a product/service before you buy?I do!

The reason testimonials are so powerful is because they comefrom someone, other than you, who has used yourproducts/services and knows how fabulous they are. This isgreat news if you don't feel comfortable 'blowing your ownhorn' because the words come from your clients. You aresimply sharing what others have said about you. Even better,testimonials don't have to cost you a cent.

HOW TO GET TESTIMONIALS

All you have to do is ask. You can write your request in an

In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.

The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.
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e-mail or ask verbally. Just ask, "Would you be willing tohelp me?" In my experience satisfied clients are more thanwilling to write testimonials.

If you want to give clients an incentive to give youtestimonials you can offer them something of value in returnfor their time and effort. In exchange for the testimonialyou can offer a discount, create a drawing for a prize, orprovide them with additional

Electronic mail, abbreviated e-mail or email, is a method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. The term e-mail applies both to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and to intranet systems allowing users within one company to email each other. Often these workgroup collaboration organizations may use the Internet protocols for internal e-mail service.
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information.

You can also incorporate asking for testimonials into yourbusiness process. One way to do this is to ask for them in anevaluation or survey. Another way is to let clients know upfront that once they become a client that you plan to ask whatthey thought about your products/services.

In addition to asking for testimonials you can 'listen' and'watch' for them by paying attention to what clients tell youverbally and write to you in e-mails or letters. If you hear orsee a compliment ask the person if you can quote them on whatthey said and include it in your

Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.

Many people speak about the Information Age as the advent of the Knowledge Age [citation needed] or knowledge society, the information society, and information technologies, and even though information science and computer
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marketing materials. Thinkabout it, you may even have a powerful testimonial sitting in one of your e-mail folders right now just waiting to get permission for use.

Another approach is to ask someone else to interview your clients (a reporter or writer). This is a more involved process and can be worth it if your product/service is complicated or if you want to create a case study.

No matter what, always ask for permission to use the person'sname and/or company with their testimonial. You can give theoptions of using initials or first names only if people do notwant their full name used. Keep in mind, a full name is the most credible. You can also use pictures of the people who write testimonials to make an even stronger impact (again, ask for permission).

FORMAT FOR TESTIMONIALS

Written testimonials are the most common and easiest to create.There are other options that engage additional senses, the earsand eyes. Audio testimonials are becoming more popular (oftenaccompanied by a photograph) as are

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association, is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders".[1]

Another definition, perhaps simpler and more universal, is this: "Marketing is the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow...or conform to someone else's products, services or values. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing.
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video testimonials, whichallow you to see and hear someone speaking about yourproducts/services.

WHAT TO ASK FOR IN A TESTIMONIAL

If you're like me, you want some guidance when asked to provideinformation. Help your clients out by being clear about what you are looking for in a testimonial, specific information.

Ask them to describe the situation before they used yourproducts/services and then ask them to describe the situationnow, the benefits that they experienced and how they feel as aresult of this.

WHERE TO USE TESTIMONIALS

Once you have your raving testimonials, and permission to usethem, you can put them to use in multitude of ways. Include them on your website mixed in throughout your text. Add testimonials to your brochures and flyers. You can even put them in your newsletters.

Are you beginning to see how powerful testimonials are and whatthey can mean for your business? Choose the approach that feelsright for you and get into action today!

(c) Stephanie Ward 2005

Life & Business Coach Stephanie Ward helps business ownersset their profits on fire! Get your free monthly profittips plus bonus report at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com

Video is the technology of capturing, recording, processing, transmitting, and reconstructing moving pictures, typically using celluloid film, electronic signals, or digital media, primarily for viewing on television or computer monitors.
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